Finding Truth: Foreword

We’re starting our book club today. If you didn’t hear about it earlier, don’t worry—it’s not too late to join us! Today we’re only covering the foreword to Nancy Pearcey’s book Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism and Other God Substitutes, so you’ll be able to easily catch up with the first chapter for next week. (If you purchase it through STR and use the coupon code “STRread,” you’ll also receive a CD of Greg’s interview with Nancy Pearcey and get a 15% discount.)

In his foreword, Richard Pearcey counteracts the popular notion of faith as “a commitment so private and so personal that evaluation and evidence are irrelevant” by stressing the non-subjective nature of the claims made by Christianity. A few examples given by Pearcey:

“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile,” states 1 Corinthians 15:17. Some people may balk at the linkage of fact to commitment, but the dynamic worldview set forth in the biblical data welcomes the connection…. Thomas was not persuaded by looking inward to his heart, but by evaluating evidence in the external world. He then made a commitment on the basis of relevant facts, not because of a lack of facts and certainly not against them…. 

When John the Baptist was in prison and facing capital punishment, he sent followers to ask if Jesus really was the Messiah. Jesus’s response was to adduce publicly observable miracles that lined up with previously given biblical indicators on how to identify the coming Messiah…. Because these events were public, their status as facts could be confirmed by friend and foe alike. (pp. 14-16)

The tying of theology to historical events in the world—the appeal of people such as Moses and Paul to historical occurrences as evidence of God’s power, character, and plan for His people—is uniquely Jewish and Christian. The Bible is not a retelling of untestable visions received by prophets, but a history experienced by a people over thousands of years.

Since “a falsified ‘faith’ is quite properly a discarded faith,” and “a confirmed faith, or better, a well-grounded trust, is well worth embracing by the whole person,” this book aims to enable you “to identify truth that merits trust.” Richard Pearcey sums up what you’ll find in Finding Truth this way:

[A]ll who engage this book will find encouragement to think humanely and critically about possible answers to ultimate questions. You will be invited to consider how verifiable historic Christianity incisively and rightly answers the great questions of life, “outperforms all competing worldviews,” and “fulfills humanity’s highest hopes and ideals,” as Nancy Pearcey states in this book.

Finding Truth articulates a set of key strategic principles by which to evaluate the authenticity of any worldview, whether encountered in the classroom, at the office, in the news, or on the street. In this book you will be equipped to critically examine secularism and other idols of our day as they are advanced in the garb of politics, science, entertainment, or religion.

You will also see doctrines of atheism and materialism put to the test, to assess whether they stand up under critical thinking. And you will explore faiths such as relativism and postmodernism, to consider whether they merit the informed trust of the human being (pp. 18-19).

What did you think of the foreword? Anything that intrigues you about the coming pages? Anything you disagreed with? Any questions? Any thoughts? Let’s talk about it in the comments below or on Twitter (#STRread). 

Next Friday, be ready for Part One: “I Lost My Faith at an Evangelical College.”

Posts in this series:

• Book Club Introduction
• Week One: Foreword
• Week Two: I Lost My Faith at an Evangelical College
• Week Three: Twilight of the Gods
• Week Four: False Worldviews Reduce the Human Person
• Week Five: Secular Leaps of Faith
• Week Six: Why Worldviews Commit Suicide
• Week Seven: Free-Loading Atheists
• Week Eight: How Critical Thinking Saves Faith

Twitter: #STRread, #FindingTruth

Comments

[Geloof en Rede online]

I like what you say, when you say: "The tying of theology to historical events in the world". This is very important for me, otherwise Christianity would just be a "faith". Something you "believe" in. As in: it is not true, but I make myself believe it. Knowing that the historical events are backed up by archeology, for example, strenghtens my convinction that the Bible is true and therefore that God exists.

I am looking forward to the book and hope it will strenghten me so that I can testify of God and Jesus.

[Amy]

Geloof, I'm reading a really interesting book right now called The Bible among the Myths that explains in more detail just how much the historical factor makes ancient Israel's religion different from all the pagan religions around it. We take it for granted that religion is about history, so we forget how unusual it is. (Maybe we can do that book next!)

[Geloof en Rede online]

Sounds like a good book. I think a lot of people think that Christianity is just a fairy tail. Would maybe be good to use the book next time.

[Jonathan]

I always find my anchor point is the fact that Jesus was a real person that walked on this earth and said the things he did. Of course there always those that deny that and I always try to think of the counter arguments and curious if this book delves into that at all. Arguments on trusting the accounts as reliable and stating the Bible shouldn't be viewed as a history book. Looking forward to reading this.

[Amy]

Jonathan, from what I've heard, I think she's going to focus on the evidence of human nature—what does it mean to be human? How do these other worldviews get their views of humanity wrong? What are the results of those mistakes? How does that prove they don't match reality but Christianity does?

[Jim]

I've always found the way that the Bible "gets" what humanity really is at its core to be one of its most powerful marks of authenticity. A book that would claim to be the truth wouldn't obscure the practical and often inconvenient realities of what man is like, and the Bible doesn't do that. Looking forward to seeing how Pearcey develops that line of thought.

[Geloof en Rede online]

@Jonathan: A good book for that would maybe be "Cold Case Christianity". I haven't read it yet. But heard a lot of good things about it.

Maybe a good one also for the next book.

[Richard]

Looking forward to next week.

[Tom Barnhart]

The Apostle Paul writes, "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil" (1 Thess. 5:21-22). Rick Pearcey writes, "After all, anybody can proclaim, 'God gave me a vision,' but that doesn't make it so."(p.14) I often hear flippant opinions like Rick suggests offered without support or evidence, but I'm expected to accept it nevertheless. But, Rick adds, "The humane position, and the biblical position, is that individuals are under no obligation to affirm as true something they have not adequately examined. Moreover, if after careful examination, a claim is falsified by the evidence, it should be rejected." (p.14). The Bible welcomes the same type of scrutiny. We can trust the it since over the last 2000 years no one has been able to present evidence that refutes its claims and promises.

[Phillip A]

Materialists thereby deny the reality of mind (while they use their minds to advance materialism), determinists deny the reality of human choice (while they choose determinism), and relativists deny the fact of right and wrong (while they judge you if you disagree).

Do I detect a whiff of presuppositionalism? Seeing as the rest of the book will focus on "human nature", I think it's a fair assumption. Maybe it won't get quite up to Sye Ten Bruggencate "everyone knows that God exists" level, but the logical underpinnings are the same

[Donna Hethcock]

Also looking forward to next week! Learning so much with STR, and now a connection with a book club! Thanks

[Justin H.]

Pillip A. : Romans 1:18-21, which was written by Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, does in fact inform us that everyone knows of the one true God. That's not something presuppositionalists came up with on their own. Do you believe what Romans 1 says?

[Meg Cusack]

I am looking forward to "Finding Truth articulates a set of key strategic principles by which to evaluate the authenticity of any worldview..." (bottom or page 18). I think she said something on the podcast about evaluating more than just atheism, but also Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. I am looking forward particularly to those topics as I have more people in my life following those worldviews, than atheism.