All people want more knowledge which is characteristic of all. Faith
enables people to reason that history and the fate of peoples are in the
hands of God. Without that faith, the world and history cannot be
understood in depth.
Reason
and faith cannot be separated without diminishing the capacity of
mankind to know themselves, the world and God in a appropriate way.
There is no need for competition of any kind between reason and faith.
The Book of Proverbs exclaims:
‘It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out’ (Prov 25:2).
God
created all things including humans, and to the latter He gave them
their reason to explore the truth of existence. It is very satisfying
for mankind to find an answer to a hitherto insurmountable limitation of
knowledge.
The three basic rules chosen by the Chosen People In Israel as to whether reason was fully true to itself were:
- Human knowledge is a journey that allows no rest.
- Awareness that such a path is not for the proud, who think that everything is the fruit of personal conquest.
- Recognising that the “fear of God”, His transcendent sovereignty and provident love in the governance of the world are all important for man’s reason.
To
ignore these rules it to be a fool when he claims “God does not exist”.
He shows unmistakably just how deficient his knowledge is.
If
human beings with their intelligence fail to recognise God as Creator
of all, it is not because they lack the means to do so, but because
their free will and their sinfulness place an impediment in the way. In
the book of Proverbs we find fear of God as the beginning of knowledge “
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge’ ( Prov 1:7;cf Sir
1:14).
Revelation
in the Old Testament came to the biblical man as the true source of
knowledge concerning himself, with the world and with God. People of
the Chosen Race were certain that God had created them ‘explorers ’ to
discover all that was beautiful good and true without giving up the
task.
St
Paul in his letter to the Romans affirms the human capacity for
metaphysical enquiry when he said: ‘ through all that is created the
“eyes of the mind” can come to know God. Through the medium of
Creatures, God stirs in reason an intuition of his power and his
divinity’ (Rom 1:20). Human reason is not restricted to sensory
knowledge and can reflect on the data of the sense, but can also reach
the cause which lies at the origin of all perceptible reality.
Unfortunately,
because of original sin, mankind was denied full access to the origin
of all things. This knowledge was denied them because they disobeyed
Him. From then on reason was so wounded that its path to full truth
would be strewn with obstacles. The eyes of the mind were no longer
able to see clearly. Reason became more and more a prisoner to itself.
Christ’s coming lifted reason from its weakness and set it free from
the shackles in which it had imprisoned itself.
The
Christian’s relationship to philosophy requires thorough-going
discernment. There is opposition between the wisdom of this world and
the wisdom of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The
crucifixion of Jesus Christ, who was God, is beyond human explanation
of the meaning of existence. The wisdom of the wise is no longer enough
for what God wants to accomplish. God chose what is foolish in the
world to shame the wise ( I Cor 1:27-28).
St
Paul said ‘God has chosen in the world… that which is nothing to reduce
to nothing thing are’ ( I Cor 1:28). Reason cannot eliminate the
mystery of love which the Cross represents, while the Cross can give to
reason the ultimate answer which it seems. The Word of Wisdom is the
criterion of both truth and salvation.
The
preaching of Christ crucified and risen is the reef upon which the link
between faith and philosophy can break up; but it is also the reef
beyond which the two can set forth upon the boundless ocean of truth.
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