The Problem of the Fact/Value Split
Every now and then I’ll come across a statement about faith and science, faith and politics, or faith and economics being mutually exclusive. So one can speak openly in public on science, politics, and economics; however, one must always keep faith or religious matters private. Some might even attempt to expunge from its science, political, and economic vocabulary anything that might be considered “religious.” This is something of a fact/value split, which places faith in an upper story of personal, private, beliefs, and science, politics, and economics in the lower story of public matters.
Nancy Pearcy in her book Total Truth observes that this fact/value spirit ultimately “traps Christianity in the upper story of privatized values, and prevents it from having any effect on public culture.” She then encourages Christians to overcome this dichotomy and to recover their rightful place in the public square through developing a biblical worldview. It is a worldview that beings with the submission of one’s mind to the Lord of the universe. It is a commitment to Christ command, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind” (Luke 10:27). It is ultimately “taking every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
It is ultimately a biblical worldview that can offer to all the spiritual foundations for the development and promotion of science, politics, and economics. For example, science in the West was birth out of the notion that God created the heavens and the earth, so as man explores the external world, and discovers truths about the cosmos, he is in fact learning more about its Creator. Scriptures also offer us the basis for representative governments. God establishes the rulers and authorities (Rom. 13:1-2), but no one is above the law, nor the Divine Lawmaker. If rulers began to rule as tyrants, they were opposing the divine law and God, and citizens could remove them from office. Biblical ethics also serve as key elements to economic growth. Solomon observed, “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight” (Prov. 11:1). In places where corruption reigns, where people must offer bribes, steal, of scam others to do business, real economic growth is stifled and severe poverty results.
Faith is not to be excluded from public discourse on matters related to science, politics, and economics. A robust biblical worldview in fact calls for Christians to think christianly upon these matters.
Nancy Pearcy in her book Total Truth observes that this fact/value spirit ultimately “traps Christianity in the upper story of privatized values, and prevents it from having any effect on public culture.” She then encourages Christians to overcome this dichotomy and to recover their rightful place in the public square through developing a biblical worldview. It is a worldview that beings with the submission of one’s mind to the Lord of the universe. It is a commitment to Christ command, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind” (Luke 10:27). It is ultimately “taking every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
It is ultimately a biblical worldview that can offer to all the spiritual foundations for the development and promotion of science, politics, and economics. For example, science in the West was birth out of the notion that God created the heavens and the earth, so as man explores the external world, and discovers truths about the cosmos, he is in fact learning more about its Creator. Scriptures also offer us the basis for representative governments. God establishes the rulers and authorities (Rom. 13:1-2), but no one is above the law, nor the Divine Lawmaker. If rulers began to rule as tyrants, they were opposing the divine law and God, and citizens could remove them from office. Biblical ethics also serve as key elements to economic growth. Solomon observed, “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight” (Prov. 11:1). In places where corruption reigns, where people must offer bribes, steal, of scam others to do business, real economic growth is stifled and severe poverty results.
Faith is not to be excluded from public discourse on matters related to science, politics, and economics. A robust biblical worldview in fact calls for Christians to think christianly upon these matters.
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