Knowledge as divine revelation
The epistemic foundation of a biblical Christian perspective is divine revelation. Christians hold God’s revelation in Christ Jesus that is written in the Bible as the  ultimate truth to which all legitimate knowledge must conform. We reject any system of knowledge that is inconsistent with this propositional divine revelation. Human beings can know only those things that God decides to reveal to us. We can know those things that God reveals to us only because God created us with a capacity to know them. We can know things because we are endowed by God with the ability to understand and relate to Him and the entire created order.

Human knowledge is limited
There is a limit to what is knowable by human beings in this present phase of eternity. What we can know is limited, fragmented and period-specific. Our current sin-tainted existence is incapable of experiencing omniscience. Our knowledge of nature and the  supernatural extends only as far as God permits.

Christians don’t take a negative or defeatist view of this  limitation of human knowledge.  We stretch our intellect to the maximum. We  push the boundaries of knowledge in every discipline. When faced with complex data or apparent contradictions, we do our best to understand on the basis of what is clearly revealed by God. We state the case as it is, recognizing that for now, we can only know in part and to the extent that God chooses to reveal to us. When God fits all pieces of the puzzle together, we will see the full picture.

Faith precedes reason and evidence
Faith is central to a Christian perspective on knowledge and learning. You probably have heard the view from some scholars that human rationality and empirical evidence, not faiths, are acceptable in the intellectual tradition. This is wrong.  Reason is not able to provide a dependable starting point for knowledge independent of faith. The basic questions we must ask and answer decisively before all other questions can be reasonably asked, are beyond the scope of reason. This is not to say that Christian scholars berate reason in favour of faith. Christians assign to faith and reason their proper places in the sequence of true knowledge; we believe in order to think.

Similarly, faith comes before evidence.  For the Christian, faith is full confidence in God before evidence. Such confidence before evidence is the basis of  intellectual inquiry as well as our daily experiences as human beings. The more basic questions we ask about nature, existence and meaning in life, the more obvious it is that we must take a leap of faith without evidence in order to make progress in understanding of things.

Many non-Christian scholars camouflage their exercise of this kind of faith when addressing students and colleagues. After derogating and rejecting faith openly, they discover that they cannot progress in knowledge without it.  They are embarrassed that they can only begin to engage in knowledge and learning from a position of faith. With the exception of those who act in ignorance or inexperience, such scholars are cowards, if not outright  intellectual frauds.

A unified view of knowledge
The  Christian mind has a unified view of knowledge. It studies  to understand how each part of the creation relates to others. The more of truth we understand in a particular discipline, the clearer we see its harmony in all other disciplines.  From the point of view of this unity, each discipline is only a door that leads into the hall of knowledge.

Understanding of the subject of intellectual inquiry
The Christian learns with a clear understanding of the true condition of the immediate subject of study, the world. It lost its pristine state due to the original sin. This fallen state of the world has two profound implications for how you study as a Christian. First, you must recognize that scholars are also in a fallen state, although some are redeemed. They don’t have the perfect cognitive faculties that Adam and Eve once enjoyed as God’s special creation. Secondly, scholars don’t study the world in its original form. What we observe are phenomena and interactions of a fallen created order. This is true for all questions and issues that we investigate in the natural sciences. It is also true for health sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, law, management sciences and all other areas of study.

Understanding God’s priority
The Christian learns with full recognition of God’s agenda and priority for our time. We are currently in a period of grace, when every individual has an opportunity to be reconciled to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s priority in this phase of eternity is to extend to people the good news of reconciliation through Jesus Christ. Your courses, and indeed everything  you do in life  must be judged from the point of view of their relevance to the priority of  spreading the good news of salvation that is offered in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Learning  for obedience
Christians pursue knowledge as obedience to God. This is a sharp contrast to the utilitarian and irreverent view of knowledge held by many non-Christian scholars. We don’t engage in learning as an end in itself or for mere curiosity. Our activities in both basic and applied disciplines of knowledge must be judged in the light of our responsibility to God.  We assess our lives in view of what we know, and continually evaluate what we do about what we know. The  products of our learning must be channelled to fit into God’s purposes in our time. We pursue knowledge with one primary goal, and this is to be better equipped as faithful followers of  Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Scholars who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ hold a view of knowledge that flows from the Christian worldview. They necessarily begin from primary assumptions that are grounded in God as revealed in the Bible and demonstrated in Jesus Christ.  Understanding of the correct Christian approach to knowledge provides you with the correct intellectual framework to engage with your courses in ways that are consistent with your commitment to the Lord.