Ep. #124 – Faith, Rationality, and Belief in Aquinas w/ Fr. James Brent OP

Summary

What is ‘faith’ according to St. Thomas Aquinas? What makes it rational to have faith? What illustrations might we use to think about faith as an act of personal trust? Does faith include belief? Did Mother Theresa have faith throughout her life? Fr. James Brent O.P. joins us for a deep dive into these questions and more.

Guest Bio

Fr. James Dominic Brent, O.P. was born and raised in Michigan. He pursued his undergraduate and graduate studies in Philosophy, and completed his doctorate in Philosophy at Saint Louis University on the epistemic status of Christian beliefs according to Saint Thomas Aquinas. He has articles in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Natural Theology, in the Oxford Handbook of Thomas Aquinas on “God’s Knowledge and Will”, and an article forthcoming on “Thomas Aquinas” in the Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology.

He earned his STL from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, and was ordained a priest in the same year. He taught in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America from 2010- 2014, and spent the year of 2014-2015 doing full time itinerant preaching on college campuses across the United States. Fr. James Brent now teaches philosophy at Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies.

Topics

• How did you first get interested in the topics of faith and epistemology and the topics of your 2008 dissertation?
• What is faith and what is the act of faith according to Aquinas and where does he discuss it? 
• What are some of those texts of Aquinas which seem to compete with one another?
• In your dissertation, you look at interpretations of Aquinas on faith from Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange and John Jenkins. Can you describe some of the particulars of their accounts and some things you find inadequate with each of them?
• In chapter 5 of your dissertation, you aim to resolve the question with your own account of the act of faith in Aquinas and how it is rational. Can you give some highlights of what you argue there? 
• What three conclusions do you reach in your dissertation?
• Your colleague, Fr. Dominic Legge, has come up with a vivid example of an act of personal trust as analogous to faith. How is it similar to an act of supernatural faith and how is it different?
• Recently, several Christian philosophers have argued that ‘faith’ does not need to include ‘belief.’ What do you think about this approach?
• Some adduce St. Mother Theresa as an example of someone who had faith without belief. What do you think of this example?
• In light of today’s discussion, what brief response would you give to the objection that faith is irrational because it goes beyond the evidence?

Resources

The Thomistic Institute Podcast

The Thomistic Institute Website

Christianizing Pagan Rome by Randy MacMullen

Fr. James Brent’s homilies on soundcloud

Faith Through the Dark Night by Dr. Daniel McKaughan (article, 2018)

Christian Faith as a Way of Life by Alfred J. Freddoso

So What if Religion is for the Weak? – An Episode of Catholic Answers Focus with John DeRosa

Quote on How to Read the Evidentialist Passages in Aquinas

If one reads through the “Passages for Evidentialists” again, keeping in mind the distinction between confirmation and basis, one should be able see that even in the most evidentialist-friendly passages, Aquinas never gets so specific as to commit himself to the view that Christian beliefs are based (in our technical sense) on evidence drawn from miracles or other signs. The articles of faith are not held on the basis of an apologetic syllogism. What the Passages for Evidentialists jointly show, it seems to me, is that throughout all the periods of his writings Aquinas held that there is rationally accessible confirmation or corroboration for the Christian faith. That corroboration comes in the form of miracles and other signs such as the life of the Church and the character of certain Christian witnesses. Aquinas seems also to say that people can and sometimes do make use of such corroboration on their way to faith (but he obviously gives no statistics about how many people do so or how frequently). And when facing the charge that faith is foolish or irresponsible, Aquinas himself sometimes appealed to such corroboration as part of his defense of faith.

p. 247, The Epistemic Status of Christian Beliefs in Thomas Aquinas by Fr. James Brent (This is Fr. James Brent’s doctoral dissertation)

Related Episodes

Ep. #103 – Catholic Reformed Epistemology? (Part 2) w/ Dr. Stacey

Ep. #102 – Catholic Reformed Epistemology? (Part 1) w/ Dr. McNabb

Ep. #36 – Is Faith Irrational?with Dr. Feingold

Ep. #72 – Is Faith in Christ Irrational? w/ Fr. Pine O.P.