Worldviews and Amateur Theologians

Everyone has a worldview, that is, a philosophy. There's no escaping this. Even if you are resolved to not think philosophically, that is a philosophy.

Some people see the world only in terms of money--everyone is involved in a class struggle: rich vs. poor; haves vs. have-nots; the common man vs. The Man. Others see the world in terms of evolutionary struggle (Darwinism), sex (Freud), or physical matter (materialists). The Church denies the fatalism of these views and affirms Man's freedom. What's more, the Church affirms the Common Man's ability to know and make sense of the world around him. She affirms our ability to develop an accurate and sane worldview.

This is good news for you and me.

Last Monday I related something that happened the other day at the bookstore. A lady from our class asked me if she'd be able to understand the book we're using in class, Theology and Sanity. I said, "yes", but she remained a little skeptical.

"Well, you're a real theologian."
"No," I replied, "I'm a fake theologian."

Did I mean by this that I was a fraud? No. I simply meant that I'm not a professional theologian--someone who studies Theology for a living. I am an amateur--one who studies Theology out of loving.

Karl Barth, a famous Protestant theologian, once said, "The Word became flesh and, through theologians, it became words again." Sadly, many of us can attest to the truth of that statement. Or, at least we can agree that a lot of our religious training has felt more like curling up with a dictionary than going for a walk with a friend. But, just because so many professional theologians have complicated things, there's no reason to dismiss Theology as a useless subject, a field of inquiry for elitists and snobs. On the contrary, our Church has an illustrious history of amateur theologians.

From St. Peter (a Galilean fisherman) to St. John Vianney (a notoriously bad student) to G.K. Chesterton to Mother Theresa, the Church is full of people who loved God without PhDs and who sought to know Him to the best of their abilities. We can all do this. We can all strive to know God better and to see reality from his perspective.

Frank Sheed asserts that a Catholic worldview is the only sane worldview. Why? Because it sees the world the way it really is. The Catholic Church has confidence that all of us can do this.

As amateur theologians in this Monday School class, this is ultimately what we're after--to know God and understand the world He gave us.