Jesus as the Truth and the Pragmatic Theory of William James: An Evaluation for Contemporary Christian Education

Abstract

Truth has remained an enigmatic concept even in our time. Yet, the desire to know and embrace that which is true is as human nature itself. In a bid to search for truth and meaning in life, people have turned towards various forms of relativism and thereby, interpreting everything in reference to the physical order. This project critically evaluates the fact that truth is not limited to everything that seems readily verifiable as taught by William James, the father, transcends practicality and verifiability to embrace the supernatural, which is the quintessential of truth as reflected in the person of Jesus Christ. In the course of this research, we observed that some Christians have been led astray by this understanding of the pragmatic theory of truth, which sees truth merely as that which is practically useful and meaningful to human life. The paper establishes that this theory of truth is deficient in that it creates a certain confinement whereby people are limited to seeking truth merely in material things. This confinement to that, which works alone, in our view has consequently destroyed the core values and principles of Christians. The paper therefore, call for a re-orientation in the right direction by recommending a firm belief which lies on an understanding of the mystery of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God as the full revelation of truth. This new orientation in the understanding of truth is to be promoted by those who through the means of social communication exert great influence upon the lives of Christians.