On Faith & Reason

I found this on the blog Mystagogy, one of my favorites.

‘Below are some excerpts from St. John Chrysostom, found throughout his writings, that deal with the relationship between Faith and Reason. For St. John, there is not a contradiction between Faith and Reason when used for their own purpose, since both are gifts of God, but he does demonstrate and drive home strongly that Faith is far superior to Reason. Moreover he continuously warns against misusing Reason to be an enemy of Faith.

Reasoning should not interfere in matters of Faith, because Reason cannot even hope to comprehend the transcendent nature of Faith.

Reason cannot enlighten Faith, but Faith can enlighten Reason. Reason diminishes Faith because it limits it and does not allow it to grow. And Faith that does not increase eventually withers and dies. At the same time Reason unenlightened by Faith is like being born and raised in a dark prison cell, confined and unaware of the world beyond your limited experience. Reason can never move us beyond its own ignorance and it serves its purpose only when it drives a person to deeper Faith.’ – John Sanidopoulos.

“In that God has bestowed upon us benefits that surpass man’s reasoning, suitably enough He has brought in faith. It is not possible to be steadfast when demanding reasons. For behold all of our noble doctrines – how destitute they are of reasoning, and dependent upon faith alone. For example, God is not anywhere, and is everywhere. What has less reason in it than this? Each – by itself – is full of difficulty. … He was not made, He made not Himself, He never began to be. What reasoning will receive this, if there be not faith?” Read more