What is the Relationship Between Faith and Reason?

Hello! My name is Aaron Joshua Calderon and today I would like to tackle and discuss the
relationship between Faith and Reason. As such, this is solely my understanding based on the
lessons and discussions I had on my Medieval Philosophy class. My aim for today is to look at
the different takes and notions of philosophers’, mostly in the Medieval era, their perspective on
the relationship between these two central aspects of man with his beliefs.

Faith (or Religion) and Reason (or Rationality) had always been seen as something that truly
distant from one another. These two aspects are the central figure of authority where we get our
beliefs. For example, in a religion, there is a set of beliefs and rituals that we must adhere to in
order for us to be seen as believer of this certain religion. And that the doctrines and the
teachings that that religion teaches, must be also our truth and our source of truth. And this holds
true also with Reason or rationality. Man have the capacity for rational thinking and people that
follows their rationality more than what was something that cannot be explained by reason. They
observe and experiment with the things that can be perceived by the senses and holding that the
things that can be perceived by the senses alone are the truth and nothing else. And with Faith
and religion, what was “Divinely” revealed are the ones that must be higher and more significant
by the things that we could perceive because it is something beyond us. And there are also
ultimate goals that these two also have. In religion, we adhere and practice our Faith with the
hope of being united with the Being that is simply beyond us. Be it a Transcendent Being or a
state of mind that we can achieve in order to transcend our very being. While in Rationality or
Reason, one simply has the desire to know the ultimate purpose and goal of a person’s life. There
is that desire to know everything every mystery we can perceive and make sense of it by means
of reason.

And just like night and day, these two aspects, one might say, can be simple seen as simply not
compatible with each other as they are totally opposite with each other. But there comes a period
in our time where there these two distinctly opposite figures met. And since then, these two
figures have never been the same. And that meeting point happened when Christianity began and
different thinkers attempted to explain the harmony between these two figures that met on a
contingent event that did not have to happen, but did. As such, my goal is to see and to present
the harmony that can be seen with the meeting of these two important figures that shaped and
continually shapes our history. Due to the apostolic zeal of the Apostles and St. Paul, Christianity
helped taking root at different parts of the world. And in doing so, it was not just the Israelites
and Jewish that became Christians, but also the other people with other culture. From being
called as “Pagans” to a follower of Christ. Hence the name, “Christian”.

Now let us first start with one of the oldest and earliest recorded philosophers that tried to
reconcile the Christian Faith with reason and rationality. That philosopher was none other than
Justin Martyr.

He was a former pagan that tried to search for the meaning of life by means of using different
approaches for philosophy. But upon looking for answers, he then found Christianity and finds
the answers it brings reasonable and rational. And for St. Justin Martyr, he believed that other
religions that predated Christianity and the arrival of Jesus Christ actually contains a “trace of
God” or (Spematikos) within them and that God is the Logos or the One that we must follow.
And so, those people who have virtuous life with being a pagan are called as “Unknowing
Christians”. They do virtuous acts towards others and he believed that this is a trace of God prior
to the birth of Christianity. And he was the first recorded Christian apologist that tried to
convince of other pagans the rationality and harmony of Faith and Reason. And this was evident
when he had a dialogue with Trypho and his friends. They, being a Jewish, kept on ridiculing his
ideas and his beliefs. But undeterred, he kept on explaining to Trypho the rationality and
coherence of Christianity.

Another philosopher that also wrote regarding the coherence of Faith when aligned with
rationality was none other than Pseudo-Dionysius. Pseudo-Dionysius was actually an unknown
author that merely used the name “Dionysius” as a “Pen name”. And he began to write about the
Christian Philosophy from a mystical and a Neoplatonic perspective. And one of the most
notable work that he had was his Apophatic and Cataphatic way which deals with the knowledge
of God. The Apophatic way is the negative affirmation that we cannot know wholly who or what
God is. And at the same time is that the Cataphatic way is our affirmation that there is a capacity,
albeit a limited capacity, to know and to describe God with our understanding. But the problem
is that our experience of the best attributes we can think of is completely limited because we are
finite beings. And so, Pseudo-Dionysius believed that what we also say of God is also not
applicable to Him because we have a limited knowledge of the descriptions and attributes, we
give to Him. Therefore, it is not applicable to God. And we would be able to see this trace of
same thought with the upcoming philosopher namely Anselm which would be discussed in the
later period. But let us firs focus on one of the most famous Christian Philosopher that helped
also push the rationality of faith. That person is none other than St. Augustine, the Bishop of
Hippo.

