Biblical Christianity and Our Presuppositions

    I occasionally teach a course on theological method. One of the primary foci of this course is an attempt to get at the underlying presuppositions that we bring to our theological reflection.  There are many, and you can often see this reflected in a rather crass form when you see studies that show some ridiculous percentage of Christians believe that "God helps those who help themselves" is actually in Scripture.  I think the issue is much more subtle and much more pervasive.
    Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be exploring this theme in a series of posts here on the blog.  In particular, I wish to explore the extent to which contemporary Western (in general, and American, in particular) are much more guided by the work of Immanuel Kant and John Locke, than in Scripture.  By that, I mean that we bring definitions and valuings of such terms as "freedom," "autonomy," and "public debate" that are rooted in the political philosophy of Locke and the Enlightenment rationalism of Kant.  I think the presuppositions we bring to our theological reflection create some very bad and particularly unbiblical conclusions.
    Pass the word and join us for discussion of this topic over the next few weeks. Please feel free to raise any particular questions that you want me to address as the series unfolds.

Comments

[Allen C]

Ah I remember this course, it was one of my very first in Seminary, was quite the introduction needless to say

[Brad A.]

Looking forward to the discussions, Chuck.

[Brad A.]

Forgot to mention, Chuck - I'm teaching two intro to theology classes this fall, and I'm using the Grenz & Olsen's *Who Needs Theology* as an intro to method. Presuppositions will come up in our class a lot, methinks.

[don woolley]

sounds interesting!

[Rich]

To your list of Kant & Locke, I would add Adam Smith as a pervasive influence!

[David Treloar]

Chuck, thanks for taking this on... I am looking forward to "poking around" this idea with you (virtually speaking). It has come up in my church recently. No, really! (c: