First Things RSS Feed - Matt Emerson

Pope Francis and the Clash of Revelations

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:02:00 -0400

In his Spirit of Mediaeval Philosophy , Etienne Gilson considers how medieval Catholic philosophers would have regarded “an exercise of reason that would be purely philosophical and systematically withdrawn from the influence of faith.” According to Gilson, they would have said that it was technically possible, but pointless. Why?

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The God of Silver Linings

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:02:00 -0500

The first time Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence), one of the stars in Silver Linings Playbook , appears on screen, she’s wearing a cross. I figured it was a token inclusion, Hollywood’s nod to that part of America for whom traditional religion still means something. But I was wrong. Though the director may not have intended it, the cross was not a ploy; it was the foreshadowing of an allegory steeped in Christian themes, making Silver Linings Playbook an unexpected gift for those seeking faith in film.

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With Me in Paradise

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 00:31:00 -0500

Is this a “Catholic moment”? Six of the nine Supreme Court justices are Catholic, the vice president and former vice presidential candidate are Catholic, and Catholic moral theology, specifically the Church’s opposition to contraception, has hit mainstream. In venues like the New York Times and the Huffington Post , as well as more traditional and conservative web sites, Catholic thinkers have weighed the proper approach to poverty, abortion, and marriage, pushing into matters”Is Paul Ryan a Randian? What is “intrinsic evil”?”normally found in footnotes.

It’s hard to be a Catholic, survey this scene, and not feel proud. It is encouraging to see such a profound body of thought migrate beyond Catholic forums and into the national conversation. And yet, a downside looms. Catholics today, at least those who follow Catholic life at the public level, are lured constantly into conflict. Starting with the University of Notre Dame’s 2009 invitation to President Barack Obama, and continuing with the quarrelling over healthcare, the last few years have felt like a Pentecost without the Spirit, a wedding with no wine.

Given the rivalry, given the caustic disagreement, it might be helpful to return to a few basic and, I hope, unifying thoughts about the faith born from the empty tomb.

Election season discussion has centered on ideas, or interpretations of theological and moral principles. But discipleship does not hinge upon minute points of moral theology or constitutional law. At the core of Christianity is a person, the Word become flesh, God become man. As Pope Benedict XVI has said, Christianity is fundamentally an encounter with Jesus, not an ideology. If scholars and writers disregard this personal dimension, the Christian faith will have all the charm of tax law. It will strike people as simply a scheme of regulation and not a relationship that opens their lives to hope, freedom, and joy.

On this theme, I return frequently to an essay by historian Eamon Duffy from his book Faith of Our Fathers . In a prologue titled, “When Belief Fails,” Duffy writes that at about the time he finished graduate school, he was not only religious but “successfully religious.” Highly educated, Duffy “met and liked and talked through many long days and nights with people who did not believe,” but he “never encountered anything that seemed half so rich or so satisfying as my inherited Catholicism.”

His assurance would not last. His good friend, an old priest, died. The death exiled Duffy into a terrifying loneliness and instilled

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Celebrating St. Ignatius of Loyola

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 00:02:00 -0400

As the Jesuit high school where I work began to wind down for the year, I reached a point where I needed clarity, something to bring calm to the chaos of the closing weeks and to center me in a reality more timeless than the NBA playoffs. So I decided to return, as I do often, to the life and thought of the man whose feast day we celebrate today, and every July 31: St. Ignatius of Loyola.

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The Gift and Grace of Doubt

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:01:00 -0400

It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if we all had so clear a sign, and gazing at our carpet never hurled us into existential grief? Alas, such things don’t seem to happen, and my version of the Swiss bank deposit”the resurrection of Notre Dame football”is probably hoped for in vain.

But though doubt will remain, our attitude toward doubt is another matter. Doubt, one might say, is underappreciated. Allen satirizes doubt as a disease, and believers often treat it similarly. A “threat,” an “abyss of nothingness,” and a “void that seethes”: These are the descriptions used by Pope Benedict XVI in his Introduction to Christianity .

Regardless of position or age, doubt in God’s existence or in a related article of faith usually greets us like a grave diagnosis: something to prevent, resist, or bravely abide. However, without denying that doubt can ravage our interior life, it need not always mortify. Doubt can also be a source of grace, a reflection of God’s love and mercy.

When we doubt, we are reminded that we are the creatures and not the creator . While this sounds like a truism, the consequences are huge.

To have the certainty we crave, to truly know everything about the mysteries that leave us on edge, this would impose a burden and responsibility that would crush our psyche. It’s a fair assumption that doubt often arises because we don’t have answers to certain hard questions, questions like “Does God exist?”; “How did the universe come about?”; “How can a loving God allow evil?”

But once we demand those answers, it becomes arbitrary and selfish to try to limit the responses to only the information that would satisfy our specific, narrow inquiries. We cannot act as if we are students who, when reviewing gaps in our notes, want to know only what will be on the exam. In other words, if we are going to seek peace of mind from answers to really hard questions, we have to be willing, both logically and morally, to accept the implications of those answers and the hard truths they convey.

This means that we can’t desire to know merely the good things, the things that confirm the optimistic narratives about our lives and fortunes that we unthinkingly craft. I can’t seek to reconcile evil with a loving God and expect a response that is communicable on Facebook and Twitter. Instead, I have to be willing to know what evil truly is. I have to be willing not merely to be watched by the abyss, but to awaken it. As allegorized by Dante in The Divine Comedy , I have to be willing to be led into hell.

What this entire experience, this seeing, might look like may be indicated by Pope Benedict in his haunting homily from Holy Thursday of this year. Speaking of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, the pope said that, in Jesus,

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Easter Season and Mysterium Tremendum

Fri, 20 May 2011 00:01:00 -0400

So the tomb is empty, He is risen, and we rejoice. Mimosas and friends, in fact, greeted me after Easter Mass, and my soul felt like the chorus of Handel’s Messiah. My phone buzzed with happy text messages. It was a good day.

I don’t think that reaction is bad (when are mimosas ever bad?), but untroubled elation does not necessarily capture the original Easter mood. As we move forward toward Pentecost, I propose we open ourselves to a different set of emotions, that we allow ourselves to be confused, frustrated, shocked and afraid.

Did I have too many mimosas? By welcoming apprehension, you might ask, are we not mocking the glory of the Resurrection?

I don’t think we are, and to understand what I have proposed, consider the Gospel of Mark. As readers know, Mark’s account contains two endings, the original ending as well as a longer one. I’ve always liked the original, shorter version because the narrative stops abruptly. There is no cheerful, cathartic reunion between Christ and the apostles, and for that reason it seems all the more authentic.

What happens on that first Easter Sunday? Mary Magdalene and Mary the Mother of James head to the tomb to anoint Jesus. Upon arriving, they see the stone rolled away. A “young man” (an angel, as Matthew’s Gospel calls him) announces that Jesus has risen and instructs the women to tell Peter and the disciples that they will find Jesus in Galilee.

The response of the Marys is critical. In the wake of the news that their friend and leader has risen from death, what do they do? Do they embrace happily and celebrate? Not at all. Mark tells us that “they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.”

The significance of this initial reaction has been powerfully described by theologian James Alison in his book, Raising Abel: The Recovery of the Eschatological Imagination . According to Alison,

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