New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1894-05-02
A CATHOLIC STANDPOINT
A Furth r Answer to Correspondence that
has Appeared IN the Paper.

ing seems to have most force with non
believers inasmuch as it contains be-
lief shared by all who attack the Christ
ian position: If you want to be good
Christian, you must not use your reason
it is unsound. You should in some man.
ner try to get rid of it. Thomas Paine
teaches the same doctrine: "Reason, ap-
piled to Religion, turns the latter into
absurdity" Robert G. 1ngersoll echoes
the same sentiment: "There is an ire
pressible conflict between Religion and
science and they cannot peacably occupy
the same brain nor the same world
Voltaire is quoted as saying; Gas light
chases darkness, SO Reason hunts Relig-
ion.'' Shopenhaur, Haeckel, Bruno
Leionitz, Adam Smith, all give us to un-
derstand that if Religion rule, Reason
must abdicate. Faith and Reason are
held as mutually exclusive; they are set
at war: the ring is marked out, referees
call time and we all grow eager as the
battle deepens. But let us examine the
cause of this conflict and see if it be all
right or all wrong: tc do this we must
understand the nature Of these supposed
contestants, find out what both stand for
and whether one was not driven to en-
croach on the rights of the other.
Now at once two questions arise. What
IS Faith? What is Reason? Before we
can advance in this investigation we
must have clear ideas about Faith and
Reason or in other words we must under
stand that about which we are talking.
The English word, Faith, comes from
the Latin, ides, land is akin to the Greek,
pistis, which. like its Sansc1it synonym,
Kratdha, signifies, to give trust, to con-
fde. The German, CLAUDE, has the same
Specification. The Greek, pistis, means
also to bind, fasten, hold fast, and when
expressing some relation between God
and man, 1t was used in the passive OF
middle sense "to be bound" or ''to be
conv1nced'. 1t is thus used everywhere
in the Sacred Writings. Accordingly
the peidomenous or Believer (from pis-
tis) was the willing listener, who, hear
ing the commanding call of God, not on
" places confidence (fdeo) in Him, but
binds himself to follow the Divine guild
ance. Obedience and fidelity are there
fore the constituent elements of Faith SO
far as the Greek usage throws light upon
the word.
The German synonym, CLAUDE, comes
from the same root as ieben. loben, ge-
loben, to love, to praise, to promise, and
it has the radical meaning of accepting
willingly and holding fast, SO that the
German etymology confirms the Greek
usage. And a similar conformation
will be obtained by studying the etymo-
logical meaning of faith in other Ian
guages.
As the chronological bearing Of the
word has already indicated, Faith sig
nities assent on authority. By Faith we
accept statement, not because we our
selves perceive it's truth but because an
other porson tells US that it is true. ''As-
sent on authority" comes from our es-
TEEN of the mental and moral qualitca-
tions of the witness; we know such per-
fection in him and we have contiding
submission to the authority which that
perfection confers Such assent is made
bv child to the word of the parent, by
the citizen to his governor,by the soldier
to his superior officer and so on through
the manifold relations of social life. We
trust our grocer that our tea is not pois-
oned; we trust the engineer that our
train will not be wrecked we trast our
teacher that his certificate is not forged
we trust the infdel that his doubt is an
honest one. And thus might go over
the entire social scale, and every key
would respond, "Faith''. Saint Angus
tine sums the matter admirably, "Take
away faith and the family perishes, soci-
ETY. goes to pieces, government falls;
love becomes a mockery and history, a
dream" Fundamentally, then, faith is
belief in or an acceptance of informa-
ton solely on the word or authority OF
the person who gives it.
So far have been considering human
faith; for the authority thus far cited is
human being. But if God be the in
formant, then our faith is divine; forsuch
information is taken on the authority of
God. When God so speaks we call His
words Revelation and those who credit
His statements are known as Believers,