St. Augustine was born in Thagaste, Africa. And growing up with a devout Christian mother
named Monica and his father Patricius Aurelius. During his early years up to his teenage years,
he was a pagan that kept on searching for every pleasure the world can give. And upon knowing
Manicheanism, he followed it and for a moment claimed that it was the truth. But upon reading
different Neoplatonic readings and the losing credibility of the Manichees on Augustine, he then
began to search for the ultimate truth. And he found Truth Himself in Christianity. With the help
of Ambrose, he was baptized and until then, he bravely fought the different heresies and errors of
other sects of the Christian church. One of the most notable work of Augustine was none other
than his “Confessions” which narrates his life from childhood to his conversion. It was in the
format of a prayer and also a confession of his past mistakes that is intended to be overheard by
others in hope of changing their sinful lives. But this work could also be seen from the
perspective of God as His Confession of Love for St. Augustine and how God is ever patient to
be back with His beloved. And his philosophy, being heavily influenced by Neoplatonism,
centers around God as the Supreme Good through which other goods that we see on this world
came from. And what He created were all Good. With the exception of Evil as it was seen by
Augustine as something that is not the opposite of Good but merely a deprivation of it. In other
words, “Privatio Boni”. And so, he believes that man is able to be put into the road towards God
by means of reason. But Faith is also needed in order to elevate the reason to its limits and to
know the God that is truly beyond us and our reason. Augustine also saw the insufficiency of
Reason and it cannot wholly be understood with reason. That is why faith is needed in order to
align reason in finding the ultimate goal of man which is none other than being in union with
God the ultimate Good.

Another philosopher that also helped clarify and solidify the importance between the bond of
Faith and Reason is none other than St. Anselm of Canterbury.
St. Anselm of Canterbury was also one of the Christian Philosopher that also saw the importance
of the relationship of Faith and Reason. He believed that this two are important in order to come
to a limited knowledge of God. As he said on Proslogion chapter 1 “I do not even try, Lord, to
rise up to your heights, because my intellect does not measure up to that task; but I do want to
understand in some small measure your truth, which my heart believes in and loved. Nor do I
seek to understand so that I can believe, but rather I believe so that I can understand. For I
believe this too, that ‘unless I believe I shall not understand’”. He believes that Faith is also the
starting point of the road towards God and reason is one of the ways that could help us to know
God and at the same time, to love Him with the limited knowledge we have of Him. And on the
following chapter he termed God as “quo nihil maius cogitari possit” or “That which nothing
greater can be thought”. But he saw the inconsistencies that this would bring in regard to his
attributes. That is why at Chapter 15 he gave the conclusion that God is “greater than what can
be thought”. And on this, he was able to show the understanding called “Via Affirmativa” and
“Via Negativa”. The Via Affirmativa is when we place God with a certain attribute (For
example, benevolent) this is true that God is benevolent. But at the same time the Via Negativa
would negate it because as we said in Pseudo-Dionysius, that our concept of “Benevolent” is
something that is limited and cannot be applied to God. Therefore, our concept of God as
“Benevolent” is something that cannot be applied to God because it is limited. And we can see
here both the work of Faith and Reason. That Reason can be our way to arrive at a certain point
of truth. And the need of Faith in order to truly love and understand the knowledge that cannot
be fully understood by Reason alone.

After a series of philosophical ideas presented by different philosophers, another philosopher

