To be Church: Upholder of the Truth
By : Reformed Free Publishing Association
It is the honor and privilege of the church to be the upholder of the truth in the world. The church preserves and promotes the truth. The truth depends upon the church as a great building rests upon its supporting pillars and stands solidly on its foundation. Take away the church, and the truth disappears from the world. Upholder of the truth is what the church is. This belongs to her essence as she has been created by the Spirit of...
Read MoreSocial Constructionism (8): Knowledge is Constructed
By : Reformed Free Publishing Association
Over the last seven posts, I have attempted to shed light on the postmodern epistemology known as social constructionism. The first couple posts set the scene and context. These last couple posts have highlighted the characteristics of this philosophy. The first characteristic is that this philosophy insists that we take a critical stance toward taken-for-granted knowledge. This causes society to doubt everything; certainty finds no home here. The second characteristic is that knowledge and understanding are always specific to a culture...
Read MoreSocial Constructionism (7): Knowledge and Understanding are Historically and Culturally Relative
By : Reformed Free Publishing Association
The second characteristic of social constructionism is that human knowledge and understanding are historically and culturally relative. Relative here is best understood by examining the differences between relativism and realism. Realism asserts that there is a world—a cosmos—that exists independent from our representations of it. For example, we may go to an art dealer and purchase a $1,000 oil painting of Mount Everest, but that painting is only a representation of reality. The reality, of course, is Mount Everest itself. Relativism,...
Read MoreSocial Constructionism (6): Shaping a worldview of doubt and uncertainty
By : Reformed Free Publishing Association
In my reading, I’m usually not attracted to articles written in a series. For starters, I want the option of reading everything the author has to say in one sitting. Secondly, unless the author can produce new installments on a timely basis, I don’t have the patience to wait four months before I read the next article. This lamentably leads me to my opening point: I’ve done everything in this series of posts that I dislike as a reader. Mea Culpa....
Read MoreSocial Constructionism (2)
By : Reformed Free Publishing Association
Last time we defined social constructionism and showed that it falls into the category of postmodernism. Our goal with this series is to understand the layers of social constructionism so that we might be aware of its dangers as Reformed Christians. To peel away the first layer of the social constructionist onion, let’s begin by understanding our place in history. Throughout the history of the world there have been great time periods which are marked by common and stable characteristics. Historians...
Read MoreSocial Constructionism (1)
By : Reformed Free Publishing Association
Over the next couple posts, I will be treating the subject of social constructionism. This may seem like a strange topic, hardly worth knowing. Although the term itself isn’t part of most people’s daily speech, its influence can be seen all over. If you bear with me over the next couple posts, you will find social constructionism is something you will want to know more about. I first learned about this subject during my graduate studies at Calvin College. It was...
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