Real truth points to and is
preserved by God such that faith and reason used together may discover truth. Faith and reason are “two wings on
which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.”[1]
This paper aims to show that both academia and the common man have wrongly
divorced philosophy and theology.
Secondly it will attempt to show that there is a natural and necessary
relationship between faith and reason.
Lastly this paper will demonstrate that the unity of faith and reason, not the
divorce, helps one see man, not as another beast, but as a man with a higher
end in life.
In recent times scholars have
wrongly attempted to divorce philosophy from theology. There are many contemporary
thinkers who hold that one’s religious beliefs are subjective and have no place
in the objective world of academia.
They hold that faith and reason are not compatible. This position results in an
academic culture that rejects any notion of God.
“[Academia’s] brand of scholarship forbids God access to the world.”[2]
The Catholic Church, however, holds that
faith and reason are compatible because truth is found by faith and reason
together and not independently of each other.
“It is the one and the same God who establishes and guarantees the
intelligibility and reasonableness of the natural order of things upon which
scientists confidently depend.”[3]
There is one God, not a god of faith alongside a god of science.
Taking as its starting point the fact that
God exists, a point that can be demonstrated by reason without the aid of
faith, the Catholic Church makes it clear that by leaving God out of academia,
scholars run the risk of discovering either wrong or incomplete truths.[4]
The Church does not promote fideism, the replacing of reason by faith. Nor does She promote scientism,
“the philosophical notion which refuses to admit the validity of forms of
knowledge other than those of the positive sciences; and it relegates
religious, theological, ethical and aesthetic knowledge to the realm of mere
fantasy.”[5]
Since God exists and is the source of
all knowledge it is impossible for there to be a contradiction between faith
and reason because this would imply a contradiction in the source of truth, God.[6]
“In God there lies the origin of all things; in him is found the fullness of
the mystery and in his glory consists; to men and woman there falls the task of
exploring truth with their reason.”[7]
The fullness of truth resides in God and man comes to learn that truth through
his God - given gift of reason.
Reason assists faith and faith assists reason.
The Church has no philosophy of her own. She promotes any line of thinking
that requires both faith and reason working together to lead on to a more
complete understanding of truths.
The works of St. Thomas Aquinas can be taken as a
guide because they are essentially tied to the marriage of faith and reason.[8]
Those who wish to divorce theology from
philosophy argue that one should use only his gift of reason with no assent to
faith. These thinkers
are correct in noting that it is not contrary to man for him to use his reason. What separates man from brute
animals is his capacity for reasoning.
All men should make use of their gift of reason.
“Reason is God’s greatest gift to man,
and the victory of reason over unreason is also the goal of the Christian Life.”[9]
These proponents of divorcing theology and philosophy, have, however, while
correctly recognizing the capacity of man to reason, rejected a notion of metaphysics. For some of these thinkers only
those things that can be empirically proven should be taken as true. They argue that the mathematical
fact 2+2 = 4 is true because it can be empirically demonstrated while the
existence of an angel is not true, because it cannot not be empirically proven
to be true.
Even some thinkers who believe in the
existence of God claim that philosophy and theology are two separate subjects
and as such should never interact with each other.
This claim is absurd because all sciences interact with each other. Medicine, for example, requires
the science of chemistry to assist in fighting diseases with drugs.
It is proper for the science of
philosophy to accompany theology and all the other sciences because it is the
science of first principles and ultimate causes.
“Philosophy is the science which by the natural light of reason studies the
first causes or highest principles of all things, in other words, the science
of things in their first causes, in so far as these belong to the natural order.”[10] Since philosophy is the study of things in
their first causes it is proper for philosophy to accompany theology. “It is the particular
responsibility of philosophy to accompany critically the development of
individual academic disciplines, shedding a critical light on premature
conclusions and apparent certainties.”[11]
While the supereme being, God, is studied
in both theology and philosophy, it cannot be forgotten that theology and
philosophy are distinct subjects, each with their own distinct procedures which
must be followed.
One should not use the procedures of philosophy to do theology and vice a versa. “Even when it engages theology,
philosophy must remain faithful to its principles and methods.”[12]
Philosophy and theology are two distinct
sciences which are united and necessarily relate to each other. Simply because philosophy and
theology are distinct sciences should not imply that their fields cannot including
the subject matter of the others science whil respecting the procedures of each
science.
Faith and reason have reciprocal relationships; truth is discovered by faith
and reason working together.
Pope Benedict XVI is correct when he claims “reason and faith need one another
in order to fulfill their true nature and their mission.”[13]
Since both theology and philosophy are
the study of one and the same truth, there is an inseparable correlation
between faith and reason.
Pope Benedict XVI summarized this correlation between faith and reason best
when he claimed “I believe in order to understand and I understand the better
to believe.”[14]
Theology and philosophy, while separate sciences matters, are so closely linked
in their subject matter.
