The twentieth century was marked by severe polarities, not only in the world, but also in the Church. I am wishing that twenty-first century thought and life could, through the Holy Spirit, become a synthesis of the truths flowing from the magisterial “side” of the Church with whatever was understood by the “other side” of the Church that was real even if the remedy was defective.
Here is my “I have a dream” description of what this could be like. The form it will take is to proclaim a perennial truth, bring forth the polarities of the past century concerning this truth, and then offer my idea of the synthesis, especially as it would be manifest in the character of Catholics of the future.
Please be sure to note that this chapter by no means purports to be the synthesis. My colleagues and I desire that Toward a Twenty-first Century Catholic World-view be an ongoing project. I do not expect that every writer in the book will agree with everything in my chapters or, when they do agree, that they will choose the same examples to illustrate such general points.
Here is my “I have a dream” description of what this could be like. The form it will take is to proclaim a perennial truth, bring forth the polarities of the past century concerning this truth, and then offer my idea of the synthesis, especially as it would be manifest in the character of Catholics of the future.
Please be sure to note that this chapter by no means purports to be the synthesis. My colleagues and I desire that Toward a Twenty-first Century Catholic World-view be an ongoing project. I do not expect that every writer in the book will agree with everything in my chapters or, when they do agree, that they will choose the same examples to illustrate such general points.
“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.”
Nothing could be more basic to Catholic Realism than this first proclamation of our Creed. However, the twentieth century saw the denial of this truth by large numbers of people including those professing scientism (the theory that anything not suitable for scientific verification doesn’t exist) and communism. Among those who did believe in immaterial realities, the past century saw many who no longer thought of God as the Father and Creator but more as a divine energy.
Nothing could be more basic to Catholic Realism than this first proclamation of our Creed. However, the twentieth century saw the denial of this truth by large numbers of people including those professing scientism (the theory that anything not suitable for scientific verification doesn’t exist) and communism. Among those who did believe in immaterial realities, the past century saw many who no longer thought of God as the Father and Creator but more as a divine energy.
On the opposite side we found philosophers and theologians rushing to defend the conscious, personal, omnipotent creator God as maker of heaven and earth. In the Catholic Church, what was called Neo-Thomism, through six courses in philosophy taught to all those attending Catholic universities, was able to strengthen believers against the inroads of atheism, agnosticism and, later, against New Age half-truths about the divine.
Among non-Catholic Christians, the impact of what was mocked by some as Fundamentalism, was enormous. By the end of the year 2000 attendance at such churches was greater than that at of main-line denominations. “Do you know Jesus as your personal savior?” became the question asked of everyone by evangelists of such churches.
Among non-Catholic Christians, the impact of what was mocked by some as Fundamentalism, was enormous. By the end of the year 2000 attendance at such churches was greater than that at of main-line denominations. “Do you know Jesus as your personal savior?” became the question asked of everyone by evangelists of such churches.
Whereas at the beginning of the twentieth century most Jews and many Islamics were modernist in philosophy and non-practicing of orthodox rituals and rules, by the end of the century there was a revival of orthodox Judaism and a huge growth in Islamic religious fervor.
What about the parish Catholic? Whereas born-Catholics of the first half of the twentieth century were taught the basic truths found in the Baltimore Catechism including, of course, the Creed, at Catholic schools or catechism programs, by the end of the twentieth century we have a different story.
What about the parish Catholic? Whereas born-Catholics of the first half of the twentieth century were taught the basic truths found in the Baltimore Catechism including, of course, the Creed, at Catholic schools or catechism programs, by the end of the twentieth century we have a different story.
After the glorious Second Vatican Council, many universities dropped the six course neo-Thomist sequence requiring, instead, only one or two courses in philosophy and theology. Many writers of catechisms were convinced that older ways of teaching were rote and failed to convey the personal love of God so essential for real faith. In the process of rewriting the catechism, some experts managed to marginalize belief in specific Catholic teachings to the point where their students no longer could answer such questions as “What does the word Trinity mean?”
During the twentieth century, many parish Catholics left the Church over changes such as the use of the vernacular in the liturgy or the omission in preaching of teachings part of the Deposit of Faith. Others left the Church precisely because they dissented from specific teachings, especially specific moral teachings. Without the emphasis on fear of hell that characterized pre-Vatican II preaching, teens and young adults slowly stopped going to church at all. Viewing God, not so much as the Father almighty, but more as a source of unconditional love, they thought the “rules” of the Church to be old-fashioned.
Having laid out some of these polarities in the world and in the Church about an all-powerful, creator God, what would a synthesis look like?
During the second half of the twentieth century, I was, with the unusual history of being a convert from a totally atheistic background, a professor of philosophy in Catholic universities and seminaries. The idea that many scientists and all communists were atheists did not surprise me. That some fundamentalist Christians rejected evolution in favor of Intelligent Design did surprise me. I enjoyed enlightening my Catholic students with books by scientists who were convinced that God existed precisely because of scientific facts and theories.
As we proceed into the twenty-first century, I am delighted to see courses on how to refute atheism making use of the writings of scientists. You will see in this book, Toward a Twenty-first Century Catholic World-view, writings by professors who see science and faith as partners, not enemies.
As we proceed into the twenty-first century, I am delighted to see courses on how to refute atheism making use of the writings of scientists. You will see in this book, Toward a Twenty-first Century Catholic World-view, writings by professors who see science and faith as partners, not enemies.
How about the influence of New-Age ideas of God? Of course, God is not an impersonal divine energy, permeating but not creating, the universe. At the same time, contemporary Catholic evangelists do well to listen to the experience of those who often left our Church to enter into New-Age explorations, precisely in order to build a bridge. A close friend of mine, was a New-Ager who found what she sought to be fulfilled in the God of the Creed, and not in popular New-Age spiritualities.What about the twenty-first century Catholic character and the concept of God? Let me put it this way: I never want to hear again a statement of a student in 1969 who defined God simply as “The one who can zap me out of existence!” Does that sound like a good image of God the Father?
On the other hand, neither do I want to hear God defined as “the Father in heaven who loves me so much that he will never judge me no matter what I do.”
On the other hand, neither do I want to hear God defined as “the Father in heaven who loves me so much that he will never judge me no matter what I do.”
Blessed is the daughter or son of God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, who experiences God’s personal love as so great that she/he longs to obey God’s will every moment of each day!
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