would Christianize another non-Christian philosophy and would greatly contribute to the
Christian Faith and help strengthen the relationship of Faith and Reason would be none other
than St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. Thomas Aquinas was born in Roccasecca, near Aquino and died at an Abbey at Fossa nova,
Italy. He was one of the truly remarkable philosophers that was able to synthesize all the ideas of
the preceding Philosophers and also adding his own interpretation of the relationship between
Faith and Reason. He believed that one must not be afraid of confronting his Faith with Reason.
Under the care of St. Albert the Great, he then became heavily influenced by Aristotle’s works.
And so, he was able to “Christianize” the philosophical work of Aristotle in ways that can be
understood by Christians. We may use one of the concepts of St. Thomas Aquinas developed and
used in order to explain the Relationship of Faith and Reason. And that is none other than his
concept of Grace and Nature. For Thomas Aquinas, he believed that Nature and Grace are two
aspects that does not overpowering each other. But rather, have a sense of complementary aspect
within each other. He believed that man’s nature is not replaced into a wholly different person
completely. But rather, the Grace helps man’s Nature to perfect that nature that was lost in man
because of his imperfection and the cause of his fall and distortion of truth and reality. That is
why man needs Graces in order to revert back his Nature to its original state which is attuned in
reality and truth. And this perfectly captures the complex relationship of Faith and Reason. By
placing Faith as Grace and Reason as man’s Nature, we could see that there is an interaction
between the two that helps us understand the relationship of Faith and Reason. And we must also
note that Grace is something that does not come from us. But rather, comes from God and uses
this grace in order to help us to return and help us perfect our distorted nature back to Himself.
And as he synthesized the teachings and summarizes the teachings of other preceding
philosophers, he was able to summarize all with His five ways or “Proofs” of God’s existence.
Namely, God’s Oneness, God’s Immutability, God’s Infinity, God’s Perfection, and God’s
Simplicity. And this work would significantly impact the works of other Christian Philosophers
that would succeed them. From their time up to now, their contribution and works are as timeless
and applicable as ever. With the rise of secularism and other movements in order to undermine
the relationship of Faith and Reason. Their works stands as beacon that serves to enlighten and
remind the people of the fervor and courage; we must have in facing these trials. We must not be
afraid to face our Faith with rationality. But rather, face them with courage and without fear for
our Faith is not something that is purely grounded on mythical origin and explanation but with
clarity and rationality by our preceding Church Fathers.

Now let us see some similarities and differences with the ideas and approaches of the different
philosophers we have tackled today. First with Justin Martyr, we could see that his concept of
“God as Logos” and other religions as “Spermatikos” containing bits of the truth of God. We
could see that this also aligned with Augustine’s concept of God as the Supreme Good and that
the things he had created are the reflections, albeit limited, of his Goodness and his Beauty. They
believed that Faith and Reason is something that is complementary and needs each other as a
lover loving each other for who they are. Now for Augustine, we could see that upon seeing the
insufficiency of reason to understand God, then turned on Faith in order to transcend the capacity
Reason. While on Anselm, he first used Faith as his starting point in order to understand, even if
limited, the mysteries revealed by the Faith. And as for St. Thomas Aquinas, he believed that
there is a capacity in man’s nature to somehow know God but must need to be perfected by
means of Faith and grace in order to restore that man’s lost capacity know and contemplate God
wholly.

But for me, one thing I could see consistently between the Ideas of these Philosophers is that
they presented a possibility of our Faith as something than can be grounded on truth and reality
as we try to defend and makes sense of our Faith. Although we might not be able to fully say that
that our religion is the absolute religion because we ourselves, admittedly cannot claim that
Christianity is absolute and must be followed. But rather, this kind of approach could also be
seen as a way for other to do the same and to try explain their own belief or religion in a way that
can be understood rationally and not fully and wholly just mythical and supernatural. Another
thing I could see that relates with the relationship of Faith and Reason is their ultimate goal. For
reason and Philosophy, it is arriving an absolute knowledge of all things and life. And as for the
faith or religion, the ultimate goal is to be in union with God or being in a certain state of
transcendence. But these two are similar in themselves that shows man’s inner longing or desire
for the infinite.

Just like what St. Augustine states “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is
restless until it rests in you.” (Confession, 1). And this desire is also evident with man’s desire
what is the ultimate truth. And as for the Christian Philosophers, this Truth is none other than
Jesus Christ, God who became like us to meet us. And in meeting us coming down to love us.
God, in his unlimited and infinite Love for us, chose to be limited like us in order to show just
how much He loves us. We cannot fully know Truth unless He Himself chose to reveal Himself
to us. That is why these Christian Philosophers that tried their best to show that Faith meeting
Reason is an event that need not happen but did is something along the line of what Maurice
Blondel said that “Christian Philosophy: a love that meets Love”. Thus, these Christian
Philosophers attempted to show the dynamic relationship and how inextricable Faith and Reason
have become for the betterment of each other and for the benefit of man to be connected with the
Ultimate Goal he is longing after.

That is why for me, this relationship is the best way for me to gain the two central aspect of my
beliefs and convictions and to merge them together in a harmonious ways just like how these
Christian Philosopher was able to connect in their own way their knowledge of what they know
of God and their own conviction to follow after Him in love.