What is Truth? - Part 1: Introduction

I've desired for some time to teach this topic in one of my classes which has been so dear to my pursuits in life and as a philosophy major in college, but, for lack of time, energy, and opportunity, I believe it best to write down my thoughts so in time I'll be able to properly furnish what I have thus far been prohibited from accomplishing.

For as long as I remember, the question, "What is Truth?" has alway made my spine shiver with wonder and fear. I always find myself glossing over the passage where Pontius Pilate asks Christ, "Quid est Veritas?" And I imagine the feeling he must have experienced in knowing he had met someone who knew the answer.

But if this question fails to provide even the slightest reverberation, I cannot say you are without hope; for long ago we have not only ceased in searching for the answer but have stopped asking the question. We find what is true, or what truth may exist, but these are all object dependent. They all point to something; they fail to ask why. The sky is blue, the sun is white, roses are red, and all's fair in love and war. Western Civilization was prodded by this question, Christianity grew because it dared to provide an answer. But I think our age has lost its way. What I intend to do, as briefly and coherently as possible, is outline where we started, where we tried, where we stopped, and what an answer to such a question would mean for us.

But before I begin, by way of necessity, I must add a pedantic note. For those who have studied systematic theology (natural or revealed) or had a cursory introduction in hermeneutics, will find this redundant; for those who have not, please allow me the benefit of the doubt. As we study the Bible, and I'm afraid this also can be carried over to the study of language in general, the doctrines we extrapolate are under-determinative. What we often mean when we say 'it is obvious' or 'it is explicit' we mean to say 'it is with our best understanding.; And when we arrive at the fineness of a truth, where the road seems to suddenly dampen in the silence of a misty bog, we must remember we have not arrived at the end without hope and in despair, but at the beginning with wonder and fear, knowing the road is yet finished and work yet to be done. For whatever follows, there will be room for debates, challenges, and questions - all which are welcomed and encouraged.

Furthermore, it has often been said that in the halls of our theology departments we hear the footsteps of Aristotle more often than we hear the footsteps of Jesus Christ. While I believe this is an ill-founded accusation which derives its thrust from the fame of one to slander the fame of another, I will admit that in the course of philosophy and theology there are many over-laps. But the chiefest of these which I am concerned is the apparent similarities between The Philosophers and the Truth of Christ. I will not pretend that The Philosophers preached the same gospel of Christianity, as they are vastly different, but I will admit that the greatest of minds, given the glory of God revealed through nature, were on to something. And whatever that something may have been, in this vast search for truth, I'm in no doubt we have heard similar echoes.