Faith and Reason: Vistas and Horizons

By Anthony Fisher

What is the fruit of a searching dialogue between faith and reason? This book collects theological and philosophical perspectives on the richness of the faith-reason dialogue, including examples from literature, continental and analytic philosophy, worship and liturgy, and radical approaches to issues of racism and prejudice. The authors strongly resist the temptations to either disregard the faith-reason dialogue or take it for granted. Through their explorations and reflections they open up new vistas and horizons on a topic more necessary than ever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Release date: Oct 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781498207812

Book preview

Introduction

—Nigel Zimmermann and Sandra Lynch

The editors are immensely grateful for the support of the School of Philosophy and Theology and the Institute for Ethics & Society, both at the University of Notre Dame Australia, for providing resources and encouragement for the successful completion of this project.

Strictly speaking we do not live in an age of reason, nor an age of faith. Neither category adequately describes the ways of thinking and acting that are primarily on display in our own time, and perhaps it is too early to make such an attempt at categorization with any certainty. Some may argue that reason pervades Western culture by referring to our reliance on scientific methodology and the development of technology, but it does not take much investigation to uncover the superficiality of that assumption. In fact, argument on contemporary issues can sometimes only be categorized as opinion, given that commentary is either not accompanied by evidence or the nature of the evidence provided raises doubts and suspicions as to its veracity or credibility. The irrational name-calling and political tribalism that arises in wave after wave of outrage on social media illustrates this phenomenon. On the other hand, faith as a religious concept has been on a fast-tracked decline in the high-income countries of the West for decades. Norris and Inglehart use survey data to confirm this, although they report that between 1981–2007 the majority of countries they studied (thirty-three of the forty-nine countries studied, containing 60 percent of the world’s population) showed increases in belief in God over that period. Levels of religiosity increased most markedly in former communist countries and developing countries (e.g., Eastern Europe, Africa, parts of Asia), and this led Norris and Inglehart to report that a resurgence of religiosity and religious fundamentalism appeared to be reversing the global trend toward secularization in developed countries.³⁴ In other words, religiosity, overall, is increasing across the globe.

While religious faith has not disappeared from the West, a rapid decline in levels of religiosity has occurred in parts of the Western world, with some significant exceptions. In some countries, it remains vibrant and strong, and has even experienced a resurgence in confidence in certain demographics, such as in India and in eighteen Muslim-majority countries.³⁵ Alan Cooperman, director of religion research at the Pew Research Centre, noted that research at the Pew Centre confirmed an increase in secularization in countries with aging populations and low fertility rates; while religious identification is growing in Central and Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia (India and Pakistan) and some parts of both the Middle East and Latin America.³⁶ On the basis of Pew survey data, Cooperman predicts that the share of the world’s population that does not identify with a religion will decrease, from 16 percent in 2010 to approximately 12–13 percent by 2050.³⁷ The decline in large portions of developed countries has not resulted in an overall decline under any statistical analysis.

Faith cannot be said to characterize contemporary Western societies in any pervasive, significant, or meaningful way, unless one were to propose that an objective reliance on materiality and its persistent promise of satiation is a kind of faith. But if so, any similarity to religious faith is limited and disingenuous, given that such a proposition is undermined by evidence that the acquisition of material objects, of material protection against dangers and of experiences can only offer a temporary form of satisfaction that is referred to in the literature as purchase happiness.³⁸ By comparison, the object of faith is God himself, faith entailing belief that his promises will be fulfilled in our eternal happiness and fellowship with him.

In such an age, a book titled Faith and Reason might be assumed to be considering the question of their relationship and whether or how the manner of their relating in the modern academy can be justified. Questions of the trust placed in revelation through the Scriptures as the foundation of religious belief can be compared to belief in scientific claims and the nature of evidence required, so to allow us to explore the ways in which we come to understand the world and our place in it. Alternatively, from an opposing point of view, we might undertake the project of dismantling the relationship between faith and reason. This book undertakes neither of these tasks. It does not focus on exploring the first-order questions of the faith-reason debate because such territory has been successfully navigated in many interesting ways already.

