Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Catholic News

Home

Home
Catholic
Religion News
Theologian calls beauty ‘starting point’ for faith

Theologian calls beauty ‘starting point’ for faith

Last updated on: February 7, 2013 at 11:03 am by CNA Daily News

Theologian calls beauty ‘starting point’ for faith 2013-02-07T11:03:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Denver, Colo., Feb 7, 2013 / 04:03 am (CNA).- Prominent theologian Dr. Michael Waldstein said that despite the modern world's dismissal of the connection between goodness and truth, the beauty of the natural world and human relationships can lead to faith in God.

“Natural beauty and human love are an important starting point. If you take true beauty seriously, you are a far way toward being open to an even greater love,” Waldstein told CNA on Jan. 31.

A professor of theology at Ave Maria University, Waldstein gave his remarks following an address at Denver's Augustine Institute concerning “Faith, Science and Pope Benedict XVI's Regensburg Address.”

He said that “glimpsing Christ's beauty and taking it seriously” is a challenge for modern man because of the tendency to see a “dichotomy between faith and truth.”

Waldstein’s address began by contrasting two understandings of the word “faith.” One, he said, is displayed by individuals such as Richard Dawkins and sees faith as “belief that isn't based on evidence.”

Another understanding of faith, one more compatible with Christianity, is accepting the testimony of a reliable witness, he said, adding that faith understood in this way is necessary for human existence, and the rejection of it is irrational.

Francis Bacon, an important figure in the scientific revolution, articulated the principle that “human knowledge should be for the sake of power over nature,” he continued. That choice led to the reduction of the sphere of knowledge to mere “mechanics” – mathematics and physics, what can be made.

With this choice, Waldstein said, “the good was displaced from reality.” This resulted in a distinction between goodness and beauty – or values – on one side, and truth – or facts – on the other.

Modernity therefore sees science as concerned with objective “facts,” he explained, while values are viewed as a subjective phenomenon divorced from reality.

“Here you see, I think, why Richard Dawkins cannot but judge anything that's not in the very traditional scientific mode, as being unable to refer to something real,” Waldstein reflected.

This separation between truth and goodness, he said, means that “unavoidably, values are seen as imposed on you by somebody else. If everything except the mathematical aspects of nature are simply projections, then that projection came from somebody.”

Waldstein linked this to two current debates in American culture, namely contraception and the concept of gender.

The Obama administration's recent contraception mandate requires employers to offer health insurance coverage of contraception and sterilization, even when employers object to supporting their use on moral or religious grounds.

The dichotomy between truth and goodness “is why it is so difficult in our culture to understand the argument” surrounding contraception and conscience, the scholar said.

When truth and goodness are linked together, he explained, then it is possible to have an intrinsic link ordering the conjugal act towards the resultant good of openness to life.

“That is impossible for our contemporaries to understand, because for that ordering to take place, what you have to focus on is the goodness of the act. Because of that goodness, the act, through a nature in itself, has an orientation to it.”

He explained that when facts and values are separated, then people cannot see why contraception is an objective evil.

“But if goodness is a mere value imposed, then this idea is insensible – you can't make sense of it. You see it as a religious argument, because any value is going to be a subjective projection into the facts.”

Waldstein also explained how the idea of gender, as opposed to sex, represents a worldview in which “our body is a neutral machine with no meaning in itself, but all meaning is projected by us into it.”

“It follows then that men and women aren't, in virtue of their bodies, men and women. As far as gender is concerned, that is not the realm of fact but of value.”

“This,” he said, “is a consequence of the choice of mechanics as the master science – the separation between fact and value.”

Waldstein said that recapturing natural philosophy “plays a central role” in the new evangelization and overcoming the separation of truth and goodness. Natural philosophy's view allows an objective understanding of nature while also keeping goodness and values within the sphere of the objective.

The scholar told CNA that the encounter between persons is a way to help people think again about nature.

“Expression is such an amazing thing. I look at you, and I see you look, and it's fabulous, it's stupendous.” He said that rather than being a “complicated process” of thought and analysis, the encounter of persons can be summed up in this experience: “I see you look.”

“In the Gospel of John, in the prologue, when it talks about the Word becoming flesh, it's interesting that the very first effect of that… is that 'we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,'” he said. “That's beauty; glory and beauty are very closely related to each other.”

Waldstein concluded that “to have a glimpse of that beauty which appears in Christ – glory, the glory of love, giving himself unreservedly, that, according to John, is the real motive of faith.”

Previous Post

February 7, 2013

Conference aims to impart riches of classical education

Next Post

February 7, 2013 Pope stresses Church's hope in young people

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Jacob’s only daughter?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Rachel Dinah Tamar Leah