Discussion Thread Faith and Reason

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Dec 6, 2023

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Discussion Thread: Faith and Reason Module 8 APOL 550 The proper relationship between faith and reason is that they are both sources of authority upon which beliefs can rest. Faith is believing in the truth of something that does not need any evidence and may not be provable by any means. Reason is the faculty of the mind through which we can logically come to rational conclusions. Some people view faith and reason as complementary, with faith providing a basis for moral and spiritual beliefs and reason providing a means of understanding and interpreting the world. In this view, faith and reason can work together to provide a more complete and nuanced understanding of the world and of human experience. Others view faith and reason as conflicting or incompatible, with faith representing a belief in something that is not supported by evidence or reason and reason representing a rejection of beliefs that are not based on evidence or logical thought. In this view, faith and reason may be seen as opposing or mutually exclusive ways of understanding the world. Once we note that we can hardly go through a day without many acts of faith of this kind, we might also note that the faith we are employing is not usually “blind,” and if possible, it should not be. Our faith in these matters is informed by reason. If someone asked us why we thought China existed even though we had never been there and could not scientifically prove it, we would say that we have very good grounds for our belief, so much so that a person who denied China’s existence because he had never personally visited it and has not empirically proven its existence would be thought highly irrational. This points to something fundamental about the nature of the relationship between faith and reason. Faith is intrinsically tied to reason and represents a reasonable response to certain aspects of thought and action. Reason itself demands that we regularly exercise well-grounded faith. Thus faith is not the opposite of reason or the lack of it. When we exercise faith, whether in a bank, a restaurant, an airline, a teacher, or the word of a trusted friend, we are exercising a type of reason; we are making a judgment on the basis of good “reasons,” as we usually put it. By the same token, when we refuse to put our money in an e-mail scheme from Nigeria, or we avoid a particular restaurant because it has been closed numerous times for food poisoning, or we disbelieve a person who has consistently been found deceitful, we are withholding our faith with good reason. Much of what it means to be a reasonable person, to act according to reason, is to make sound judgments about what and whom we can trust. The proper relationship between faith and reason is a theological relationship and is observed in the outward expression of the gospel promises prominent in the Christian faith. From this starting point, faithful reasoning is wholly dependent upon man’s restored relationship with God.
This view is held by theologians and scholars within the Reformed and Confessional Traditions. 1 Anselm, in his day, stated that: … without God, it is ill with us. Our labors and attempts are in vain without God. Man cannot seek God unless God himself teaches him, nor find him unless he reveals himself. God created man in his image so that he might be mindful of him, think of him, and love him. The believer does not seek to understand, that he may believe, but he believes that he may understand, for unless he believed, he would not understand. 2 Reading Augustine’s Confessions led me to finally recognize what I think was the point of his writing – throughout each book, Augustine was reasoning with himself about his relationship with God and what was right and wrong. In the end, he wanted to take back everything he had written, going so far as praying, “But Thou, being the Good which needeth no good, art ever at rest because Thy rest is Thou Thyself. And what man can teach man to understand this? Or what Angel, an Angel? or what, Angel, a man? Let it be asked of Thee, sought in Thee, knocked for at Thee; so, so shall it be received, so shall it be found, so shall it be opened. Amen.” 3 In an invitation to his audience, Moreland asks: “If you have not already done so, you should perform a devotional experiment in which you place your trust in Jesus, cast yourself on Him and His kindness, and seek Him with all your heart. Begin to attempt to do what He taught, and you will begin to see the power of His presence and kingdom manifest itself in, though, and around you. This will be the final confirmation that a life of discipleship unto the luminous Nazarene is, indeed, entrance into the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” 4 For me, trusting in Jesus means having confidence in the Scripture that God directed to his prophets. Use your God-given ability to reason to apply his words to your life. 1 James K. Beilby, Thinking about Christian apologetics: what it is and why we do it (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011), Kindle Locations 697-746. 2 Sidney Norton Deane with Saint Anselm, Proslogium; Monologium; An Appendix, In Behalf of the Fool, by Gaunilon; and Cur Deus Homo (Chicago, IL: The Open Court Publishing Company, 1939), 3. 3 Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo, The Confessions of St. Augustine , trans. E. B. Pusey (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996). 4 J. P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2012), 216.
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