A good and useful start would be John Haldane’s book Faithful Reason (2004) and his beautifully argued follow-up on a related theme, Reasonable Faith (2010). A stimulating journey through history can be taken to explore these themes, whether it be the treatment of faith in relation to reason in the high medieval period or the presuppositions of contemporary thinkers in the secular and the post-secular phases of modernity and postmodernity. To understand this debate in the context of the change of epoch through which we are living, Samuel Gregg’s Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilisation (2019) offers a startling read. It would be hard to surpass the enlightening thought of Charles Taylor, and naïve to presume either too much or too little of ancient writers, whom we might surmise may have been quite bewildered by some philosophical writing in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, were interaction between these various epochs possible. In addition, we would direct readers to a previous edited collection of the same title as the current collection, Faith and Reason: Friends or Foes in the New Millennium? (2004). This collection, edited by the Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP and Hayden Ramsay, fruitfully explores questions that return to the synthesis of reason achieved in the Middle Ages, as well as the drama of the separation between faith and reason that John Paul II addresses in Fides et Ratio and an intriguing question of the faith of reason.

Explaining the genesis of this book will help the reader understand its purpose. The book is the fruit of a work undertaken in the School of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia, the first Catholic university in the Land of the Southern Cross. Lecturers in the School conducted a symposium, organized by Sandra Lynch and Nigel Zimmermann, and it was commonly agreed by participants that the threads of research being spun on the theme of faith and reason belonged together in a published volume. Each writer wished to explore the implications of debates on faith and reason for their particular research topic. Some write with a continental accent, while others write in an analytic tradition; some are philosophers, while others are more intentionally theologians, and a number of the writers have expertise in ethics and bioethics. As editors, we wished to encourage each writer to use their differing intellectual interests to offer vistas of the landscape to which their research contributes. In this respect, the intent has been to allow that research to shine light on fruitful areas of the faith-reason dialogue in a constructive way that reflects the kinds of research that a flourishing and mature Catholic university would hope to stimulate.

In Australia, two Catholic universities exist, plus a number of seminaries and theological colleges or institutes, but in general it can be said that the intellectual enterprise of soaring on the two wings of faith and reason that enable the human spirit to rise to the contemplation of truth, as the opening paragraph of John Paul II’s encyclical Fides et Ratio announces, is under-appreciated. The Church in Australia is still a relatively young church, with about two hundred years of history, and only one canonized saint (St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, a formidable educator of under-privileged children, who founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart with Fr Julian Tenison-Woods SJ). Because of its youth, we cannot expect the Church’s institutions and places of study to have the gravitas and presence of the older universities in places like Italy, England, and the USA, never mind the ones stripped of their Catholic identity through the Reformation. Nevertheless, there is a noticeable lack of informed intervention in debate by Christian scholars in Australia, whether or not they work in a faith setting. In a post-Christian context, as the intellectual landscape of the West might be described, a high degree of religious illiteracy now pervades the views of our media and political commentariat. Christian scholars undoubtedly have a particular responsibility to attempt to remedy this.

Despite her youthfulness, the Church in Australia has faced hardship, persecution, sectarianism, racism, political intrigue, and in recent years a dark shadow of scandal and abuse. While the Church has made a great contribution in education and other services such as health, welfare, and advocacy for the most vulnerable, the voices of Church leaders have not been greatly heeded or prominent in the intellectual life of the nation. While Australian public life has yielded examples of thoughtful and striking leadership, Christian voices of reason are occasional bright sparks rather than constant sources of light and warmth. A Catholic university is an appropriate context within which to foster the stirrings of a new culture, to develop the currents of religious fidelity and critical thought that can bring us towards an engagement with the world that is more grounded, better informed, hopeful, and loving. It is the kind of institution in which the atheist and the religious believer should be able to learn alongside one another, free from irrational mud-slinging and the threat of violence, a place in which informed disagreement can be explored through reasoned debate. With this sentiment in mind, the University of Notre Dame Australia was established in 1989 in the hope that being grounded in a commitment to both faith and reason, it might be a blessing to the nation. In 2008 Cardinal George Pell said, God has blessed this University and we pray that it may continue. His Eminence was a great supporter of Catholic education, and was pivotal to the growth of both Notre Dame and Australian Catholic University (ACU), protecting their freedom to pursue world-class research and make a success of the energetic coincidence of faith and reason. The intention was to protect such places as communities of learning in which faith and reason carry on a conversation that has been going for countless generations.

