Comments on: Discussion with an atheist and an agnostic http://scobp.org/2010/02/19/discussion-with-an-atheist-and-an-agnostic/ "A Family of Families" Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:06:43 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 hourly 1 By: Jerry Reiner http://scobp.org/2010/02/19/discussion-with-an-atheist-and-an-agnostic/comment-page-1/#comment-459 Jerry Reiner Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:56:10 +0000 http://scobp.org/?p=381#comment-459 In Pope Benedict's controversial 2006 lecture, he referred to the encounter of faith and reason found in the Old and New Testaments. John summed it up brilliantly in his Gospel...in the beginning was the Word (Logos).... the very mind of God. Benedict challenged his audience to encounter the One in the unfolding encounter between faith and reason. On its own, reasoning about the origin of the universe has produced some profound theories in the past 100 years. Using Einstein's relativity theory, mathematicians and cosmologists have pushed science to the edge of philosophy. I find it interesting that one of the intellectual fathers of the "Big Bang" theory was Fr. George Lemaitre. He did see the poetic implication of an understanding of creation but preferred to stand in the "reason" camp when it came to the mathematics and scientific method supporting his theory. It took about 60 years of reasoning to "see" the afterglow of creation in a mircowave receiver in New Jersey. I must admit that trying to comprehend how something could be created out of nothing is a wonder. But, our universe apparently began from a singularity in which the laws of space/time and matter didn't exist. It's so elegant and yet so mysterious. Left alone, faith without reason can take us down some pretty bizarre roads that can lead to persecutions and holy wars. But, going back to Pope Benedict, what do we do with the reasoning? Do we accept that fact that the universe is simply a product of a singularity? Are human beings left as bit players in a Albert Camus universe? I think that "faith" tempers "reason". I accept that modern reason can challenge traditional notions found in Scripture about creation, cosmology, human behavior etc. but with "faith" we can see the mystery, beauty and value of all creation as a gift from the Father. In Pope Benedict’s controversial 2006 lecture, he referred to the encounter of faith and reason found in the Old and New Testaments. John summed it up brilliantly in his Gospel…in the beginning was the Word (Logos)…. the very mind of God. Benedict challenged his audience to encounter the One in the unfolding encounter between faith and reason.

On its own, reasoning about the origin of the universe has produced some profound theories in the past 100 years. Using Einstein’s relativity theory, mathematicians and cosmologists have pushed science to the edge of philosophy. I find it interesting that one of the intellectual fathers of the “Big Bang” theory was Fr. George Lemaitre. He did see the poetic implication of an understanding of creation but preferred to stand in the “reason” camp when it came to the mathematics and scientific method supporting his theory. It took about 60 years of reasoning to “see” the afterglow of creation in a mircowave receiver in New Jersey.

I must admit that trying to comprehend how something could be created out of nothing is a wonder. But, our universe apparently began from a singularity in which the laws of space/time and matter didn’t exist. It’s so elegant and yet so mysterious.

Left alone, faith without reason can take us down some pretty bizarre roads that can lead to persecutions and holy wars.

But, going back to Pope Benedict, what do we do with the reasoning? Do we accept that fact that the universe is simply a product of a singularity? Are human beings left as bit players in a Albert Camus universe?

I think that “faith” tempers “reason”. I accept that modern reason can challenge traditional notions found in Scripture about creation, cosmology, human behavior etc. but with “faith” we can see the mystery, beauty and value of all creation as a gift from the Father.

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