Reason in a World of Faith
Despite the rejection of reason as test for spiritual truth, reason is almost universally used within religions. If the holy book of any religion contained all that needed to be said about religion, reason would not be required.
The contents of the Christian Bible are a fraction of what has been written about Christianity. In a world of absolute faith where the Bible is simply true and no discussion is required, isn’t this odd? Every Sunday, millions of Christian worshippers listen to sermons that are not simply the reciting of Biblical passages, but which also contain interpretations of the Bible. Why does this happen? Because the Bible is an uncomfortable book which is full of contradiction, full of vague statements and barbaric events which are unacceptable to people despite their faith. The Bible is full of things which require clarification.
In some ways this can be seen as understandable in that the Bible is a composite of many different documents some of which seem contradictory. In the early days of the Christian church, some people believed that the works of the Old Testament had no place in Christianity and that the God of the Old Testament was a different God to that of the New Testament. If you gather together a number of documents with different authors, they are likely to contain contradictions and ambiguities.
The holy book of Islam, The Quran, is a set of documents written solely by the founder that faith, Muhammad. It is considered to be the word of god as recited to Muhammad. As the word of God, or even as the word of a single man, it should be consistent and should not suffer from some of the problems of the Christian Bible.
The Quran, like the Bible, is only a fraction of what has been written about the religion it represents. The Quran is central to Islam, but there is an industry of interpreters. It, too, is fully of vague and contradictory passages. Commentators, preachers and practitioners of both religions constantly use reason to try and understand what is meant by their religion. They constantly accept the notion that contradictions must be resolved.
Faith often comes down, not to faith in scripture, it comes down to belief in a specific interpretation of scripture. It is faith in the leader and their ability to correctly interpret the holy book. The leaders are granted the use of reason and the followers must put their own reason to one side.
The contents of the Christian Bible are a fraction of what has been written about Christianity. In a world of absolute faith where the Bible is simply true and no discussion is required, isn’t this odd? Every Sunday, millions of Christian worshippers listen to sermons that are not simply the reciting of Biblical passages, but which also contain interpretations of the Bible. Why does this happen? Because the Bible is an uncomfortable book which is full of contradiction, full of vague statements and barbaric events which are unacceptable to people despite their faith. The Bible is full of things which require clarification.
In some ways this can be seen as understandable in that the Bible is a composite of many different documents some of which seem contradictory. In the early days of the Christian church, some people believed that the works of the Old Testament had no place in Christianity and that the God of the Old Testament was a different God to that of the New Testament. If you gather together a number of documents with different authors, they are likely to contain contradictions and ambiguities.
The holy book of Islam, The Quran, is a set of documents written solely by the founder that faith, Muhammad. It is considered to be the word of god as recited to Muhammad. As the word of God, or even as the word of a single man, it should be consistent and should not suffer from some of the problems of the Christian Bible.
The Quran, like the Bible, is only a fraction of what has been written about the religion it represents. The Quran is central to Islam, but there is an industry of interpreters. It, too, is fully of vague and contradictory passages. Commentators, preachers and practitioners of both religions constantly use reason to try and understand what is meant by their religion. They constantly accept the notion that contradictions must be resolved.
Faith often comes down, not to faith in scripture, it comes down to belief in a specific interpretation of scripture. It is faith in the leader and their ability to correctly interpret the holy book. The leaders are granted the use of reason and the followers must put their own reason to one side.
posted by craig fotheringham at 8:29 AM
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