Abstract

This dissertation offers a critical examination of the model of rationality employed by the Dutch theologian G. C. Berkouwer. The study seeks to contribute to the discussions within theology and philosophy concerning the nature of rationality, the epistemic function of theological communities and traditions of discourse, and the justification and foundation of dogmatics. ;Chapter one serves as an introduction to the study and offers a rationale for why Berkouwer is an appropriate object of study. In chapter two, the author argues that fideism is a type of rationality. The concept of the life-world is traced through Edmund Husserl, Alfred Schutz, and Jurgen Habermas in order to establish the relationship between the life-world and rationality. The structure of this relationship is similar to that postulated by Ludwig Wittgenstein concerning the relationship between fideism and the forms of life . On the basis of this comparison, the notion of a "reasonable fideism" is constructed. ;Chapter three is an explication of Berkouwer's religio-intellectual life-world. Berkouwer's life-world is dominated by three spheres of influence: the Neo-Calvinism of Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck, an emerging continental ecumenism, and a mid-century existential subjectivism. Berkouwer seeks to correlate the communal emphases of ecumenism and the individualistic emphases of subjectivism within the resources of Neo-Calvinism. ;Chapter four offers a phenomenological description of Berkouwer's "reasonable fideism." Using William Alston's notion of "reliably engendered belief," the author describes Berkouwer's unique appeal to faith. Berkouwer is an epistemological non-foundationalist but a metaphysical realist. Berkouwer presents his reliabilism through an appeal to scripture, the Reformed confessions, and the community of believers and through a rejection of apologetics and theological prolegomena. Berkouwer's confessional approach rejects a strict rationalism while critically appropriating appeals to mystery and the Holy Spirit. ;In the concluding chapter five, the author seeks to evaluate Berkouwer's approach in the light of contemporary theology and philosophy and apply Berkouwer's model of "reasonable fideism" to the questions generated by both Reformed Epistemology and Post-liberalism