It has been rightly argued that ideas have consequences. Even flawed but often repeated ideas are known to leave an indelible mark on the pages of history, often with far reaching implications. Perhaps no one understood this dynamic more than Hitler’s minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebels, who once said, "If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth". It is with this in mind that I thought it necessary to distinguish between rationalism and rationality.
Rationalism is the belief that (human) reason alone is the foundation of certainty in knowledge. It necessarily elevates the human intellect as the pre-eminent arbiter of truth, knowledge and reality. In other words what is true can only be so to the extent that it accords with what man considers reasonable. The apertures are immediately apparent in this logic, precisely because standards of reasonability are subject to continual change from era to era, thus rendering human intellection, though useful, an instable and therefore undependable measure of true knowledge.
The rise of rationalism in Europe is often traced to an unlikely source, a Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas. In his magnum opus, Summa Theologica, Aquinas expressed a high view of the human intellect, which he considered the “highest human function”. He believed the fall of man excluded the mind and was thus a viable instrument for redemption. As one who lived in the 1200s, he is considered among the forerunners of the Renaissance, which famously displaced spirituality, replacing it with man and his intellect, at the apex of the perennial human quest for knowledge, truth and redemption. Aquinas came to be succeeded by such eminent humanist philosophers as Rene Descartes, Immanuel Kant, John Locke and Voltaire among many others who became champions of the wave of rationalism that swept through Europe.
The biblical Christian worldview places God, rather than man, at the centre of epistemology. According to this narrative, to which I’m am fully subscribed, truth is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, who alone is the “way, the truth and the life”. Man, as a spiritually incapacitated being, is unable to arrive unaided at Truth as incarnated in Christ and His revealed word. Indeed, scripture asserts neither is he inclined to, for “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor 2:14). It is clear therefore that rationalism is hopelessly misguided, not only because it is idolatrous but also because it is unable to deliver on its promise of leading mankind to the Truth he so longs for.
Accordingly, it is understandable why human intellection has had and continues to have an acrimonious relationship with many Christians. This acrimony can only be underpinned by a false dichotomy, at the centre of which is confusion between rationalism and rationality. Whereas rationalism absolutizes the human intellect, rationality makes no such pretensions. It merely upholds the virtue of logic and consistency, as universal principles that are implicit in all of scripture and the cosmos.
While God cannot subscribe to rationalism, He is perfectly rational. His actions and views are underpinned by perfect consistency and logic. That is why He is perfectly trustworthy. His plea to a wayward Israel is instructive, “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18). Now, we must accept that this logic may not be immediately apparent to mankind at a given point in time, indeed some of it may never be (Deut 29:29). Nevertheless, God invites us to an intriguing odyssey in the pursuit of knowledge and discovery (Proverbs 25:2).
For similar reasons as earlier explained, it is not unusual for the mind and the Spirit to be seen as incompatible. The view being that one can either spiritual or intellectual but never both. Once again the dichotomy is a false one precisely because the human capacity to reason, contemplate and understand originates with God Himself in whose image we are made. While the unregenerate mind can neither accept nor process spiritual material, which can only be spiritually discerned, for those born of the Spirit no such problem exists. For we have the mind of Christ.
Rather than a foe, the Spirit thus becomes a great aide, whose manifestations scripture often describes, on many occasions, with words normally associated with the intellect. We refer here to “the spirit of wisdom and understanding” spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah in describing the Spirit that was on Christ (Isaiah 11:2). Again, the Apostle Paul refers to “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” (Eph 1:17). We know also of the “gifts” of the Holy Spirit, among which is the “word of wisdom” and the “word of knowledge” (1 Cor 12:8). Indeed, we learn from the book of Job that “there is a spirit in man, and the breadth of the Almighty gives him understanding” (Job 32:8). We see this operation of the Holy Spirit at work in the life of Daniel, in whom was “light and understanding and excellent wisdom” (Daniel 5:14). We conclude thus, that for the believer, the dichotomy between the Spirit and the mind is a false one.
We are well advised to eschew rationalism for both moral and practical reasons, which is not unlike a mirage which promises much while always failing to deliver. As we rightly do so, we do well not erring by rejecting rationality. The chasm between the two is vast. To fully engage our faculty of reason, contemplation and understanding is not only not a sin, it is crucial if we are to fulfil the biblical mandate to be the salt and light of the world, which includes every area of human endeavour. Following Him who guides us into all truth, even as we have learnt to love the Lord our God with all our soul, strength and heart, let us learn now to unashamedly love Him also, with all our minds. The cry of our generation demands nothing less of us.
