STUDENT LEARNING SET IN THE
FAITH AND REASON LITERATURE
David W. Kale, Ph.D.
Director of Assessment
Professor of Communication
Mount Vernon Nazarene University
“When therefore you despise or depreciate
reason, you must not imagine you are doing God
service: Least of all are you promoting the cause
of God when you are endeavouring to exclude
reason out of religion….Do we not glory in this,
that the whole of our religion is a ‘reasonable
service?’ Yea, and that every part of it, when it
is duly performed, is the highest exercise of our
understanding?” - John Wesley
“To believe is nothing other than to think with
assent….Believers are also thinkers; in
believing, they think and in thinking they
believe….If faith does not think, it is nothing.”
St. Augustine
“Whatever God hath revealed is certainly true:
no doubt can be made of it. This is the proper
object of faith: but whether it be a divine
revelation or no, reason must judge.”
John Locke
“No human authority is set over the reason of the
purified soul, for it is able to arrive at clear truth.”
St. Augustine
The lesson of history in this millennium … shows
that this is the path to follow: it is necessary not
to abandon the passion for ultimate truth, the
eagerness to search for it or the audacity to
forge new paths in the search. It is faith which
stirs reason to move beyond all isolation and
willingly run risks so that it may attain whatever
is beautiful, good, and true. Faith thus becomes
the convinced and convincing advocate of
reason.”
John Paul II
Faith and reason both come from the same
source; therefore there can be no contradiction.
St. Thomas Aquinas
“I do not mean that we must consult reason, and
examine whether a proposition revealed from God can
be made out by natural principles, and if it cannot, that
then we may reject it: but consult it we must, and by it
examine whether it be a revelation from God or no: and
if reason finds it to be revealed from God, reason then
declares it as much as for any other truth, and makes it
one of her dictates.”
John Locke
“…the Church cannot but set great value upon
reason’s drive to attain goals which render
people’s lives ever more worthy.”
John Paul II
“When John Wesley told a group of ministers to
become proficient in logic as part of their calling,
he was expressing a deep understanding of the
Christian faith as that faith is depicted in the
Bible and throughout church history.”
J.P. Moreland
“Faith believes what God says and then seeks to
understand it; for its duty, its goal and its reward
is to know the God who thus reveals Himself.”
St. Augustine
“Faith asks that its object be understood with the
help of reason, and at the summit of its
searching reason acknowledges that it cannot do
without what faith presents.”
John Paul II
“Augustine saw that in order for any person to
know anything, he must begin by believing
something. Credo ut intelligam; I believe in
order that I may understand. Augustine saw that
this meant that faith is not simply a religious
activity; nor is it optional. Faith is operative in
every person’s life. If it weren’t we would not
know anything.” Ronald Nash
“A wise life of virtue and knowledge comes to
those who, with humility of heart and reverence
for God,work hard at using their minds to study,
to seek understanding, to capture truth.”
J.P.Moreland
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
Mark Noll
“Religion is the sign of the oppressed
creature….It is the opium of the people. The
abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of
the people is required for their real happiness.
The demand to give up the illusions about its
condition is the demand to give up a condition
that depends on illusions.”
Karl Marx
“Marx suggests that religion arises from a
perverted world consciousness-prevented from a
correct, or right, or natural condition. Religion
involves a cognitive dysfunction, a disorder or
perversion that is apparently brought about,
somehow, by an unhealthy or perverted social
order. Religious belief, according to Marx…is a
lack of mental and emotional health. The
believer is therefore in an etymological sense
insane.”
Alvin Plantinga
“If ever there was a case of a lame excuse we
have it here. Ignorance is ignorance; no right to
believe anything can be derived from it. In other
matters no sensible person will behave so
irresponsibly or rest content with such feeble
grounds for his opinions and for the line he
takes….Where questions of religion are
concerned, people are guilty of every possible sort
of dishonesty and intellectual misdemeanor.”
