A father was reading Bible stories to his young son. He read, "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city, but his wife looked back and was turned to salt."
After a moment his son asked — "What happened to the flea?"
Ah, the faith and reason of a young child. The child took it on faith that Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt, but it was reason that caused him to wonder about the flea. Indeed faith and reason are everywhere in our lives and thinking, even as young children.
In Christianity, Faith and Reason refer to the two channels of revelation from which we derive all knowledge.
Reason is what we typically apply to Common Revelation, or what is revealed by the natural universe to all mankind. Reason allows us to understand what we perceive with our senses, and it helps us formulate the laws and rules about how things work in the physical realm.
Faith is what we typically apply to Supernatural Revelation, or what the Prophets and Jesus revealed about the supernatural universe to the elect. Faith allows us to know what we cannot perceive directly, such as the laws and rules about how things work in the supernatural realm. God revealed such things to the Prophets and we in turn have the opportunity to believe them and behave accordingly. Well, some of us believe. Atheists have difficulty accepting information based on faith because, as comedian Steven Wright points out, atheists are members of non-prophet organizations.
Faith is not exclusive to the supernatural realm, and reason is not exclusive to the natural universe. The two work hand-in-hand. Faith is reinforced by reason, and reason is advanced by faith.
Faith is Reinforced by Reason
When God communicates to us through the Prophets about how morality works, we can often test such declarations with reason.
For example, we have been told that Christ's suffering and death is an example of how we too must die to self for the greater good of others. Reason allows us to test that concept, so we look around for verification. We see examples in the suffering of a mother to give birth, in the transparency and availability of individuals dedicated to public service, and in the physical sacrifice of rescuers when tragedy strikes. It's not logical that death can bring life, even though we see it in the death of a seed that gives life to a plant. But once it is revealed to us through faith, we can indeed discover that loving sacrifice rewards us with new life. And so, through reason, our faith is expanded and strengthened.
Speaking of Moses (was I?), and the prophets (I was!), here's a test question for you: How many animals of each sex did Moses take with him onto the ark? Don't get complicated on me with all that two and seven stuff. — Give up? — The answer is zero. Moses didn't have an ark. He had the children of Israel and even two tablets didn't get rid of that headache. Okay, get off the ark, there's more work to do.
Reason is Advanced by Faith.
Proverbs 3:5-10 sets the stage:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not; In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the LORD and turn away from evil; This will mean health for your flesh and vigor for your bones. Honor the LORD with your wealth, with first fruits of all your produce; Then will your barns be filled with grain, with new wine your vats will overflow (NAB, USCCB).
Here are propositional statements of faith: Trust in God, not in yourself. Fear the Lord, and, do not think of yourself as wise. Logic, at first, doesn't tell us such things. But, these prophetic words do suggest that our reason will be advanced if we will first apply some faith. How? The passage says that if we trust in God (i.e. faith), "our paths will be straight, we will be healthier, and we will have plenty to eat." Indeed the Children of Israel obeyed the rules of kosher out of faith. They did not have the scientific or biological understanding of today whereby reason and a few medical studies tell us that you can avoid trichinosis by avoiding pork (to give one example). By stepping forward in faith with what is revealed by supernatural revelation we are given insight that reason alone can not provide.
There is one way that faith and reason however, are quite different. Reason is a human faculty and therefore is limited by mortality and sin. Reason is therefore limited and finite. Faith, however, is a divine faculty, given to us by God's grace, and connects us to the infinite. That's pretty cool when you think about it. It's the reason Proverbs also says that a wise student is smarter than his teacher. (It's just not smart to let your teacher know that's what you're thinking.)
Faith does not allow us to know the infinities of God, but through faith we are given access to God's infallibility. It is through faith that the Church is graced with the infallibility of the Holy Spirit's inspiration. Jesus told the Apostles that the Holy Spirit would lead them "into all truth" (John 16:13). If we rely only on reason we will eventually run off the knowledge highway and into a ditch. Or as Jesus explained, the storms of life will easily undercut any house built on the sandy shoulder of life's road (Matthew 7:24-27). When our reason is guided by faith, however, we are likely to stay on life's pavement and navigate through the cross winds safely.
Why Study Reason?
All of the above was necessary to introduce a series discussing the role of reason in the discovery of truth. No study of reason will lead one to infallible understanding or some special knowledge apart from the guidelines of faith. Such a claim would only lead to Gnosticism; and even if you don't know what that is, believe me, the Church does, has dealt with it, and left it in that pile of sand back in Matthew 7. On the other-hand, we will see that true faith and true reason never contradict, for they both come from God. They are both part of the same search for truth, which will lead us to peace on Earth, eternity in heaven, and the throne of Christ. Can't wait!
These first two articles (click here to review Part 1) have acted as introductions to the topic we will be exploring in the coming months. In future installments I will explain how reason is very much the same as logic, which is a word that is derived from the Greek word "logos," the term St. John uses at the beginning of his gospel to describe Jesus:
And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth (John 1:14, NAB, USCCB).
We will also explore how John firmly establishes the direct connection between Jesus, good logic, and truth, and why Catholicism is the net result of all that. Then, as the series unfurls, I will discuss the critical components of reason and logic, specifically the four criteria of a "good" argument, the four groups of fallacies (of which there are dozens that have confused Christian dialogue since the Protestant Reformation), and conclude with the twelve principles of a rational discussion.
In the next article we will begin by answering this question: "What's the difference between an opinion and an argument?" Now, don't get ahead of me. If you think an opinion is what your wife has when she opens her mouth, and an argument is what happens when you subsequently open yours, you're, ah…only partly right.
In the meantime time try not to worry too much about what happened to Lot's flea.
Come to think of it, Moses did have an ark — in fact, one more than Noah. Do you know what they were?
(Throughout this series I am indebted to T. Edward Damer's book: Attacking Faulty Reasoning, which is the basis for my discussions on the criteria of good arguments and fallacies.)
