The Implications of Arminius' Understanding of the Intellect on Knowledge Exchange strategies in the Mission of the SDA Church

I discuss the implications of the intellectualism/voluntarism debate for knowledge exchange systems, particularly as they apply within Seventh-day Adventist theological education. In the worldview of Arminius, the soul consisted of the intellect, the Will, and Desire. Calvin argued that God first redeemed the Will, and then the Intellect was informed. Arminius believed that God appealed first to the Intellect, which in turn empowered the Will. Based on this description, I infer that this priority of the intellect speaks to the role of information and knowledge as prerequisite and causal in the salvation process, and thus knowledge exchange systems become instrumental in promulgating the experience of faith.
As a case study of this inference, I compare recent Calvinist statements and Adventist statements on the philosophy of education.
Adventists focus on bringing the student as an individual to a saving and transforming knowledge of Jesus, a bottom-up approach; Reformed educators highlight preparing the student for responsibility within the community transforming society, a top-down approach.
I conclude that this distinction warrants the articulation of an intentional Adventist knowledge exchange policy for theological
education that situates formal scholarship as another form of ‘evangelism.’