John Henry Newman held that “religious truth is not a portion, but a condition of general knowledge” and thus that the universe is knowable (see page 55 in Naming the Elephant: Worldview As a Concept). Sire says, “Total reality consists of the noumenal (a transcendent reality) and the phenomenal (an imminent reality). The noumenal is inaccessible to the human mind. But the phenomenal can be known because the human mind contains the categories by which the phenomenal can be structured and thus understood” (see page 39). Write a paper (1,500-2,000 words) that addresses the following: 1) In what ways do the observations of Newman and Sire underscore key bases of the differences between primarily secular and distinctively Christian worldviews? 2) How do these differences emphasize the importance of “ontology before epistemology” in developing an internally consistent worldview? Develop your thoughts and support your conclusions.
