161 The Methodology of Theological Action Research 4 (2013), as closely related as it is to TAR, coheres with the Reformed Christian epistemology. In this epistemology, the Bible is considered God’s absolute, true and full revelation (Huijgen, 2019, pp. 156–167) (1). Nevertheless, it is important to underline that Reformed theology recognises two sources of revelation, as stated in Article 2 of the Belgic Confession. God reveals Himself through nature and through Scripture. In his study of the interrelationship of these two sources in article 2, Kunz (2013) argues that it cannot be maintained that God can be known from creation only through the lens of the Bible, but that, on the contrary, creationist knowledge of God is accessible to all human beings. In addition, according to Calvinism, the Holy Spirit is present in culture and in creativity, as stated by Geluk (2000). Furthermore, man’s understanding of Biblical truth and divine revelation in nature is never perfect, as it is always partial and subject to a process in which Word and Spirit, reader and context, actuality and tradition play their roles (van Doleweerd, 2012). In this process, Christians necessarily learn from each other (Ephesians 3:19). Thus, van Doleweerd (2012) concluded that: The Holy Spirit works with and by means of the Word in the reader. Therefore, in hermeneutics we must speak with three words: Word and Spirit and reader (…) The autopistia legitimizes fluidity in hermeneutical methodology to arrive at an explanation, interpretation, and application of the text. (p. 225) What van Doleweerd (2012) did with respect to divine revelation through Scripture can, via comparison, also be applied to the other source of revelation distinguished in the Reformed Christian tradition: nature, creation and the knowledge that comes from it. Reformed epistemologists have underlined that a general idea about God and/or His wisdom is even reflected in and through the teachings of secular or even atheistic persons. The fundamental realisation that Christians can learn from them, even about God and morals et cetera, lies at the heart of Reformed teaching about the very partial knowledge of God in man due to the fall and brokenness, which is not restored immediately or wholly by grace. Approximating the TAR methodology from a Reformed perspective, it can be observed that there are both Protestant (Salvationist and Anglican) and Catholic influences on its epistemology (Watkins, 2020). Among its inventors, the work of Clare Watkins has arguably showed the most Catholic influences. Referring to what she called ‘an authentic “whole-church” ecclesiological instinct’ (p. 8), 1 Although he was critical of it, Huijgen (2019) mentioned the far-reaching Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978). This statement was also signed by Reformed theologians such as J.I. Packer and R.C. Sproul.
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