In his biography of St. Thomas Aquinas, G. K. Chesterton points out that no philosophical system since the sixteenth century has been faithful to what ordinary people call common sense. Philosophers such as Hobbes, Kant, Hegel, and company have predicated their particular worldviews on a suspension of belief from our normal experience. With his elegant sense of humor, Chesterton relates that a disciple of Hegel believes that an egg is actually a rooster because it is part of an interminable process of being. For that matter, a pragmatist holds that we might think better of eggs if we forgot that they once were eggs and just remembered them as sandwich. On the other hand, the Thomist believes that the eggs are not roosters, or practical presumptions, or dreams, but real things known by means of our God-given senses.
When I began preparing the foreword to How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., the aforementioned anecdote came to mind. Throughout this excellent work, Professor Woods repeatedly demonstrates the philosophical truth that the Christian faith supports and enlightens reason. Faith does not blind reason. To a certain extent, we may say that Christianity entered human history as the religion of Reason—Reason, of course, that infinitely transcends the boundaries of human thought.
As His Holiness Benedict XVI reminded us during his Regensburg lecture (a speech that was so badly misinterpreted), the prologue of St. John’s Gospel affirms that Reason (Logos) is intrinsically a part of the divine nature. What’s more, the very use of the term Logos proves that the incorporation of Revelation with Greek philosophical thought was no mere accident. Rather, there is a natural affinity between the living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the pursuit of truth by the earliest Greek thinkers. We discover this connection in a definitive manner in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. For our purposes, the Risen Lord is also a true Greek.
Professor Woods astutely recognizes the fruits of this union as it relates to the development and history of Europe. Consider the many achievements in the arts, science, philosophy, law, and technology. Compared with other civilizations, it may be asserted that Western civilization has enjoyed certain competitive advantages. The chief of those advantages has been our Catholic faith. Far from acting as a brake on progress, our faith has been a guide and source of inspiration toward the heights of cultural advancement. Our Catholic faith leads us initially to God, Who, of course, is beyond our comprehension. At the same time, our Catholic faith requires an affirmation about human reason and Being. What a curious religion, that invites its believers to believe in their own reason! This is the religion that preserved classical writings during the barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire. This is the religion that inspired Charlemagne to dream of creating a new Athens. This is the religion that, during the Carolingian Renaissance, fostered the pursuit of philosophical and scientific investigation.
Professor Woods offers abundant examples of religions overcoming reason in the course of world history. What is quite remarkable about Christian revelation is that, despite its inherent superiority to the natural plane, said revelation informs culture based on reason without obliterating it. Not only does Christianity maintain a healthy respect for the prerogatives of reason and its legitimate autonomy, but the two “poles of influence” enjoy a delicate and creative equilibrium. In this manner, women and men might become convinced that there is no contradiction between faith and reason. To the contrary, the application of faith and reason may lead to unexpected and brilliant results on the theoretical and practical levels. Our faith is certainly a worthy counselor.
In our present condition, we find the beautiful edifice of Western civilization under siege from enemies within and without. The walls of our civilization are shaking. For the sake of a false notion of liberty, some persons are seeking to eradicate the influence of the Catholic Church not only from the public sphere, but also from the private sphere of families and individuals. Post-modern relativism holds whatever Christian affirmation to be false and repressive. Christianity is routinely portrayed as a historically false and repressive element in human history. Simultaneously, modern philosophy denies that human reason can discover objective truth with certainty. As a consequence, the world is being denied a social order and a meaningful moral hierarchy.
The situation is even more troubling when one considers that many of the supposedly Christian organizations today lack the necessary strength to withstand the secularist onslaught. The Church seems to be the only true defender of the natural law and common good. These treasures belong to everyone, Catholic or not. Meanwhile, the secular enemies advance with their radical negativity, intent on undermining all order, whether supernatural or natural.
Interestingly enough, these enemies of the Catholic Church with its purportedly irrational dogmas neglect to assault with the same vigor other denominations foreign to our historical tradition that are characterized by a dichotomy of faith and reason. Our faith in reason is intrinsically connected to our faith in Christ. When faith is not anchored in reason, it may drift towards materialism or any religious system devoid of common sense. To the contrary, Christianity has always affirmed the glorious combination of Being, maintained by the divine Logos that gives the gift of being and sense to all creation. Accordingly, Professor Woods quotes Pope Leo XIII, who taught that all law enjoys a divine foundation, both as revealed in Holy Scripture and as manifested by the light of reason. In the final analysis, God as Logos is the cornerstone of all order.
We are reminded by Professor Woods in How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization that the earliest universities fostered the dialogue between faith and reason, along with logical theory and a spirit of investigation. Perhaps this is the greatest secret of Western civilization over the past four centuries. It is my cherished hope that this book will serve to unlock this hidden mystery.
—Cardinal Antonio Cañizares
Prefect of the
Congregation for
Divine Worship