Letter From The Rector - St. Peter's Episcopal Church

Jim's Corner

April first is commonly, and fondly, known as April Fool’s Day, a day to play innocent practical jokes on family and friends. Although its true origins are not known, one interesting theory is that it began in France in 1564 when King Charles IX decreed that the new year would no longer begin on Easter, as had been common through Christendom, but rather on January 1. Because Easter was a lunar and therefore moveable date, those who clung to the old ways were the “April Fools.” There are numerous other explanations of the origin of this tradition.

Those who do not believe, either atheists or agnostics, often accuse believers in the resurrected Jesus as the Christ to be fools. Not possessing faith themselves, they cannot understand how anyone could give of their time, talent, or treasure to an idea that cannot be proved or touched, in effect cannot be real. Of course, from a Christian perspective, this is a misunderstanding of faith. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith tells us that God does exist. Living into faith proves to us, in many intangible ways, that this is true. Further, two great theologians, Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1109, and Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Friar, 1274, provide convincing arguments that appeal to faith.

“Anselm remains the great exponent of the so-called “ontological argument” for the existence of God: God is ‘that than which nothing greater can be thought.’ Even the fool, who (in Psalm 14) says in his heart ‘There is no God,’ must have an idea of God in his mind, the concept of an unconditional being (ontos) than which nothing greater can be conceived; otherwise he would not be able to speak of ‘God’ at all. And so this something, ‘God,’ must exist outside the mind as well; because, if he did not, he would not in fact be that than which nothing greater can be thought. Since the greatest thing that can be thought must have existence as one of its properties, Anselm asserts, ‘God’ can be said to exist in reality as well as in the intellect, but is not dependent upon the material world for verification. To some, this ‘ontological argument’ has seemed mere deductive rationalism [to those who have no faith]; to others it has the merit of showing that faith in God need not be contrary to human reason. As for which comes first, faith or understanding, Anselm said this, ‘I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order that I may understand. For this, too, I believe, that unless I first believe, I shall not understand.’” ¹

Over a century later, c 1270, Thomas Aquinas came at the subject from a different angle. “Perceiving the challenges that the recent rediscovery of Aristotle’s (an ancient Greek philosopher) works might entail for traditional catholic doctrine, especially in its emphasis upon empirical knowledge derived from reason and sense perception, independent of faith and revelation, Thomas asserted that reason and revelation are in basic harmony. ‘Grace’ (revelation), he said, ‘is not the denial of nature’ (reason), ‘but the perfection of it.” This synthesis Thomas accomplished in his greatest works, the Summa Theologica and the Summa Contra Gentiles, which even today continue to exercise profound influence on Christian thought and philosophy.…”

“Thomas understood God’s disclosure of his Name, in Exodus 3:14, “I AM WHO I AM,” to mean that God is Being [“to be” is a form of “I am”], the Ultimate Reality from which everything else derives its being. The difference between God and the world is that God’s essence is to exist, whereas all other beings derive their being from him by the act of creation. Although, for Thomas, God and the world are distinct, there is, nevertheless, an analogy of being between God and the world, since the Creator is reflected in his creation. It is possible, therefore, to have a limited knowledge of God, by analogy from the created world. On this basis, human reason can demonstrate that God exists; that he created the world; and that he contains in himself, as their cause, all the perfections which exist in his creation. The distinctive truths of Christian faith, however, such as the Trinity and the Incarnation, are known only by revelation [something a person who has no Christian faith would recognize].” ²

Whether or not an individual accepts the Christian worldview is a matter of faith. The apostle, Paul, tells us, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ Crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness oof God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:20-25, RSV) He goes on to say in 3:18-20, “Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’ and again, ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.’” In essence, let’s be fools for Christ’s sake. That’s being no April Fool.

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¹	Charles M. Guilbert, ed., Lesser Feasts and Fasts, Fourth Edition (New York, NY: Church Pension Fund, 1988), 212.
²	Guilbert, Lesser Feasts and Fasts, Fourth Edition, 138.