Truth Lenses, A Core Concept

Suggested Title:
Through the River: Understanding Your Assumptions About Truth

Your understanding of truth impacts your relationships and your outreach. One of the keys to unlocking the truth all around you is your truth lens (epistemology). Your truth lens is a simple tool that frames how you will interpret truth and interact with others about that truth.

Today in the Western World there are three dominate truth lenses that help people to understand truth. Jon and Mindy Hirst, along with Dr. Paul Hiebert (renowned missions anthropologist), bring these three truth lenses to life using a simple story of a river town with three communities.

The Rock Dwellers live on the rocky shore and believe that their role is to add truth and subtract untruth until they have uncovered truth in its entirety. The Island Dwellers live on the sandy islands in the river and believe that truth is a personal affair that cannot be transferred to those on the other islands around them. The Valley Dwellers live on the far shore and believe that there is truth that we know and truth we are learning.

Most Valley Dwellers have come from the rocky shore or the islands and are bearing witness to another way to look at truth that has the potential to revolutionize life in the river town.

Through the River represents Jon and Mindy Hirst's efforts to take several key concepts from Dr. Hiebert's book Missiological Implications of Epistemological Shifts and apply them to a wider Christian audience. Its goal is to present the importance of knowing what you think with and understanding how it will impact relationships and ministry on a daily basis.

To be released Spring 2009, Authentic Publishing (IBS-STL Global)

Paul Hiebert's bio: http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/005/9.9.html

Jon and Mindy Hirst's bio: http://www.generousmind.com/explained.php