Wouldn't You Love To Know [Hardcover]

With all the jumble of human disagreements, how can we know? Can the Christian church think coherently about knowledge? Can it regain confidence in teaching what it knows? In an increasingly divided and pessimistic postmodern world this book offers a theology for epistemology and for pedagogy that aims to be faithful and fruitful. Building on Karl Barth, it argues that God's knowing guides how humans know. We should imitate God's epistemic stance--his love--for that is the best model for knowing anything. The Trinitarian theme in Barth identifies three key concepts: committedness, openness, and relationality. These mean being committed and open towards what we wish to know. Relational open committedness also profoundly clarifies and shapes what love means in knowing and in teaching. This book unpacks an epistemology and pedagogy of love. Wouldn't you love to know? Payne lays before his reader not only a Trinitarian epistemology but a challenge to live and teach as God self-reveals and teaches us. Trinitarian pedagogy combines cherishing and challenging learners. Payne not only leads his reader to grasp the significance of Trinitarian commitment for life and education, he demonstrates it in pedagogic theory and practice. This is a book that will challenge theological faculties to reconsider the ways they teach and the nature of a truly academic community. --Robert W. Ferris, Professor Emeritus, Columbia International University Wouldn't You Love to Know presents a profound and well-reasoned argument for seeing Trinitarian love as the foundation for Christian knowing. Particularly for those of us committed to the teaching ministry of the church, Ian Payne's exposition of the Trinitarian basis for relational and transformational education has far-reaching implications. --Perry Shaw, Professor of Christian Education, Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, Beirut, Lebanon Ian Payne has made a valuable and significant contribution to the church in general and the fil-