This book is offered in a two-millennia-plus tradition, not as a defense of faith and reason, but as a fruit of their valuable, challenging work.

When scholars explore the various vistas in the dialogue between faith and reason, our humble efforts can lead to a rich discovery and interrogation of new horizons. We hope this book is a means by which that dialogue continues as a participation in contemplation of truth.

34

. Norris and Inglehart, Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide.

35

. Inglehart, Giving Up on God: The Global Decline of Religion.

36

. Tamir, Connaughton, and Salazar,The Global Divide.

37

. Cooperman,"The Big

20

: The Changing Religious Landscape in the Last

20

Years."

38

. Lee, Hall, and Wood, Experiential or Material Purchases?

1

Mission Impossible?

Education and Formation in a Pluralistic Society

—Sandra Lynch

This chapter focuses on the mission of Catholic tertiary education in Australia and addresses some of the challenges faced by Catholic universities operating within a fundamentally pluralistic society, such as we have in Australia. It articulates the mission of Catholic education and explores theoretical concerns associated with the interplay of faith and reason, while also drawing attention to issues associated with experience and practice, and questions of value, virtue, and character. Its aim is to canvass possibilities for ensuring within universities whose members include both Catholics and non-Catholics that all members of the university community have some familiarity with the Catholic religious tradition, and its ways of knowing and communicating. Finally, the chapter uses the exploration of two particular challenges as a catalyst to discussion that suggests strategies for consensus building, identity sharing, and a communal appreciation of mission—a mission possible—for Catholic educationalists embedded within an overwhelmingly secular tertiary sector and society.

1. Mission and Consensus in Catholic Universities

Alasdair MacIntyre argues in God, Philosophy, Universities that [p]art of the gift of Christian faith is to enable us to identify accurately where the line between faith and reason is to be drawn. He goes on to tell his readers that this is something that cannot be done from the standpoint of reason, but only from that of faith.¹ MacIntyre outlines a turn to Thomistic philosophy to guide us in this enterprise, but he acknowledges that the turn to Aquinas is an intellectually demanding one. There are no stock answers to complex questions and what is required, he argues, is constructive engagement with secular thought.

John Courtney Murray’s book We Hold These Truths: Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition also deals with the challenges of constructive engagement with secular thought in the context of a modern pluralistic society. Murray, an American Jesuit theologian and philosopher, explores the idea of a civic consensus—a consensus that he accepts did not exist in the twentieth-century America he inhabited. He argues that a civic consensus allows a people to acquire an identity and sense of purpose and notes the inability of American universities to create such a possibility. As he puts it, the American university long since bade a quiet goodbye to the whole notion of an American consensus—one that implied that there are truths we hold in common and a natural law that makes known to all of us the structure of the moral universe . . . .²

However, he argues that the ethical and political principles drawn from the natural law tradition provide the basis for such consensus among Catholics, at least. His perspective on the question of consensus is relevant to those addressing the idea of institutional mission within Australian Catholic universities, not least because the members of staff and the students at these universities reflect the pluralism of contemporary culture. For example, the basis of consensus-building at the University of Notre Dame Australia can be found in the University’s Statutes, which state (not unexpectedly) that fidelity as a Catholic university is to be measured by commitment to the principles of the apostolic constitution on Catholic universities, Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church), issued by St. John Paul II and promulgated in 1990.

But we must nonetheless recognize the diversity of beliefs on the campuses of Catholic universities in relation to religion and to the philosophical presuppositions of religion. Not all the staff and students of Catholic universities share or even appreciate the need for—and worth of—a common language with which to address questions of mission, identity, purpose, and formation. Murray and MacIntyre are useful in regard to addressing such questions in that they draw attention to different aspects of the challenges we face. This chapter focuses on two challenges in particular.

