Reason to believe
Imaginative Apologetics: theology, philosophy and the Catholic tradition
Andrew Davison (ed.)
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f the only way open to us for knowledge of God were solely that of
reason”, Thomas Aquinas remarks early in his Summa Contra Gentiles, “the human race would remain in the blackest shadows of ignorance” – which represents a much bleaker assessment of the prospects for natural theology than admirers and adversaries sometimes attribute to him. Accordingly, as Andrew Davison says, introducing this intriguing collection of essays, “Properly Christian apologetics requires a Christian understanding of reason.” This signals the rejection by everyone in this book of the received idea of apologetics as mounting arguments in favour of the existence of God, miracles and so on, intended to refute atheists on the basis of purely “natural” reason. For Aquinas, by contrast, while he certainly puts much effort into metaphysical proofs that God exists, he takes it for granted that the world is created. He puts much more effort into examining ideas of what the doctrine of Creation involves, ideas which, he believes, many of his contemporaries should not have accepted: but he never doubted that they all believed in Creation in some sense. The question is what is meant by reason.
In his foreword, attacking the assumption that the only “reason” that discloses truth is “a cold, detached reason that is isolated from both feeling and imagination”, John Milbank appeals to the Romantic poets Browning and Wordsworth as exponents of the imagination which should guide judgement in effective apologetics (as in much else). He even has a good word for “Bishop Bloughram’s Apology”, Browning’s supposed satire on Cardinal Wiseman: “if we lose the idea of Pan’s face
appearing in the clouds, we will soon lose also our belief in the reality of the clouds themselves”. Bishop Bloughram turns out to be “the Catholic spokesperson for the half-hints of the sacramental”, which is “perhaps why Wiseman famously did not take offence”. These remarks set the agenda for the rest of the book. On the negative side, according to John Hughes, it is only since the seventeenth century that Christian apologetics became a “rationalist project of proofs”. Davison, in his own chapter, continues the attack on the idea of apologetics as working with a “neutral”
none actually does any Christian apologetics. Instead, they tell us how, and how not, to attempt any such thing, with a few examples of how it has been done in the past. On the other hand, according to John Milbank, Christian apologetics should not be anything other than full-blown Christian theology. As far as “Catholic tradition” goes, then, the best apologetics would perhaps be the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994). For at least four decades until it was abandoned in about 1962, Michael Sheehan’s Apologetics was the standard text in Catholic schools. While never appealing to the imagination, let alone literature and culture, it would be instructive to explore how far Sheehan’s use of reason deviates from the ideals set out in this very readable book. Fergus Kerr
Noli me Tangere, attributed to Jacopo di Cione, c.1368-70, illustrated in the National Gallery’s new catalogue, The Italian Paintings before 1400by Dillian Gordon (National Gallery Publications, 540pp, £75)
account of reason supposedly shared by atheists and believers alike. On the contrary, as the essays in the next
These essays are
mostly about method: none actually does any Christian apologetics
section explain, atheists and Christians have radically different views of the world. Their accounts of reality differ in their sensitivity to the “strangeness” of the world, which, Alison Milbank contends, Christians display, so inviting apologists to discover “an almost liturgical potency in literature and the visual arts”. Donna J. Lazenby explores the nihilistic world views that she finds implicit in some recent novels (Ian McEwan, Martin Amis, Stephenie Meyer). For Michael Ward, the work of C.S. Lewis remains the classic exemplar of how to do Christian apologetics. Reason cannot be isolated from imagination. Beginning from Gaudium et Spes on atheism, Stephen Bullivant suggests that the “New Atheism” (Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins) should motivate Christians to deepen their faith and be
even more active in works of mercy. Uncovering a surprising lacuna, Craig Hovey argues that ethics should be a major component in any viable apologetics. For Graham Ward, Christian apologists need to be able to do “cultural hermeneutics”. Richard Conrad highlights instances of apologetics from New Testament times up until John Paul II. Finally, Alister E. McGrath contends that the “science and religion” debate need not be as “confrontational” as commonly supposed. These essays are mostly about method:
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