Is faith irrational?

1 • “He who follows frivolity is devoid of understanding” (Proverbs 12:11)

Is faith reasonable?

Does it oppose reason?

Is everything that is not the result of deduction or analytical ability irrational?

Is an act of faith reasonable?

Are Christians credulous without reason?

…

I ask myself each of these questions 17 times a day…

But let’s not be misled…

… appearances (sometimes) deceive!

2 • “To know”… in the third millennium

Nowadays, we are all more or less convinced that a statement is only considered true if what is intended to be communicated is (in some way) rationally demonstrable: through logical-deductive reasoning, the scientific method, mathematics, …

For this reason, faith is not included in the scope of “human knowledge“…

…or, at most (if you want to be generous), it is considered a knowledge of a lower category.

Before determining whether faith can be considered a form of “knowledge” or not, it would be necessary to establish what we mean by “faith”…

3 • “Acts of faith” that we perform in everyday life

Pope John Paul I (1912-1978), during one of the audiences of his very short pontificate (he was pope for 33 days), spoke these words:

Often, we don’t realize it, but in reality, we accept as truth many things that are communicated to us NOT through demonstration or reasoning but based on the value of the testimony of others.

Examples abound:

• The news in the media that we receive daily (I wasn’t there, but I am sure, for example, that Donald Trump met Kim Jong-un);
• Historical events that we have learned about in school books (I have never been to Germany, but I have no doubts that less than 100 years ago the Holocaust occurred);
• Geographical knowledge (I have never been to Kentucky, but I once met a person who claimed to be from there, and – I swear on Nyarlathotep – I believe him!);
• Scientific knowledge that is not accessible to everyone unless they have undergone specific studies (I have no idea how this discovery was made, but I would bet my hand that DNA is composed of adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine).

In fact:

In all the examples I have presented above, (whether it’s news in the media, historical events, medical and scientific knowledge, etc.), whether we like it or not, an “act of faith” is required.

We acquire knowledge – considered “true” – based on an act of trust in someone (whether it be a person or a constituted authority).

Many of the things we consider “true” – often those that have a fundamental influence on the direction of our lives – do not come from deductive reasoning or demonstration, but we learn them from others.

4 • “Natural” Faith

Many people have a negative bias towards the word “faith” because they immediately associate it with God, religion, the Church…

…but in reality, the word faith – in itself – does not necessarily have a religious connotation (that is to say — for insiders — faith is not only a theological virtue).

There is indeed what we could call “natural” faith (the definition of which can be found in a very dusty and yellowed encyclopedia):

Let me provide an example (*).

(*) (Note: This will not be an example of “faith” in the strict sense, but please follow my reasoning: I promise to connect it back to this definition later)

From that moment on, the girl will come to know something she didn’t know before…

… but based on what information will she deem what the boy told her to be true?

• A logical-deductive reasoning written on the blackboard?
• A three-page demonstration?
• The boy’s blood test results?
• His electroencephalogram?
• The specialized medical report from a psychiatrist?

In the definition of “faith” that I retrieved from the italian Encyclopedia, I emphasized four words…

…it’s interesting that we find those same four concepts in the example I just gave about the declaration of love:

• testimony: the “truth” that the girl accepts (the boy’s love for her) is not the result of reasoning she does alone, focused on her reflections, but is based on a relationship;
• intelligence: the “truth” that the boy verbally expresses (love) is examined by the girl’s reason;
• volition: the “truth” doesn’t fall on the girl’s head in a sterile manner as if it were a dictionary definition but responds to desires she has in her heart;
• feelings: the testimony of the boy not only touches the girl’s mind, presenting itself as “true“… but also touches her heart, presenting itself as “beautiful” and “good.”

These four words, if we think of them in relation to “faith” and “God,” might seem a bit “silly“:

• testimony
• intelligence
• volition
• feelings

…however, they are the four pillars on which the relationship between a man and a woman is based.

The love between a man and a woman is not based on logical-deductive reasoning or demonstration…

…but (as it seems to me) it is one of the most beautiful, true, good and reasonable things there are.

5 • Believing a Witness vs Believing a Believer

From what we have discussed, it would seem that humans make acts of faith much more often than they realize when acquiring information about…

• news events
• scientific notions
• historical knowledge
• …
• the expiration date of packaged products
• the weather forecasts they read on the weather app
• the dashboard lights in the car indicating whether everything is okay or if they need to go to the mechanic
• the maximum capacity of the elevator (although I confess that every time an overweight person enters an elevator, I try to mentally calculate the weight of everyone present to understand if the cable will break, and we will plummet to our deaths into the void)
• …
• (and, of course) the knowledge of God, as expressed in various religious traditions

However, there is a huge difference depending on whether faith is based on the testimony of:

• a witness: someone who was present at an event, who can precisely explain the reason behind a scientific notion, who has actually been to Kentucky, or Wirral, ect.
• a believer: in this case, we are, in turn, believing someone who has made an act of faith in someone else; therefore, to be sure of what is being testified to us, we should trace the “original witness” to verify the reasons for their credibility.

In short, in the second case, the risk of the “Chinese whispers” or distortion of information is much higher…

6 • Knowing in a Relationship

Indeed, the knowledge gained through a relationship (with an individual or a chain of witnesses) might seem incomplete, defective, and lacking to us “modern” individuals who prefer knowledge obtained through MY reasoning, MY deduction, MY efforts…

Certainly, the more evidence there is for something, the better; hence, welcome scientific research, logic, deduction, “as was to be demonstrated,” etc.

Man is indeed the only animal…

• … rational (cf. Gen 1:27): meaning endowed with reason/ intellect/will, capable of reflecting, meditating, and pondering;
• … capable of dominion over Creation (cf. Gen 1:28): not in the sense of domineering, but in cultivating, guarding, testing, subjecting it to one’s investigation, examining it, creating a mathematical model, etc.

However, man is not ONLY this.

Modern thought, which has isolated only these two aspects of man, runs the risk of creating a society in which:

• people turn into individuals (meaning human beings with utilitarian relationships, very weak or entirely absent);
• dialogue transforms into simple communication (i.e., an “aseptic” exchange of information);
• all knowledge not derived from a narrow group of human knowledge – scientific/rationalist/materialist – is considered insignificant.

The consequences of this reductionism are many, and examples abound…

This narrow view, widespread in our society, often loses sight of a fundamental characteristic of man.

It’s true that man is a rational being…

…but he is also a relational being:

(If any non-believer is reading this statement, they can comfortably interpret it in a secular manner) Man is an image of God only when engaged in a relationship; the image of God is not the “individual man” but the “male and female,” that is, the relational man.

Detached from his relationships, man is not truly human.

Let’s connect this back to the discussion above, regarding:

• rational/solipsistic/logical/deductive knowledge

vs

• knowledge obtained in a relationship

Pope John Paul II observed that:

And further:

In the search for truth (whether they are partial truths, like scientific ones, or “higher” truths, such as the meaning of life), a man who limits himself to rationalism as the ONLY method of inquiry is a man mutilated…

…especially if what is sought is the Truth with a capital “T”:

Conclusion

In short, summarizing…

…a happy synthesis of all the rambling I’ve written so far can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

This sentiment is echoed by something written a few years ago by Marko Ivan Rupnik (born in 1954), a Slovenian priest and theologian:

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(Spring 2021)