Quote of the Day
Before going to St Augustine’s my belief in God – my faith, for want of a better word – had been a dry and tentative thing, an intellectual and rather provisional conclusion, based on careful reasoning and a study of the evidence. I would never have said that I knew the Christian doctrines to be true; indeed, I’d not say that even now. Knowledge and belief are different things. Prior to the seventeenth century, as Karen Armstrong keeps saying, the word ‘belief’ didn’t mean, as it now tends to, a mere intellectual assent to one or more propositions; rather it meant love, loyalty, and commitment. When Jesus demanded faith from us, then, he was looking for our commitment, not our credulity. I’ll return to this idea of faith much later on, but for now, just speaking for myself, what happened to me at St Augustine’s was that I learned that religious faith isn’t something merely to be subscribed to; it’s something to be lived. As Armstrong says, religion isn’t something we can learn it in the abstract, despite the ambitions of national curricula; like swimming, we have to plunge into the pool and acquire the knack by dedicated practice.
SOURCE: A Friend.
Tags: Christian Life
December 10th, 2011 at 8:56 pm
When Jesus invited the apostles to have faith in him, he was not asking them to believe he existed.
December 10th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
Karen Armstrong? Stuart, what with her views and atheist websites and everything in between I have to ask, are you determined to sabotage your Christian faith? If you are trying to build your faith up then you are going a very strange way about it.
December 10th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
@Tim Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day!
I would also add in light of that beautiful quote that it’s why the Church is so important. One cannot live fully as a human being of one’s own will – we need air, food, water, family, culture and so on. The word and the sacraments provide the first three and the Church the rest. It’s interesting to use the analogy of practice as it reminds me of learning an instrument which also reminds me that I needed a teacher and fellow students to help me learn the violin as well as I could, to challenge and correct myself.
December 10th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Armstrong may be wrong on lots of things, but she’s not wrong on everything.
That faith, in the Bible, means commitment more than it does abstract belief is, when one thinks of it, obvious. I’d second Roger’s point above, and also point out that when the master of the parable says ‘well done, good and faithful servant,’ he’s not commending his servant for believing in him; he’s commending him for doing his will.
The apophatic tradition’s certainly not to be sniffed at; certainly, it was embraced by the great Greek fathers, and indeed is central to Orthodoxy to this day. The Church needs to learn to breathe with both its lungs, so we should be listening.
As for Christianity being a practical thing, it was the practicality of Frances Blogg’s faith that first intrigued G.K. Chesterton, such that he became a Christian because of her, before marrying her.
I think Armstrong’s spot on in her point about Christianity needing to be lived; the fact that Catholicism, properly understood, is holistic is a major reason why Catholic education matters. If religion is something we just learn about then we’ll never understand it; faith is something to be lived.
You don’t agree?
December 10th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
If I know that a lot of what someone writes is rubbish it’s an extremely good reason for finding a better writer. I’ve got far better things to do than sort through the dross hoping to find a little something which might be half-way decent.
“That faith, in the Bible, means commitment more than it does abstract belief is, when one thinks of it, obvious. “ Agreed (with the added word Trust). But it was obvious to you (and me, and probably a lot of other people), and therefore you didn’t need Armstrong to point it out.
Of course Christianity is to be lived. Again, Armstrong is not necessary to be aware of something so obvious. The faith/trust that we have is not in a set of rules, but in Someone that is alive and who walks with us every day.
December 10th, 2011 at 10:15 pm
I think Karen Armstrong has lots of encouraging things to say. And although orthodoxy (correct belief) is all well and good, it is worthless without orthopraxis.
But then I’m a strong believer that orthopraxis leads to orthodoxy.
December 10th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
She is a ‘liberal’ theologian, historical revisionist, and member of the now largely discredited Jesus Seminar so as far as I am concerned her words are not worth the paper they are printed on. However, if you are quite happy subscribing to someone of that ilk then knock yourself out.
December 10th, 2011 at 10:58 pm
For me, Armstrong’s pro-abortion stance puts her firmly beyond the pale… Anyone whose Christian theology leads them there (or who allows that pre-position to dictate their theology, whichever way round it is) is deeply suspect to orthodox Catholics. And there’s plenty else wrong with her thinking, too (eg denying that Our Lord established the Catholic Priesthood as part of her argument for women priests…). I’m with Tim on this one.
December 11th, 2011 at 3:02 am
I think even in the bible there was a shallower meaning to belief:
Jam 2:19 NIV – You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder.
December 11th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Exactly. I’ve been challenged by my more avowedly Calvinist friends when — think of James 2:19, for starters — I say that faith isn’t a matter of mere belief. They’ve insisted that it is, when you get down to it.
It seems there are at least two different conceptions of faith in the Bible, these being, broadly, the faith of Romans and the faith of 1 Corinthinans.
Faith can exist without commitment and trust, after all, in which case it’s mere belief, a dry and empty thing devoid of love. An abstraction, if you like. This is the faith recognised as insufficient in Corinthians.
Alternatively, faith can be love-filled and hope-driven, as in Romans. That’s a dynamic faith, a faith that embodies and expresses our love of God.
In short, it’s not obvious that faith means commitment to and trust in God. It’s only obvious when you read the Bible as a unity.
December 14th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Frankly, I never cease to doubt. Perhaps some never do doubt.
I am trying to remember who it was that Ratzinger refers to in his ‘Introduction to Christianity’ – was it Theresa of Avila? – it turns out that she never seemed to have a day without doubt. I remember the same about Mother Teresa.
It is when I attend Mass – which I am inclined to do daily these days – that the fabric of faith and belief come together and sustain me. My questions (amongst many other questions) about the tensions which exist between the synoptics and John’s gospel take back-stage and the beautiful harmony found in the three scripture readings never cease to make me wonder at the way in which God reaches out to us through imperfect human writers. Somehow I seem to be able to ‘touch’ God while I wait for the priest to lay his hand on my head and mediate a blessing for me. How thankful I am for that.
Today I returned to my many years of the study of botany and once again marvelled at the intricacies of nature – and once again realised that simply because we can explain so many things today that we believe God is no longer necessary.
I pity myself for having dwelt for too long on doubts instead of questioning my doubts . . . Once again I recall Ratzinger telling me in his ‘Introduction’ that the Christian will always have room for doubts, and the atheists will always have doubts about their doubts.
There is a wonderful account of Camus’ request for baptism some months before he died. The account is found in that very readable little book ‘Moving towards Emmaus – Hope in a time of uncertainty’ by David smith. In the first chapter Smith persuades us that many of us are once again on the Emmaus road. At the close there is the ‘Dispactches from Emmaus’ and Camus’ doubts are laid out – paragraph after paragraph. Between the firts and the last chapter we learn of other eminent writers, scientists and so on who have had doubts but have finally come to faith. The last chapter tells us of Camus lengthy discussions with Howard Mumma in Paris, and Camus’ request for baptism.