Between Allah & Jesus by Peter Kreeft

Author:Peter Kreeft [Kreeft, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2010-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

8

On Liberals and Conservatives

All students at Boston College are required to take two theology courses—any two they choose. Since there are no Muslim professors in the theology department, ‘Isa chose one who had the reputation of being a freethinker rather than a traditional Catholic. Fr. Fesser was an intelligent, friendly and likable man, but ‘Isa found his mind as frustrating as a fog. He seemed to believe everything and nothing. He seemed passionately against only one thing—being passionately against anything. For him, everything had to be “nuanced” except that very principle.

One day ‘Isa and Fr. Fesser were walking across campus discussing a recent class, and ‘Isa blurted out, “Professor, I think we just live in different worlds, you and I. And I don’t mean because I’m a Muslim, either.”

“No, ‘Isa,” he replied, “we don’t live in different worlds. We both live in the same world: this one, the only one there is, the one full of death and taxes and Republicans, the world of concrete things, like this wall,” he said as he reached out to touch the stone-and-concrete wall they were passing. “Are you saying that you don’t live in this world? Are you an angel in disguise?”

“No,” replied ‘Isa spiritedly, “but for all I know, you may be. You see, in my world there are such things as angels in disguise. Really. In my world, you never know what you might find around the next corner. You might even find an angel there,” he said pointing to the end of the wall they had nearly reached. “Because there are holes in my world, and angels can come through them. But I don’t think there are holes in your world. That’s why I think we live in different worlds.”

“I take it back, ‘Isa. You are right. I don’t live in your world, the one with holes for angels. To me, that world is a world of fantasy, and I don’t live in fantasy any more than I live on the moon.”

“Do you mean that I do because my world is pockmarked with angel holes, like the craters on the moon?”

“That’s not what I meant, but it’s an arresting image.”

“But . . . but, Professor, please excuse me if I am being too personal or impolite, but I can’t help being curious. You are a Jesuit, and a Jesuit is a Catholic, and a Catholic is a Christian, and a Christian lives in the same world Christ lived in, and his world was full of angel holes. So why don’t you live in it?”

“Do you really believe in all those old superstitions about angels and devils?”

“No, I don’t. I don’t believe any superstitions. I believe facts. That’s why I believe there are angels and devils.”

“You call them ‘facts’? How interesting! What do you mean by facts?”

“Well, you called them ‘superstitions.’ What do you mean by superstitions?”

“A fair question. Superstitions are beliefs without foundation. Things you believe just because other people believe them, just because they’re traditional.”

“All right, I accept that definition.

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