Do the words rational and Christianity even belong in the same sentence? After all, by believing in Christianity (or any religion), aren’t we relying on myths and fairy tales to tell us what is real? Rational means practical, scientific and proven, no faith necessary. How can a church make any claim to being rational?
First we must recognize that faith and rationality are not opposed. Faith isn’t a lesser way of knowing; it’s underrated survival skill. Who has time to reinvent themselves with each decision or concern? We rely on what has worked before, although there is no evidence proving the past will predict the future–in fact we are often disappointed. The challenge of faith, religious or not, is to depend on what is dependable.
#rational does not deny the important place faith plays in our life. #rational stands for a wholeness, integrating religious faith with all of life. Spirituality and God are not part of some mythical world, where we live when we need that spiritual side of things, but put aside when daily life calls. #rational is how we connect our Christian identity with life in the world we know. The story of our faith presents a good example:
The Bible contains glorious tales of things that we will never see. How can these stories inform our lives when they are part of a completely different mindset, describing the world as we no longer understand it? #rational points us to the fact that literal truth isn’t the only vehicle out there for understanding these stories. We don’t need to twist the Biblical story, pretending that somehow it anticipates or is superior to modern concepts. Instead of using modern scientific knowledge to try and explain what sort of fish could have swallowed Jonah but not digested him for three days, for example, or pretending that an ancient story of 7 days of creation makes more sense than the scientific evidence for evolution, we look for another way to understand what these stories tell us about God and his people. We see both the truth and the limitations of these stories. #rational means we can embrace both.
#rational is liberating. No longer trapped with the contradictions of a literal faith facing modern evidence, we can focus on living by faith. We will never be able to prove in a scientific and unbiased way that this Christian way is the true way or even the best way. Christian living isn’t a scientific experiment, it is an experience of knowing Christ’s presence in our lives, but we can see that a life lived with an awareness of the spiritual side of things is complete.
#rational gives us a broader perspective, allowing us to consider the truth of stories beyond the literal. We don’t have to ignore the contradictions or explain away the absurdities. We don’t imagine that somehow the Bible contains a perfection we have never found in any other book (indeed that would be idolatry, the perfect Word is Jesus; we don’t worship the book). Inspiration isn’t divine dictation. The ancient words of the Bible seem to have anticipated this experience, calling on God’s people to love God with the whole person: heart, soul and mind. A Bible holding both truth and absurdities shows that then as now, God accomplishes his purposes through the imperfect efforts of human beings.
What do you think? How have you found it liberating to read the Scripture for truth beyond the literal? What meaning do you find in the ancient tales?
One Response
The act of thinking does not proceed from a simple natural possibility; on the contrary, it is the only true creation. Creation is the genesis of the act of thinking within thought itself. To think is always to interpret – to explicate, to develop, to decipher, to translate a sign. Translating, deciphering, developing are the form of pure creation. Gilles Deleuze, Proust et Signes
Oliver Davies. The Creativity of God: World, Eucharist, Reason (Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine) (Kindle Locations 2159-2161). Kindle Edition.