A religious epistemic hierarchy: What I believe in 18 theses, ranked
An attempt to outline my beliefs as a Catholic Christian about God, Jesus, and faith
This is a follow-up of sorts to last week’s reflections on reason and faith. For some time I’ve been mulling over the notion of trying to organize my religious beliefs in a some kind of epistemic hierarchy or ranking. That is, as a Catholic Christian, what is most foundational to me in terms of how I think and see the world, and what depends upon or follows from that foundation? What am I most centrally sure of or committed to, and what is built upon that?
What prompted me to finally take a stab at trying to produce such an epistemic ranking was a challenge a couple of months ago from a Protestant family member. “Are you convinced that Mary hears your prayers?” he asked. “Or do you do it because that’s where you are and why not?”
In response, I dashed off a list of 17 theses, arranging them in what seemed to me a sensible order, starting with “Goodness exists” and ending with “The Virgin Mary was immaculately conceived, and at the end of her earthly life was assumed into heaven.” In between were theses of various weights, from “I love and trust Jesus” to “One becomes a part of what God is doing in the world through Jesus through Baptism, and one participates most fully in the life of Jesus in the world through the Eucharist.” (As evidence of the incompleteness of the list, I never actually specified where in the list I would put propositions like “Mary hears our prayers”!)
Then I noticed that the propositions were grouped around key themes:
God;
Jesus;
Christian faith;
Christian orthodoxy;
Catholic faith.
So I divided the list into levels or groups around those five themes—a move I think adds significant clarity. I’ve made a few other tweaks as well.
Notes and caveats:
This is a work in progress! I’ve gotten some feedback and made some edits, but I’m very open to additional input and revision.
The ordering is not meant to be mathematically exact! The reality is more complex and interrelated. But I think this arrangement, particularly the division of individual theses into levels, conveys a significant amount of truth.
This arrangement partially mirrors the Catholic idea of the “hierarchy of truths,” but it also partly departs from it. For example, the Holy Trinity and the dual natures of Christ are the most foundational of dogmas in the hierarchy of truths, yet they are listed here all the way down in level 4. (Trinitarian theology seems to me the most sublime and morally significant idea in the history of human thought, followed by the Incarnation—but epistemically I can’t begin with the Trinity or the Incarnation; I have to get there.)
By the same token, there are apologetical angles and potentials here, but I have not constructed this list as an apologia. Within each tier there is a certain logic moving, for example, from points 1 and 2 to point 3, and from points 6, 7, and 8 to points 9 and 10—but my goal is not to argue for the move from level 1 to level 2 or level 3 to level 4. I’m simply trying to think clearly about how I think and what is most foundational to my own thought.
Careful readers will notice that the words “I trust” appear at every level. For more on the relationship of trust and knowledge of reality, see that previous piece on faith and reason.
Level 1: God
The biggest question of all, as I see it, is “God, or nothing?” Another way to put it is “Meaning and moral truth, or moral nihilism?” I’m aware of various approaches to moral thinking by atheists, like Sam Harris’s The Moral Landscape. I’m unconvinced. My answer to this question—God, not nothing—is my fundamental starting point in thinking about questions of religion and truth.
Goodness exists. It is real. Judgments of good and evil are statements about reality. Truth and beauty exist. Life is meaningful. Every person matters. Our existence, our actions, how we treat each other—these things really and truly matter.
God exists. The good, the true, and the beautiful are rays of God, of ultimate reality or absolute being. It is because God exists that our existence and our actions matter.
I love and trust God. Only love and trust will do for God; not to love and trust God is like, or actually is, preferring evil to good, lies to truth, and ugliness to beauty.
Level 2: Jesus
It would be a mistake, I think, to draw too hard and fast a line between level 2 and level 1, or for that matter between level 2 and level 3. The teaching and example of Jesus is among the more resounding witnesses to the reality of goodness and truth and beauty in the world; his life is a singular thunderbolt in the history of human thought pointing both to God and to Christian faith. Still, the appeal and persuasiveness of Jesus occupies an important middle ground between “I trust God” and “I want to be a Christian.”
God is strikingly attested or revealed in the extraordinary life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, both as they are presented in the New Testament and as they can be known from a reasonable historical construction of the New Testament and other historical data. In short, Jesus is singularly credible as an interpreter of or spokesperson for God.
I love and trust Jesus.
