>I agree with you that the ideal is "faith first." And most of the time that's
>how it happens.
>
>What I was talking about was someone who wanted to use the intellect to get to
>God, using the natural world, etc. A person can get close, but in the end
>faith has to bridge that final gap.
>
>Mortimer Adler wrote a wonderful book some time ago called "How to Think About
>God." He showed how, philosophically, you can get to a Greater Power...but not
>the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That final step is faith, a step Adler
>himself took not long after.
Its so seldom that I find some theology on the reflector that I
wholeheartedly agree with that I just have to jump in here :-).
Several weeks ago I stumbled across a wonderful book while rumaging
around my local bookstore:
<Philosophers who Believe: The Spiritual Journeys of 11
Leading Thinkers>, Ed. K.J. Clark, Intervarsity Press, 1993.
As the title suggests, the book contains personal testimonies
of several well known philosophers, including Adler (also
included is Al Plantinga who used to participate on this reflector
some time ago).
Adler's article is entitled "A Philosopher's Religious Faith" and
contains a really moving section describing his conversion experience,
part of which I've reproduced below:
During this long stay in the hospital I suffered a mild
depression, and often when Caroline visited me I would,
unaccountably, burst into tears. Father Howell, the rector
of St. Chrysostom's Church, also visited me, and once when
he prayed for my recovery, I choked up and wept. The only
prayer that I knew word for word was the Pater Noster.
On that day and in the days after it, I found myself repeating
the Lord's Prayer, again and again, and meaning every word of
it. Quite suddenly, when I was awake one night, a light dawned
on me, and I realized what had happened without my recognizing
it clearly when first it happened.
I had been seriously praying to God. But had I not said at the
end of _How to Think About God_ that no one who understood the
God of the philosophers as well as I thought I did would worship
that God or pray to him? Only if, by the gift of grace, one made
the leap of faith across the chasm to the God of religious Jews
and Christians would one engage in worship and prayer, believing
in a morally good, loving, just and merciful God.
-- Mortimer Adler
The phrase "God of the philosophers" brought to mind the personal
account of the conversion of another great philosopher (and scientist),
Blaise Pascal. Following his death, a piece of paper was found
sewn to his clothing containing a description of his dramatic
conversion at the age of 31. It begins
Fire
'God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,' not of philosophers
and scholars.
Certainty, certainty, heartfelt, joy, peace.
God of Jesus Christ.
-- Pascal, <pensees>
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Brian Harper |
Associate Professor | "It is not certain that all is uncertain,
Applied Mechanics | to the glory of skepticism" -- Pascal
Ohio State University |
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