Sigmund Freud
“Freud’s critique…is that theistic belief arises
from a psychological mechanism he calls ‘wishfulfillment…Beliefs produced by wish-fulfillment
aren’t oriented toward reality; their function is not
to produce true belief, but belief with some other
property (psychological comfort, for example.)”
Alvin Plantinga
“According to Freud, theistic belief is produced
by cognitive faculties that are functioning
properly, but the process that produces it –
wishful thinking – does not have the production
of true belief as its purpose; it is aimed, instead,
at something like enabling us to carry on in the
grim and threatening world in which we find
ourselves.”
Alvin Plantinga
“Still further, Freud thinks, once we see that
theistic and religious belief has its origin in
wishful thinking, we will also see that it is false.”
Alvin Plantinga
“So the fundamental thrust of Hume’s
suggestion, as of Freud’s, is that religious belief
doesn’t emerge from the segment of our whole
cognitive economy that is, as we might put it,
aimed at the production of true belief; it comes,
instead, from a desire for security, or a fear of
death or whatever. Of course what underlies
Hume’s ironic jape is the idea that Christian
belief goes directly contrary to the deliverances
of reason and experience.”
Alvin Plantinga
“The frustration resulting from the human
inability to ultimately satisfy all desires is just one
manifestation of the tension between the finite
and infinite poles of our being. Note the
tendency of many individuals to seek escape
from reality through flights of fantasy. Rather
than confront the truth about the closed frontiers
of their existence, many people prefer to live in a
world of dreams and illusions.”
Ronald Nash
“Both Descartes and Locke were impressed by
the enormous disagreement in religious and
philosophical matters; this means, of course, that
error pervades our belief in these areas.”
Alvin Plantinga
“…such belief [in the Bible] is really a voluntarily
induced schizophrenia, and probably a fruitful
source of infantilism and hysterical anxieties
about belief which are so frequently found in the
area of religion, at least in its more uncritical
areas.” (Emphasis mine)
Northrup Frye
“Even in early Christian times there were not
wanting well-meaning men who, not having
much reason themselves, imagined that reason
was of no use in religion; yea, rather that it was a
hinderance to it. And there has not been
wanting a succession of men who have believed
and asserted the same thing. But never was
there a greater number of these in the Christian
Church, at least in Britain, than at this day.”
John Wesley
“Naturalism asserts, first of all, that the primary
constituents of reality are material entities. I am
not denying the reality – the real existence – of
such things as hopes, plans, behavior, language,
logical inferences and so on. What I am
asserting, however, is that anything that is real
is, in the last analysis, explicable as a material
entity or as a form or function or action of a
material entity.”
William Halverson
W.K. Clifford argues that it is always wrong,
everywhere, to believe something without
sufficient evidence. He further argues that there
is not sufficient evidence to support religious
beliefs, therefore it is irrational to hold religious
beliefs.
Ronald Nash
The empiricist believes that all knowledge begins
with sense experience.
“…a major cause of our current cultural crisis consists
of a world view shift from a Judeo-Christian
understanding of reality to a post-Christian one.
Moreover, this shift itself expresses a growing antiintellectualism in the church resulting in a
marginalization of Christianity in society and the
emergence of the most secular culture the world has
seen. That secular culture is now playing out the
implications of ideas that have come to be widely
accepted in a social context in which the church is no
longer a major participant in the world of ideas.”
J.P.Moreland
“…there are signs of a widespread mistrust of
universal or absolute statements, especially
among those who think that truth is born of
consensus and not of a consonance between
intellect and objective reality.”
John Paul II
“Our modern post-Christian society is perilously
close to regarding Christian claims as mere
figments in the minds of the faithful.”
J.P.Moreland
Once people stop believing in God, the problem
is not that they will believe nothing; rather the
problem is that they will believe anything.
G.K.Chesterton
“Sundered from truth, individuals are at the
mercy of caprice, and their state as persons
ends up being judged by pragmatic criteria
based essentially upon experimental data….It
has happened, therefore, that reason, rather
than voicing the human orientation toward the
truth, has wilted under the weight of so much
[information] and little by little has lost the
capacity to lift its gaze to the heights, not daring
to rise to the truth of being.”
