A Review of God, Revelation and Authority, Volume I

by Carl F.H. Henry (Pgs. 165-225)

 

Reviewed by: Adam C. Parker

Class: Contemporary Theology

Instructor: Dr. Clark Youngblood

 Henry’s chapters that I read cover different subjects, but they all fit under the rubric of what I will call “Scripture and Reason.”  He initially begins the segment under my examination by tracing the modern (circa 1975) decline of trust in science.  He states, “The youth counterculture explicitly assails modern faith in technocratic scientism as the monstrous legend that has beguiled Western secular man” (167).  Even at this point in the 70s, Henry perceives the inroads of what we now call postmodernism, and he sees the extent of relativism stretching even into the scientific realm.

More than that, though, Henry points out that because science is always subject to revision, it actually can yield no knowledge.  “There is a profounder reason why science gives no knowledge of nature, viz. the fact that its methodology cannot yield more than a revisable opinion” (175).  He instead argues that Scripture gives a solid ground on which to stand, contrary to the scientific opinions of the day which have never remained constant.  The question arises in the next chapter, what place does philosophy have with theology?  He spends the chapter tracing the answers to this question through church history, yet finally arrives at a twofold answer: (1) Secular philosophy may only ask questions and problems of existence, but cannot provide any answers more thorough than those given in Scripture.  (2) “Faith and reason are not antithetical.  Faith without reason leads to skepticism and reason without faith does so also.  Human knowledge is possible only on the basis of divine revelation; Augustine rightly held that all knowledge is faith” (200).  In essence, Henry argues that Divine revelation is meant to “lift human reason beyond the restrictions of intellect limited by finitude and clouded by sin” (201).

The next chapter is entitled “Revelation: The Basic Epistemological Axiom.”  In this chapter, he offers an alternative to the other failed epistemologies which always end in nothing more than probability and yet are devoid of certainty.  He suggests that all humanity must make divine revelation its axiom (its most basic of beliefs, and its starting point for all thought).  In the chapter, he presents his thesis, which he will then defend:

 

Divine revelation is the source of all truth, the truth of Christianity included; reason is the instrument for recognizing it; Scripture is its verifying principle; logical consistency is a negative test for truth and coherence a subordinate test.  The task of Christian theology is to exhibit the content of biblical revelation as an orderly whole (215).

 

Of particular interest to many Christians will be Henry’s insistence that – contrary to many evangelical thinkers – the historical resurrection of Jesus is not Christianity’s most basic axiom.  Instead, he argues, the starting point for any Christian is to be God’s Word.  Why?  Because it is true that God has spoken in His Word, and thus it is necessarily true!*  All of humanity is held to the authority of the Bible, even if they don’t believe it.

Henry finds it particularly disturbing that theologians are so contented to hang their hats on passing historical analysis or temporal – passing theories.  Instead, Henry says, Christians must not entertain the non-believer’s notion that Scripture is not true, and instead challenge their basic faulty axioms.  For Henry, Scripture is not evidential in its presentation to non-believers – it is self-evident.  Though I do not have the time or room to go into the complex arguments Henry utilizes, I am personally convinced of the validity of Henry’s arguments in this final chapter.  

 

 

Adam C. Parker is a philosophy student at Grand Canyon University, in Phoenix, AZ.  He can be contacted at: adamc.parker@gmail.com

 


* A necessary truth is a fact that is true in all possible worlds.  The argument goes that if God has spoken in this world, then there is no way in which the words He has spoken in this world are not His Word in all possible worlds.