Feature
Thy Law Is Truth
The Living Space Between Faith & Reason
There are few questions more momentous than that of faith. In whom or what should I trust—and why? Of course there are many kinds of faith, and no simple answer can be given that will cover all of them. Plainly reason must play a role at some level, but how and why is not easy to say, least of all when it comes to faith in God.
Aristotle famously warned that a correct beginning is necessary to avoid great errors at the end. In that spirit, I wish to focus here on the basic question of the nature of faith and its relationship to reason. I will begin with what I call mundane faith, the sort that is involved in believing in a loved one, a leader, or perhaps even an ideal or political program. Faith in this sense seems to be an inescapable element of human life, however keenly we may be aware of its potential for failure. The important question is how it relates to reason, and whether we can find in this relationship a clue that points beyond the mundane to more controversial and problematic forms of faith. In particular, how does mundane faith relate to religious faith, and is there a bridge connecting the two?
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
David Bradshaw is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kentucky and the author of Aristotle East and West: Metaphysics and the Division of Christendom (Cambridge University Press), as well as numerous articles on ancient, medieval, and patristic philosophy. He and his wife attend St. Athanasius Orthodox Church in Nicholasville, Kentucky.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on philosophy from the online archives
21.6—July/August 2008
Benedict XVI on the Crisis of Faith & Reason by Samuel Gregg
more from the online archives
21.10—December 2008
Early Christian Teaching on the Incarnation & Redemption by Patrick Henry Reardon
29.3—May/June 2016
A Deathbed Reflection on Catholic Social Teaching & Our Future Prospects by Karl D. Stephan
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
