Krikščioniškoji teologija: tiesos pažinimo perspektyvos

LTMus supanti realybė yra įvairialytė ir nevienareikšmiška. Pavieniai mokslai dažnai tyrinėja tik nedidelę tikrovės dalį, tad neretai mokslas vien gnoseologiniu ir racionaliu būdu nepajėgus įminti žmogaus ir pasaulio paslapties. Straipsnyje nagrinėjamas teologijos santykis su tiesa ir realybe, kaip to pasėka - ir teologijos sąsajos su kitais mokslais. Seminarijos, universitetai, mokslo ir studijų institutai iš prigimties pašaukti ieškoti tiesos, kuri yra ne tik empirinė, bet ir metafizinė. Visa tiesa surandama tik atsivėrus paslapčiai / nežinomumui, o tai reiškia atsiverti ir Dievui. Teologija gilinasi į istorijoje apsireiškusio Dievo paslaptį ir Apreiškimo šviesoje analizuoja, aiškina, koks yra pasaulio, žmogaus, šeimos, visuomenės bei kitų gyvenimo sričių pašaukimas, prasmė, tikslas, misija, likimas. Mokslas negali atsiriboti nuo teologijos ir religijos įžvalgų, nes neatsakytų į daugelį mokslinių klausimų ir problemų, kaip ir teologija negali atsiriboti nuo kitų mokslų, nes nepajėgtų visiškai pažinti Šventojo Rašto, religinės patirties ir Dievo sukurto pasaulio, liktų toli nuo pasaulio realijų, izoliuota pažinime, bejėgė bendrauti.

ENHigher education institutions (universities, seminars, institutes, etc.) is the place where truth is sought, discovered, and conveyed. Well-rounded and valued personalities develop and mature when one is both open to others (horizontally) and open to God (vertically). If discussions about truth in today’s universities contain no discussion of God and humanity, grace and sin, death and eternal life, then most of the research about humanity and the world will remain unclear and will not arrive at authentic truth. Reason separated from faith becomes incapable of discerning humanity’s existential questions concerning good and evil. In today’s scientific world there is no doubt that mystery forms a part of the reality of both humanity and the world. The goal of theology is to know the mystery of God, the world, and humanity in the light of Revelation (sub ratione Dei). Truth is not only empirical, but also metaphysical. Complete and authentic truth is reached when different fields of knowledge are combined in a common structure. Theology has a distinctive relation to reality, which is named by God who revealed (himself in) Jesus Christ. Theology seeks to convey the entirety of reality by providing completion and meaning to knowledge, disclosing not only the phenomena of reality, but also the ideas behind that reality (nooumenon). In the culture of the university, reason and faith, as well as theology and other sciences should not be set in opposition, but rather reconciled. In today’s world it is impossible to overcome the problems of civilization by focusing only on scientific, technical progress; a metaphysical focus is needed as well.Pragmatic scientific achievements of progress isolated from metaphysical truth lead, first and foremost, to ethical, ecological, and existential relativism. University disciplines cannot dissociate themselves from the science of religion because, by themselves, they would be unable to respond to many scientific questions and answers. Likewise, theology cannot dissociate itself from other sciences, as theology in this case would remain far from the world’s realities, rigidly narrow in its breadth of knowledge, and poor in communicative ability. For example, discoveries in cosmology, physics, biology, and genetics provide additional information about categories of time and space, and increase our understanding of matter, on the one hand. On the other hand, these discoveries revealed potential complications of human identity. The above-mentioned sciences cannot ignore theology if they are to avoid painful consequences for humanity and for creation as a whole. Similarly today’s theology cannot ignore other fields of science: modem cosmology and astronomy can extend and compliment one’s knowledge of Christian protology, the creation of the world and its end; physics’ theory of relativity can provide new ideas about the understanding of Christian eschatological purgatory, and about space and time; archeology and philosophy of history can produce new understandings of the Bible; psychology and sociology can aid in new understandings of the origin of (the feeling of) guilt and the dynamics of conversion.As never before, the mission of today’s academic culture is to provide the answers to the most important questions of human existence. To accomplish this, humanity must be placed in a relationship to Christ, the Lord of history and time. The greatest number of scientific problems are not (only) of a technological or moral nature, but namely theological. If the relationship between God and creation, between Grace and nature, and between faith and intellect is broken, the technological world thus becomes without spirit, without aesthetics, without the smile of a mother and child, without meaning and goal, and, as H.U. Balthasar said, without love and suffering. In such a world everything that is not useful becomes unworthy. To understand the creation through the categories of Grace and Love means to understand it through the categories of creation and redemption. The existence of all nature, humanity, and even the cosmos itself, has an archetype in God, and for this reason everything is created through Grace and called to participate in the divine Trinity’s relationship between Father and Son.