John Paul II
“God is not honored when His people use bad
arguments for what may actually be correct
conclusions. Proportionality involves
distinguishing a conclusion from arguments used
to reach it and recognizing that rejecting certain
arguments is the same as rejecting a
conclusion.”
J.P.Moreland
Now it’s time to get to meddling…
How is it that many faculty will not accept
anecdotal reasoning for even the most
inconsequential issues (which they shouldn’t),
but will take a couple of “thank you” notes from
students in a class as evidence that students
learned a lot in that course? Remember, God is
not honored by bad arguments for what may be
correct conclusions. The poor argument may
lead us to reject the conclusion.
Most faculty know that a common (the
dominant?) mode of student study for exams is
to cram for two days before the test and then
remember little of that information two weeks
after the test is over. How is it that they still
without question consider course grades a valid
source of assessment data?
What are we doing to reduce the likelihood that
students can produce evidence of learning
without really trying? (I.e., manageable class
sizes, using classroom assessment techniques,
spot checks on student learning, use of multiple
drafts of written documents, research on what
really produces student learning, etc.)
Why use wishful thinking as a means of arriving
at a conclusion that effective student learning
has occurred in a classroom and leave the
impression that Freud was right? Is this the
mode of thinking Christian faculty members and
administrators use to document that they have
been good stewards of the truth the Lord has
shared with them? If it is, then perhaps this is
the mode of thinking they use in all aspects of
their spiritual lives.
Are we really passionate for the truth? Do we
really want to know how much student learning
has occurred in our classrooms? Let’s not
perpetuate the scandal of the evangelical mind
by weak, sloppy arguments about the nature of
student learning.
If the evidence shows that students have not
engaged in an educational process that is rightly
aimed at the production of true belief, how open
are we to changing the process to increase the
likelihood that this will happen? What changes
have we made in our educational processes that
were really driven by the desire to improve
student learning? What documentation do we
have as to whether in fact it succeeded?
What significant budget decisions have been
driven by a desire to improve the quality of
student learning? What priority does this matter
have in building the overall institutional budget?
What discussions have been conducted with the
Board of Trustees regarding the quality of
student learning? What decisions have been
made by the Board of Trustees that have a direct
impact on the quality of student learning?
KNOWLEDGE, BELIEF AND
STUDENT LEARNING
TERMS DEFINED
Acquaintance knowledge – knowledge attained
by direct experience
Belief – propositions accepted based on the
testimony of another
True beliefs – Propositions accepted on the
testimony of another that are in fact true.
False beliefs - Propositions accepted on the
testimony of another that are in fact false.
BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE
These concepts are obviously very important
when we think of the spiritual life of the Christian.
They are also, however, important for
understanding what happens in student learning.
We need to demonstrate that we highly value the
role of reason in both of these processes.
FROM BELIEF TO KNOWLEDGE
Do you remember when something you
accepted on the word of a teacher (belief) you
later encountered by personal experience
(acquaintance knowledge)?
What was it? What were the conditions that
provided you with the acquaintance knowledge?
What changes occurred when your belief turned
to knowledge?
FROM BELIEF TO KNOWLEDGE
I remember learning from a teacher that evaluative,
rather than descriptive, language tends to make the
other person defensive and reduces the quality of
communication.
I distinctly remember later witnessing a conversation
where one person used very evaluative language
toward another person and seeing how defensive the
listener became. It certainly reduced the quality of their
communication!
My belief turned into acquaintance knowledge and I
became much more sensitive about the use of
evaluative language.
FROM BELIEF TO KNOWLEDGE IN
THE DISCIPLINES
Within each discipline, what understandings do
you want students to have based on
acquaintance knowledge rather than belief,
based on experience rather than on the
testimony of the faculty member?
What is your plan for facilitating that learning?
What process do you have for evaluating
whether the learning occurred and then
improving the process for future students?
FROM BELIEF TO KNOWLEDGE IN
STUDENT DEVELOPMENT
What understandings do you want your students to
have based on acquaintance knowledge as a result of
participating the student development program at your
institution?
