7
Now, at this stage, we should raise a preliminary concern. If God truly is independent of
language, then Grenz and Franke face a dilemma. Since they assume that Christians can know
God, it seems to be the case that they presuppose that Christians can know and have epistemic
contact with something that is unconstructed, namely, God. If that is so, then they presuppose
after all that believers do have at least some epistemic access to an extra-linguistic,
unconstructed realm. But that result would seem to be unacceptable to them, since it runs
contrary to their many claims that we do not have such access. Moreover, to grant this point,
they will have to concede one of the central premises of their book.
Even so, let us suppose for the sake of argument that they might agree with this position,
that Christians can know God in an unconstructed way, but that is the extent of such knowledge.
But then Christians would know reality per se, since God would have revealed such truth. It
follows that Christians would have an epistemic vantage point from which they could correctly
judge all viewpoints and truth claims. But that result undercuts a central position they have
vigorously defended.
So, how should we interpret Grenz and Franke on this issue? In order to treat them as
being consistent with their many strong claims, it therefore seems we must interpret them in a
way that affirms their clear belief in the human inability to know an unconstructed realm. Given
that position, they might reply that, yes, God has given special revelation, and the Holy Spirit
does break through Christians' language. But what they mean by such claims is just that these
are the ways Christians talk according to the rules of their language. They could argue rightly
that in giving divine revelation, the Bible makes many universal truth claims, such as that Jesus
is the only way to God; that God has spoken through His Son, the prophets, and apostles, etc.
Accordingly, they could contend that scripture, which serves as the "grammar" of how Christians