“I am the way, the truth, and the life”
–John 14:6
“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.”
-Blessed John Paul II, Fides et Ratio
“Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.”
-G.K. Chesterton, Autobiography
The university is an institution ostensibly dedicated to reason. In some cases, the university is also supposedly dedicated to faith. In most circles of higher education, including much of Catholic – and more broadly Christian – higher education, one is likely to encounter the rejection – explicit or implicit – of the compatibility between faith and reason. This rejection is a two-sided coin. One side rejects faith and embraces reason. The other side – arguably more dangerous – seeks to build a faith on little or no rational foundation. This is the faith of theological liberalism, a religion based on sentimentality, to which John Henry Newman was so opposed. It is worth repeating Newman’s refrain: “Religion, as a mere sentiment, is to me a dream and a mockery.” In the academy, this theological liberalism is doubly dangerous because it is at once deceptive and anti-intellectual in nature.
A Christian, entering the university for the first time, is likely aware of a strong atheistic and skeptical streak in within academia that makes for a sometimes hostile environment for believers. As such, he may find himself taking refuge with the campus religious establishment, where he may be in the company of fellow believers. However, he is likely to be less aware of the hostility of the campus religious establishment toward a faith that is ultimately addressed to reason and grounded in truth. That is to say, much of this establishment is mired in liberalism, where faith is not grounded in any transcendent reality, but in personal emotional comfort or other considerations of transitory importance. One’s religious preference – which is little more than how one deals with the problems of life – becomes one more entry in a long list of identities that are constantly referenced on campus: racial, ethnic, socio-economic, etc. If one’s religion is commensurate with the modern notion of gender as a self-created identity, how much more will faith be the product of individual whim rather than an assent to transcendental truth?
No longer can religion be said to derive from the virtue of pietas, that is, what man owes to God. Faith now centers on “who I am” rather than what is. If a traditional or orthodox practice or belief has any value, it is only in how much emotional comfort and stability it can offer. As soon as one feels that such practice or dogma no longer suits him, he is encouraged to dispense with it so as to explore new, self-created “faith-identities.” At no point does religion require one to submit to a reality that is not created but received (cf. 1 Cor 15:3). As such, instead of being drawn out of himself toward a transcendent reality, one becomes trapped within the self-created illusions of his own sentimentality.
It is this neglect of man’s transcendent end – his salvation – that is perhaps the most dangerous feature of modern collegiate theological liberalism. The religious sights have been lowered to this-worldly concerns. Social justice emerges, then, as the outward manifestation of this modern collegiate theological liberalism. What once may have been works of charity or mercy are now absorbed into a dubious political program. Social justice also serves as a kind of justification for the continued existence of the collegiate religious establishment, which is saved from near-total irrelevance by the encouragement of volunteerism, which everyone can support. And everyone does support it because, in the absence of real concern for truth, helping others sounds good and feels even better. Thus, one is free to choose his religious flavor without consideration for the truth about the nature of God, the nature of reality, and the nature of man and his transcendent end.
In his recent encyclical, Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis – and his “ghost writer” Pope Benedict XVI – has taken to task theological liberalism and religion based in sentimentality:
“Faith without truth does not save, it does not provide a sure footing. It remains a beautiful story, the projection of our deep yearning for happiness, something capable of satisfying us to the extent that we are willing to deceive ourselves. Either that, or it is reduced to a lofty sentiment, which brings consolation and cheer, yet remains prey to the vagaries of our spirit and the changing seasons, incapable of sustaining a stead journey through life. “
The pope’s reference to the “vagaries of our spirit” raises the issue of man’s sinfulness, an issue largely unaddressed by the campus religious establishment. Yet, even the most honest search for truth may be easily derailed by the passions, whose flames are fanned by the cultural winds of self-aggrandizement, instant gratification, and the cult of pleasure. Needless to say, these winds blow ever stronger on campus. In encouraging students to let go of orthodoxy and orthopraxis “in order to embrace another way of relating to God that better suits [them],” there is little consideration given to the fact students often opt for the convenient over the true. Augustine knew this much about man’s fallen nature.
“Today more than ever,” Francis writes, “we need to be reminded of [the] bond between faith and truth, given the crisis of truth in our age.” It is precisely this crisis of truth that characterizes the establishments of faith at many universities. To avoid being absorbed into that crisis of truth, to keep one’s faith and one’s mind, it is imperative that one develop his faith on a deeply intellectual level. It is necessary to cultivate the mind, as Newman says, which will then provide fertile soil for the development of a truly mature faith. Too often, students are given the tools to doubt and question – for the sake of doubting and questioning – without being given the intellectual tools to probe and question rightly so as to think and believe correctly. One must often provide for his own philosophical, theological, and even literary formation – through reading, conversations, friendships, and any other means – that will enable a truly “thinking” faith. Such a faith recognizes the profound mystery of God, but is prepared to engage that mystery because he knows that if revelation is what it says it is, it must be addressed to reason and therefore fundamentally intelligible. It is precisely this thinking faith, grounded in truth rather than doubt, which will prove to be a lasting faith, both within the walls of the academy and without.
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