Religious views on truth
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Religious views on truth vary from religion and cultures around the world.
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Christianity
Christian truth is based upon the history, revelation and testimony from the Bible, and are central to Christian beliefs. Some Christians believe that other authorities are sources of doctrinal truth — such as in Roman Catholicism, the Pope is said to be infallible when pronouncing on certain, rather specific, matters of church doctrine. The central person in Christianity, Jesus, claimed to be "Truth" when he said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through me." Truth is thus considered to be an attribute of God. In Christian Science, (not recognised as a Christian organization by the bulk of mainstream churches) Truth is God.
Biblical inerrancy
Some Christian traditions hold a doctrine called Biblical inerrancy, which believes that the Bible is without error. Various interpretations have been applied, depending on the tradition. According to some interpretations of the doctrine, all of the Bible is without error, i.e., is to be taken as true, no matter what the issue. Other interpretations hold that the Bible is always true on important matters of faith, while other interpretations hold that the Bible is true but must be specifically interpreted in the context of the language, culture and time that relevant passages were written.
The Magisterium of the Church
The Roman Catholic Church holds that it has a continuous teaching authority, magisterium, which preserves the definitive, i.e. the truthful, understanding of the faith, irrelevant of a literal interpretation of the Bible. The notion of the Pope as "infallible" in matters of faith and morals is derived from this idea.
"Double truth" theories
In thirteenth century Europe, the Roman Catholic Church denounced what it described as theories of "double truth," i.e. theories to the effect that that reason and science can come to one truth and faith to another, with both being true yet contradictory. The Church held that there is only one truth, and that both faith and reason are two paths that lead to this one truth, making them complementary instead of antagonistic.
See also
