Date
4-18-2025
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Christian Leadership (PhD)
Chair
Michael Grayston
Keywords
Christian, Christian Knowledge, Knowledge of God, Modern-Day Christian
Disciplines
Christianity | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion
Recommended Citation
Singleton, Samuel III, "A Qualitative Study of Social Constructivism: Why Modern-Day Christians Lack the Fundamental Knowledge of God" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 6741.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/6741
Abstract
The purpose of this grounded theory study is to explore why some modern-day Christians lack the fundamental knowledge of the God they serve. The research uses the term “Christian foundational nescience” to describe why some modern-day Christians lack the fundamental knowledge of the God they serve. The theory guiding this study is grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1965), as it will enable the researcher, through the collection and analysis of data, to discover or construct a theory or theories as to why some modern-day Christians lack the fundamental knowledge of God. Believers should know God created everything; everything made was created through Jesus. Jesus came to die for our sins, and we serve a Triune God, which consists of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Gen1; John 1:3; John 6:27; 1 John 4:9-11; Luke 22:42). Many Christians do not know what part of the Godhead was there at the beginning of creation, why the day of Pentecost is important, or why one should partake in the Lord's Supper. Hyde (2021) notes, "The problem is that the foundational doctrines of Scripture, as understood in the history of the Christian church, are rarely taught or preached in so much of American evangelicalism" (p. 7). Data were gathered using qualitative research methods with random individuals who consider themselves Christians in North Alabama; data were collected through e-mail surveys and in-person interviews and analyzed using qualitative data analysis. This research study indicated that some Christians lack the fundamental knowledge of God due to not being taught in Church or at home and not knowing how to study Scripture. The results of the research will be helpful for Christian leadership to understand why there is a lack of foundational knowledge of God in the Christian community and how to address the problem.
