The article below appears in today's Irish Times. It makes for an interesting read.
MAURICE MANNING
RITE AND REASON: TP O'MAHONY is a fine journalist. He learned his trade at the Irish Press and began covering religious affairs in 1967, in the aftermath of Vatican II.
Over the years he did the lot - papal visits, conclaves, synods and religious conferences not to mention the niggling scandals that were beginning to emerge.
But while immersed in both the minutiae and the grand scheme of ecclesiastical politics O'Mahony was finding his own conventional faith coming under increasing strain. It wasn't, however, a question of Christianity, or which brand of Christianity but something more fundamental - the very existence of God. Mid-life crises of belief are nothing new, and those so visited usually find their own way of "muddling through".
O'Mahony, however, is different. He has a burning curiosity and capacity to worry at a problem. When he left journalism, having moved from the Irish Press to the then Cork Examiner , he began to study law at UCC, all the while trying to figure out where he personally stood on the "God Question".
What's new? Not much except that the "God" debate has sharpened and maybe even soured in recent times with books by Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. Has God Logged Off? is the result of O'Mahony's own personal quest.
He revisits the famous five proofs of St Thomas Aquinas, produced in the 13th century, and examines the major philosophical arguments pro and con theism since then. Drawing not only on what creative artists such as Beckett, Buñuel and Morris West have to say about the presence or absence of God, but also on the experiences of modern-day well-known Irish people including actor Mick Lally, writer Mary Kenny and Cork character Bernie Murphy, he manages to bring fascinating and sometimes novel insights to this age-old debate.
The strength of O'Mahony's book is its simplicity. He makes his case clearly; his aim is not to show how clever he is but to bring his reader with him on his journey.
O'Mahony starts from obvious points that religious faith, of its nature, tends to be personal, just like its opposite. Beyond the person, however, there is a wider cultural dimension. For centuries, especially in the West, religious belief and the concept of God have been fundamental to our system of meaning.
O'Mahony quotes Patrick Masterson's 1974 book Atheism and Alienation on the proposition that the affirmation of God is one of the most noteworthy of human achievements. Theism, he sees as a defining characteristic of the western tradition. But Masterson also insists that while the affirmation of God is a major achievement, scarcely less remarkable is man's repudiation of this affirmation of God.
So while theism is a defining characteristic of the western tradition, atheism in its various forms is also a significant expression of man's quest for meaning.
O'Mahony seeks to remind us that struggling with the seductive appeal of both is an inescapable element of the human condition.
And where does that leave the author? Not surprisingly, perhaps, with Pascal: "If there is a God he is infinitely beyond our comprehension." He finds comfort and relief (escape?) in Pascal's wager: "exercising a particularly blind form of faith" that God actually does exist.
"I've done just that and called heads like my friend Bernie Murphy. I'll find out one of these days whether I wagered wisely."
Eloquent but not necessarily the most persuasive or weighty of conclusions. I'm not sure that the author himself is fully convinced. Be that as it may, this is a charming and thought-provoking book, written with clarity and honesty.
• Maurice Manning is president of the Irish Human Rights Commission Has God Logged Off? - the quest for meaning in the 21st century , Columba Press, €12.99
MAURICE MANNING
RITE AND REASON: TP O'MAHONY is a fine journalist. He learned his trade at the Irish Press and began covering religious affairs in 1967, in the aftermath of Vatican II.
Over the years he did the lot - papal visits, conclaves, synods and religious conferences not to mention the niggling scandals that were beginning to emerge.
But while immersed in both the minutiae and the grand scheme of ecclesiastical politics O'Mahony was finding his own conventional faith coming under increasing strain. It wasn't, however, a question of Christianity, or which brand of Christianity but something more fundamental - the very existence of God. Mid-life crises of belief are nothing new, and those so visited usually find their own way of "muddling through".
O'Mahony, however, is different. He has a burning curiosity and capacity to worry at a problem. When he left journalism, having moved from the Irish Press to the then Cork Examiner , he began to study law at UCC, all the while trying to figure out where he personally stood on the "God Question".
What's new? Not much except that the "God" debate has sharpened and maybe even soured in recent times with books by Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. Has God Logged Off? is the result of O'Mahony's own personal quest.
He revisits the famous five proofs of St Thomas Aquinas, produced in the 13th century, and examines the major philosophical arguments pro and con theism since then. Drawing not only on what creative artists such as Beckett, Buñuel and Morris West have to say about the presence or absence of God, but also on the experiences of modern-day well-known Irish people including actor Mick Lally, writer Mary Kenny and Cork character Bernie Murphy, he manages to bring fascinating and sometimes novel insights to this age-old debate.
The strength of O'Mahony's book is its simplicity. He makes his case clearly; his aim is not to show how clever he is but to bring his reader with him on his journey.
O'Mahony starts from obvious points that religious faith, of its nature, tends to be personal, just like its opposite. Beyond the person, however, there is a wider cultural dimension. For centuries, especially in the West, religious belief and the concept of God have been fundamental to our system of meaning.
O'Mahony quotes Patrick Masterson's 1974 book Atheism and Alienation on the proposition that the affirmation of God is one of the most noteworthy of human achievements. Theism, he sees as a defining characteristic of the western tradition. But Masterson also insists that while the affirmation of God is a major achievement, scarcely less remarkable is man's repudiation of this affirmation of God.
So while theism is a defining characteristic of the western tradition, atheism in its various forms is also a significant expression of man's quest for meaning.
O'Mahony seeks to remind us that struggling with the seductive appeal of both is an inescapable element of the human condition.
And where does that leave the author? Not surprisingly, perhaps, with Pascal: "If there is a God he is infinitely beyond our comprehension." He finds comfort and relief (escape?) in Pascal's wager: "exercising a particularly blind form of faith" that God actually does exist.
"I've done just that and called heads like my friend Bernie Murphy. I'll find out one of these days whether I wagered wisely."
Eloquent but not necessarily the most persuasive or weighty of conclusions. I'm not sure that the author himself is fully convinced. Be that as it may, this is a charming and thought-provoking book, written with clarity and honesty.
• Maurice Manning is president of the Irish Human Rights Commission Has God Logged Off? - the quest for meaning in the 21st century , Columba Press, €12.99
1 comment:
Basing belief on God on St Thomas' Five Ways (and not five "proofs") is hardly intellectually satisfying.
Belief, faith, cannot be proved.
The Christian basis for God's existence is based upon belief in the truth of revelation in Jesus Christ and his resurrection.
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