Father Brown and Flambeau have this discussion in The Blue Cross about reason, and Father Brown says, "Reason is always reasonable." Flambeau argues that perhaps somewhere out in the infinite universe, perhaps there is a place where reason isn't reasonable.
This is where Father Brown knows that Flambeau isn't a priest, because he states this belief.
Nowadays, I am not so sure you could make that kind of judgement about a priest not being a priest because of his understanding of the word "reason."
Anyway, this led me to wonder, what is reason?
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
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Reason is the ability to conceptualize and draw connections, and to follow up the implications of one's ideas.
ReplyDeleteOne probably couldn't assume that a priest nowadays wouldn't attack reason, but remember, Father Brown adds, "It's bad theology." Does anyone know many priests who even know any theology?
Reason is the power of the human intellect to grasp reality: i. e., to acquire truths. Often people forget that even this power is contingent on faith, the act of assenting to authority. St. Paul observed, "Faith comes by hearing" (Rom. 10:17). The Greek word for "faith," "pistis," is the root of the English "epistemology": the nature of knowledge: Without faith, even human faith, there is no knowledge.
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