What impact is your student development program
having on the academic knowledge formation process?
How is the academic program facilitating the learning of
students outside the classroom?
What is your assessment strategy?
FROM BELIEF TO KNOWLEDGE IN
SPIRITUAL LIFE
What understandings do you want your students to
have based on acquaintance knowledge as a result of
participating in the spiritual life program at your
institution?
What impact is your spiritual life program having on the
academic knowledge formation process?
How is the academic program facilitating the spiritual
development of your students?
What is your assessment strategy?
BELIEF FORMATION
Obviously, not all student learning can happen
by acquaintance knowledge. If we insisted on
that, we would wipe out all the history
departments! [:<(
Belief formation is very important in the
educational process.
BELIEF FORMATION
Belief is always based on trusting the testimony of the
person on whose report the belief is based.
“The clarity or completeness of a person’s knowledge or
belief can be no better than that of the person’s on
whose report that person’s belief depends.”
Dewey Hoitenga, Jr.
“Beliefs are the rails upon which our lives run.
We almost always act according to what we
really believe. It doesn’t matter much what we
say we believe or what we want others to think
we believe.”
J.P.Moreland
“You can have true belief without knowledge. If
you are a continual pessimist, believing that the
stock market will go down tomorrow, which it
does, that is true belief, but not knowledge.”
Alvin Plantinga
A belief that is not supported by an accurate and
believable account on the basis of which that
belief is held may be a false belief and the
person holding that belief may or may not know
it.
Dewey Hoitenga, Jr.
“It is unproductive to try to believe something
beyond your grounds for believing it and
dishonest to act as if you believe something
more strongly than you do. Over belief is no
virtue.”
J.P.Moreland
“Proportionality is the measure of the degree to
which one ought to accept a belief or the degree
to which a specific argument actually supports a
belief. We ought to proportion our degree of
belief to the degree for which we have grounds
for accepting it.”
J.P.Moreland
Are our belief statements about the quality of
student learning on our campuses warranted?
CONDITIONS FOR
WARRANTED BELIEF
Produced by cognitive faculties functioning
properly;
In a cognitive environment that is appropriate for
the learner’s cognitive faculties;
According to an effective design plan;
Successfully aimed at truth.
Alvin Plantinga
THE NATURE OF BELIEFS
Beliefs can be characterized by their content,
centrality and strength.
1. What is the content of your belief about the quality
of student learning on your campus? How accurate is
that content?
2. How central is that belief compared to other beliefs
about what happens on the campus?
3. How strong is your belief about the quality of
student learning? How dependable is the testimony
on which your belief is based?
“Human perfection, then, consists not simply in
acquiring an abstract knowledge of the truth, but in a
self-giving [in which] that person finds fullness of
certainty and security. At the same time, however,
knowledge through belief, grounded as it is on trust
between persons, is linked to truth:in the act of
believing, men and women entrust themselves to the
truth which the other declares to them.”
John Paul II
BELIEF AND TRUST
The trust between persons is linked to a
person’s access to the truth.
Wouldn’t it be a shame if a person’s access to
truth was blocked by the inability to trust the
report of the other person?
What determines whether a person can be
trusted?
ARISTOTLE AND TRUST
Aristotle suggested that trust depended on three
judgments about the source of the information.
1. The intelligence or competence of the source;
2. The integrity or truthfulness of the source;
3. The source’s active pursuit of good will
toward others.
TRUST AND LEARNING
Are we being smart in the approach we are using to
determine the effectiveness of student learning on our
campuses?
Are we demonstrating competence in the ways in which
we use assessment results to improve the quality of
student learning?
Do we have assessment plans that show we have clear
objectives along with an effective method for achieivng
those objectives?
TRUST AND LEARNING
Can we be trusted to provide learning
environments which are effectively aimed at
truth?
Can we be trusted to assess the degree to which
students have been in touch with the truth?
Can we be trusted to use assessment
techniques that are aimed at truth rather than at
personal convenience, ease of administration,
minimal budget impact, etc.?
