Dr. McLelland’s article on two kinds of knowledge is a valiant attempt to overcome the false dichotomy which exists between faith and reason. However, because it rests on and embraces Enlightenment philosophical presuppositions it falls short. McLelland’s attempt is only a synthesis and not a true integration of faith and reason.
Time and experience indicate to us that faith and reason must relate together in some way, shape or form—after all both are created by God. However, we will not discover how they can be truly integrated unless we examine and replace the current foundation with something more scriptural.
Foundations are very important. They must be absolutely level or the building will end up skewed, like the Tower of Pisa. If we build on the foundation of Enlightenment philosophy as we attempt to integrate faith and reason it will result in a skewed outcome. We certainly can see this in the theological and scientific conclusions that McLelland’s synthesis leads him to propose.
For those who are interested in building a new foundation for the task of integrating faith and reason, and who want to avoid the pitfalls of fundamentalism and liberalism, I would recommend getting started by reading Reformational Theology—A new paradigm for Doing Dogmatics by Prof. Gordon Spykman. (You can read it online – just Google it)
Semper Reformanda, and happy reading!
