In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

LOGICAL NOTE ON THE COEXISTENCE OF FAITH AND REASON CHURCH CONTROL OF human reflection has been the focus of fierce criticism on the part of the theologians. We are not saying that all theologians are engaged in this controversy, but there is a widespread uneasiness among them. Some are extremists who seem to claim an unconditional freedom of thought and expression which they entitle " academic freedom." Today, as in times past, "La libre pensee" has always been a temptation among the clerics of the Frenchspeaking countries; and the "Free Thinkers" have also been influential in the Anglo-Saxon milieu. This state of affairs is not only proper to the domain of theologians but is also found among philosophers. Moreover, it is not only limited to Christianity but is also verified in the Jewish as well as in the Arabic intelligentsia from the time of the historical encounter of their religious wisdom with Hellenistic culture.1 This historical situation seems to suggest that there is a common Eidos which characterizes the conditions of intellectual research wherever this uneasiness appears. What is this? For all these thinkers it is nothing but the experience of the price of the meeting of God with man, the coexistence of an authoritative teaching with a self-sufficient inquiry, and the cohabitation of Faith and Reason in one and the same consciousness . In short, it is the challenge of reason by Reason, or inversely. We propose to analyze the specific case of a person who is both a believer and a philosopher. We say first, a believer, because the philosopher will not face this crisis unless he be1 Cf. Etienne Gilson, History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (New York, 1955), p. 184, for the Arabs, and the case of Spinoza in the 17th century for the Jewish thinkers. 276 THE COEXISTENCE OF FAITH AND REASON '27"7 lieves. It would not be very common for a philosopher to become a believer at the very moment in which he finds Faith to be problematic. We deliberately limit our analysis to the case of the Christian metaphysician. In a first section we shall briefly formulate the assumptions, explicit or implicit, which constitute his spiritual horizon, while detecting the vectorial components which determine his initial position. In a second section, we shall examine, from a strictly logical viewpoint, the four possible attitudes which can be taken by him. In a third and last section, we shall deal with the problem of Christian Philosophy as a corollary of the fourth attitude. * * * * Christianity claims to be a way of life proposed to us as intelligent and responsible persons for reaching salvation through a dialogue between God and mankind. Historically, this dialogue took place somewhere, at some time, and with someone. The aspect of " way of life " has been so much emphasized by a group of believers that any intellectual content seems to have been excluded or at least purposely overlooked. But this view is neither in accordance with historical data nor in agreement with human psychology. The Scriptures are clear on this subject, and Tradition has elaborated Creeds. This way of life does not result from a pure training which would produce conditioned reflexes. The reason for this conclusion is that any way of life which would entail some discomfort or trouble, both social and personal, cannot be accepted unless it makes sense. Consequently, conversion of heart cannot be understood without a free decision of the mind. But this free decision requires a minimum of noematic intelligibility for enlightening interior judgment, one of its necessary conditions. As a matter of fact, it is through God's theophanies, through the teaching of Moses and the Prophets, and through Christ's deeds and words that a doctrine which expresses God's project for mankind was made known to men. Through images, parables, and myths, a set of truths on the meaning of life was conveyed to the minds of the listeners regarding the objective ~78 ELEUTHERE WINANCE factors of its realization and of the subjective attitudes of its acceptance. Now we cannot help assenting to a group of statements which constitute Christian Doctrine; in other words, the way of life is characterized...

pdf

Share