The Poetry of Faith

Review

: challenges posed by the new atheism on the sanity of the poet

Chesterton The

(true) fairytale of Christianity

Discussion

 What

has 'theology' ever said that is of the smallest use to anybody? When has 'theology' ever said anything that is demonstrably true and is not obvious? What makes you think that 'theology' is a subject at all? it is popular to assume that theology is an unnecessary, impractical extra.

Today

 Paranormal

phenomena have a habit of going away whenever they are tested under rigorous conditions. All phenomena, all happenings, are ultimately normal. In other words, the world is more like an equation than it is like a poem or a story.

Implication:

 Terry

Eagleton says Dawkins is rather like a person who thinks a novel is a botched piece of sociology. does this claim mean?

What Is

theology more like a novel or more like a piece of sociology? novels of any practical importance?

Are

 New

Atheists say, given what we all assume about the world, theology has no practical value. One Response: Actually theology does fit with those logical assumptions, thanks very much. Chestertons Response: I sure hope we dont all assume the world is quite so boring as an equation!

 The

main problem for all seekers of wisdom: How can we contrive to be at once astonished at the world and yet at home in it? (5). attempt at heresy became Orthodoxy (7).

Chestertons

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

 We We

used to accept the fact of sin (9).

still commonly accept the possibility of mental collapse (insanity), which is why Chesterton begins there.

 The

common view: imagination, especially mystical imagination, is dangerous to mans mental balance (10). view: Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason (10).

Chestertons

 Poetry

is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits (11).

 Poet =

a poetic disposition/attitude = openness to the worlds infinite possibilities, to realitys excess. a logical disposition = closed to any occurrence that doesnt have a clear, logical cause (12).

Logician =

 The

lunatics theory explains a large number of things, but it does not explain them in a large way (13). an explanation of the world, materialism has a sort of insane simplicity. It has just the quality of the madmans argument (15).

As

 As

long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity. The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic (19-20).

Fairytale Philosophy
The wisdom of which Chesterton remains most

certain, he learned from fairy tales.

They have lessons (38). But the main point is they do not apply necessity to

the natural world (39).

The Sharp Distinction

We have always in our fairy tales kept this sharp

distinction between the science of mental relations, in which there really are laws, and the science of physical facts, in which there are no laws, but only weird repetitions. We believe in bodily miracles, but not in mental impossibilities (39).

Fairytale Realism
Do things happen because of laws or because of

magic? Which is the more realistic view?

What do we learn from childrens sense of wonder at

the ordinary (41)?

The Romance of Orthodoxy

Liberal ideas are not the ideas of truly free thinkers

(104).
To believe in orthodoxy is to be open-minded (105-

6).

The Realism of Orthodoxy

It is the instinct of Christianity to be glad that God

has broken the universe into little pieces, because they are living pieces (109).
From the beginning, Christianity prefers the many to

the one, and thus it allows us to embrace reality fully.

Loose Ends
Christianity is a sword which separates and sets

free (110).
Even God is separate from Gods self, so that love

may be possible (112).

Christianitys God is the supreme poet, floating

easily in his infinite sea.

Genesis 1
Separation and multiplication is the creators work,

and after each division he saw that it was good.

Next Time
Augustines recounting of his youth and the difficulty

(but necessity) of speaking about God.

Have mercy so that I may find words.