Theology and Sanity

So I read a blog often called Steve Gershom and a while back he mentioned a book by Frank Shees called Theology and Sanity. He said he used to jokingly refer to it as Theology Insanity! Well I downloaded the kindle sample of the book and just finished reading this small sample. I loved it! It has given me a lot to think about and I'd like to share just a few of my thoughts.

Knowing God helps me love God more just as seeing my wife helps me to love her more. The more I know about her the better and more profoundly I can love her. Loving her is infinitely more important than knowing about her or seeing her, but the two are not mutually exclusive. If I lost my sight tomorrow I'd still love my wife till death separates us. Sight is not required for our love to exist, but it does help build the love even stronger and fuller. I can see her mannerisms and features in greater detail. I can look into her beautiful eyes and smile.

This also helps explain why the sacraments involve physical interaction. The chrism of confirmation, the waters of baptism, etc. It explains why the church has such beautiful works of art that can help enhance our faith. A beautiful depiction of the angel visiting Mary helps me to visualize the scene better and reflect on the divine mystery of the incarnation.

The other thought is about seeing God in everything. We are all continually sustained by God. This is a deep thought that many of us do not recognize, or at least do not think about often. Everything we see is constantly and continuously here because God wills it to continue to exist. He made everything out of nothing. If God just walked away then all of that everything would again become nothing.

The study of theology, or the study of God can help us learn and understand the answers to life's greatest questions. There are answers and reasons for so much. For example we know for a fact that our bodies will be raised after we are dead. That is a huge statement that contradicts everything that we can observe of this world. We cannot know everything because that is for God, but God has allowed us to see so much and learn so much about his creation and plan for all of us. Without intellect and study it would be much more difficult to will ourselves to believe such deep truths as the resurrection of the body on the last day.

That might be enough for now. God forbid I get the rest of the book, I might overrun the blogger.com servers with all I write about it. Have a great day everyone.