The Source of True Knowledge

More reflections on Calvin (Institutes I.II.1-2):

Calvin goes on to discuss what is the nature of this knowledge. This knowledge is attended by true piety. ‘Piety’, interestingly, is described as reverence and love, not just being in possession of some facts. Nor is activity mentioned explicitly though it may be implicit in ‘love’. God must be known as he has revealed himself without addition. Therefore he is known as Creator through creation, and Redeemer through Christ.

It is striking for me, a scientist, that Calvin sees that there is no true knowledge except as it is seen to flow from God. Occam’s razor applies as a fundamental principle in all scientific endeavour i.e. if an assumption is not necessary, don’t make it. This has been used to remove the notion of a Creator from all scientific endeavour. Now, this approach seems to ‘work’ from a scientific point of view. Modern scientific progress demonstrates this. Yet it is unsettling. Why should so much of what is done in the name of science make no requirement for a Creator? Perhaps the answer lies in the kind of questions that scientists ask, which necessarily limit the scope of enquiry. Thomas S. Kuhn, the philosopher, has noted (in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) that scientists tend to limit themselves to fixed paradigms of thought until the weight of ill-fitting data forces a change in the fundamental assumptions of the paradigm. The data forces the scientist to ask questions which the paradigm cannot answer. This may be a valid scientific approach.

The apostle Paul, however, sees something much more sinister at work, not just in scientists, but in all people: mankind in his sinful nature seeks to repress the knowledge of God (Rom. 1:18-20). Calvin seems to suggest that, because of this, any knowledge obtained from creation must necessarily be limited by a failure to recognise its true source.