The Collision between Faith and Knowledge: A Post-Crash Analysis - Greg Jesson - August 25th 2023 - Friday Night Lecture

One of the dismissive phrases that has powerfully gripped our culture lately is “We rely on the science.” This is often uttered by people who have no idea what it even means; nevertheless, there is a great confusion between basing things on knowledge and basing things on faith. These are often seen as conflicting: knowledge comes from science whereas religious belief comes from faith. This just means that knowledge is about evidence, but faith comes from blind belief. Consequently, religion is frequently dismissed as nothing more than personal, blind belief, which has no connection to knowledge and no real authority for everyone.

This common account is a complete confusion. In fact, life separated from knowledge quickly becomes untenable—we are now witnessing this in every part of our collapsing culture. This lecture will explore what faith and knowledge actually are, and how faith in the Bible cannot be separated from the context of truth and knowledge. Finally, we will look at Christianity’s unique stand on knowledge and how knowledge of the truth is the most practical thing in the world.

Greg Jesson’s long journey took him from UCLA and USC (where he studied under Dallas Willard) in Los Angeles, where he earned a BA and Masters degrees, to L’Abri in Switzerland where he studied under Francis Schaeffer, and finally to the University of Iowa, where he competed his PhD in philosophy, writing on what the structure of the mind must be in order for knowledge to be possible. He has published articles on the nature of thought and knowledge, philosophy of mathematics, Francis Schaeffer, Dallas Willard, apologetics, the truth and relevance of Christianity, and the portrayal of ultimate issues in movies. Over the decades he has taught at eight colleges and one seminary, and lectured extensively in America including Stanford, the University of California at Santa Cruz, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the Pentagon, and the National Cathedral. He has also lectured widely in Europe in the last few years. He was most recently a professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Ethics and Public Life at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He now spends his time writing, lecturing, restoring an old Porsche and an older house, while trying to keep up with his energetic puppy, Dr. Watson.