Philosophy and theology
Pluralist or universal?

for a symposium, 3 April 1987
at SS. Peter & Paul Seminary, Ibadan

The distinctive note of theology is faith. It is a rational science using the light of natural evidence, but its first principle is faith in the revealed word of God. The light of revelation and the light of reason combine to make theology.

Philosophy in the broad sense is any use of reason in any field whatsoever, provided it is based on evident data or principles.

Because theology is a rational exercise, it necessarily overlaps philosophy and is coloured by philosophy.

Theology can be pluralistic if philosophy is pluralistic. The question I wish to raise is, "Can philosophy be pluralistic?" To answer this question I must explain what I mean by philosophy.

If philosophy is an objective science, it must be universal, true and the same everywhere in the world. To anticipate the objection of epistemological sceptics, let me say that our understanding of science grows over the ages. We adhere to the plain and evident truths which lie at the doorstep of our understanding, but comprehensive science always eludes us. We constantly need to revise and correct our postulations about the grey and dark areas which infinitely exceed the precious few certainties that we do enjoy.

To the extent, then, that theology uses philosophy as an objective science, theology is the same worldwide, just as 2 + 2 = 4 anywhere on earth, or middle C is the same at 256 vibrations persecond. But our subjective understanding of theology is not the same yesterday, today and forever, because as our understanding of the world advances, so must that blend of revelation and reason advance which we call theology.

But philosophy is not just objective science. In the Aristotelian tradition, it includes the arts, particularly poetics and rhetoric. The characteristic note of the arts is that they deal with images. An image is a concrete, sensible, particular instance of a universal. Every work of art is unique and inimitable. Schools and traditions of art use certain universal principles, but develop along the lines of thought and imagery of particular peoples and particular epochs.

Philosophy in this sense is particular and distinctive in different peoples and ages. It is euivalent to culture.

Theology uses human reason not just in a universal, scientific way, but also in the images of particular cultures. St. Thomas Aquinas asks in his Summa theologiae I, q.1, art.9, whether Scripture, sacred doctrine or theology should use metaphors. He answers yes, for two reasons:

  1. It is natural for us to start with sensible things to understand intelligible truths.
  2. In this way even simple people can understand what is taught.

To the objection that Scripture should not use images of ordinary lowly things, he makes three points:

  1. Lowly images prevent us from the error of confusing the image with the transcendent divine mysteries.
  2. Lowly images give us a truer knowledge of God, since they show us that God is really far beyond anything we can imagine. After all, we know more of what he is not than what he is.
  3. Lowly images hide the truth from the unworthy, the swine of Mt 7:6.

Therefore, he concludes, Scripture or theology uses images out of necessity and for their usefulness.

According to Thomas Aquinas, therefore, theology is not merely a universal science, objectively the same always and everywhere, but necessarily involves imagery, and if imagery, we may add, then culture. It must, therefore, express itself differently in the different language and images of every culture.

We may ask further how does theology relate to any particular culture. First of all, it must express the divine mysteries in terms that are intelligible to that culture. It does no good to talk of sheep and goats to my Chicago people who have never seen one.

Secondly, theology must be dramatized in liturgy and life. Culture includes a psychological imprint of manners and attitude toward life, stamped on children by their parents when they are young. The Arab writer Muḥammad ad-Dimashqī, who died in 1327, relates a tradition in which Ka`b al-Aḥbar tells the caliph `Umar, "There are four things which are not found in four nations: generosity among the Greeks, good faith among the Turks, courage among the Copts, and despondency among the Black Africans." The Frenchman Réné Caillé, who crossed the Sahara in 1828, remarked that black slaves, even while being carried away to Morocco, found time to sing and dance and help one another. This joy will make the expression of theology in liturgical arts in Africa very different from elsewhere.

Thirdly, theology is also a practical science and must face the concrete problems which are peculiar to every culture. It is no accident that liberation theology developed in South America. It will also be no accident if the theology and philosophy of a secular state should find its best articulation in Nigeria, where we face an acute problem of Muslim-Christian relations.

Theology, then, is as universal or particular as the philosophy which it uses. Philosophy is a broad thing, extending from the level of the scientific, abstract and universal to the concrete particular forms of art and culture. Theology correspondingly will be both a universal science and the unique expression of a particular culture.

It would be a mistake for theology to be one-sidedly universal or particular. Some people object to using "Greek philosophy" in Africa. Greek thinking contains a core of perennial philosophy, which is no more Greek than the computer is American. It is universal. Our philosophy must include a sound philosophy of nature and metaphysics. It must also be in tune with African reality. Theology likewise cannot dispense with the notions of substance, person, and nature. Nor can it dispense with the magic and the flaws of African personality and culture.