The first of these is that of engaging with those keen to explore how we might approach drawing the distinction or what MacIntyre refers to as the line between faith and reason and determining how the content of the curriculum or programs offered within the University might be influenced by Catholic intellectual and moral tradition. Here the question of the relationship between educational practices and formation arises. The second of the challenges addressed here is that of engaging with secular culture so that we begin a dialogue or sustain current dialogue with all members of the University community and particularly with those who have no faith commitments at all. The question of the possibility of authentically and consistently implementing our mission arises in relation to this challenge.

In addressing the first challenge, it is necessary to be clear about what we take the nature and purpose of university education in general to be, as well as to state what we take to be the nature and purpose of Catholic university education.

2. The Nature and Purpose of University Education

Professor Margaret Gardner AO, president and vice-chancellor of Monash University (2014–present) and chair of Universities Australia, in an address to the National Press Club of Australia in February 2019, stated that a great university education imparts not only foundational knowledge and skills particular to a chosen discipline or profession, but a broader and more profound set of skills for life. She referred to the skills necessary to being able to analyze, decipher, and interpret—to the employment of logic, reasoning, curiosity, and creativity. Professor Gardner argued that in addition to imparting these skills, university education contributed to a broader and more profound set of skills for life and consequently that it was crucial to the health of democracies and nations. Her address included reference to the views of Nobel Laureate and Professor of Economics, Joseph Stiglitz, who argued (also in a speech to the Australian National Press Club in November, 2018) that the growth in the wealth of nations over the last 250 years was largely due to advances in two fields: (1) in science and technology and (2) in social organization, by which he meant the rule of law and the development of democracies characterized by sophisticated systems of checks and balances. Stiglitz warned that such development requires systems of truth telling, of ascertaining, of discovering what the truth is, verifying the truth.³ Gardner connected Stiglitz’s points about the importance of truth-telling institutions (in the independent media, the judiciary, and universities) with recent research indicating that Australians reported high levels of trust in university experts.

This emphasis on truth and the implication that universities must go beyond providing vocational or professional education is reminiscent of St. John Henry Newman’s views that universities should teach universal knowledge, presenting the widest and most philosophical systems of intellectual education and focussing on the truth of their principles. Newman recommends a liberal education for what it can achieve in relation to the cultivation of the mind by developing: the force, the steadiness, the comprehensiveness and the versatility of intellect, the command over our own powers, the instinctive, just estimate of things as they pass before us, which sometimes indeed is a natural gift, but commonly is not gained without much effort and the exercise of years.⁴

3. The Nature and Purpose of Catholic University Education

However, Newman’s focus on truth is nuanced, going beyond the discovery and verification of truth by rational means and any attempt to guarantee the development of a particular type of citizen: one with a clear, conscious view of his (sic) own opinions and judgments, [and] a truth in developing them.⁵ Rather, he holds the conviction that truth is an ally of the Catholic university and that knowledge and reason are sure ministers to faith. Universities aim at the cultivation and enlargement of the mind of the natural human being. They are valuable institutions within which we are able to investigate and question beliefs, expand on prior knowledge, and make sense of what some take to be a paradoxical commitment to the role of both faith and reason. But the distinctive feature of a Catholic university is its approach to truth and the relationship it takes to exist between philosophy and theology. Arriving at the truth for Newman implies faith.

Commentators on Newman, such as Frank Turner,⁶ point out that there is some tension in his understanding of the education of the natural human being and the Christian. The world of knowledge within the liberal arts pertains to the natural human being and that person’s participation in society. The university must teach this knowledge, but the Catholic university understands such learning as appropriate only to life on earth and not to the ultimate good of a human soul in eternity. Consequently, the Catholic university is a place for teaching universal knowledge and this must include theology—a discipline that Newman regards as a science.⁷

Turner notes that Newman repeatedly oscillates between addressing issues that refer to the natural human being and issues that refer to the good of a student’s soul. Newman argues that if we must assign a practical end to a University course, then:

[I]t is that of training good members of society. Its art is the art of social life, and its end is fitness for the world. . . . It is the education which gives a man a clear, conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought, to detect what is sophistical, and to discard what is irrelevant. . . . It shows him how to accommodate himself to others, how to throw himself into their state of mind, how to bring before them his own, how to influence them, how to come to an understanding with them, how to bear with