fides quaerens intellectum
I care very little about understanding the Bible.
I care very little about understanding the Bible because the Holy Scriptures are first and foremost an entryway into God’s presence.
Understanding will come with time - but first we must be in God’s presence.
This is what the Fathers from Augustine and Anselm stressed in their theological formula of fides quaerens intellectum. Faith seeking understanding.
Drawing from Hebrews 11:1, Thomas writes, “faith is a disposition of the mind, by which eternal life is begun in us, making the intellect assent to what is not apparent” (Summa theologiae IIa–IIae, q.4 a.1). While Thomas also coupled this definition with a belief that human reason, unaided by revelation, can provide an austere account of the existence of God, what I take away from his definition of faith is that central to understanding is a trinitarian intimacy with the person of Jesus Christ and presence of the Holy Spirit. Proximity to God is indispensable to the pursuit of understanding because faith, not understanding, is where “eternal life is begun in us.”1
This movement towards God is not one doctrine among others, but rather an orientation towards reality—our life is ordered by a faith in God that strives towards understanding of God’s mysterious action in the world.
Pick up your Bible and read, saints. But do so not only to understand but to break free from that which holds us hostage so that we may run to the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Reading:
Helen Jin Kim, Race for Revival: How Cold War South Korea Shaped the American Evangelical Empire (OUP, 2022)
Daniel R. Bare, Black Fundamentalists: Conservative Christianity and Racial Identity in the Segregation Era (NYU Press, 2021)
Watching:
Dil Dhadakne Do (Netflix)
Malignant (HBO Max)
Listening:
Live Archive (Album) — Kings Kaleidoscope
Take Some Time - Wilderado
Dawn to 9pm - Brian Bulger
As my friend John Walker pointed out to me this week, faith for Thomas is more intellectual than affective. The affective aspects come with love and hope, and Thomas’ view of hope is where one receives the stronger sense of trust in God (as a person) not merely belief about God. Thomas’ account of faith is closer to bare assent. For a more affective understanding of faith, one might look to Reformation thought. See O’Donovan, Oliver. “Faith before Hope and Love.” New Blackfriars95, no. 1056 (2014): 177–89. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43251808.