Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Reason, Arguments, and Presuppositions - E. Linnaman

"Reason is a whore, Luther says. There is nothing for which logical arguments cannot be adduced. We should resist beguilement through logical arguments. Our minds are swayed by logical arguments, but such arguments are never free standing. They are always wrapped up in a complex of presuppositions. It is not just that questions arguments exist: arguments themselves are questionable-that is, they must be traced back to their presuppositions. Insofar as they are logical, they may appear to be neutral, but they are most assuredly not.

"That is why God's Word admonishes us: 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.' (Prov. 3:5) Is this a denigration of our God-given intellectual capacity? No; it is simply a reminder of why our minds were given and what they were never designed to be: objects in which to place our total trust."

Eta Linnaman, "Biblical Criticism on Trial", trans. Robert Yarbrough. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2001, p. 180.

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