Copyright holder: Tyndale University, 3377 Bayview Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2M 3S4 Att.: Library Director, J. William Horsey Library Copyright: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Copyright license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Citation: Bramer, Paul. “Relativism, Religion, and Christian Education.” In Evangelical Dictionary of Christian Education, edited by Michael J. Anthony, 588-589. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001. ***** Begin Content ****** TYNDALE UNIVERSITY 3377 Bayview Avenue Toronto, ON M2M 3S4 TEL: 416.226.6620 www.tyndale.ca Note: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Bramer, Paul. “Relativism, Religion, and Christian Education.” In Evangelical Dictionary of Christian Education, edited by Michael J. Anthony, 588-589. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001. [ Citation Page ] EVANGELICAL DICTIONARY of CHRISTIAN EDUCATION Edited by Michael J. Anthony Associate Editors; Warren S. Benson, Daryl Eldridge, and Julie Gorman Baker Academic A Division of Baker Book House Co Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516 [ Title Page ] © 2001 by Baker Book House Company Published by Baker Academic a division of Baker Book House Company P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Evangelical dictionary of Christian education / general editor, Michael J Anthony ; associate editors, Warren Benson, Daryl Eldridge, and Julie Gorman. p. cm. — (Baker reference library) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8010-2184-7 (hardcover) 1. Christian education—Dictionaries. I. Anthony, Michael J. II. Benson, Warren S. III. Eldridge, Daryl, 1951- IV. Gorman, Julie. V. Series. BV1461.E93 2001 268.03—dc21 00-050763 Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations identified nasb are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org) Scripture quotations identified nkjv are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations identified nrsv are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. Scripture quotations identified TLB are taken from The Living Bible © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations identified nlt are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, © 1996. Used by per- mission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved. For information about academic books, resources for Christian leaders, and all new releases available from Baker Book House, visit our web site: http://www.bakerbooks.com [ Title Page Verso ] Relativism, Religion, and Christian Educa- tion. Relativism is a philosophic position which denies that there is any absolute reference point or that there is any possibility of knowing any- thing as it is. Relativism affirms that one’s knowl- edge and value judgments, that is, what one per- ceives as true or false, right or wrong, good or bad, are subject to ones perception and situation. Because perceptions and situations differ from place to place, time to time, person to person, and culture to culture, relativism concludes that no universal judgments can be made. While rela- tivism may be related to pluralism, it should not be confused with it. Pluralism is a social reality and a political position, acknowledging differ- ences, particularly racial, cultural, and religious differences, and affirming the right of most dif- ferences to exist. [ Page ] 588 A relativistic viewpoint (sometimes identified with skepticism) has a long history in philosophy. However, it had been a minor voice until the modern era when David Hume (1711-76) devel- oped the notion that the only way we can know is through perceptions based on sensory input. Later, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) attempted to protect science from relativism by postulating that the human mind had innate categories for sense perception, but he denied that ability to know anything nonmaterial, including God. It should be noted that Albert Einstein’s (1870- 1955) theory of relativity in physics has increased the popular sense that “all is relative,” but in fact his theory includes the constant of the speed of light. The relativist viewpoint now permeates secular societies. In a 1994 U.S. survey, George Barna found 72 percent of the respondents agreed with the statement, "There is no such thing as ab- solute truth; two people could define truth in to- tally conflicting ways, but both could be correct.” (Barna, 1994, 155-56). Allan Bloom observed that “There is one thing a professor can be ab- solutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he [or she] be- lieves, that truth is relative” (1987, 25). However, many people have little awareness of the ground- ings, inner contradiction, implications, or conse- quences of relativism and they often apply it selectively. Relativism is worked out in many areas of thought. Metaphysical relativism denies any ob- jective absolute, including the eternal God por- trayed in the Bible. Epistemological relativism, starting with finite, conditioned, and individual humans, denies the ability to know absolute truth. Cultural relativism goes beyond the obvious recognition that cultures differ in many ways from one another. Cultural relativism holds that cultures are constructed by people according to their own values and needs and are not to be evaluated by the norms of any other culture of (nonexistent) absolute. If a group believes certain behavior to be right, then the act is right for them and there can be no justification for morally judging it. Cultural relativists cannot condemn slavery previously practiced in the Southern states, child and adult sacrifices of ancient reli- gions, the genocide of the Nazis, or the recent apartheid of South Africa. Ethical or moral relativism is related to cultural relativism. The idea of absolute criteria for values is rejected; universally binding categorical imper- atives (such as the Ten Commandments) are de- nied. Values are only relative to the person or sit- uation (situational ethics) or culture in which a person functions. Some implications of this posi- tion include the impossibility of judging any cul- turally accepted practice as immoral, the illusion of the idea of moral progress, the arbitration of morals by public opinion, and the importance of defining the boundaries of the culture. Religious relativism is another variation of cul- tural relativism. Kant argued that the transcen- dent dimension in religion is unverifiable and that at best it is allowable as an individual and private experience. Since there is no external or ultimate reference point by which religions may be judged or compared, people are left to choose a religion if they wish based on what seems best for them. Apologists for the Christian faith have correctly identified relativism as one of the major mindsets which must be addressed in order for modern and postmodern persons to be able to adopt the Christian faith and life. Christians realize that human knowledge is limited by our finiteness in terms of the faculties we have to receive infor- mation, our ability to process that information, the accessibility of the object of our knowledge, and our location, space and time. We acknowl- edge the "relative relativeness” of many things, and accept that "we know only in part” (1 Cor. 13:9), but insist that we may know, as Francis Schaeffer (1972) said, "true truth” (18). We be- lieve that at the heart of reality is the infinite, eternal, personal God who formed the universe, communicated moral laws to humankind, acts redemptively in history, and will be the arbiter of all creation. Christian education must address not only the logic of relativism but also take into account its mood. Many people are attracted to relativism because it leads to tolerance of differing views. Relativistic thought also considers it inappropri- ate to make universal claims such as "Jesus is the way to God” or to try to persuade people to change their minds. Christian educators must show respect for all people, allowing them to state their views and listening empathetically to them, while lovingly challenging them with the message of the Bible. We can and must stress rel- evance and persona] meaning without succumb- ing to the impoverishment of relativism. Paul Bramer Bibliography G. Barna (1994), Virtual America; A. Bloom (1987), The Closing of the American Mind; F. Schaeffer (1972), He Is There and He Is Not Silent. [ Page ] 589 ***** This is the end of the e-text. This e-text was brought to you by Tyndale University, J. William Horsey Library - Tyndale Digital Collections *****