The “Sensus Divinitatis”

I’m working on a research paper for my Christian Philosophy class, and I think I’ve settled on discussing some of the ramifications of Reformed Epistemology (yes, I know I will need to narrow that down a bit). Yesterday, I spent a little while looking up a few articles at the library at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. One of the articles, written by Derek Jeffreys, was particularly critical of Alvin Plantinga’s use of John Calvin in justifying his epistemological system. Simply stated, Plantinga utilizes Calvin’s “sensus divinitatis” (the idea that within the human mind and by natural instinct there is an awareness of the divine nature) to state that a belief in God is natural for human beings, such that one who denies belief in God is in an epistemologically inferior position. However, this usage is somewhat unwarranted (according to Jeffreys), since it ignores the fact that Calvin uses the SD in a negative sense (i.e., it is unreliable and cannot establish a correct knowledge of God).

In summarizing his views in the article, Jeffreys makes a couple of interesting points with regard to the nature of sin in all this. He states,

Because we cannot control our sense perception and the evil thoughts it elicits, God’s beautiful creation becomes a breeding ground for sin. The beauty of the earth and the heavens should lead us to God, but lead instead to perverted images. … Images stream into our conciousnesses day and night, and we cannot control taking pleasure in them, consent to them, and then act on them. … These images lead inexorably to a cycle of sinful behaviour. Without Scripture and the Holy Spirit, the faithless have absolutely no hope of escaping this cycle. Only those who know God’s benevolence through faith can begin a gradual ascent out of their epistemic confusion.

Indeed, we are lost without Christ.