My departure from the Faith was like a conversion on the road to Damascus. My return was slow, hesitant, doubting. So it will always be; but I know I shall never make the same mistake again. Gilbert Ryle, with donnish absurdity, called God “a category mistake”. Yet the real category mistake made by atheists is not about God, but about human beings. Turn to the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge ”“ “Read the first chapter of Genesis without prejudice and you will be convinced at once . . . ”˜The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life’.” And then Coleridge adds: “”˜And man became a living soul.’ Materialism will never explain those last words.”
The beauty of this piece by A.N. WIlson is that it illuminates the truth that faith cannot be explained as agreement with propositions, rather as the inwardly recognized experience of encountering truth that transcends explanation and puts one on one’s knees in awe and thankful praise.
No. 1: Something about your comment put me in mind of the English theologian and philosopher Austin Farrer (1904-1968). Anyone–especially any Anglican–interested in the relation between faith and reason, between theology and spirituality, between doctrine and life would be well served by Farrer’s writings and by the recent spate of books about Farrer. Those who have never heard of him–but have heard of C S Lewis, D L Sayers, John Betjeman, Rose Macaulay, K E Kirk, et al.–might at least want to check him out on Wikipedia, if for no other reason than that he writes in a way that is uniquely moving, imaginative, and helpful. Theologians as different as John Cobb and David Tracy have said that Farrer is the sort of theologian we need more of–partly because of his distinctive capacity to pull together his work as biblical scholar, theologian, philosopher, preacher, chaplain, and so forth.
David Hein [2], thanks for the pointer to Farrer. Some bits from his sermons are findable on line, and is is masterful in his use of imagery, and bridges the gap masterfully from the academic to the pastoral. A great recommendation!
Mr. Wilson says, in the article:
[quote]But religion, once the glow of conversion had worn off, was not a matter of argument alone. It involves the whole person.[/quote]
To which [b]Henry Greville[/b] [url=”http://new.kendallharmon.net/wp-content/uploads/index.php/t19/article/21882/#354719″]1[/url] adds:
[quote]… faith cannot be explained as agreement with propositions, rather as the inwardly recognized experience of encountering truth that transcends explanation and puts one on one’s knees in awe and thankful praise.[/quote]
Permit me to add, from C.B. Moss’ [i]The Christian Faith[/i] (beginning of Chapter 5):
[quote]Our belief in God is not founded upon argument. As St. Ambrose says, it was not God’s will to save His people by dialectic (“Non complacuit Deo salvum populum suum per dialecticam facere”).
… The witness of Christians is of supreme importance. What convinces men of the truth of the Gospel of Christ is the changed lives of those who have accepted it.
… We are quite willing to argue, and we believe that reason is on our side; but we do not think that reason by itself will make any man a Christian.[/quote]
Readable online [url=”http://anglicanhistory.org/cbmoss/01_15.html”]here[/url] and [url=”http://www.katapi.org.uk/”]here[/url]. St. Ambrose in context [url=”http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf210.iv.iv.iii.vi.html”]here[/url] (v. 42).
And last but not least, “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” 1 Cor. 4.20 (KJV).
regards,
JPB
To #1 and 4 – I would add Revelation 12:11:
“And they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”