How should a Christian view realism?
Realism is a philosophical view that claims that what we perceive through our senses depicts the world as it really is. It stands in contrast to idealism, which says that our senses only reveal appearances and not reality itself. As Christians, how should we approach this debate between realism and anti-realism? What does the Bible have to say on whether our senses reveal the true nature of reality?
To begin, we must recognize that God created our senses and has declared His creation to be good (Genesis 1:31). Our senses are a gift from Him that allow us to perceive and interact with the world around us. Scripture speaks positively about the senses, describing how “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both” (Proverbs 20:12). Jesus Himself had robust sensory experiences, including touching lepers to heal them and smelling perfume that was poured over His feet. His senses gave Him true information about the external world.
This affirms that our senses are fundamentally reliable and give us accurate data about objective reality. Our eyes, ears, taste, touch, and smell aren’t defective but are successfully tuned to receive stimuli from our environment. So in an everyday sense, the Bible supports basic realism – what we see, hear, taste, feel, and smell provides truthful knowledge about the world outside of us. Our sensations serve as guides to objective reality rather than solely our own subjective impressions.
Scripture also indicates that our cognitive faculties go beyond just sensation and can allow us to correctly understand truths about God’s creation. Passages like Romans 1:20 and Psalm 19:1 speak of how nature gives clear testimony to God’s existence and character, available for all people to perceive. We are able to observe the world through our senses and rightfully conclude that a divine Creator exists and has imbued the universe with order and beauty. Our reasoning capacities allow us to take the sensations from our environment and turn them into an accurate mental representation of how the world is.
At the same time, the Bible provides a nuanced perspective on the limitations and imperfections of our senses after the Fall. In our current state, we no longer see or comprehend perfectly. 1 Corinthians 13:12 notes, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” Our grasp of the full truth is partial and clouded by sin. As Ecclesiastes 1:18 reflects, “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” Our maxims derived from observation can only take us so far in finding purpose apart from special revelation.
Human knowledge remains fallible and limited despite the general reliability of our faculties. We must humbly acknowledge our dependence on divine revelation to supplement and correct what we think we perceive. Isaiah 55:9 declares, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Our conclusions based on empirical observation will sometimes be proven wrong in light of God’s higher wisdom.
Proverbs 3:5-7 captures this nuanced biblical perspective on realism: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.” Our senses provide a largely accurate impression of how the world really is on a basic level. But we must be careful not to solely rely on our own limited vantage point and deny the need for God’s greater revelation and wisdom.
In examining controversial issues, Christians thus should maintain a critical realist perspective. We can have confidence that our senses and reasoning give us truthful information about objective reality and a generally correct understanding of God’s natural order. But we also must acknowledge our finitude and tendency toward ignorance apart from God’s supernatural guidance. Our knowledge remains imperfect without the light of divine revelation to illuminate our understanding.
This fits with Calvin’s epistemology that while externally our senses can accurately perceive the natural world, due to the noetic effects of sin we need the witness of the Holy Spirit internally to properly interpret and align our thinking with truth. He wrote in the Institutes, “For as to the fact that we ought to seek God, not just in his general presence but also as our helper in need, this happens due to our own imperfection, because our mind, being curtailed in its own ability, makes little progress if not aided by His power, and especially helped by his direction.” Our sense impressions give helpful starting data, but grasping the fullness of truth requires divine perspective.
In this vein, Christians should maintain humility and teachability when encountering naturalistic theories that seem to contradict their current interpretation of the empirical world. Apparent conflicts between science and faith should lead us to prayerfully re-examine both our observations and conclusions to ensure we haven’t overstepped the bounds of human perspective. While not compromising core doctrines, we must hold our realist insights loosely, acknowledging that our knowledge “is imperfect and our prophecy partial” (1 Corinthians 13:9).
At the same time, Christians need not necessarily accept anti-realist claims that empirical facts don’t point to any mind-independent truths. While we should humbly acknowledge the partial nature of our current knowledge, our fundamental sensory and rational capacities remain God-given instruments to perceive objective reality. As Francis Schaeffer reflected, “If I begin with the concept of a finite God, then I have a final answer for everything, but it’s wrong. And if I begin with the concept of the absence of a final answer, then I may have a great deal of coherence in the way I speak and think, but I’m wrong.” Christians can charitably yet firmly contest philosophical approaches that deny any stable grounding for human knowledge in the facts of the external world.
In conclusion, Scripture supports a critical realist perspective that affirms our general capacity for gaining knowledge through our senses while also acknowledging our dependence on God’s greater wisdom and revelation. We must humbly recognize the limitations and imperfections in our faculties due to the Fall, even as we avoid slipping into radical subjectivism or denying our senses’ fundamental reliability. Christians walk a middle road between the extremes of unchecked rationalism and absolute skepticism. Our calling is to think and observe carefully while looking to God’s Word and Spirit to correct and guide us in properly understanding His world. Holding tightly to revealed truth, we can engage philosophically with various realist and anti-realist claims, carefully sifting truth from error in light of God’s greater wisdom.