In Pilates encounter with Jesus during Holy Week there is the question raised of what is truth? It is an important question and we shouldn’t see Jesus’ reluctance to answer as anything more than an understanding on the part of Jesus that Pilate doesn’t get it. After all Jesus just said everyone on the side of truth listens to me. There is something ironic in those Christians who quote Pilate about truth but fail to quote Jesus, it seems to me.
We should be on the side of truth, no matter where it takes us.
So where does knowledge come from? The Empirical Scientist will claim it is nothing more than what can be physically observed. This fails on all kinds of counts. For instance, it has been pointed out that literary criticism (which is not an empirical science) can tell us that in the book Pride and Prejudice Mr Collins is not the main hero of the story. This is a truth that has nothing to do with physical or mathematical observation. There are other sources of truth than simply physical investigation.
The theologian will also want to add God as a source of truth. If God exists, as a theologian must conclude (if they don’t then they are not theologians but more religious and thought history students) that God is a source of truth. Of course then Christians will want to claim that Jesus Christ is also a source of truth and his incarnation was a deliberate act of God to pass on some truths about God (revelation).
For those who search for truth we should desire to bring in to our thinking all possible sources of truth: Empirical Science, Philosophy, Psychology, Revelation, Mathematics, etc.
Let’s get back to quoting Jesus and not Pilate: “Everyone on the side of truth listens to [Jesus] me.”