In a March 29th lecture that was engaging and entertaining, Dr. Leonard Sweet used biblical, theological, historical and personal references to present the idea that Christianity has a “strange” understanding of truth compared to other religions and philosophies. All others, except Christianity, are based on the premise of the leader instructing his followers to “Follow my teaching.” But, Jesus alone instructed His followers to “Follow me.” Sweet suggests that Christian truth is primarily personal and relational, and only secondarily, is it propositional. Therefore, if one has a proper relationship with God and understood the truth through this relationship, then there would be little need for propositional truths–lists that enumerate truth. Sweet suggests that this perspective sets a higher standard for the Christian life compared to what is accepted in Christianity today.

Jesus’ signature statement, found over 100 times in His words and teachings in the New Testament is “I tell you the truth.” Jesus also said that “I am the Way, the Life and the Truth.” To Jesus, the understanding of truth was extremely important and that it was understood by His followers through their relationships with Jesus and with others. Sweet suggests that the writings of the Apostle Paul contained little of Jesus’ teachings, but rather focused on the relational aspects of Jesus’ life, particularly His death, resurrection and future return.

Sweet asserted that many who have a postmodern perspective of life still believe in “absolute truth,” but that they have a different understanding of truth than do those who view life from a modern perspective. Modern truth “possesses certainty” and is dualistic. He suggested that modern truth has a hard time with contradictions, but that Christianity is full of contradictions. He cited examples from Christian theology that have been debated for years, such as God is One but God is also three; and God has foreknowledge, but man also has free will. He also cited examples from Jesus’ teachings. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but He didn’t come to bring peace, but rather a sword. Jesus came to give life, but He said to take up the cross and follow Him. Sweet suggested that there is spiritual power when these seeming contradictions are brought together. He used the metaphor of a battery to illustrate his point. The two ends of a battery have opposite poles and either end is “dead” by itself, but when they are brought together with a wire, there is power. In Christianity, it is one’s relationships with God and with others that brings out the power of the truth of Jesus.

In discussing his idea that Christian truth is primarily personal and relational, and only secondarily, propositional, he used a metaphor of driving over a bridge. If one is driving properly, then there is no need for the guard rails on the bridge. But, if something goes amiss, then the guard rails are there for protection and to correct the problem. In Christian truth there is a role for propositional truth (the guard rails), but if one is living in a right relationship with God then propositional truth really is unneeded and of secondary importance. The relative value of these “guard rails” in the Christian life was the focus of much of the later discussion.

In a statement that later generated discussion after the lecture, Sweet suggested that in this view of Christian truth as primarily relational, truth is both absolute and relative. He suggested that truth is absolute in that God is timeless and is the same yesterday, today and forever, but that it is relative in that God is timely and is relevant to every culture and every age. The truth of Jesus, through one’s relationship with Him is refreshed and made relevant each day.

Leonard Sweet is a well-know Christian author, teacher, historian and futurist. He has authored more than one hundred articles, over six hundred published sermons, and dozens of books. He has professorships at both Drew University and George Fox University. Sweet’s writings have had a substantial impact on the development of the emergent church movement.

The lecture and panel discussion was sponsored by MacLaurin Institute and Mars Hill Students. The lecture was held at Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis. One of the goals of the Institute is to help bring academia and churches together by providing events, such as this, that brings challenging Christian thought to engage the broader Christian community.