LESSON 2
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FAITH VS REASON
What is faith?
Faith: belief, trust, confidence - according to oxford english dictionary
1)a. Confidence, reliance, trust (in the ability, goodness, etc., of a person; in the efficacy or worth of a thing; or in the truth of a statement or doctrine)
B. belief proceeding from reliance on testimony or authority 3) Theol
. in various specific applications.
a. Belief in the truths of religion; belief in the authenticity of divine revelation (whether viewed
as contained in Holy Scripture or in the teaching of the Church), and acceptance of the revealed doctrines.
b. That kind of faith (distinctively called saving faith
or justifying faith
) which, in the teaching of the New Testament, justifies a sinner in the sight of God. Theologians variously define this, but there is general agreement in regarding it as a conviction practically operative on the character and will, and thus opposed to the mere intellectual assent to religious truth.
c. The spiritual apprehension of divine truths, or of realities beyond the reach of sensible experience or logical proof.
What is christian faith?
According to christian bible:
●
New testament was written in greek and the greek noun “pistis” is translated “faith” in many translations of the bible, eg:
●
In the new testament, the worth “faith” (pistis) meant, “to trust someone”, it is a word that connotes relationship, one’s relationship to god, faith is to trust in god. Faith in the new testament did not mean “firm belief in that for which there is no proof”. That is a modern understanding of the term “faith” What is reason?
According to oxford dictionary
Reason:
1.
The intellectual power, the capacity for rational thought, and related senses. The power of the mind to think and form valid judgements by a process of logic; the mental faculty which is used in adapting thought or action to some end; the guiding principle of the mind in the process of thinking. (We use the expression: "
the age of reason
" to refer to the age at which a child is held capable of discerning right from wrong.)
2.
A cause, ground, or motive. A fact or circumstance forming, or alleged as forming, a motive sufficient to lead a person to adopt or reject some course of action or belief.
What is christian reason?
According to christian bible
●
One way to understand issue of christian reason is to look at three passages from paul’s letters Faith in god vs human reason
●
Sense that their own efforts will lead them to discern what is right and what they should do ●
On other hand, paul said person can only be saved through faith, nothing they do can
save them
●
^ debate shaped history of the christian tradition’s reflection on moral life Christian influences ●
The earliest Christian writers depended heavily upon Hebrew scriptures. These scriptures are the sacred texts of the Jewish religion. Many Christian denominations refer to these sacred texts as the “Old Testament”. Hebrew scriptures are used by both contemporary Judaism and Christianity, but these texts are interpreted in different ways.
Greek philosophical influences
Plato
●
Platonism: greek philosophy of plato (429-347 bce) and his followers taught the following:
○
Truth is universal and eternal ○
World of things is fleeting and corruptible - an imperfect limitation of pure ideas
○
Confidence in the capacity of the human mind to discover truth through reason
○
Moral life is patterning one’s behaviour in accordance with universal ideals Aristotle
●
Parted was from his mentor plato, plato believe that form over matter equaled life; and that form was superior to matter. Aristotle disagreed and asserted that form (soul) and matter were one substance. Plato is considered a dualist, whereas aristotle a realist
●
384-222 bce
●
Plato’s pupil
●
Reversal of plato - ideas are a reflection of things
●
For aristotle, the good consists in the realisation of the ends potential in one’s nature
Zeno
●
Zeno of citium founded the school of stoicism where he taught from aprox 300 bce. His philosophy valued peace of mind which he believed was a result of living reasonably, virtiously and in harmony with nature
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Stoicism: a greek philosophy founded by zeno (ca 333-262 bce) a pre-socratic greek philosopher
○
God is rational
○
Humans reflect this same rationality
○
To be true to one’s humanity is to center oneself on reason
Epicurus
●
Influenced by democraitus his predecessor who was a materialist and who is regarded as the first to identify the atom as the building blocks of materiality
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He lived with a form of controlled hedonism (pleasure is the greatest good)
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Epicureanism: a greek philosophy founded by epicurus (341-270 bce)
○
Life has no enduring meaning
○
Therefore, mnust maximise pleasure and minimise pain
○
Avoided social relationships and political responsibility
New testament ethics ●
The last of the new testament writings are dated from early in the 2nd century and it is from these writings that we see diversity rather than unity in scriptures. The bible does not have a single ethical perspective, but instead has a variety of ethical perspectives. Biblical morality is very much a contextual character rather than stating universal rules ●
However, there were certain distinctive features about the approach of the people of the bible to morality
1.