It is impossible to do theology without philosophy and impossible for a truth
of philosophy to contradict a truth of theology.
Through one’s use of reason, his faith
is nurtured through every one of his experiences.
“Let your faith mature through your studies, work, sport, and art.”[15]
One’s relationship with God, faith, is also either nurtured or hindered by
one’s everyday experiences.
“The ultimate purpose of personal existence, then, is the theme of philosophy
and theology alike.”[16]
Theology and philosophy are enhanced
when they are accompanied by each other.
Pope John Paul II correctly claims that one cannot discuss theological issues
without the assistance of philosophy.
“Without philosophy’s contribution, it would in fact be impossible to discuss
theological issues.”[17]
For philosophy and theology to mutually
benefit each other it must be shown that what Pope John Paul II teaches
dogmatically in his encyclical letter Fides
et Ratio, namely that there is no contradiction between faith and reason is
true. “This truth,
which God reveals to us in Jesus Christ, is not opposed to the truths which
philosophy perceives.
On the contrary, the two modes of knowledge lead to truth in all its fullness.”[18] The
pontiff says faith and reason are not opposed to each other, rather they are
complimentary, and further he warns that
they ought not be separated from each other for this would deter the
discovery of truth.
“Therefore, reason and faith cannot be separated without diminishing the
capacity of men and women to know themselves, the world and God in an
appropriate way.”[19]
Reason assists faith by purifying and
structuring her message.
“Religion must continually allow itself to be purified and structured by reason.”[20]
Philosophy specifically serves theology through the study of the structure of
knowledge and personal communication by enabling one to speak about the issues
of theology in a universal way.
Philosophical thought enables one to truly understand what is meant by faith
because nature is the first stage of divine revelation.[21]
While God clearly places within every human heart the desire to know Him and
reveals himself to every human person, the human person first comes to
experience God through the senses.
“This is to recognize as a first stage of divine revelation the marvelous book
of nature.”[22]
Everything that we know is first known through our senses. Philosophy grasps the truth by
assisting in the understanding both “the logical and conceptual structure of
the propositions in which the Church’s teaching is framed.”[23]
Through the use of reason one is able to understand more clearly the messages
of faith.
The claim that philosophy aids the study
of theology is not a claim that truths revealed to us by faith are created by
human reason.
“The truth made known to us by reason is neither the product nor the
consummation of an argument devised by human reason.”[24]
Faith, unlike reason, is not of human origin, it is not an innate capacity. It is a gift of God.
Faith also assists reason while remaining
loyal to its own science of theology.
“It (faith) does not replace reason but can help to make essential values more
evident.”[25]
Human reason without the aid of faith, still comes up with an incomplete or
wrong truth.
“Philosophy has good reasons to be willing to learn from religious traditions.”[26]
Faith supplies the element of truth, which can then be used by philosophy to
give a greater understanding of the article of faith. “Not only is faith the mother of
all worldly energies, but its foes are the fathers of all worldly confusion.”[27]
Much of the confusion in the world of academia stems from the rejection of
faith.
Faith serves philosophy by challenging
the philosopher to move beyond the natural to demonstrate the truth found in
God, to not stop short of the whole truth by accepting only what is visible to him. “Of itself, philosophy is able to
recognize the human being’s ceaselessly self-transcendent orientation toward
the truth; and with the assistance of faith, it is capable of accepting the foolishness
of the cross as the authentic critique of those who delude themselves that they
possess the truth.”[28]
Because in God rests the origin and the fullness of all things without faith,
the philosopher cannot do philosophy to its fullest. “[Faith] impels reason to extend
the range of its knowledge until it senses that it has done all in its power,
leaving no stone unturned.”[29]
While it is true that reason alone can
demonstrate truths about God, by reason alone one cannot come to the whole
truth about God.
“Reason therefore needs faith if it is to be completely itself.”[30]
Aristotle for example was able to prove the existence of God. Aristotle, however, was unable to
come to the whole picture about God, for example the Trinity. While reason can begin to explain
the Trinity, by demonstrating the existence of a God, it cannot demonstrate the
existence of the Trinity.
Aristotle was able to prove God’s existance through reason, but unable to prove
how many gods there were, let alone that there are three Persons in one God. While later philosophers may have
been able to prove the existence of a monotheistic God, it is impossible to
demonstrate by reason alone the existence of the Trinity.
The unity of faith and reason, not the
divorce, helps us see man not as another beast, but as a man with a higher end
in life.
This relationship between faith and reason is seen clearly in the question of
whether or not virginity is a virtue.
The debate about the virtuosity of virginity is a strong example of how
philosophy helps explain truths of the faith and how articles of faith give
insights into philosophical truths.
Virginity is “continence whereby integrity of the flesh is vowed, consecrated
and observed in honor of the creator of both soul and flesh.”[31]
It will be shown that attempting to answer this question about the virtuousness
of virginity, with only the use of reason brings us to a wrong conclusion,
while answering this question with reason in the light of faith brings one to a
conclusion that is both logical and true.
