Discernment and Truth

Discernment as a spiritual practice has a long tradition in Christianity. Discernment are done either individually or communally.

In this book, theologian Mark McIntosh traced the history of spiritual discernment and discovered that there are 5 basic movements:


(1) Discernment as faith, spiritual discernment as grounded in a loving and trusting relationship with God.
(2) Discernment as distinguishing between good and evil impulses that moves people
(3) Discernment as discretion, practical wisdom, moderation, and generally good sense about what to do in given practical situations
(4) Discernment as sensitivity to and desire to pursue God's will in all things
(5) Discernment as illumination, contemplative wisdom, a noetic relationship with God that irradiates and faciliates knowledge of every kind of truth (p.5)