I've previously mentioned Christian philosopher (epistemologist) Alvin Plantinga and his influential Reformed Epistemology. Just to refresh your memory, he argues that Christian belief can be epistemologically justified without any evidence at all, solely on the basis of an internal sensus divinitatis (sense of the divine) and the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. This doesn't mean such belief is true, of course, simply that it isn't irrational and can be justified in the face of claims that it's delusional.
But wait, there's a catch! And the catch is the subject of this blog entry, which continues my exploration of Christian epistemology.
Plantinga says his epistemology assumes a "properly functioning set of belief-forming mental faculties" operating in the way they were intended to operate. In more mundane terms, it assumes you're thinking clearly about the matters you're trying to think about.
At this point, forget Plantinga. He and his Reformed Epistemology aren't the subject here. The subject here is: To what extent may quirks and deficiencies in your (and my) thinking be affecting your (and my) religious beliefs?
This is a touchy subject, so I'll use myself as an example of such quirks and deficiencies – and in a context completely outside the realm of religious belief.
Weirdness has always held an attraction for me. I was intensely studying things like UFOs, ghosts and reincarnation before I was a teenager. After President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, when I was 13, the assassination became one such interest.
I happened to be on the mailing list of a discount bookseller who, for some reason, always had an incredible selection of JFK assassination books at very cheap prices. I lapped them up, from Mark Lane to Robert Groden, David Lifton and all the rest. By the time I was 30, I would've thought you were completely off your rocker if you claimed Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone. I may not have been sure which of the 15 or so mutually exclusive conspiracy theories was correct, but by God one of them was at least in the ballpark.
In my forties, I dived more deeply into the assassination in a more serious way. I discovered enough things on my own that I'm actually referred to as a "researcher" in some articles and books. One thing my research discovered was how many factoids of what I call the Conspiracy Gospel are simply false and can easily be shown to be false.
The scales fell from my eyes, as the saying goes. While still acknowledging some legitimate issues and mysteries, I'm now a Lone Nutter (the derisive term the conspiracy theorists use for the Oswald Did It camp). I don't think Oswald was a nut, but I do think he acted alone.
I was eventually struck by something on the most prominent conspiracy-oriented JFK assassination forum (where we were required to use our real names and photos and provide verifiable academic credentials): Highly educated, very intelligent people were capable of believing the most incredibly nonsensical things, things that defied all rationality and logic. Confronted with evidence, rationality and logic, they only dug in deeper. It seemed obvious to me their "belief-forming mental faculties" were definitely not "functioning properly" and that this was driving their conspiracy orientation.
Upon further research, I discovered that in recent years there has been published a vast body of psychological and sociological literature concerning those who are prone to wild conspiracy thinking. Some of these folks are indeed suffering from mental pathologies, but many are not. They do, however, fit a pretty distinct psychological profile. Similar bodies of research have established profiles for those prone to joining cults or holding other extremist views.
This became my main interest in the JFK assassination. Not the assassination itself but: Why do these intelligent, educated, seemingly sane people believe such patently wacky nonsense?
Over a period of months, I posted discussions of and links to much of this literature on the forum. THEY HATED ME!!! Nothing made them angrier than being confronted with who they were. UFO enthusiasts might be conspiracy wackos, but NOT THEM!!!
No, they were serious researchers engaged in a rational quest for truth, following the evidence where it led. The JFK assassination is vastly bigger and more important than the mere loss of a young President. It is the Rosetta Stone that explains the entire dark history of the U.S. over the past 60 years. The conspirators are still in control!!!
The whole thing was a lot like - wait for it - A RELIGION, with its own prophets, priests, holy texts, holy sites, feuding denominations and all the rest.
The disturbing part was, I had been one of them. (They refused to believe this, even though early in my journey I had posted in a conspiracy vein myself. NO, they insisted, no one could POSSIBLY shift from the righteous conspiracy camp to the delusional Lone Nut camp. I must have been a CIA disinformation agent from the get-go.)
Because I had indeed been one of them, I had to look in the mirror and admit the conspiracy profile is ME to a considerable extent. Perhaps my career as a lawyer helped snap me out of it by forcing me to think rationally, logically and critically and follow the actual evidence to where it actually led. (This can't be the sole explanation, however. A disproportionate number of the most prominent conspiracy enthusiasts are lawyers, so my defection must have also been due in part to my willingness to critically examine my own tendencies.)
There is no question I still have these tendencies, as well as some of the tendencies of the proverbial Adult Child of two alcoholic parents. Now, in every area of my thinking, be it religious or secular, weird or not-so-weird, I try to be hypersensitive to my own proclivities, to be as self-critical as I can, and to stay within the ballpark of rational thought.
WHAT ON EARTH does this have to do with Christianity? A great deal, I believe.
Consider the Christianity Board forums. Do we see a considerable amount of actual mental pathology? Indeed we do, as is true of every internet forum, and there's nothing we can do about this except live with it. I try to be gentle with these folks.
But we also see what I saw on the JFK assassination forum: People who seem educated, intelligent and at least superficially rational but who have the most bizarre perspectives and beliefs. As with UFOs and the JFK assassination, Christianity is its own little domain of weirdness that seems to attract extreme personality types. I wouldn't presume to define or categorize them all. Their psychologies may draw them to completely different perspectives, from extreme fundamentalism to extreme liberalism to completely reinventing Christianity to suit themselves or even viewing themselves as God's personal latter-day messengers of truth.
There's nothing we can do about this either, except be aware of it and live with it. There is obviously a considerable spectrum of "belief-forming mental faculties" that are "functioning properly," and folks within this spectrum can have respectful and rewarding discussions, but sometimes it's fair to say, "No, this person is being driven by some psychology that is simply alien to me even if I can't precisely define it." Perhaps you'll conclude this about O'Darby!
The one thing we actually can do, or try to do, is to understand our own quirks, proclivities and deficiencies and not let them drive the bus. Just as many Christians fear examining the historical milieu in which Christianity arose, what the best scholarship can tell us about the Bible, and what the best science can tell us about the reality we inhabit, many equally fear examining why they hold the beliefs they do and the possibility that psychological tendencies may be playing a larger role than they imagine. In some cases, there may be nothing we can do about these tendencies (because they have genetic or physical roots) but be aware of them and try not to let them drive the bus.
Socrates believed the first step to true wisdom is to “know thyself” because only then can one appreciate what one understands and what remains to be learned. The Bible may say "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9) - and I agree - but "know thyself" should be a big part of the journey, too, it seems to me.
