Every class I have ever taken in my life has begun with an
assumption. Math classes assume certain axioms to be True. Science classes, as
well. My French classes in high school began with the assumption that I would
one day have a reason for knowing French (I’m still waiting for that reason to
present itself). Every teacher that there was begins his or her class with some
sort of an assumption, and if the students want to understand any of the logic
of the class, they should buy into that assumption, at least intellectually or
for the purposes of the class. In my theology classes we always begin with the
assumption that there is such a thing as the Authentic Self. This is relatively
easy for the students to accept, but when I tell them that this Authentic Self
is transcendent and not fully understandable or obtainable by human design,
they pause. I am challenging their own assumptions about the total autonomy of
the human person. As I try to teach them, the True Authentic Self is really only
possible with the assistance of another, more transcendent being.
What can we say about the
Authentic Self? My students have already had this conversation with me. The
Authentic Self “looks like” God, and God “looks like” community and Love. The
Authentic Self cannot be limited to our own, human and material perception of
reality. It is not rooted in or based on anything we necessarily want or
desire. Instead, the Authentic Self is, in effect, what God desires of us. The
nature of the Authentic Self, then, must be transcendent, and the only way we
can know anything outside of time and space is if someone or something outside
of time and space teaches us or gives us that knowledge. A relationship with
God, therefore, is essential to knowing our Authentic Self.
This further helps to explain why we cannot define the Authentic Self on
an individual basis. God is community and if we are made in the
image and likeness of God, anything we claim to be True because “I” claim it to
be so. Truth is, in Christian philosophy, determined by the universal “We” of
God, and we humans need a relationship with Him to know this Truth.
Having reviewed this, I give the
students the first objective of the day:
Students will be able
to define monotheistic, polytheistic, agnostics, and atheists as these terms
relate to God.
In this class we assume that there
is a God, but there are other belief systems that are not exactly like what
Christians believe when it comes to God. Monotheistic refers to “religions that
believe there is only one God.” (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam). Polytheistic
refer to “religions that believe in multiple gods and goddesses.” (Ancient
Romans and Greeks, and Animism) Agnostics are people who believe that God’s
existence cannot be known or proven using normal human intelligence or
experience. An Atheists is a “person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the
existence of God or gods.” (OED)
Christianity, of course, is monotheistic. There is one God. In addition,
Christianity believes that God is one. God is perfectly unified and not
divided. It gets potentially tricky when we say God is Trinity: Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. This seems paradoxical. But theology thinks in terms of “Both/And”
and not “Either/Or”. This cannot be understood using normal human logic or
experience; it suggests the Truth of God is transcendent. However, Christian
theology and philosophy also understands that there are, in fact, ways in which
we can come to know these Transcendent Truths, although those ways require
total acquiescence, humility , or vulnerability, which most people may not be
willing to practice.
My sharper students already are looking at the second objective and
asking how, if God is transcendent, can we “prove” that He exists. This is the
next part of this lesson.
(Anyone who ever knew Father Lopez knows that he is evidence that there is a God and that God Loves us. Thanks for being a sacrament in our lives, Father Lopez!)
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