“Exactly! Aquinas wanted to prove that there is only one truth. So when
Aristotle shows us something our reason tells us is true, it is not in conflict with
Christian teaching. We can arrive successfully at one aspect of the truth with the aid
of reason and the evidence of our senses. For example, the kind of truths Aristotle
refers to when he describes the plant and the animal kingdom. Another aspect of the
truth is revealed to us by God through the Bible. But the two aspects of the truth over-
lap at significant points. There are many questions about which the Bible and reason
tell us exactly the same thing.”
“Like there being a God?”
“Exactly. Aristotle’s philosophy also presumed the existence of a God—or a
formal cause—which sets all natural processes going. But he gives no further descrip-
tion of God. For this we must rely solely on the Bible and the teachings of Jesus.”
“Is it so absolutely certain that there is a God?”
“It can be disputed, obviously. But even in our day most people will agree that
human reason is certainly not capable of disproving the existence of God. Aquinas
went further. He believed that he could prove God’s existence on the basis of
Aristotle’s philosophy.”
“Not bad!”
“With our reason we can recognize that everything around us must have a
‘formal cause,’ he believed. God has revealed himself to mankind both through the
Bible and through reason. There is thus both a ‘theology of faith’ and a ‘natural
theology.’ The same is true of the moral aspect. The Bible teaches us how God wants
us to live. But God has also given us a conscience which enables us to distinguish
between right and wrong on a ‘natural’ basis. There are thus also ‘two paths’ to a
moral life. We know that it is wrong to harm people even if we haven’t read in the
Bible that we must ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ Here, too,
the surest guide is to follow the Bible’s commandment.”
“I think I understand,” said Sophie now. “It’s almost like how we know there’s
a thunderstorm, by seeing the lightning and by hearing the thunder.”
“That’s right! We can hear the thunder even if we are blind, and we can see the
lightning even if we are deaf. It’s best if we can both see and hear, of course. But
there is no contradiction between what we see and what we hear. On the contrary—
the two impressions reinforce each other.”
“I see.”
“Let me add another picture. If you read a novel— John Steinbeck’s Of Mice
and Men, for example ...”
“I’ve read that, actually.”
“Don’t you feel you know something about the author just by reading his
book?”
“I realize there is a person who wrote it.”
“Is that all you know about him?”
“He seems to care about outsiders.”
“When you read this book—which is Steinbeck’s creation—you get to know
something about Steinbeck’s nature as well. But you cannot expect to get any
personal information about the author. Could you tell from reading Of Mice and Men
how old the author was when he wrote it, where he lived, or how many children he
had?”
“Of course not.”
“But you can find this information in a biography of John Steinbeck. Only in a
biography—or an autobiography—can you get better acquainted with Steinbeck, the