On the Principles of Taxing Beer by James V. Schall

Author:James V. Schall [Schall, James V.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781587316166
Publisher: St. Augustine's Press
Published: 2019-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

ON TRUTH

The Catholic Church, almost alone in the modern world, talks about truth. Truth can be both defined and understood. From the fact that no finite mind can understand everything that is, it does not follow that such a finite mind knows nothing. Nor is the affirmation that “truth exists and we can know it” arrogance or hubris. The denial of truth and its possibility is closer to arrogance and pride. Refusal to acknowledge that something is true partakes, in its own way, in the mystery of iniquity, in not wanting to know.

Benedict XVI spoke of the centrality of truth (L’Osservatore Romano, July 13, 2011). “Tradition tells us that theology is the science of faith.” But “is this true?” the pope asks. Many think that faith ceases when we know. This is true in some things. But does “faith cease to be faith when it becomes a science?” Modern “science” makes this issue compelling. Modern scientific method is but one way of knowing, not the only way.

Theology has paid most attention to the notion of “scientific” history. What exactly happened? A theology based solely on history seems only concerned with the past. Faith is of the present. Faith could also be a means of “instruction” about how to live, a psychology or sociology. We still need to know whether living the way the faith indicates is “true.” Lots of “beliefs” and “ways” are not.

The question remains: “Is what we believe true?” We must ask ourselves this question and answer it. This affirmation that it is true is definitely what Catholicism holds about its teachings. Benedict recalls Tertullian: Christ called Himself “Truth” not “Custom.” In the ancient world, custom meant the religious rites of a pagan people, how they honored their gods. Benedict tells us that “The revolutionary aspect of Christianity in antiquity was precisely its break with ‘custom’ out of love for the truth.” Christ is called Logos. This means reason. Deus Veritas est.

What does this affirmation mean for us? We are expected to respond to God with our own logos, our own reason. The divine revelation is also directed to our minds as minds. Our reason is derived from the divine reason. “Christian faith, by its very nature, must bring theology into being, must question itself on the reasonableness of faith.” Faith is not imagination or fantasy, not that there is anything wrong with these as such.

Here Benedict turns to a passage from St. Bonaventure. Reason has a “double” meaning. Reason can make itself “the supreme and ultimate judge of all things.” If I cannot understand something, I conclude that it is not intelligible, not that I don’t get it. This approach elevates my finite reason to supremacy.

In response, the pope curiously cites a passage from Psalm 95. The people saw God’s work but still “tested,” that is, doubted, Him. We can see and not believe. “Experimental reason today appears as the sole form of rationality that is declared scientific. What cannot be scientifically proven or disproven falls outside the scientific sphere.

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