Seek and you will find.
Really? Is there any truth in religion?

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free

• Really? Different religions and some secular disciplines (e.g., Freudian psychoanalysis, education theorists) make the same claim.

I. Truth as factual correctness

• Do the statements really correspond with the facts?
• The concept of truth associated with this approach is called "the correspondence theory of truth."

Questions of fact

• Did the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna told in the Gita actually occur?
• Which version of the Ten Commandments did Moses actually give the Israelites?
• How accurate are the New Testament records of what Jesus said and did?
• Did an angel really tell Mohammad what to write?

Factual questions to probe a text

• What does this word mean in context?
• What type of writing is this? An historical narrative, a story intended as fiction, a collection of words of wisdom, a hymn?
• What did this sentence mean in the culture in which it was originally used?
• What knowledge about the culture helps me understand this passage?

Limits of the correspondence view of truth

• Some factual claims can't be checked.
• Sometimes language is used symbolically, not literally; the truth intended is not on the level of fact--e.g., "You must be reborn."
• Is it raining? Have a look. To some extent we can check whether our statements of fact correspond with reality; but we can't thus check our deepest conceptual framework for thinking.

II. Truth as coherence

• Are the ideas of this text consistent with each other?
• Are these ideas consistent with our own ideas?

Questions of coherence

• To what extent are the various paths of Hinduism consistent with each other in their concepts of supreme reality and their recommendations for human living?
• Is this statement or action consistent with the ideal beauty of truth and goodness that the speaker is supposed to represent?

Limits of the coherence theory of truth

• Your ideas can cohere nicely, yet be in error, since your thinking may be one-sided or you may have built your thinking upon a false premise.
• Paradox (apparent inconsistency) is sometimes the most helpful way to express a profound realization. "The greatest is the one who serves everyone."

III. Truth as revelation

• A gift of truth from a superhuman source?

Varieties of (alleged) revelation

• An inner realization of supreme truth, beauty, and goodness
• A clear and definite verbal message originating from within
• A book
• A person, a life
• Something someone says to you or something you read that you sense is just what you need.

Questions about revelation

• Does the being to whom the revelation is attributed really exist?
• Did the revelatory event really occur?
• To what extent did the subject's physical condition and cultural background shape (the reception of) the gift?
• How fully did the recipient communicate it?
• Has the original record been altered?

Limits to truth as revelation

• There are many claims to revelation that are inconsistent with each other.
• One needs scientific, philosophic, and spiritual responsibility in discerning truth.
• Acceptance of revelation makes it easy to be intolerant and stop growing.
• Revelation must make use of language and ways of thinking appropriate to the receiving culture.

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