Reason Informed by Faith - Essay Example

? ‘Reason informed by faith’ is the characteristic approach of Catholic moral theology. In facing moral issues, what do Catholics have in common withall humanity? Yet at the same time, what is distinctive about Catholic moral thinking? Name of the Student Date of Submission Name of the Student Date of Submission The classical theological standard of Catholic Church’s doctrine on morality is constantly a subject of criticism by those whose ideological position and stoic relation to the church taunted the tenets by manifest liberal practices of the contemporary times. The Catholic Church maintained its philosophical beliefs and moral ground, albeit the upsurge of autonomous ethicists whose perception of morality is gauged on personal choices rather than on those revealed norm and values (Gula, 1989, p.1-4). This unfolds in a millennium where there is an increasing and strong bias on sectarianism and secularism in dealing with human concern, thus, relegated human experiences as inherently a dynamic interaction of rational morality; a contravention of ‘faith morality (Gula, 1989, p, 34).’ This essay will discuss about ‘reason informed by faith’, the moral issues commonly faced by Catholics with the rest of the humanity, and the distinctive quality of Catholic moral thinking. Reason informed faith The Catholic Church worked to cease the dichotomy of rational morality and faith morality, otherwise understood as pure humanism and sectarianism (Gula, 1989, p. 1). For the believer, faith and reason can be integrated in its moral tradition to make Christian teachings more understandable for non-believers as well. This is also explicated in Humanae Vitae published in 1968 which pointed that natural law is further made significant by divine revelations as well as in the scriptural writings (Gula, 1989, p. 1). The latter upholds that the moral principles can be taught, using logical inferences of reason, from the perspective of faith (Gula, 1989, p. 32) The bishops have likewise applied this moral framework to resolve the issues on homosexuality which articulated the rational capacity of human beings to understand gender and sexuality; illumined by faith (Gula, 1989, p. 25). This theological position of the issues of morality is also applicable to the problems and issues of bioethics, scientific innovation, and other development which put the Christian teachings under social and moral dilemma. Notwithstanding the pressures, the church consistently stood for the dignity of creation and the need to respect human rights. As such, the Catholic Church maintained that such human dignity cannot only be understood separately by reason but by unquestioning faith with conviction that dignity is a gift of God given to any person, even if the same be interpreted using the laws of nature. As such, every person needs to possess an informed faith, illumined by reason, to understand the strategic goal of moral life and on how to behave well as a moral agent. Every Catholic believer must be imbued with wisdom about the role of being as a moral agent. And, as a faithful, must have a reference which served as the criteria for moral judgment (Gula, 1989, p. 9; Blair, 2010, p 1). Common issues with humanity Like other institutions on earth, the Catholic Church is also mocked and rocked with variegated issues (Hamilton, 2013, p. 1). There were instances when the church is being subject of corruption, sexuality, questionable financial relations with state agents, and other social issues such as their involvement in extractive industries, in corporate leveraging, and in amassing real estate properties at the expense of those property-less and those that are bereft of economic capacity to meet even the most fundamental need—food (Hamilton, 2013, p. 1). The resignation of previous Pope was even controversially tagged with varied issues on corruption and political machinations due to some alleged transactions done. There were many priests that were allegedly responsible on sexual relations, which violated the dignity of women; of abandoned children deprived of paternal care; and, on issues relating to parochial paroxysm (Hamilton, 2013, p. 1). Other denomination have also accused the Catholic church of being too medieval in responding to the concerns of the state and of the people specially with the growing right-based advocacy in legalizing homosexual marital union and in many issues where the Church was deemed to be passive and unaccommodating (Hamilton, 2013, p. 1). Others were personal issues of some preachers and their behavior which purport to be a misrepresentation of the values of Catholics such as alcoholism, hate crimes, causing dysfunctional family relations, and some dilemmas in their relations with other laity or followers. There were also issues which led church leaders to the lure of popularity, of displaying brazen arrogance, of murder and violence, and of committing suicide, an unforgiveable act which betrays God’s will and desire to preserve the sanctity of life albeit the entailing difficulties or odds in living (Hamilton, 2013, p. 1; Aquinas, 1981, p. 13). All these are concerns that are shared by humanity in this mundane world and the confession that some of the church leaders could have been guilty of the same, simply proved their human nature – finite, vulnerable, can be tempted and can also err. Like the rest of the humanity, they also longed for salvation, they humble themselves in repentance, and carry the burden of accountability to correct these misdeeds (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2013, p. 1). Distinction of Catholic faith Theologian posits that the distinctive character based on its tradition is the compelling nature of rationality and “sacramental or incarnational principle of mediation” which explicated that “God is present in us thru us (Gula, 1989, p. 2).” Through this principle, scripture is integrated with tradition and of faith in reason, nature in grace, church in this world, and faith that is evident in works (Gula, 1989, p. 2).” There is such sensitivity to God to re-experience the wisdom in meekness; of prioritizing devotion in all relations. Such is mediated by realizing the value