The Bible mentions that virginity is a
virtuous act.
“With respect to virgins, I have not received any commandment from the Lord,
but I give my opinion as one who is trustworthy, thanks to the Lord’s mercy. It is this: In the present time of
stress it seems good to me for a person to continue as he is.”[32]
While the Bible clearly teaches that there is at minimum nothing wrong with
virginity some thinkers see a contradiction here between faith and reason. Many fundamentalists argue that virginity
is sinful because goes against the law of nature that man is ordered to
procreate.
A recent online petition, asking Pope
Benedict XVI to lift the ban of priestly celibacy is a strong demonstration of
the errors that can arise when faith and reason are not applied properly to
each other.[33]
This petition misrepresents St.
Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine of natural law and tries to assert that all men
should engage in sexual activity if they desire to follow the natural law. While the author of this petition
doctors up St.
Thomas’s teaching on natural in pseudo academic way he never does demonstrate
exactly how it is that living a celibate life goes against the natural law.
St.
Thomas, a Catholic philosopher, who recognized the vital role of faith in the
pursuit of reason, was in fact, able to demonstrate that virginity is not immoral
and is not opposed to the Bible.
St. Thomas agrees
that things are wrong if they go against right reason, but demonstrated
virginity does not go against right reason because it is ordered towards a
supernatural end which is possible because man is not merely a natural
creature, but possesses a soul which is supernatural. [34]
Using Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, St. Thomas demonstrated that the good for a man is threefold, the good of
external things, bodily goods, and goods of the soul. These goods are hierarchical
because the external goods are ordered to the bodily goods, and the bodily
goods are ordered to the goods of the soul.[35]
The purpose of celibacy is not
simply to abstain from sexual intercourse for the sake of abstaining from
sexual intercourse, but rather it is ordered towards an end, that is the good
of the soul.
Celibacy is to be undertaken for the sake of the kingdom of God. “Virginity for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven is an unfolding of baptismal grace, a powerful sign of the
supremacy of the bond with Christ and of the ardent expectation of his return,
a sign which also recalls that marriage is a reality of this present age which
is passing away.”[36]
Man understands well the idea of forgoing lower goods for higher goods. An athlete, for example, forgoes
the good of certain foods which would hinder his athletic performance.
The kingdom of heaven, an eternal good
is greater, than the good of the world.
It follows then that a man or woman who gives up his ability to love in the
exclusive way that marriage requires out of love and sacrifice for God is
living a life that is perfectly ordered, and is doing a virtuous act.
Without faith in the kingdom of
heaven, one is unable to come to the understanding that virginity is good. Thinking simply with human reason,
a reason that is restricted to this world, leads one to the wrong conclusion
because it leaves out an important variable, the supernatural variable, the
kingdom of heaven, that to which the soul is ordered.
To believe that faith and reason are
opposed to each other is to settle for incomplete truths or even falsities. In the case of virginity, without
an article of faith that the soul will live on after the death of the human
person, one arrives at the false belief that virginity is not a virtuous act. “Of itself, philosophy is able to
recognize the human beings ceaselessly self-transcendent orientation toward the
truth; and with the assistance of faith it is capable of accepting the
foolishness of the cross as the authentic critique of those who delude
themselves that they possess the truth.”[37]
With faith and reason working together properly one comes to an understanding
about the beauty of virginity.
Philosophy itself is only able to go so
far without the assistance of faith; however with an understanding of faith the
truth is a reveled.
Through the correct use of mans abilities for reason and the gift of faith one
is able to comprehend the truth.
When faith and reason are divorced the door is opened to error. By using both faith and reason one
comes to understand the beauty of virginity.
[1]
John Paul
II, “Encyclical Letter on the relationship between Faith and Reason” Fides et Ratio (14 September 1998),
Greeting.
[2]
Ratzinger Joseph Cardinal, On the Way to Jesus Christ (San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005), 63.
[4]
For
Philosophical proofs for the existence of God see St.
Thomas Aquinas’s 5 proofs found in the Summa Theologica Ia, q.
2, a. 3.
[6]
For a philosophical proof
for the existence of God please see again St. Thomas Aquinas’s 5 proofs for
the existence of God found in the Summa Theologica Ia, q.
2, a. 3. For an explanation of how it is
that God is the source of all knowledge please see the section on St.
Thomas in Pasnau, Robert, "Divine Illumination", The
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N.
Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/illumination/>.
[11]
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Jurgen Habermas, The Dialects of
Secularization On Reason and Religion (San Francisco: Ignatius Press,
2006), 57.
[13]
Pope Benedict XVI, “Encyclical
on Hope” Spe Salve (18 March 2011), §23, at The Holy See, www.vatican.va
[15]Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the youth at the vigil with the
young people during World Youth Day on July 19th 2008 (18 March 2011), at The Holy See,
www.vatican.va.
Conference,
2000), 1619.
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