Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Seek Knowledge & Affirm Faith: Conflicting World Views?, Jay Brand

Andrews University Teaching and Learning Conference

I believe that the relationship between reason and faith necessarily involves one being subordinate to the other. However, the first two components of Andrews University's motto, "Seek Knowledge, Affirm Faith, Change the World" juxtapose these epistemologies as equals. In valuing peer-reviewed sources above others, graduate education tends to promote reason over faith as an approach to evidence, and in so-doing, undermines faith in Biblical authority. Peer-reviewed analyses of Scripture become more valuable than the Words of Scripture. Over time, this scholarly hermeneutic erodes the final authority of Scripture and compromises the foundation for faith.