Perceive, desire and reason in the Light of Faith

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offers serious contemplation of what we do with our evil desires and how faith is the light whereby we reconcile the tensions in human consciousness.

.@adamkotsko created a usefully annotated reading list about what is “political theology”, in 13 items, from Nietzsche’s 'The Genealogy of Morals' to Jared Hickman’s ‘Black Prometheus’: https://t.co/LyDTSyTUpI

— Ph. Theophanidis (@aphelis) January 21, 2018

The Letter of James alerts us to the source of temptation in our lives.

* [1:16–18] The author here stresses that God is the source of all good and of good alone, and the evil of temptation does not come from him.

Jesus confronts the lack of understanding of the disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees from the Gospel of Mark.

* [8:15] The leaven of the Pharisees…of Herod: the corruptive action of leaven (1 Cor 5:6–8; Gal 5:9) was an apt symbol of the evil dispositions both of the Pharisees (Mk 8:11–13; 7:5–13) and of Herod (Mk 6:14–29) toward Jesus. The disciples of Jesus are warned against sharing such rebellious attitudes toward Jesus; cf. Mk 8:17, 21.

Tom Shanahan, S.J. offers a prayer inspired by how frustrating it must have been for Jesus to see how profoundly the disciples misunderstood him.

Jesus, come to my misunderstandings of who you are and how I am called to follow you.  This is my desire, but it eludes me so often, and I forget your call choosing my ways over yours.  Be with me as I learn your great love and respond by acknowledging moving away from my lack of understanding.  Let me attend to your gifts of faith, hope and love and to be your messenger (disciple)to those near me.   Help me to grow in trusting you and your patience in calling me to service particularly when my eyes and ears seem not to be working effectively

Don Schwager quotes Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD) that the works of the law are now to be viewed in the light of faith.

"The apostles are ordered to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They are warned not to be involved in the disputes of the Jews. The works of the law are now to be viewed in the light of faith. They are forewarned that they, into whose time and age the truth had appeared incarnate, should judge nothing except which lies within the position of hope in likeness of the truth that is revealed. They are warned against allowing the doctrine of the Pharisees, who are unaware of Christ, to corrupt the effectiveness of the truth of the gospel." (excerpt from commentary ON MATTHEW 16.3)

Kevin Cotter provides a summary of Lumen Fidei, (The Light of Faith) Pope Francis' First Encyclical, including this abstract of the introduction.

The encyclical starts with what the ancients put their faith in and proceeds to move directly to what our culture believes about faith – that it is something for the blind, those driven by emotion. But, at the same time, our culture is discovering that reason is not enough. Confusion has set in on what is good and evil, right and wrong. Faith in Jesus and love in Him gives us a new vision to see the world.

The new vision to see the world is beyond our biological nature, examined by Nietzsche, that makes experiencing and thinking outside of selfish categories impossible. David Deane of the Atlantic School of Theology comments that only through a re-orientation of this biological reality through relationship with Christ by the presence of the Holy Spirit can this be altered.

And so what my book hopes to do is say, “yes” to Nietzsche. Milbank and Benedict say, “no”. But Nietzsche is right. Our biological nature makes experiencing and thinking outside of selfish categories impossible. Only through a re-orientation of this biological reality through relationship with Christ by the presence of the Holy Spirit can this be altered. Let me say again, the question of “Reason” is most honestly understood as a question of mission. Our reasoning is contextual, only if our context is life in the triune God[4] can we perceive, desire and reason coherently. If when Benedict says ‘dialog’ he really means mission, then I agree with him. If not then I think that we must all re-read Nietzsche and ask ourselves - do I recognize this account of the self? Because if it’s true we can only be converted, not convinced.

Craig Carter teaches theology and ethics at Tyndale University College and he comments that Christian theology describes reality better than the version of modern science that begins with atheism as its presupposition.

Now, I do not believe it is actually rooted in empirically verifiable reality and I think this is the point at which N. must be challenged if he is not to triumph. But this is a question that Milbank and Hart do not take up and, (I can't believe I'm saying this) Deane and Barth do not really get to terms with either! Why? Milbank and Hart don't get to grips with N's truth claims because they opt for trying to tell a better, more convincing story than N., on the assumption that no one can prove that any story is true by means of science. Deane critiques their attempt for being insufficiently Christological, which gets us half way there, but not all the way. What seems to me to be still missing is the claim that Christian theology describes reality better than the version of modern science that begins with atheism as its presupposition.

Friar Jude Winkler draws the line from temptation to action as sin. When we buy into sin in the smallest way it will expand like leaven spreads to dough so we need to be careful and watchful.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, declares that it becomes the very function of religion to put darkness and light, heaven and earth back together in human consciousness. The precise reason that Jesus is the icon of salvation is because he holds these seeming contraries together so beautifully within himself, thus assuring us we can do the same.

Heaven and earth, divinity and humanity, have never really been separate of course, but we think so. The Bible calls this perceived state of separateness “sin”; “naughty” or so-called “bad” actions proceed from this state of consciousness. The essential task of all religion is to reconnect people to their original identity “hidden with Christ in God,” as Paul says (Colossians 3:3). This happens through forgiving and thus loving what first seems to be imperfect, unworthy, excluded, separate, wrong, or sinful. This is how we reunite that which the mind had begun to punish.

Our context is life in the Triune God. Therein we can perceive, desire and reason coherently.

References


(n.d.). James 1.12-18. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/james/1:12

(n.d.). Mark 8:1–10. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/mark8.htm

(n.d.). Online Ministries at Creighton University. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(n.d.). Lumen Fidei: A Summary on Pope Francis' First Encyclical - FOCUS. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from https://focusoncampus.org/content/lumen-fidei-a-summary-on-pope-francis-first-encyclical

(2009, May 16). The Politics of the Cross Resurrected: Milbank's Critique of Nietzsche. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from http://politicsofthecrossresurrected.blogspot.com/2009/05/milbanks-critique-of-nietzsche.html

(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/