Level 3: Christian faith
Pope Benedict XVI wrote that Christianity is “the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” The person, of course, is Jesus; insofar as it is an encounter with an “event,” Christianity can be understood as an interpretation of history. That is, to be a Christian is to see the Creator of the universe at work communicating with humanity in a unique and definitive way through the life of Jesus, along with the history leading to and following from his life and teaching in the national life of Israel and in the life of the early Christian community.
Jesus plays a pivotal role in an extraordinary historical nexus of events in the history and religious experience of ancient Israel and the early church, in which one may reasonably posit the hand of God at work revealing himself to the world.
Supporting this interpretation of history, and intersecting with it, are significant reasons for accepting the claim of the early Christians that after his crucifixion Jesus was raised from the dead.
A third strand of support comes from key ideas and insights in the Old and New Testament scriptures in which I believe we may credibly hear the voice of God.
I trust the religious tradition founded by Jesus and brought to the world by the apostles chosen by him for this work. I accept that God speaks to the world through this tradition.
Jesus is the Son of God. He was crucified and raised from the dead as part of a divine plan to overcome evil. The scriptures are the word of God. God is love. Love of God and love of neighbor are the heart of the moral law. One becomes a part of what God is doing in the world through Jesus through Baptism, and one participates most fully in the life of Jesus in the world through the Eucharist.
Level 4: Christian orthodoxy
The religious tradition founded by Jesus has been subject from the outset to countless varying interpretations and important theological disputes. E.g., in what sense is Jesus the Son of God? In what sense is the Father greater than the Son, and in what sense are they one? Is the one God of Israel who is revealed in a new way through Jesus properly understood as triune, or is that a distortion? If a distortion, what does it mean to say that God is love?
In short, did God definitively reveal himself to the world through Jesus, only to allow fallible human beings to bury his self-revelation under fundamentally fictitious theological constructs? This is essentially the claim of restorationist sects like the Mormons and some radical Protestants, and to a lesser extent of many Protestants. I can’t accept this for many reasons, from the epistemic chaos that follows to the beauty and the transformative moral implications of the idea of the Trinity and of God emptying himself by becoming human.
That form of Christian faith seems to me both credible and necessary that sees God at work in the early church guiding Christians individually and collectively toward truth—particularly through the leadership of the bishops as successors to the apostles, and above all through the teachings of the ecumenical councils.
I trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the consensus of the early Fathers (when and where it can be discerned) and in the ecumenical councils.
God is triune, and Jesus is fully divine and fully human. The waters of Baptism really transform our souls and unite us spiritually to Christ. The bread and wine in Communion become the true Body and Blood of Christ, and are a true sacrifice.
Level 5: Catholic faith
Christian orthodoxy as defined above has been subject from the outset to schism and theological dissent, both between and within the Christian East and the West. There are many axes to these divergent points of view, but for me the last big religious question boils down to “Pope or no pope?”
Among the apostles chosen by Jesus, he gave a special role to Simon Peter. This special role was very early associated with the bishop of Rome, an office with a unique role in early Christian history.
That form of Christian orthodoxy seems to me both credible and necessary that proposes that Jesus instituted a special Petrine ministry that is carried on today by the bishop of Rome.
I trust the Holy Spirit at work in the office of the pope and in the communion that he governs.
The pope is the shepherd of the whole Church and the perpetual and visible principle of unity of faith and communion in the Church. The pope has the power to exercise the Church’s charism of truth, speaking infallibly when he speaks ex cathedra.
The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Souls redeemed by Christ may have to undergo a process of purgation before fully entering heaven. The Virgin Mary was immaculately conceived, and at the end of her earthly life was assumed into heaven.
This is not the end of big or important questions! Even within the world of Catholic faith, there are open questions and pressing disputes. And of course being Catholic doesn’t mean an end to challenges and cross-examination from outside the Christian faith. Many of the theses above are subject to asterisks and caveats of various kinds. Nevertheless, this list seems to me a fairly accurate account of what I believe as a Catholic Christian and of the epistemic priority of those beliefs in my mind.
Again, comments, feedback, and criticism welcome!
Read more: Reason and faith: Thoughts about trust and knowledge of reality
Wow! I guess since you’re teaching theology everyday, and have spent so much time reading and digesting Benedict XVI and so many others, this probably didn’t take you many weeks to write. But it certainly is impressive!