Der ehemalige Philosophe von Wheaton, Arthur F. Holmes, stellt folgende Definition auf:
- To say that truth is absolute rather than relative means that it is unchanging and universally the same.
- Truth is absolute not in or of itself but because it derives ultimately from the one, eternal God. It is grounded in his ‘metaphysical objectivity’, and that of his creation.
- Absolute propositional truth, therefore, depends on the absolute personal truth (or fidelity) of God, who can be trusted in all he does and says.
- All knowledge ultimately bears witness to the truth God reveals. Both the intelligibility of nature and the cognitive powers of man attest God’s fidelity.
- The propositional truth of the Biblical revelation likewise depends on and bears witness to the personal fidelity of God, and the ultimate unity of truth is specially revealed in Jesus Christ.
- Human knowledge is, therefore, not detached and purely theoretical but intensely personal. Because truth captures the hearts and minds of men, it admits of ‘epistemological subjectivity’. Because knowledge depends on God’s fidelity, the believer’s pursuit of knowledge can express his trust in God.
Of these conclusions
- (1) is denied by the relativist and sceptic.
- (2) and (3) and (4) are denied not only by the relativist or sceptic but also by the rationalist who makes truth autonomous and self-sustaining in its universality.
- The rationalist and the sceptic also forget (6), for they regard human knowledge as purely objective and theoretical, as if it can be detached from our larger personal involvements and responsibilities, whether moral or religious or whatever. They separate the personal from the epistemological.
Arthur F. Holmes, All Truth is God’s Truth, IVP: Leicester 1977. (37-38)
