Carnell on Common Ground – The Descriptive But Not the Normative

An important area in Carnell’s apologetic method is his treatment of common ground.[39] Carnell outlines what he describes as three levels of meaning: (1) the personal, (2) the scientific, and (3) the ultimate or metaphysical. According to Carnell, all people share the personal level of meaning, but Christians and non-Christians do not share the metaphysical level. However, Christians and non-Christians do share a portion of the scientific level—namely, the realm of mere observation—which is not governed directly by metaphysical presuppositions. Since Carnell views the metaphysical as the ultimate level of meaning, it extends into most of the scientific realm. In practice, then, common ground is minimal and largely limited to observation (the descriptive).

While all descriptive aspects of reality and life ultimately point to the metaphysical, as we have seen, there remains common ground in the personal realm regarding what we observe and experience in the world. Carnell’s emphasis on “soul sorrow” and a shared personal level with non-Christians highlights the fact that acknowledging such common experience and observation leads us toward the normative—that is, the explanatory metaphysical ultimate. Observation and experience can tell us what is, but not what it means. Thus, whatever common ground exists at the personal level and within portions of the scientific (i.e., the observable), it is continually given through general revelation, which is ongoing. The things we experience and observe demand an explanation—the normative. While there may be some common ground between Christians and non-Christians, it is not and cannot be "neutral." This is a hostile environment for non-Christians, who, as Scripture teaches, must suppress the truth in unrighteousness to avoid facing the normative truth (cf. Romans 1:18-25).

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