The bible regards people’s behaviour as direct and immediate response to god’s revealed will
2.
In the New Testament, God is revealed through Christ. When proposing a way of life that is Christian, the New Testament writers constantly draw attention to the pattern of Jesus' earthly life as well as to the demands the resurrected Christ makes on those who believe in him.
3.
Christ formed a new covenant that built on the old covenant, so there is a basic unity between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, at the same time there is a shift away from following the "letter of the law" to following the "spirit" of the law.
●
Creative diversity in new testament
●
Cultural diveristy
Central theme of jesus ●
The central theme of Jesus' (New Testament) message is "the kingdom of God is at
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hand." (Mark 1:14) Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom of God is central. The "kingdom" is present in and with his own person
●
The phrase 'the kingdom of God' does not refer to territory or to a state of "kingship". Rather, it refers to a person's acceptance of the God who graciously approached and
to that person's consequent adherence to a certain way of life.
●
Jesus demonstrated what this acceptance meant and what this way of life was. This was the central point of his mission as he understood it. His teaching on morality, with regard to both content and motivation, was based on it.
●
The main concern of Jesus was to live out God's kingdom and its demands. Jesus' life was a pattern of behaviour in accord with the nature of the kingdom. It was a pattern others could follow. There is no fully worked out moral system in the New Testament. For Jesus, perfection meant acceptance of the kingdom and its demands.
It means "repentance" and obedience to the divine will (discipleship)
Characteristics of new testament ●
Jesus rejected the formal authority of the Scriptures as absolutely binding. He did not hesitate to interpret the Scriptures for his contemporaries not as a scribe who spells out their every implication, but as one who can oppose one passage to another and show how they correspond with God's kingdom in the present.
●
Jesus condemns ritual law. For Jesus, it is the human heart that is important, as the prophets had previously insisted, and ritual prescriptions cannot determine a person's total acceptance or rejection of God. (Mark 7).
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Jesus' basic request is 'follow me', that is, imitate the selfless pattern of his life. He emphasized this rather than spelling out a detailed moral code.
●
So we see in John - Jesus' moral teaching is chiefly seen in his command to love. It is spelled out mainly in the concrete acts of forgiveness, practical caring and unlimited self-
sacrifice. Rather than laws and commands, Jesus uses parables or stories to teach ethical behaviour.
Contextual ethics
Early christian communities
1.
Faced moral problems
●
Earlychristian communities never considered that they had received a complete code of morality to deal with every situation
●
The community of faith must discover what its moral response should be in the face of specifical moral problems
2.
Interpreted, adapted and applied jesus sayings
●
Jesus sayings could be interpreted, adapted and applied to new situations
●
Jesus did not discuss every situation or deal with every problem explicitly, but the tradition of his words can be approached in a living and vital way, precisely because of his promise ot be present with his disciples “until the end
of the age” (matthew 28:20)
3.
Showed cultural diversity among believers
●
There wa significant cultural diversity among the early church believers. Therea re many examples of creative liberty and fidelity int he apostolic church
●
For example, acts 10:11-18, peter did not impost circumcision and other jewish customs on the house of the gentile roman officer, cornellius
4.
Were effected by paul’s teachings ●
Paul, in particular, exhibited tremendous creative liberty which allowed him to have a huge impact in most of the places he visited in his travels. Paul’s teachings were always contextual ●
Eg. in paul’s first letter to the corinthian he says: ●
On other hand, paul writers to galatians:
5.
Struggled with social questions
●
In first centuries, early christian thinkers struggled with momentus social questions. ○
The attitude ot be taken toward the material world itself
○
The attitude ot be taken toward political power
●
In second century, there was a shift to the development of deeper intellectual presentations of the faith ○
Drew on greek philosophy
Christian concerns ●
The implications of the Gospel proclamation on the behaviour of the early Christians continued to be an important concern as the first Christian disciples exited the scene and second and third generation Christians wrestled with what being a Christian meant in terms of moral living.
●
Again, this ethical concern did not result in any comprehensive moral systems, let alone any single, universally accepted system. Rather, the writing of the period was characterized by a desire to respond to the concrete needs of the community in a way that is still authentic to the core of the Christian faith.
●
This dialectic of faith (in the teachings of Christ) and experience (the concrete situation at that moment) was differently handled by various early Christian theologians. Key figure: saint justin
Defending the faith against objections 1.
