Theological rationalism is the view that, generally
speaking, the only way to have rational confidence in the truth of Christianity
is by looking at the public evidence. What distinguishes a theological
rationalist from a secular rationalist is that the former believes there is
sufficient evidence to rationally warrant, or even compel, belief in the truth
of the gospel for the man who is fully informed, whereas the latter does not. This
stands in stark contrast to the paradigm, often referred to as “reformed
epistemology”, which holds that one can be rationally warranted in believing
Christianity to be true wholly apart from public evidence and argument.
Reformed epistemology is not at all limited to fideists and presuppositional
apologists. Even many classical apologists, notably William Lane Craig,
frequently draw a distinction between how you know that your faith is true, and how you show to others that your faith is true. On how Dr. Craig personally
knows his faith to be true, he is quite candid in saying that he is not an evidentialist. Dr. Craig states
that he knows his faith is true because of the internal witness of the Holy
Spirit, which imparts to him confidence that Christianity is true. Since other
people do not have access to his own personal subjective experience, Dr. Craig
appeals to public evidences to demonstrate to others that his faith is true –
but, importantly, Dr. Craig’s own personal faith apparently does not rest on
those evidences.
Even among apologists, sadly, theological rationalism is
very much a minority position, and I would like to see it promoted more widely.
In this article, I want to address some popular concerns about theological
rationalism and provide clarity about what my view is and contrast it with popular
misconceptions. I will begin by offering a brief positive case for adopting
theological rationalism, and will then offer responses to 12 popular concerns
or objections that I encounter frequently from other Christians.
