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Between Babel and Beast
(America and Empires in Biblical Perspective)
The Glory of Kings: A Festschrift for James B. Jordan
Fyodor Dostoevsky
(Christian Encounters Series)
Athanasius
(Foundations of Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality)
The Four: A Survey of the Gospels
Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom
From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John
Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture
1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
In his recent Inerrancy and the Gospels: A God-Centered Approach to the Challenges of Harmonization
“Each person of the Trinity has his distinct personal perspective on knowledge. God the Father knows all things by being the Father, and in being the Father he knows the Son. The Son as Son knows the Father, and in doing so knows all things. Similarly, the Holy Spirit knows all things in connected with his distinctive role of searching ‘the depths of God.’”
Poythress draws this crucial conclusion:
“Personal perspectives are therefore inherent in knowledge at the deepest level, the divine level. By implication, personal, perspectival knowledge of truth among human beings belongs to the very character of truth; it is not a distortion of an original allegedly impersonal truth.” In particular, this point applies to the variations in the gospel accounts: The perspectives of the human writers “belong integrally to the account and must not be viewed as ‘imposed’ on originally impersonal facts” (p. 34).
In their insistence on the “objectivity” of truth, Christians have sometimes forgotten this. The view that there is an objective truth that is free of all personal perspective is inherently anti-Trinitarian. So is the notion that there is a single and simple perspective on truth; as Poythress says, there is always already, before human knowers know, a triple perspective on truth.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, October 12, 2012 at 4:34 pm
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