TRUST AND LEARNING
Can we be trusted to make changes in our
teaching/learning environments when
assessment results show that the learning we
advertise in our publicity materials is not
occurring?
If we cannot be trusted to do these things, we
are potentially blocking our students from access
to truth.
Assessment is so important for the Christian
faculty member or administrator, based on the
faith and reason literature, because it
demonstrates that we are willing to engage in a
rigorous and candid search for truth. We do not
make claims about student learning based on
wishful thinking or weak arguments supported by
flimsy evidence.
ASSESSMENT AND THE
TEACHING/LEARNING PROCESS
Connect with the student;
Draw out the student’s current beliefs/knowledge;
Set your objectives for what you want the student to
believe/know;
Implement a plan to challenge the student to achieve
new beliefs/knowledge;
Affirm student learning;
Assess student learning;
Improve the process.
REVIEW
“There can be no conflict between the best in
education and the best in the Christian faith.” Bertha Munro
What drives our educational process is a
commitment to a rigorous and candid search for
truth.
REVIEW
Based on our commitment to truth, we have an
obligation to determine whether the truth the
Lord has shared with us is getting through to our
students.
Based on what we learn in the assessment
process, we have a duty to continually improve
the quality of student learning.
CELEBRATION
As we move into the glorious fourth movement of
Mendelssohn’s “Reformation Symphony”, let’s
celebrate what a mighty fortress we have in a
God who is the source of all Truth.
“There is within the human mind, and indeed by
natural instinct, an awareness of divinity. This
we take to be beyond controversy. To prevent
anyone from taking refuge in the pretense of
ignorance, God himself has planted in all men a
certain understanding of his divine majesty.”
John Calvin
To find truth is to know God.
It is necessary not only to seek truth, but to
possess it.
St. Augustine
“I have met many who wanted to deceive, but
none who wanted to be deceived.”
St. Augustine
The aim of forming beliefs is that of getting in
right relation to the truth.
Alvin Plantinga
:…to be sure, not all human beings follow this
natural leading of the light of truth in their minds
to God who is its source; however, that is not
because he is not there, with them in their
minds, but because they are not with him, in his
truth.”
Dewey Hoitenga, Jr.
“Christian theism must insist that there are
universal moral laws. In other words, the laws
must apply to all humans, regardless of when or
where they have lived. They must also be
objective in the sense that their truth is
independent of human preference and desire.”
Ronald Nash
“The desire for knowledge…is planted in every human
soul for excellent purposes. It is intended to hinder our
taking up our rest in anything here below; to raise our
thoughts to higher and higher objects, more and more
worthy our consideration, till we ascend to the Source of
all knowledge and all excellence, the all-wise and allgracious creator.”
John Wesley
“I ask everyone to look more deeply at human
beings and their unceasing search for truth and
meaning. Different philosophical systems have
lured people into believing that they are their
own absolute master, able to decide their own
destiny and future in complete autonomy,
trusting only in themselves and their own
powers. But this can never be the grandeur of
the human being, who can find fulfillment only in
choosing to enter the truth, to make a home
under the shade of Wisdom and dwell there.”
John Paul II
“I am the way, the truth and the life; no one
comes to the Father, but by me.”
Jesus Christ
CREDITS
Dewey J.Hoitenga, Faith and Reason from Plato to
Plantinga
J.P.Moreland, Love the Lord With All Your Mind
Ronald Nash, Faith and Reason
John Paul II, Fides et Ratio
John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor
Alvin Plantinga, Warranted Christian Belief
John Wesley, “The Case of Reason Impartially
Considered’
John Wesley, “The Imperfection of Human Knowledge”
CREDITS
This presentation was produced and edited,
flaws and all, by David Kale with the very able
assistance of Felix Mendelssohn.
Many thanks to Dr. David Liles, Professor of
Music at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, for
recommending the “Reformation Symphony” as
the music for this presentation.
Now let’s have a worship interlude in our
workshop as we allow the music to fill our hearts
with praise and adoration to our God who is the
source of all truth.