Religion and Philosophy: The Tension

November 2, 2011
I will begin with a couple of quotations from William Temples 1932-33 Giord Lectures, Nature, Man and God. The rst I provide mainly for context. The second is my focus. Here is the rst. There are two main factors in the tension between Philosophy and Religion: the rst is the identity of the province in which each claims supremacy; the second is the complete opposition of their method of dealing with it resulting from a dierence in aim. For Philosophy seeks knowledge for the sake of understanding, while Religion seeks knowledge for the sake of worship. The province claimed by both is the entire eld of human experience. Here is the second. The main tension...is not caused by particular doctrines either of Religion or of Philosophy, but consists in a sharp dierence in mental habit and outlook with reference to the same objects of attention. This may be briey expressed by saying that the primary assurances of Religion are the ultimate questions of Philosophy. Religion nds its fullest expression in absolute surrender to the Object of its worship. But the very existence of that Object is a main theme of philosophical disputation. It is not possible to surrender ones self to what is felt to be an unveried hypothesis; it is not possible to discuss impartially the existence of a Being to whom one is utterly self-surrendered. How then can a religious person be a true philosopher? Or how can a philosopher who has not yet solved the problems of existence permit himself the exercise of religion? And if he do not permit himself this exercise, how can he know Religion from within in such a fashion as to qualify himself to pronounce upon its validity and to place it rightly within, or to exclude it justly from, his ultimate construction? That these are grave questions no one who has seriously attempted to combine the two activities is likely to deny. Yet the diculties are not insuperable in principle, and it seems to be the special duty of some persons at least to engage in the hazardous enterprise of overcoming them.

Let me now say a bit about some of what Temple says in the second quotation. I will say it indirectly, in the form of a brief dialogue. The setting for the dialogue is Cappadocia. A stylite, Sorehead Churchyard, kneels lowly and painfully atop his fairy chimney, lost in prayer. Below him stands a philosopher, Bustle Retread, shading his eyes and looking skeptically up at Churchyard. No one else is present. The desert around them is hot and still. Bustle: Hello! No answer. Bustle: Hello! Churchyard looks up and around. Puzzled, he shakes his head and begins again to pray. Bustle: Hello! Churchyard looks up again and then spots Bustle beneath him. Sorehead: Hello. Bustle: What are you doing? Isnt it hot up there? Dont your knees hurt? How do you get down? Sorehead: One question at a time, please. I am praying. Bustle: Praying? Who to? Sorehead: To God. Bustle: But if you are praying to God, you must believe God exists. But does God exist? What can be said for your belief? Sorehead: Belief? What do I believe? I am praying. Bustle: Yes, and to a God you believe exists. But I do not praybecause, you see, I do not believe God exists. At least I see no good argument in favor of such a belief. Sorehead: Each to his own depth. Please leave me to my prayers. There is much to repent for and life is short. Bustle: But look at you. Kneeling in pain, sunburned, starving, andif I may say solooking like a madman: up there, praying. Surely you must see that the question of Gods existence has to be settled before anyone can pray in good conscience. Sorehead shifts his weight and sighs. Sorehead: Seek and ye shall nd. Bustle: Exactly. I agree. We have to engage in enquiry into the existence of God and then, if we nd that we are compelled to belief in God by argument, then we can kneel and pray. Sorehead: We do not agree. What you nd is determined by how you seek. There are more ways of seeking than argumentative inquiry. I am not trying to solve a puzzle or answer a question. I am wrestling with my God. Bustle: But you cannot have your assurances so cheaply. You have simply pronounced upon an ultimate question of philosophy. Sorehead: Pronounced? I have not pronounced. Do you know what it has cost me to climb up here? Do you know what it costs me to kneel? Do you know what it is live alone before the living God? Bustle: Huh? So you mean you have engaged in enquiry? 2

Sorehead: No. Bustle: I dont get it. I think you should just stand up and join me down here. We could go and nd some shade, somewhere away from the consuming re of this desert sun. Sorehead: I cannot stand. If I were to stand, I fear I would never be able to kneel again. Bustle: I will grant you this: there is something impressive in what you are doing. I admit that although you look like a madman, you do not strike me as mad. Still, come down from there; lets nd some shade and discuss the existence of God. Sorehead: There is no shade in which to have that discussion. And I do not discuss God; I worship God. He is the father of lights, and with him there is no play of passing shadows. Bustle: Scripture, again? I let the rst pass, but this, well, it is too much. That book is not my book. Sorehead: Leave me alone now, please. I have been too long from my prayers. Bustle: I will leave if you will just tell me a bit more about yourself. How did you end up up there? Sorehead: If I must, for the sake of peace. I was once a philosopher. Impartial discussion was my medium. I enjoyed most the discussion of ultimate questions, like the question of Gods existence. Then, one day, I mistreated a friend of mine. What I did was not, by most standards, something horrible. But I realized that what I had done was the product of my own ultimate indierence to even my friends, and of my ultimate selshness. And I realized that what I had done was wrong, wrong then and wrong forever afterwards, a spot I could not wash outa spot of damnation, I came eventually to see. My friend forgave me. I was glad of that. But I was not forgiven, full stop. My friend did not hold the spot against me but my friends forgiveness could not remove the spot. One day I nally realized that the spot was a sin. A sin. And I realized too that I was a sinner. That was when I knew I needed God. That was when I began to seek him. Bustle is silent for a few minutes, shuing his feet. Bustle: Maybe you are mad. All that because you mistreated a friend? And sin? That word is not one of my words. And anyway, you simply overreacted (a kind of theme with you, I now see) to the fact that once something has been done it has always been done. But that is as true of the good that you do as the bad, so whats the problem? Sorehead: I am. Bustle: We dont seem to be making any progress, do we? I am beginning to be sunburned, particularly on the top of my head. Silly of me to forget my hat. Let me ask you one more thing. Tell me why you believe in God. Sorehead: No. Sorehead begins again to pray. Bustle: What are you doing? Sorehead: Praying for you. Bustle: You are wasting your time. 3