Catholic philosophers of the mid-20th century (the Personalists) improved upon an older top-down notion of truth. Yes, truth comes from God. However, revelation does not come entirely from above. God’s truth (the Incarnation) is for all time embedded in human experience. The newer approach appreciates that God’s truth arises from and corresponds to real, important questions within our daily lives.
For many
years Catholicism assumed that God’s truth came down from on high. Then, under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it was interpreted and proclaimed by way of
the Church, through our bishops. This approach rightly meant that standards
were fixed. However, the certitude of its interpretation presumed that a few
people could know the full, static will of God. The interpretation sometimes
delved into quite arcane matters, using technical terms and distinctions
foreign to common people.
Our
society currently adheres to an opposite view of truth. It is called
utilitarian relativism or cost-benefit analysis. Truth in our society depends
on the perception of an individual or on a circle of executives or a team of
news editors or a vocal group of students or some trend among celebrities. Standards
depend on the situation and the estimated outcome. For all its popularity, relativism
is unsustainable. It favors opportunists who play the short-term game. It
leaves too much to individual interpretation. It can easily define deviancy
down.
The
mid-20th century philosophers who improved our understanding of
God’s revelation did not endorse relativism in any way. The new bottom-up
approach does not mean that truth is derived from feelings or even from a thoroughly
audited vote or any other type of soft relativism. Faithful to Scripture, the bottom-up approach
compliments the responsibility of bishops to teach the truth.
In summary, Christianity’s former bias toward
abstractions, prototypes, blueprints, static policies, previous absolute
formulae, cookie-cutter solutions, standard procedures, preset rules, protocol,
agency policy and old-time programs now must consider real life experience. The
new approach warns church leaders to abandon their older, tiresome habit of
answering questions that no one asks. The new approach celebrates creativity,
research, expansion, complexity, dynamism and, what Pope Francis calls “a
culture of encounter,” one-to-one and group-to-group dialogue across
neighborhoods, cities, ethnicities, ages and genders. An accumulation of
experience combined with sustained reflection improves our understanding of
God’s truth, says the newer approach.
A
substantial number of baptized Catholics now reject the church. Among other
reasons, many do so because the church’s presentation of God’s truth does not
resonate with them. To repeat: This is not to say that the content of the older
presentation is wrong. The disconnection is because church leaders often insist
on a method and terminology that is foreign to young adults. For their part,
young adults don’t bother to construct an alternative spiritual method and language
for our time.
A
starting place, in my opinion, is the discovery of God’s truth as contained in
music, drama, science, engineering, sex, commerce and other so-called worldly
activities. Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471) is the author of the still popular The Imitation of Christ. Though parts of
this book might be helpful, its bias (and that of several contemporary
Christian teachers) must be rejected. God “instructs [us] to despise earthly
things, to loath present things,” Imitation
of Christ advises. No. God from all eternity has been at ease with human
joy and striving. God’s church cannot therefore be aloof from or opposed to the
world. The secular is sacred in a real sense.
A church
that relates to the deep concerns of young adults cannot be equated only with clergy
and other church employees. The church is all of us who go about doing our best
on the job, in the community and for our family. The church is those of us who
want to have a meaningful life; to put our questions into a context. The church
is two friends who meet at the diner and share their sorrow, frustration, joy
and insight. Our own experience contains some of God’s truth. How do we process
that experience? Where do we find regular forums in which faith in daily life
is explored? What language is there for us to take our isolated incidents and
frame them into meaningful experience? Where are the storytellers to help us?
To be
continued…
Droel edits INITIATIVES (PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629), a newsletter about faith and work.
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