FAITH AND RATIONALITY

This theme of the nature of the Christian faith is a broad one and can therefore be treated from many different aspects. In this text it is approached in the light of the thought of the Christian philosopher Sören Aabye Kierkegaard. By citing the name of this Danish thinker and theologian, one can immediately conclude that the Christian faith will be analyzed here from the intrinsic aspect of its irrationality.  Due to the length of the problem, an argument concerning only the incarnation of God will be presented.

It is notable that Kierkegaard emphatically repudiates, in his complex literature, reason in favor of a non-rational commitment, that is, faith in divine grace. Reason, this capacity of the human mind to reach conclusions from presuppositions and premises, does not reach the Truth that comes by Revelation. According to the Swiss theologian Emil Brunner, it "is not given to us to know God, but to know the world.

For this reason, Kierkegaard opposed the intellectual tendency of theologians and philosophers of his time to reduce the doctrines of Christianity to terms that would make them more adequate to human reason. Philosophers like Kant and Hegel, for example, who in their search for a theology based on rationality, subjected religious consciousness to the categories of reason in their studies. They were worthy representatives of the Enlightenment, an intellectual movement of the 18th century characterized by an emphasis on reason. And this was disastrous. Kant, for example, reduced Christianity to good morals.

Kierkegaard reacts to these powerful thinkers by claiming that Christianity is a paradox, that is, its Truth contradicts rational logic and common intuition and can only be discerned through faith. Incarnation, for example, "...requires us to believe that there is a moment when the eternal enters the temporal sphere, taking on the limitations of finite existence, and this seems to involve a manifest impossibility, something that cannot be accommodated to the limits of human thought and understanding"[1].

Of course, there is much rationality in the Christian faith. However, not infrequently, the development of theological reflection, based on divine Revelation, reaches certain borderline areas of human rationality and leaps into the inexplicable that can only be received by faith. Of course, there is much rationality in the Christian faith. However, not infrequently, the development of theological reflection, based on divine Revelation, reaches certain borderline areas of human rationality and leaps into the inexplicable that can only be received by faith.

Divine Revelation is beyond human thought. This particularity derives from the transcendent nature of spiritual Truth. Divine Revelation deals with a spiritual world and is only understood by man because it was given to him in a process of accommodation to human categories. One must also understand that human reason is not infallible and does not reach all areas of existence. Blaise Pascal, writing about the limits of reason, said, "the last step of reason is to recognize that there is an infinity of things that surpass it" [2].

Thus, it is necessary to consider what the author of the biblical book Hebrews said: "faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see... without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (11:1-6). Reason can take man to a certain point in understanding the world, but it does not reach the instances of the mystery of God. The truth about His Being is beyond the reach of reason. Only in the elevated instances of faith can one have a glimpse of His majesty. 

Antônio Maia – M.Div.

Copyright

[1] GARDINER, Patrick. Kierkegaard. Edições Loyola, São Paulo, 1988, p.91

[2] PASCAL, Blaise. Pensamentos. Ed Abba Press, São Paulo, 2002, p.50