4 - FAITH & REASON is the most important question in Apologetics because it is the overall question.
- 2. ► In a sense the marriage of Faith & Reason is the most important question in Apologetics because it is the overall question. If Faith & Reason are not wedded partners, if faith and reason are divorced or incompatible, like cats and birds, then apologetics is impossible. For apologetics is the attempt to ally reason to faith, to defend faith with reason’s weapons.
- 3. FAITH ► DEFINITIONS ► We must distinguish the act of faith from the object of Faith, believing from what is believed. ► 1. The object of Faith means all the things believed. Everything God has revealed in the Bible. They are manifold but ultimate object of Faith is God. In fact God is the author of it. ► 2. The act of Faith ► It is more than merely an act of belief.
- 4. ► 4 Aspects of Religious Faith: ► A. Emotional Faith-is feeling assurance or trust or confidence in a person. This includes hope ( which is much stronger than just a wish) and peace (which is much stronger than mere calm) ► B. Intellectual Faith- This is stronger than emotional Faith & that it is more stable and unchanging like an anchor. My mind can believe while feelings are shaken. ► C. Volitional Faith- is an act of the will, a commitment to obey God’s will. This Faith is faithfulness or fidelity. It manifest itself in behavior that is in good works.
- 5. ► D. The Heart Faith- begins in that obscure mysterious center of our being that the Scripture called the heart. It does not mean feeling or sentiment or emotions but the absolute center of the soul, as the physical heart is the center of the body. The heart is where God the Holy Spirit works in us.
- 6. REASON ► Here again we must distinguish the subjective, personal act of reason from the object of reason: ► 1. The object of reason means all that reason can know. This includes 3 kinds of things, corresponding to the three acts of the mind ► a. Understood by reason ( that is, by human reason alone without faith in Divine revelation. ► b. Discovered by human reason to be true. ► c. Proved logically, without any premises assumed by faith in Divine Revelation.
- 7. ► 2. The Act of Reason- as distinct from the object of reason means all the subjective, personal acts of the mind by which ► a. Understand- simple apprehension ► b. Discover- judgement ► c. Prove any truth- reasoning
- 8. understanding discovering proving By reason alone and not part of revelation What a star is made of That Pluto exist The Pythagorean Theorem By reason and faith in divine revelation Why the universe is so well ordered The historical existence of Jesus That the soul does not die Not by reason, only by Faith in Divine Revelation God’s plan to save us How much God loves us God is a Trinity
- 9. THE RELATION BETWEEN FAITH & REASON ► There are always five possible answers: 1.All A’s are B’s but not all B’s are A’s 2.All B’s are A’s but not all A’s are B’s A B A B
- 10. ► 3. All A’s are B’s and all B’s are A’s. ► 4. No A’s are B’s and no B’s are A’s A = B A B
- 11. ► 5. Some but not all are A’s are B’s and some but not all are B’s are A’s A B
- 12. Applied to the Faith & Reason question, the 5 possibilities come out are as follows: ► 1. All that is known by Faith is also known by reason, but not all that known by reason is known by faith. Faith is subclass of reason ➢ 2. All that is known by reason is also known by faith, but not all that is known by faith is known by reason. Reason is subclass of faith F R F R
- 13. ► 3. All that is known by faith is known is known by reason too, and all that is known by reason is known by faith. Faith & Reason are interchangeable. ► 4. Nothing that is known by faith is known by reason, and nothing that is known by reason is known by faith. Faith & reason are mutually exclusive. F = R F R
- 14. ► 5. Some but not all that is known by faith is also known by reason, and some but not all that is know by reason is also known by faith. Faith and reason partly overlap. F R
- 15. EXPLANATION OF THE 5 REASONS: ► 1. RATIONALISM ► Holds that everything we know by faith can also be understood, or discovered, or proved by reason, but not vice versa. Faith is subclass or subdepartment of reason. ► 2. FIDEISM ► Contends that the only knowledge, or least the only certain knowledge, we can have is by faith. While rationalism denies the existence of any truths of faith unprovable by reason, fideism denies the existence of any certain truths attainable by reason without faith.
- 16. ► 3. IDENTITY OF FAITH & REASON ► Position 3 that of an identity between what is knowable by faith and what is knowable by reason, is logically possibility, but no one we know of us ever held it. ► 4. DUALISM ► Is a popular position today because it reflects the “ separation of church and state,” religion and philosophy, sacred and secular, that characterizes the modern era. Dualism simply divorces faith and reason, placing them into different compartments. It usually does this by a). Reducing reason to scientific, mathematical & empirical reasoning. b). Reducing faith to personal, subjective attitude. Thus reason & faith corresponds to the public and private sectors.
- 17. ► 5. Partial Overlapping ► Most people would agree that the fifth position is the most reasonable and correct one which distinguishes three different truths: ► a. truths of faith and not of reason ► b. truths of both faith and reason ► c. truths of reason and not of faith
- 18. FOR DISCUSSIONS: ► 1. HOW MUCH OT HE FAITH CAN REASON PROVE? ► 2. CAN FAITH AND REASON EVER CONTRADICT WITH EACH OTHER? ► GOD IS THE TEACHER IN BOTH