Have a little (article on) faith

All of the 2007 issues of This Rock magazine are now up on the Catholic Answers website, including my article, "Why Believe? An Apologetic of Faith," which appeared in the December 2007 issue. Here are the opening paragraphs:

"Faith is always at a disadvantage; it is a perpetually defeated thing which survives all of its conquerors," wrote G. K. Chesterton.

Faith is the Christian word. Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., in his masterful theology of faith, The Assurance of Things Hoped For, writes, "More than any other religion, Christianity deserves to be called a faith" (3). He points out that in the New Testament the Greek words for "faith" and "belief" occur nearly 500 times, compared to less than 100 for "hope" and about 250 for "charity" or "love." Which is not to say, of course, that faith is more important than love, since Paul makes it clear that love is the greatest of the three theological virtues: "So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13).

But there is no doubt—pun intended—that faith is essential to being a Christian and to having a right relationship with God, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews states, emphatically and succinctly: "And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Heb. 11:6).

The daunting work of defining and analyzing faith has been described, with perhaps a dose of knowing humor, as the "cross of theologians." As with hope and love, the virtue of faith can appear initially rather simple to define, often as "belief in God." But some digging beneath the surface suggests a far more complicated task, as some basic questions suggest: What is belief? How is faith obtained? Is it human or divine in origin? How should man demonstrate his faith? What is the relationship of faith to the will, to the intellect, and to the emotions?

Read the entire article. It is the last of three articles I wrote for This Rock on the theological virtues, each with an apologetic "angle." The other two were "An Apologetic of Hope" (Oct. 2006) and "Love and the Skeptic" (May/June 2007). The primary focus of all three is skepticism and atheism. They were, frankly, difficult articles to write, in part because there is so much that can be said, so much that should be said, and so much that has been said. Whatever positive qualities the articles possess can be primarily attributed to my heavy reliance on the writings of men far, far more knowledgeable than myself, especially Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict and Joseph Pieper, whose works I referenced many times throughout. I listed eight books—in addition to the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church—in particular that I think are excellent when it comes to the virtue of faith:

• The Assurance of Things Hoped For (Oxford, 1994) by Avery Dulles, S.J. A masterful theology of faith by one of the finest American theologians of the past half century.
• Confessions by St. Augustine. A must read, of course, for every Catholic. For everyone, really.
• Faith and Certitude by Thomas Dubay, S.M. One of the best but least appreciated works of Catholic apologetics of the past thirty years. Read an excerpt.
• Faith Hope Love (Ignatius Press, 1997), by Josef Pieper. A classic by one the finest Catholic philosophers of the 20th century.
• Fides et Ratio ("On Faith and Reason"; Sept. 15, 1998), by Pope John Paul II. Essential reading.
• A Grammar of Assent by John Henry Newman. One of Newman's greatest works.
• Introduction to Christianity (1968; Ignatius Press, revised edition, 2004), by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Considered by many to be Ratzinger's masterwork.
• Pensées by Blaise Pascal. As Peter Kreeft notes, the first work of modern apologetics.

There are, of course, many other important works on the theological virtue of faith, but that is, I think, a good start.

Comments

[Brian Schuettler]

Once again, Carl, a masterful job.

[Carl E. Olson]

Thanks, Brian.

[Eric M.]

Carl, I liked your "An Apologetic of Hope" article, as well as your other articles. I especially enjoyed the philosophical portions where you dealt with the meaning of life without God.

As a Catholic philosopher, I agree with you that without God life is absurd, and that the humanist worldview ultimately amounts to an optimistic delusion, a placebo effect that tries to make something (meaning) out of nothing (meaninglessness). One thing should also be mentioned: without God or some other transcendental anchor point, there is no such thing as objective morality -- e.g., it is not wrong for all people, times, and places that torturing babies is wrong.

Good luck with the blog and with your future articles!

[Eric M.]

I made a mistake in my last post; I meant, "it is not the case that it is wrong for all people, times and places to torture babies."