4. Reason And Faith

In the practical affairs of life wisdom is more important than pure reason, and it is wisdom that regulates reason, rather than reason wisdom. The very word 'philosophy' means (in Greek) not 'love of reason' but 'love of wisdom'; and according to the ancient book of Proverbs (1:7) the beginning of wisdom is not the pursuit of rationality, but the fear of the Lord.[p 136] [p 137] A fourth false alternative So far we have discussed three of four pairs of issues which confront epistemology: idealism and realism, subjective knowledge and objective knowledge, rationalism and empiricism. Now we must tackle the fourth pair: reason and faith. We shall find that, as with the other three pairs, so with this: it is not a question of rejecting one or the other, either reason or faith, but of using both reason and faith, each in its appropriate context. To many people, however, reason and faith are mutually exclusive terms. Reason, they feel, delivers proved and indubitable facts which everybody who is of sound mind must in the end accept; and these facts, once accepted, constitute genuine, certain knowledge. Moreover, once they have been established by reason, you don't have to try to believe ...