The first of the four cardinal virtues of the Roman Catholic Church is “prudentia,” which basically means damn good thinking. Christ came to take away our sins, not our minds. (William Sloane Coffin)
One of the most bizarre interactions I have ever witnessed was between a philosophy professor and a fundamentalist pastor. The pastor had come to the seminary to confront the professor with charges of heresy. The professor tried to explain the role of reason in developing a healthy and relevant theology. [Trying to converse with fundamentalists is a useless exercise. You cannot reason with fundamentalists because reason never played a part in the formulation of their ideas and convictions. The driving forces behind all fundamentalism (fundamentalism is not limited to religion) are fear and the desire to control.] At one point in the conversation between the professor and the fundamentalist, the latter proudly said, “I’m glad God made me ignorant. And I pray that God makes me more ‘ignoranter’ every day!” I was astounded to hear such an “ignorant” statement, but I will never forget the professor’s comeback: “God can’t use your ignorance. He can use you in spite of your ignorance, but he can’t use your ignorance.”
Some of the most loving and faithful Christians I have ever known were not people of great intelligence. Some of them were illiterate. A higher IQ doesn’t guarantee a deeper commitment and more compassionate following of Jesus. Faith cannot be equated with intelligence or knowledge. But faith can be deepened and can become more helpful with knowledge and understanding. I find it interesting that when Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” he quoted the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4), the foundation of Judaism. However, he added one word. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The word he added was “mind.”
We are emotional, spiritual, physical, and intellectual creatures. And all these parts constitute a whole which is more than the sum of our parts.
What does it mean to “love the Lord your God with all your mind”? I would assume that at the very least it means to use our ability to reason to the best of our ability as we grow in our love for and commitment to the one we call “Lord.” Some people are uncomfortable with such a suggestion. They fear an emphasis on the mind and reason will transform religion into an intellectual exercise which can be void of feeling, spirituality, and compassion. However, if we also strive to love the Lord our God with “all our heart, soul, and strength,” such a distortion of faith cannot occur. Jesus’ understanding of the Shema reflects his appreciation of all the components of our makeup. We are emotional, spiritual, physical, and intellectual creatures. And all these parts constitute a whole which is more than the sum of our parts.
Over the years I have found that the basic tenets of Christianity are the following:
- Jesus reveals the essence and character of the One he called Abba.
- God is love. God’s love is unconditional, indiscriminate, self-giving, and everlasting. And such love finds it greatest expression in compassion and solidarity with each part of creation.
- Faith is not ignorant beliefs or cold reason. Faith is trust that grows from daily commitment and results in tangible acts of compassion, justice, and solidarity.
- We cannot love God without loving others because God’s love (which holds the universe together) is indivisible. God calls us into a partnership with the Divine Self in loving this creation into its healing and liberation.
These tenets of the faith can only be “learned” through experience and “taking the leap” as we embrace life and the world for the sake of God’s love and our sharing of that love. As Albert Schweitzer said, we will learn who Jesus is only as we concretely follow him. Such a following and such an experience of God’s love will never lead us to a cold and unfeeling faith.
We cannot prove the existence or the nature of God, but we can make God credible not only by the content of our lives but also by the depth and consistency of our thinking.
However, without using our intellect and loving God with all our minds, we will never experience many of the depths of our faith. And we will never be able to provide an effective witness to many who cannot check their minds at the door when they approach the question of God. We cannot prove the existence or the nature of God, but we can make God credible not only by the content of our lives but also by the depth and consistency of our thinking. That is part of the role of the discipline of theology. As we learn more about our world, science, the nature of the mind, history, and so much more, we need a faith that is big enough to include all truth. A truncated or fearful faith is doomed to irrelevance and extinction. If our faith does not have some credibility and rationality, then no thinking person can ever accept it. The same professor who said that God cannot use our ignorance also said that when we hold fast to a faith that is demonstrably false and can be proven to be untrue (for example, believing the world was created ten thousand years ago or rejecting some form of evolution), “we are like ostriches with our heads in the sand, and all thinking people are taking potshots at our rumps.” And if we do not use our minds in the development of our faith, we ourselves will miss out on so much of who God is and what that can mean for our lives and our world.
Over the decades my faith has been wonderfully and powerfully enriched by learning the insights of the Rhineland mystics, reading and studying the works of such theologians as Jurgen Moltmann and Douglas Hall, and being inspired by the lives of such saints as Francis of Assisi, Clarence Jordan, and John Woolman. All these people reveal for me a deeper understanding and allow for a deeper experience of the God I can love with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. I would never have been able to come to such an understanding and experience without my knowledge of and (hopefully) my appropriation of their insights and their own faith journeys.
I think Coffin is correct. Christ came to take away our sins, not our minds. We don’t have to have a frontal lobotomy before we can become a Christian or before we can believe in God. Using our minds may not save us, but loving God with all our minds will make our salvation deeper, more wonder-full, and expansive. If God is more than any of us or all of us together will ever completely understand, then our faith should and must grow in wisdom and knowledge. The alternative is to become “more ignoranter” with each passing day. And as the professor said, God can’t use our ignorance. God can use us in spite of our ignorance, but God can’t use our ignorance. But God can use our minds if we are open to more—and there is always more with the Living God.
