Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge

This monograph presents a robust epistemological defense of spiritual knowledge, arguing that knowledge of God and spiritual realities can meet the same standards of rationality and evidence as other domains of human knowledge. Willard challenges the widespread assumption in contemporary Western culture that religious beliefs are inherently matters of mere faith or subjective preference, lacking the objectivity and reliability of scientific or empirical knowledge.

Central to Willard's argument is his critique of what he terms the "knowledge exclusion" of spiritual matters from serious intellectual consideration. He traces this exclusion to the influence of empiricist philosophy and the rise of scientific materialism, which have relegated religious claims to the realm of private opinion rather than public knowledge. Against this backdrop, Willard develops a comprehensive theory of knowledge that encompasses spiritual realities, drawing on phenomenological philosophy, particularly the work of Edmund Husserl, and integrating insights from contemporary epistemology.

The work systematically addresses several key epistemological questions: what constitutes knowledge versus mere belief, how we can have direct acquaintance with spiritual realities, and why testimony remains a valid source of knowledge in religious matters. Willard argues that many people do in fact have genuine knowledge of God through direct experience, rational reflection, and reliable testimony, though this knowledge is often dismissed or explained away by naturalistic presuppositions.

Willard particularly engages with naturalistic philosophers and New Atheist writers who claim that religious belief is irrational or unsupported by evidence. He contends that their arguments often rest on narrow conceptions of evidence and knowledge that arbitrarily exclude spiritual experience and testimony. His defense of moral knowledge as pointing toward divine reality provides another avenue for his case that spiritual knowledge is both possible and actual.

The monograph's significance lies in its attempt to restore intellectual respectability to claims of religious knowledge within academic discourse. By arguing that spiritual knowledge can meet rigorous epistemological standards, Willard challenges both secular skeptics who dismiss religious claims and religious believers who retreat into fideism. His work represents a sophisticated philosophical response to the marginalization of religious knowledge in contemporary intellectual culture, offering tools for those who seek to defend the rationality of Christian belief in particular and spiritual knowledge more generally.