of moral truth and not only on sacraments, revelation, and of incessant need to undertake reflection on the nature of human being, as children of God (Gula, 1989, p.3-4). From that vantage, it can be glean that holistic faith is present in all praxis and that the presence of heaven can be made practicable on earth as well. The Catholic devotee believed that God is the center of a person’s value and that each creation is made in the likeness of God’s image (Aquinas, 1981, p. 10-13). His and her physical being is God’s temple and as such, his moral choices and relation with the rest of the human beings on earth, is a process that needs discernment amongst the creation with transcendental and far-reaching consequences (Aquinas, 1981, p. 10-13). When the dignity of human being is honored and respected, everyone will be engaged in a practical way of helping those that have less in life (Gula, 1989, p. 16). Many of those human rights advocates work to preserve human dignity by building a community where peoples’ voices are heard and where their participation are appreciated (Gula, 1989, p. 10). Vox populi, vox Dei, so they said. The voice of the people is the voice of God. Thus, devotees engage themselves in serving the orphaned children, the destitute, the sick and afflicted, the exploited, those discriminated, and those whose lives were subject of an oppressive state or governance. For them, this ethical pursuit is consistent to the scriptural teaching that life is sacred and each possessor of soul acknowledged that being heaved with the breath of the Holy Spirit is a gift that must be constantly dealt with protection and relentless care. The Catholic faith stands that God is good and his goodness is shared amongst us so that as children, we could perpetually live in His image and in his wisdom. This is the value of Christianity and the standard in dwelling on earth to pro-actively make a difference in moral life (Gula, 1989, p. 43). Such distinction is best done when a person put God as the center of his life and makes Him a value while performing the humble role of contributing to the continuing apostolic work within and outside the Church. Conclusion Reason and faith cannot be dichotomized as sourced of moral knowledge. While Catholic devotees relied on revelation, based on what were related by the disciples in the Holy Scriptures, but faith can only be deepened when reason coheres to deepen the value, sacraments, and commandments of Christianity. The art of reasoning has been considered helpful in educating the faithful too about Christian faith and in transcending the limits of the temporal nature of human being. Faith is never blind and could never be considered as simply meek to be blundered with unquestioning acceptance of the Divine. God gave human being the gift of mind and the capacity to perceive, reason, and reflect on daily experiences, events, relations, turning points, and on some wonderful paradox of living. Reason is not oblivious to one’s submission to the Divine Providence that helps bring harmony among diverse truths. Faith should be philosophized to correlate the dimensions of existential realities to the reality of God’s existence. For human beings simply do not exist as matter; we transcend from our physical nature. And, just as reason could not be separated from faith and vice versa, human beings’ struggle, movement, and interrelation with nature, society and to the Divine share similar philosophical ministration as we continually evolve to perfect our oneness with God. True, the church has become subject to varied issues and criticism, but we recognize the frailties and possibilities of human mind to err or to sin; just as we also recognize the eternal spring for human being to be humble, to seek pardon, to be forgiving, to be humane, and to relinquish self to the moral obligation with the conviction that God will respond in kindness through his eternal goodness. God, the ultimate source of truth, knows that the gift of reason will also lead human beings to turn away from Him and to His commandments and yet He, too, knows that they will return back to Him in repentance and with burning desire to be renewed as his children. Such Divine faith transcends reasons but his children require such discernment, with the art of logic, to enable them to realize the finiteness and temporal quality of human existence. The moral life is simply a divine guidance handed down to leaders in white cassock who committed to sustain the apostolic work of Jesus Christ. They are maybe vulnerable to commit sins, frailties, and misgivings like any other human beings who needs to be constantly illuminated to find the miracles of changes, albeit reasons. It’s also for this reason that leaders and followers alike set rules, principles, and frameworks to continually guide us with our decisions, judgments, moral responsibilities to society and to God (Shojo, Tsimpo, & Wodon, 2012, p. 12). While we acknowledge that morality as a composite set of ethical rules and that there are diverse ways of concretizing this in our action, we maintain that this can be correlated and be explicated reasonably, if it’s quintessential to deepen our faith. This is the logic of our personal involvement in understanding the Divine, our Creator, the source of our inspiration in our continuing quest for truth and in working for possibilities using the vantage of impossibilities within historical contexts and in contemporary relations. References Gula, R. M. (1989). Reasoned Informed by Faith, US: New Jersey, pp. 1-314. Blair, P. (2010). Reason and Faith: The Thought of Thomas Aquinas, US: The Darmouth Apologia Journal, p. 1. Aquinas, T.  (1981). Summa Theologica, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province, New York: Christian Classics, p. 13. Hamilton, A. (2013). Preaching controversial issues without dividing the church, TN: United Methodist Communications, p. 1. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (2013). Recognizing every person’s God-given dignity, US: Usccb.org, p. 1. Shojo, M., Tsimpo, C. & Wodon, Q. (2012). Satisfaction with and reasons for choosing faith-inspired health care provision in Ghana, University Library of Munich, Germany. Read More