Avery Dulles has, of course, exerted more than a little influence on my own thinking, since he co-authored the book Introductory Metaphysics that was the textbook for the course I had in the subject many decades ago. Interestingly, I have just been reading Josef Pieper's Living the Truth, which deals with some of the matter touched upon in Cardinal Dulles's article.
In an altogether different connection, though, I particularly liked this:
Justin Barrett, an evolutionary psychologist now at Oxford, is also a practicing Christian. He believes that an all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly good God crafted human beings to be in loving relationship with him and with one another. “Why wouldn’t God,” he asks, “design us in such a way as to find belief in divinity quite natural?” Even if these mental phenomena can be explained scientifically, the psychological explanation does not mean that we should stop believing. “Suppose that science produces a convincing account for why I think my wife loves me,” he writes. “Should I then stop believing that she does?”
In an altogether different connection, though, I particularly liked this:
Justin Barrett, an evolutionary psychologist now at Oxford, is also a practicing Christian. He believes that an all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly good God crafted human beings to be in loving relationship with him and with one another. “Why wouldn’t God,” he asks, “design us in such a way as to find belief in divinity quite natural?” Even if these mental phenomena can be explained scientifically, the psychological explanation does not mean that we should stop believing. “Suppose that science produces a convincing account for why I think my wife loves me,” he writes. “Should I then stop believing that she does?”
Of course, this will surely be dismissed by the likes of Dawkins and Hitchens. You can never accommodate true believers.
Even trickier for the dogmatic materialist is the question: “Suppose that science produces a convincing account for why I think I love my wife. “Should I then stop believing that I do?”
ReplyDeleteWhen debating these folks with their doggedly deterministic, Darwinist explanations for love, you should always ask to see the birthday and anniversary cards they send their wives.
Good point, Peter, though you probably have to be a dogmatic materialist to think that you love your wife.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Boy, am I in trouble if someone sees this.
ReplyDelete