The Epistemological Foundations of Positivism: Positivism and Christianity
It took me three days to write again. We had our retreat and what we call In-house Seminar and Training (INSET) in our school.
Typical of those who take a break from their writing is the struggle to connect and pick up what you left off.
The last article I wrote is about Positivism and Modern Science. This time, it's about Positivism and Christianity.
In dealing with this topic, I will discuss the following relationships between:
Positivism and Theology
Theology and Science, and
Positivism and Missions
Positivism and Theology
At the outset, Paul G. Hiebert gave us the historical background how positivism influenced both theology and missions. He began by saying that prior to the 17th century, many theologians saw their discipline as science in the old sense of the word. However, after the 17th century, the term had a distinct meaning "equated with 'positive' knowledge about the natural world based on empirical observation" (p. 17). In this restricted sense, theology with its inherent character to include reality beyond and above nature can no longer be called a science. Nevertheless, Rudolf Bultmann attempted to retain the label by his efforts "to make theology fit the modern science" (ibid.). Whether he has been successful or not in this project is beyond the scope of this article. It is enough to note that such a trend made the modern science the primary influence in setting the world's agenda. As such, we should not wonder that theologians and missionaries of the 19th and the 20th centuries adopted positivism, the epistemological foundations of modernity.
One distinctive character of positivist theology in the mind of Hiebert is the claim to certainty and he equates it with the the claim to "absolute truth" (p. 19). This is exactly the kind of theology that he decided to leave.
Strengths of Positivist Theology
Nevertheless, despite the shortcomings of positivist theology, Hiebert identified a few examples of its strengths:
One, a high view of theology that serves as the foundation of how humans ought to live. He cited the Reformation and modern mission as examples of this.
Two, a high view of truth and absolutes and thereby rejects relativism.
And three, positivist theology assumes the unity of mankind and of human reason.
Weaknesses of Positivist Theology
After enumerating the strengths of positivist theology, Hiebert devotes more time in explaining its weaknesses:
One, failure to distinguish between divine revelation recorded in the Bible and theological formulation. For Hiebert, positivist theologians tend to equate the two and its dangerous for it leaves no room for mystery and in danger of ignoring human limitation and worshipping the human mind.
Two, positivist theology tends to ignore the unfolding nature of divine truth, "the problems of everyday human life"(p. 21), and does not lead to passion in mission.
Three, due to its preoccupation to attain objective knowledge, it tends to be dry and leave no room for emotion and morality.
Four, individualism, which is one of the primary characteristics of modernity. The search for truth becomes a personal matter.
Five, with its idea of progress, it gave birth to theologies that equate the Kingdom of God with humanistic utopia. The focus of theology shifted from God to humanistic activities.
Finally, positivist theology due to its stance of achieving the correct theology, it inevitably leads to conflicts and controversies.
Theology and Science
Positivist theology created a chasm between the natural realm and the religious realm. Nevertheless, attempts have been made to integrate the two. One of them is reductionism. By this term, Hiebert understands that "all phenomena are ultimately reduced to a single explanatory system" (p. 22). In science, reductionism would confine "religion to social and psychological functions" (ibid.). In theology, all human problems are explained to have spiritual causes. Reductionism then achieves its integrationist goal by emphasizing one at the expense of the other.
The second approach is compartmentalization. This approach separates the two realms. Many understand this as dualism. Between these two, the religious realm is inferior for facts are on the side of the natural realm and the source of public truth. Religion is a matter of personal affair. This unhappy disconnection leads to a escapist Christianity and the public life that has no room for sacred space.
Positivism and Missions
Similar to what Hiebert did in the positivist theology, he also identified a few of the strengths of missionary activity influenced by positivist epistemology prior to the exposure of the problems it created. One of them is Western intellectual superiority. Consequently, Christianity's goal has been perceived as similar to Westernization, modernity and colonialism.
Both the Gospel and the ministry of the church have been distorted due to the influence of positivism. The gospel is confined as a matter of intellectual affirmation of certain body of doctrine. Furthermore, the church has struggled for so long to resolve the tension between evangelism and social transformation. It's good that as we noted in James F. Engel's and William A Dyrness' book, that such a tension has already been resolved due to the holistic understanding of the character of the kingdom of God.
Moreover, a positivist mission outlook "rejects all other religions as false" (p. 28). None of the practices in the old religion can be utilized as part of indigenous expressions.
I think that's it for now. After three days of rest, I lost the freshness of the insights that I was supposed to include in this reflection. Anyhow, I hope to recover it sooner or later during the integration of all the articles I wrote so far for the last seventeen days.
I still have eleven days to go to complete this writing project.
Grace and peace!
Reference:
Hiebert, Paul G. 1999. Missiological Implications of Epistemological Shifts: Affirming Truth in a Modern/Postmodern World. PA: Trinity Press International.