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written, for surely that context, as well as the linguistic usage, shapes and influences that
particular theology. And, they rightly emphasize the need to understand the church as a kind of
community, for clearly the biblical writers did not see the Christian life as one lived
independently from other Christ followers. Grenz and Franke also draw upon many different
disciplines, such as sociology and philosophy, to help shape their theological reflection. In
principle, this seems good, for other disciplines may shed interesting light upon theological
reflection. Nonetheless, that does not mean that theologians should uncritically accept those
views.
But their very tight relationship between language and the world should raise various
concerns for Christians. We now will turn to address a few crucial ones.
The Prospects of Divine Revelation
Special revelation involves the communication of propositional truth known by God and
not humans. These truths are such by virtue of their correspondence with an extra-linguistic
realm that can be known only from a God's-eye viewpoint; hence, God must reveal them by
special, as opposed to general, revelation. Now, on Grenz and Franke's view, God must have the
ability to see things as they are in themselves. Otherwise, He too would be on the inside of
something (perhaps the language of the Trinity?) and could not get out. If that were the case,
then special revelation would be impossible; God too could see and know things only through
His own language, and not in themselves. So, wisely, Grenz and Franke assume that the Holy
Spirit can break through human language and speak to the church in all its localities. This move
enables them to hold, along with the biblical writers, that we can know and receive special
revelation directly from God.