The Torah cannot prevent us from considering to be true that which our reason urges us to believe – Levi ben Gerson, 14th-century Jewish philosopher
Faith without reason leads to superstition – Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church
Once upon a time, there was a Bishop who, when interviewed by a news reporter, claimed never to have doubted his faith. Upon hearing this, some in the audience became distressed since they frequently doubted their own. They found themselves wondering if their faith, unlike the Bishop’s, was inadequate.
But suppose that, as is likely, the Bishop, for whatever reason, political or otherwise, was being less than truthful. I say “as is likely” because belief requires a foundation from which to make a leap of faith over a chasm of doubt. To have faith is first to acknowledge the presence of doubt. The two are opposite sides of the same coin. The foundation for a rightly ordered Christian faith requires continuous study accompanied by deep reflection. Christians whose faith seems strongest are those who wrestle continuously with doubt and uncertainty. Put a different way, they exercise their faculties by raising questions (doubts) and seeking answers. They read Holy Scripture with a critical eye. They dissect their pastor’s sermons. They debate and discuss each other’s points of view in Bible studies. And confronted with the evil that seems to reach ever deeper into the fabric of their culture, they wonder about the nature of a God that would allow such evil to exist.
Reason is a necessary precondition for Christian faith. Reason narrows the gulf over which faith must leap – such leaps being necessary to achieve the moral conviction required to conform a Christian life to God’s will. My faith journey, I think, is not particularly noteworthy except to observe that it has been one leap after another, most of which fall short. But, to fall short is to confront faith’s greatest issue: do we give up and embrace secular materialism, or do we redouble our efforts to enlarge and deepen our faith? Do we continue to take up the task of developing the theological muscle necessary to reach across the divide of doubt? Where a physical trainer would tell you to return to the gym, God would have you read your Bible more carefully, practice its wisdom more diligently, and especially not take as truth what theologians, bible scholars, and ordained clergy tell you is a settled fact.
As it is written, we who ignore reason’s role in the development of faith may be putting our souls in peril (Job 28:28, Prov. 1:7, Acts 17:11, Col 2:8; 1, 1 Thess 5:21). Confronted with the challenges of a largely secular, materialist culture, we put faith at risk or, more commonly, become satisfied. We take for granted God’s grace, hoping that the depth of our faith and the conviction with which we hold it will be sufficient. The latter seems the case in the story of the never-doubting Bishop.
I argue that overcoming doubt is both a continuing and necessary condition for an abiding faith. For a deeper understanding of the role of reason as the antidote for doubt, I would recommend the following three books:
- Jennifer Michael Hecht’s Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson
- Glenn W. Most’s Doubting Thomas
- Robert Bowman Jr. and Kenneth Boa, Faith Has Its Reasons: Integrative Approaches to Defending the Christian Faith
Now, go and study