An early christian “apologists”
●
Saint justin martyr (martyred ca 161) - one of the early christian apologists. [christian apologetics is a field of christian theology that aims to present a
rational basis for the christian faith, defending the faith against objections]
○
The first who tired to reconcile christian with non-christian culture
○
Attempted a synthesis, a constructive encounter with the prevailing philosophy of platonism
○
In dialogue with pagan philosophy and jewish culture
○
Presents christs to jews and gentiles as logos kay nomos (the word and the law)
2.
Socrates and plato influence
●
With justin we have the beginning of the synthesis of christianity with platonism, so it is imporatnt that we understand something about plato (428/7-
348/7 bce) and his teacher socrates (469-399 bce) and their understanding of
the moral life
●
Socrates equated virtue with knowledge: ultimate evil is the unexamined life. He tired to bring people to recognise their own ignorance. He continually questioned his fellow athenians on the meaning and necessity of virtuous and
reflective living. Socrates’ pedagogy was not to hand down doctrine but to lead his students to see for themselves, to get the insight themselves
●
Plato privileged the soul over the body: he believed the soul to be separate and superior to the body. Human beings are attracted to the good through desire (eros). No one desires evil, humans are merely misle. Doing the good follows naturally and logically from knowing the good 3.
Plato’s view of the soul
●
Plato saw the soul as divided into three parts: desire (appetites) spirit and reason. ○
Desire: appetites are our multitude of desires for various pleasures, comforts, physical satisfactions, and bodily ease. They can often be in
conflict even with each other
○
Spirit: the spirited part is the aprt that gets angry when it perceives (for
example) an injustice being done. This is the aprt of us that loves to face and overcome great challenges, the aprt that can steel itself to adversity, and that loves victory, winning, challenge, and honour
○
Reason: the mind (nous), our conscious awareness is the part of us that thinks, analysis, looks ahead, rationally weighs options, and tries to gauge what is best and truest overall
●
The rational part is akin to the divine in its approach to true forms and is immortal while the other two parts operate int he phenomenal realm and are thus bound by mortality. Doing the good follows naturally and logically form knowing the good 4.
Platonism combined with christianity
●
For plato, the states exist to guarantee the good life for its citizens and should
thus be ruled by those with a developed capacity for approaching the essence
of good life (just as the reason must rule the soul because it is part of the soul
which has this capacity)
●
When platonism was combined with christianity, several themes often - but not always - emerged:
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Key figure: clement of alexandra
●
In early christian ethics, both clement of alexandria and origen combined christianity wit hthe platonism that were common in alexandria
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A greek theologian:
○
Clement of Alexandria (Greek Theologian) (c.150-c.211) in creative dialogue with the prevailing thought patterns of his culture. The central theme in Clement's teachings is the true knowledge of Jesus Christ. He gives place to the primacy of love against stoic self-sufficiency. A key theme in his teachings was that the human person is created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, the moral life is responding to this vocation. Clement had an optimistic vision of life, he saw the world as good. He wanted to integrate the Gospel with insights from the pagan world. Clement argued against Gnosticism and Manichaeism.
Key figure: origen
●
Origen was a student of Clement's who saw Christ as the centre of history. He was also against Gnosticism - strongly defending freedom of the will. Origen was more negative having a pessimistic view of human life. He was much more inclined to dichotomize the life of Christian faith and the life of the world.
●
Unique Among Platonists
○
Origen lived through a turbulent period of the Christian Church, when persecution was widespread and little or no doctrinal consensus existed among the various regional churches. In this environment, Gnosticism flourished, and Origen was the first truly philosophical thinker to turn his hand not only to a refutation of Gnosticism, but to offer an alternative Christian system that was more rigorous and philosophically respectable than the mythological speculations of the various Gnostic sects.
○
He is unique among Platonists of his era for introducing history into his cosmological and metaphysical speculations, and his insistence on the absolute freedom of each and every person, thereby denying the fatalism that
so often found its way into the more esoteric teachings of the various philosophical and mystery schools of his day. Primary consideration was given at this time to divine laws or to what were regarded as the eternal laws of the universe, over which man had no control. But subordinate to these divine and eternal laws was the law of nature.
○
That the theory of natural law was given an important place in early Christian thought may be gathered from the writings of Origen, St. Ambrose, and St. Jerome. Referring to a passage of St. Paul (Rom. ii, 12-14) they spoke of natural law as equivalent to the law of God and as universal in contrast with the written laws made by human beings.
