the president feel urgent paul tillich
once said that faith is the most
misunderstood word in the religious
vocabulary and I'm increasingly
convinced that he was right about that
and my justification for that is my
experience with these YouTube videos
because as you know people can comment
on these videos and I must say every day
I hear somebody say to me that faith is
credulity naivete accepting something on
the basis of no evidence it's pre
scientific nonsense it's the way
children would think etc faith is being
continually a bad mouth and on the basis
of that characterization people will
draw these sharp distinctions between
faith so construed and modern science
modern science is rational it's
empirically based it's self-critical
it's self-correcting etc and people draw
the conclusion isn't it great that the
Western mind finally wriggled free of
the terrible constraints of faith and
moved into the clear well lighted space
of Reason and they go on isn't it tragic
the head the modern mind is still
haunted by this specter from another age
faith which is hindering and holding
back the modern mind okay as I say
almost every day I hear that kind of
characterization about what faith means
I just heard a couple days ago that Pope
Benedict the 16th has announced that
next year beginning next fall we will
have a year of faith in the Catholic
Church
I thought okay here's my opportunity to
make some clarifications about what
serious people mean by faith and what
they don't mean by faith here's an
analogy which I think is illuminating
when you're coming to know someone let's
say there's a person that kind of
fascinates you you know and you might
watch that person for a while maybe you
see what she wears how she comports
yourself how she relates to other people
maybe you check with mutual friends and
find out certain things about her maybe
today of course you would google her
name and you could find out a lot about
probably where she's from where she's
educated where she works etc right you
could find out a lot simply by using
your reason looking at things
objectively and making of deductions and
conclusions you could come to a good
deal of knowledge about that person okay
let's say you really want to get to know
this person eventually you have to meet
her right now when you meet her
maybe when you're up close some of what
you've discovered will be verified you
know by your own rational analysis but
eventually something kind of wonderful
and extraordinary is going to happen
namely that person is going to speak now
when she speaks some of what she says
probably will be in line with what you
already knew it'll simply confirm what
you've already understood but but the
more you get to know that person the
more that person begins to open her
heart to you the more intimately you
come to know or what's going to happen
she will reveal things about herself
that you would never know in any other
way
not just where she's from or where she
went to school that's data that you can
learn through a Google search not just
anything you pick up from watching her
behave
she will disclose to you truths about
herself that exist within her own
interior own heart and can only come
forth through her free decision to speak
now at that point and I hope you're
catching that this is true of your
relation to any person right at that
point you've got to make a decision
session is well do I believe her or not
I don't know I can't verify these things
objectively I can't do a google search
and find out whether true I have to
decide yeah I
believe this person I have come to trust
her in such a way that I now accept her
speech as true now I think this is a
very apt and illuminating analogy for
what serious Catholics I'll speak for my
tradition mean by faith we want to come
to know God can we determine a lot about
God on the basis of reason yeah sure we
can look at the beauty and order and
contingency of the world look at some my
videos on those things I can conclude
that God exists that God is perfect that
God is good that God has intelligence
and will and freedom that God is the
governor and providential is his
Providence with care over the universe I
can determine all those things on the
basis of reason alone if you doubt me
take a look at the first part of the
great Summa theologia of Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas is a bit like the
Sherlock Holmes of theology what I mean
is think of how we would ordinarily look
at someone and we come to certain
conclusions Sherlock Holmes saw with
such insight that he could come to all
kinds of correct conclusions simply on
the basis of examination before the
person ever spoke Sherlock Holmes could
determine a lot about them right
so Thomas Aquinas is the Sherlock Holmes
of theology he can determine all kinds
of things about God on the basis of
reason alone is this good yes the
Catholic tradition says authentic faith
never involves a sacrificio intellect oh
s--- latin for a sacrifice of the
intellect in fact one of the signs that
you're not dealing with authentic faith
is that you've had to sacrifice your
mind so you know I would characterize
that as a fundamentalism or a fidei ISM
to use the technical term in the
Catherine we say if you are sacrificing
your intellect in any way you're not
dealing with authentic faith just as you
don't
sacrifice what you learn through your
google search what you determined
through your own investigation you don't
leave that behind but but one of the
deepest truths about God is that God is
a person right God is paradigmatically
a person he's the ground of all
personhood he's the supreme person
therefore if you really want to know God
what do you have to do you have to wait
for this free person to speak right I
can get to know someone you know to some
degree but I will never really know that
person until she speaks at which point
I've got to make that decision do I
believe her or not do I trust her or not
so with God the claim of the Bible is
that God has not remained utterly hidden
has not remained utterly in the shadows
but the God by his own freedom and
choice has determined to speak he
thereby reveals things to us that we can
never know simply on objective
analytical grounds I'm not denigrating
in any way what we can know on those
grounds but we can't know the heart of
God until God decides to speak at which
point I have to say okay do I trust him
or not
what's faith faith for us is that moment
of trust when I say yes I accept the
truth of the God who speaks and see my
point is there's no other way finally to
know and relate to a person other than
faith and that's true in our human
relationships as well if you were to say
in regard to another person I will only
go on what I can absolutely know through
analytical reason how much that person
we ever know very little how much that
person will ever be able to love very
little
because you're in utter control of the
process of knowing that person in fact
you have effectively objectified the
person you've made that person an object
of your investigation now a fortiori in
regard to God right God who is the
supreme person over and over again on
these innards and the inner tubes and
he's YouTube pieces
people will say something like unless I
can absolutely prove it unless you can
show me with pure analytical reason and
I was come on I'll show you a lot
through analytical reason I'll give you
arguments for God's existence and so on
fine fine but you see how you locked
yourself in to this little narrow space
I will only accept what I can absolutely
control wack
you'll never know a person on those
terms if God is a person he invites
faith doesn't mean naive take radula t
accepting superstitious nonsense you
know driving it just as another person
finally invites you to have faith how
come you married that man or that woman
right oh it's because I had absolutely
analytical control over every it come on
at some point there was an a mutual act
of trust call it faith or an exchange of
Hearts right so with God faith is the
act of saying Lord I accept I trust what
you've revealed to me in your own
freedom No and it's why faith is not
opposed to reason though it goes beyond
it just as that trust and another person
is not irrational but it does go beyond
reason so in regard to God we have
finally to have faith precisely because
we're dealing with the supreme person