Faith & Reason Through the Ages

December 2, 2005 Posted by Roger OvertoncloseAuthor: Roger Overton Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
Site: http://ateamblog.com
About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009). Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (569)

Anselm on Faith & Reason, from Cur Deus Homo?
(Why the God-Man?):

“I do not try, Lord, to attain Your lofty heights, because
my understanding is in no way equal to it. But I do desire to understand Your
truth a little, that truth that my hear believes and loves. For I do not seek
to understand so I may believe, but I believe so that I may understand. For I
believe this also, that ‘unless I believe, I shall not understand.’”

Paul on Faith & Reason, from his first letter to the
Corinthians (Chapter 2:7):

“Yet, among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is
not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass
away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before
the ages for our glory.”

Paul believed he could impart (communicate) something to the
“mature” people in Corinth they could not receive from the world. This secret
wisdom could not be imparted to those who pass away, but only to those will
live onto to glory. I believe what Paul was speaking of here is an
understanding of what Christ’s death on the cross means. To truly understand,
in any sense, what His life and death mean for us we must first have faith. What
I find most striking in this letter by Paul is that God decreed the secret
wisdom (essentially the Gospel) for our glory.

Fast-forward one thousand years to St. Anselm in the
Middle Ages. This expression of faith and reason in one of his most famous
works echoes the thoughts of Paul. He understood we cannot understand God’s
truth comprehensively, and that without faith we cannot understand it at all.
But on the basis of faith, by God’s grace, we can possess some of that secret
wisdom. Such is our position before the throne of grace- the humble seeking of
that wisdom which God has set aside for us.

Related posts:

1. O Holy Night (5) – Led By the Light of Faith
2. Book Review: Essential Truths of the Christian Faith by R.C. Sproul
3. Is 'Personal Trust' an Essential Component of Saving Faith?–I
4. Book Review: Faith of My Fathers by Chris Seay
5. Book Review: Swashbuckling Faith by Tim Wesemann
6. Book Review: Feelings and Faith by Brian Borgman

Posted in Main Page, Philosophy, Roger's Posts, Theology