"Christians “pursued the arts and sciences because they were believers. They had confidence they could know human things because they had seen divine things".(Kauffman, 2013)
"“Christianity cannot send down deep roots, be handed on from one generation to the next, or flourish without language. Reason is unthinkable without language.… In an individual believer, faith can exist without reason. ... Yet, as a community, the Church needs reason to give faith cultural heft... Reason, for its part, needs faith because the natural powers of the human intellect easily lose sight of their goal, which is the fullness of truth, and can become susceptible to various forms of authoritarianism and intolerance… Athens and Jerusalem belong together,” says Wilken. “Christian culture is never solely religious; it embraces what is best in thought, literature, art, and the sciences—a truth St. Paul saw at the very beginning of the Church’s history.”" (Kauffman quoting Wilken)
I love this thought: "Christian culture is never solely religious; it embraces what is best in thought, literature, art and the sciences..."
Recalling this about our Christian, and Western, heritage, must be done in this day, but we are the people to do it. The world has nearly lost the vocabulary of these, because it has lost the ‘why.‘ The good news is, "There lives the dearest freshness deep down things." (Hopkins, “The Grandeur of God”). We have the “why” of things.
"“Christianity cannot send down deep roots, be handed on from one generation to the next, or flourish without language. Reason is unthinkable without language.… In an individual believer, faith can exist without reason. ... Yet, as a community, the Church needs reason to give faith cultural heft... Reason, for its part, needs faith because the natural powers of the human intellect easily lose sight of their goal, which is the fullness of truth, and can become susceptible to various forms of authoritarianism and intolerance… Athens and Jerusalem belong together,” says Wilken. “Christian culture is never solely religious; it embraces what is best in thought, literature, art, and the sciences—a truth St. Paul saw at the very beginning of the Church’s history.”" (Kauffman quoting Wilken)
I love this thought: "Christian culture is never solely religious; it embraces what is best in thought, literature, art and the sciences..."
Recalling this about our Christian, and Western, heritage, must be done in this day, but we are the people to do it. The world has nearly lost the vocabulary of these, because it has lost the ‘why.‘ The good news is, "There lives the dearest freshness deep down things." (Hopkins, “The Grandeur of God”). We have the “why” of things.
Recalling this about our Christian, and Western, heritage, must be done in this day, but we are the people to do it. The world has nearly lost the vocabulary of these, because it has lost the ‘why.‘ The good news is, "There lives the dearest freshness deep down things." (Hopkins, “The Grandeur of God”). We have the “why” of things. As Wilken says, Christians “pursued the arts and sciences because they were believers. They had confidence they could know human things because they had seen divine things.” We have the beauty of 2500 years of the exceptional inherited culture that we call Western.
We should by no means adopt a siege mentality if we meet hostility. Instead we can take on the attitude of Mary (the sister of Martha and Lazarus) who sits at the feet of Jesus to feed on his words, and to embrace the hostile world with love and with a boldness that comes from the Gospel.
Father Kauffman's Reflection (accessed on Sept. 19,2013) can be found at http://www.saintbenedictparish.org/church/from_fathers_study.php
Wilken's article can be found at (http://www.firstthings.com/article/2011/01/culture-and-the-light-of-faith)
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