Christian Spiritual Formation as Public Knowledge

Abstract

What if the reliable pathways of becoming more like Jesus were a matter of public knowledge? By ‘public knowledge,’ I mean knowledge that is accessible to any interested person through consulting the evidence for what is claimed and/or wellpositioned authorities on the matter. Although public knowledge is not always ‘common knowledge’ in that it may not be widely known and agreed-upon, public knowledge always involves claims about reality the evidence for which can be readily accessed and considered by any serious inquirer. Public knowledge, on this understanding, is knowledge that persons can attempt to certify as true if they are willing to invest the time and effort required to do so. When hearing some claim—for example, that Pluto is no longer considered a planet—someone might ask, “how do you know that?” In response, the claimant could say, “Well, it’s a matter of public knowledge.” The idea is that all anyone would have to do is consult the International Astronomical Union or look into a powerful telescope and they could access the positive support for the claim. A person may agree or disagree that the evidence or authority is adequate to justify the claim, but nonetheless the claim is being presented as public knowledge. That is, the phenomenon in question is being presented as a fact that is adequately supported by accessible evidence and susceptible to confirmation or disconfirmation. On this way of thinking of things, to successfully know something is to represent that thing as it actually is on an appropriate basis of