Struggling with social and political quesitons
Issues and concerns facing early christians 1.
Duties of the believer
●
It was ambrose, roman, bishop of milan (d.397) who addressed himself to the myriad “duties” of the believer
●
Ambros sought to articulate these moral responsibilities in a concret way that presaged the works of casuistry that would flourish 1300 years later. His preaching had a strong impact on augustine of hippo, whom ambros baptised and brought into the church
2.
Love god and neighbour
●
While early christians were not the only people in the ancient world to advocate highly disciplined moral living, they are noteworthy in grounding personal morality in a love ethic. Their writings frequently alluded to the two commandments - love god and neighbour
●
Christians are admonished by their moral teachers to live lives of sexual self-
discipline (if not total abstinence), to care for widows and orphans and other vulnerable people, and repay evil with good 3.
Views of the material and political worlds ●
Christians struggled with momentous social questions concerning the attitude ot be taken toward the material world itself. Such as gnosticism (marcionism) - christ had nothing to do with the creation of the material world
●
Another issue was the attitude to be taken toward political power. Christians of the first two centuries seem to have renounced the use of coercive force, even in self defense yet gave substantial support ot the state in its exercise of
power
4.
Ethics gaining expression
●
Shift of emphasis occurred in 2nd century with the development of deeper intellectual presentations of the faith. The first and early second century writings are based more on authoritative revelation and less upon a process of reasoning
●
Ethics gained highly sophisticated expression, fully availing itself of the highest philosophical traditions and methods in the ancient world with the emergence of great thinkers like clement, origin, tertullian, and ambros, and augustine of hippo, whose work drew the best of earlier christian thought into focus, while laying the foundations for a millennium of subsequent writing on moral questions Key figure: augustine of hippo
●
Moral theologian
○
Augustine of hippo (354-430) was ambrose’s discipline and is, to some, considered to be the greatest moral theologian of all time
■
Most creative and imaginative thinker of christian antiquity
■
Never attempted to develop a coherent and inclusive system of moral theory
■
Confessions - his person theological vision
■
City of god - his understanding of the world ●
Perennial issues of ethics
○
He addressed himself ot the perennial underlying issues of ethics with the relationship of ■
Faith and works
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Grace and freedom
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Sin and virtue
●
Key teachings
○
Focused on the centrality of love int he christian life and utilised a psychological, introspective and inductive approach to the development of ethical insight ○
Key teachings
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God’s bountiful grace, faith an undeserved gift yet, did not deny free will
■
The mystery of predestination on the one hand and free will on the other cannot be explained by a human being ■
Against manicheans and pelagians, strongly asserts the reality of sin
■
Teaches a natural law by which god guides the conscience of all people
■
Defines virtue as “a natural disposition consistent with nature and reason”
■
The love of god, always united with the love of neighbour is the centre of morality. “Virtue is simply nothing but the highest love of god”
Key figure: pelagius
A 5th century British monk, Pelagius, identified a tension within the traditional Christian conviction of grace. It implies that humans cannot save themselves. Therefore, how can God
hold us responsible for our failings?
The Pelagian Controversy
●
Pelagius argues:
We must be able to keep God's law without God's help.
■
Denied the doctrine of original sin
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Attributed to human beings the ability by themselves to choose the good
and so to effect their own salvation.
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In refuting Pelagius, Augustine emphasized:
■
The universality of human sinfulness as a way of explaining the absolute necessity of God's loving benefits.
■
He used Paul's metaphor in Romans 5 - humanity had fallen in Adam and Eve's
sin from the state God had planned.
■
So, Augustine stressed without Christ we can do nothing
●
Pelagius was declared a heretic by the Council of Carthage. While Augustine's writings influenced Church teachings on ethics for the next 1000 years.
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Ethical tensions Identifying tensions faced by early christians
The biblical legacy of christian ethics
All four tensions bring us back to our opening discussion about faith and reason for each one
shares the underlying question Christians ask about their role in living a good life. As J. Philip Wogaman suggests in his book, Christian Ethics: A Historical Introduction:
"The biblical legacy, taken as a whole, would seem to suggest that serious thought about ethics must employ both revelation and reason, although the meaning of revelation, the nature of reason, and the proper way to employ the two together have been elaborated in
very different ways through Christian history." [Christian Ethics: A Historical Introduction, Louisville, second edition. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p. 6.]