A READER WRITES: “I read your sneering review of the Bible. Can you really find nothing of any value in the Bible or in the Christian tradition?”BB SAYS: The two great traditions at the heart of Western Civilisation are, on the one hand, the classical tradition of Ancient Greece and Rome, and on the other hand, the Christian tradition. Or, if you like, Athens and Jerusalem. Or perhaps: Philosophy and Theology. The tension between these two traditions has been the central dynamic throughout the course of Western history.
The four great virtues advocated by the classical philosophical tradition of Ancient Greece are Wisdom, Courage, Moderation and Justice. These are the four virtues that, according to Greek philosophy, are required in order to live a good life. But there is another great virtue that, I think, is missing from the classical list, and that virtue is Love, or compassion, or charity, or humanity. I submit that the absence of this virtue is a weakness of classical Greece and Rome, and that it is Christianity that has done most to put this virtue at the centre of Western Civilisation.
The great command of Jesus is “Love your neighbour as yourself”. The other great commandment of Jesus is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might”. Now, how can an atheist love God, since the atheist says he does not believe that God exists?
Well, according to the greatest Christian theologian of all time, Aquinas, God is Truth. “God is truth itself: I am the way, the truth, and the life". Thus, to love God is, in the final analysis, to love Truth, to pursue the highest Truth. And this is also the central task of classical philosophy, since philosophy means the love or the quest for truth, knowledge and wisdom. I therefore suggest that, at their highest levels, the task of philosophy and the task of theology are one and the same.
So love is the central Christian message, as is clear from the following immortal words of Paul:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; Does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
To the four classical virtues, Christianity adds another three, making seven in all: Wisdom, Courage, Moderation, Justice, Faith, Hope, and (the greatest of all) Love.
Now, atheists frequently ridicule Faith and Hope. But it is well to remember that life is hard, and full of suffering, and that when life grinds you down, Faith and Hope are frequently what we must turn to. In the darkest hour, you will search for a long time before you find better words than these to heal a broken heart:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
Or these:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
I want to be clear that this is not an argument for the superiority of Christianity. I am just suggesting that those who regard themselves as atheists or humanists or philosophers, need not be blind to what is best in Christianity, just as they need not be blind to what is best in the other great religious traditions.
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