A Matter of Faith

I was walking through our library at the university the other day and noticed that they were having a used book sale. Of course, I took a look. I found a couple that I liked and bought both for $3. One was a book published by Westminster Press in 1957: Toward a Christian Philosophy of Higher Education. This edited volume includes a chapter, "Faith and Reason," by J. Edward Dirks. It's an excellent piece. In one section, the author provides an insightful reflection on the nature of faith in human existence. I wanted to share it with you here:

Christian thinking proceeds from the fundamental principle that human living involves a commitment - one that is inescapably bent by a primary loyalty or allegiance in which all the constituent aspects of life find their focus. The question which the gospel asks in judgment is always the question of one's life perspective or world view; namely, is this view shaped by the glorification of the living God or by something else which is not worthy of ultimate trust but has perhaps been elevated to the supreme position of the divine? The Christian faith reveals that the conflict of life is between various religious perspectives, not between a religious and an irreligious one. It interprets the tension as between trust in the living God and trust in something else - a social program, human rationality, the order of nature, the authority of the Church - which may assume the center of ultimate loyalty and concern. The Bible constantly impresses upon us the struggle between the true God and the idols of man's own making, and the call of the Bible is always for a return to the true God and a leaving behind of idolatry. The tension is therefore one of opposing faiths, not one between faith and its alternatives.

The key here is that every person's understanding of his or her life and the world is ultimately based on a faith commitment. It rests on a belief: a belief in God or a belief in the supremacy of reason or nature or something else. Everyone has a starting point that cannot be proven...it must be believed. The question then becomes: Which starting point leads to conclusions that make the best sense of the world?