Does Fr. Bernard Lonergan S.J. regress from making any objective argument for the existence of God, and ultimately fall back on the subjective (or a faith) proof?

"For now it is primarily a question of decision. Will I love him in return, or will I refuse? Will I live out the gift of his love or will I hold back, turn away, withdraw? Only secondarily do there arise the questions of God‟s existence and nature, and they are the questions either of the lover seeking to know him or of the unbeliever seeking to escape him. Such is the basic option of the existential subject once called by God."

Dear Curious,

I think St. Thomas' proof for the existence of God is quite superior to Longergan's. But I agree with the text you quoted. Aquinas believed in the existence of God even as a child, which is the situation of any child of the Church. Thus his exercise of metaphysical reason was neither cold, indifferent, or neutral. It was full of passion and love. Now such a person looking at the world keys in on the marvelous fact that it exists. Rocks,flowers, horses and men exist. That is a marvel.It is from this very real starting point that a real search begins of the ultimate cause of these things. Philosophers who take a neutral, indifferent, or even hostile attitude to this plain and real fact and not likely to discovered the real ultimate cause of this fact. Since the time of Descartes, philosophers have doubted the existence of the world, choosing to start with their own ideas of the world existing in their minds. You cannot do that. You have to start with the existence of things as a self evidence truth not requiring any proof. If you have to start philosophy with a proof that there really are rocks, trees, animals or men in the world--you are doomed to frustration. You'll be so busy trying to prove the existence of bodies out there, which is impossible, that you will give up on proving that the One Creator caused it. Hold onto to existence of those rocks and trees for dear life. The obvious existence is the basis for a sound metaphysics. Aristotle gave a good start. Aquinas perfected it.But moderns are no longer sensitive to the fact that there are trees on their lawns or noses on their faces. Their sheer existence is a great marvel.

Dr. Geraghty

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