Faith Plus Works?

Is this a fair characterization of Catholic Theology?

I’ve been observing a number of video and video-responses via social media for a few years now, and observing the antagonism between Catholics and Protestant apologists. I’m all for healthy dialogue, and in the process of this, we have to expect that we will be corrected on our own perceptions of our own faith as well as those of others. We always run into problems when we consider ourselves experts on another faith, even if we have had experience studying and living in that faith-culture.

In the process of examining how things are misunderstood about our own faith, we also have to ask, sincerely, whether or not we our behavior and words have misdirected others toward such false “strawmen.” But this requires a great deal of charity, meekness, which to be honest, I am not always convinced exist in the online forum. I tend to read body language quite well, and am often off-put by a defensive response. Nonetheless I also have such reactions myself, and likely am off-putting to others. So at best, I think we can agree that while the dialogue needs to happen, and I’m glad it is, it is going to happen imperfectly.

When it comes to matters of salvation, our passions can be aroused with a degree of seriousness and zeal - after all, getting this wrong can lead others in the wrong direction - namely hell. So when people are genuinely concerned about the salvation of others, its normal for us to get our “back-up.”

We are also trying to preserve the Divine Revelation that comes to us from the Most Holy Trinity. We are discerning His vision for us, and giving Him glory by maintaining a childlike faith, by deferring to His judgment, rather than our own. None of that excludes the intellectual life, but rather makes us more rational and reasonable, when we defer to the Logos.

Dialogue, however, is different than mere debate or criticism. Dialogue as I understand it, involves two individuals (at least) seeking communion with God, together. The nature of dialogue is not to polarize, but to foster deeper intimacy with Christ, the Logos - who is the Truth.

Perhaps the phrase, “Faith plus works” is as problematic with naming the Lutheran notion of the Eucharist as consubstantiation. In both cases, we reflect back to the other our own language and categories to characterize a theological view that is not our own. There is no question that there might at times be grounds for this, but we risk, in this process, beginning a dialogue with a strawman that really makes the “opponent” feel misunderstood or not listened to. This naturally polarizes matters, and fosters the antithesis of dialogue.

I find it difficult to use protestant language around their theology, often because I am so steeped in the Hellenized approach to theological language. Pope Benedict XVI warned the church of the downfalls of a strictly Hellenized language around theology and how it has often led to a great deal of miscommunication, that is ultimately unnecessary between protestants and Catholics. His particular example was speaking of the Virgin Mary as the co-redemptrix with Christ.

What can we make of the particular phrase, 'Saved by “faith plus works.” For Catholics these two dimensions are not divided so starkly. In our metaphysical view of things, we often perceive the human person as a composite - meaning that two things co-exist with one another in a concomitant fashion. Here I am speaking again in my Hellenized approach. Whereas, after Occam and Bl. Scotus, many moved to a framework of reality that could not see concomitant dimensions of things such as faith and reason, (i.e. fideism and rationalism), Christ having two wills (i.e. WLC’s position due to univocity of language around God), and so forth. This context, even if it is not understood by a brief reading is required to understand the Church’s actual teaching on matters such as these. Without at least digging into this dimension we cannot really dissect why the Church says “faith and works” instead of “faith plus works.” In as much as we say we are a Body and Soul, we do not say we are a “soul, plus a body.”

In philosophy there is a type of language we can use to help decipher this further. Distinguishing from disjunction is important. Where a disjunction exists, there is a clear separation, and where there is a distinction, there is an integration. When it comes to “faith and works,” the Catholic view is more of a distinction, than a disjunction, which would otherwise be noted by saying, “plus.”

There are ultimately two extremes that scripture points out: seeking salvation through works of the law is futile - this we accept and embrace! The other is to note that faith without works is dead. If one of these is understood in a certain way, it can affect the way we submit the other stance to conform as to avoid contradiction. This is why faith and reason are crucial, because they offer us the capacity to reconcile all matters, with deference to the infallibility of scripture, which does not contradict truth.