Kicking off the Philosophy Lecture Series, Travis Anderson teaches students that crises of faith can be the means of attaining a stronger level of spirituality.
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PROVO, Utah (Sept. 11, 2014) Travis Anderson, associate professor of philosophy and chair of the philosophy department, kicked off the Fall 2014 Philosophy Lecture Series on Thursday with his lecture, “The Birth of Faith in the Crisis of Self-Identity.”
“As philosophers, we spend most of our time talking about philosophical texts, philosophical figures, topics, and arguments,” Anderson said to the assembled students. He explained that it was even more important that philosophy students be able to apply their knowledge and skills in facing the challenges of real life, especially challenges to their faith.
“You’re getting to the age now where you’ve left home, you’ve brought with you the faith you learned there. For most of you that faith is still pretty strong, but you’re entering the period of your life where your faith is going to get tested and challenged.”
Anderson cited a 1979 BYU devotional address by Bruce C. Hafen, former president of Ricks College, entitled “Love is Not Blind,” wherein then-President Hafen described three levels of faith development.
The first level is characterized by a kind of starry-eyed view of the world. Citing from Hafen’s address, Anderson said, “At level one there are two typical attitudes, one of which is that we simply do not—perhaps cannot—see the problems that exist. Some seem almost consciously to filter out any perception of a gap between the real and the ideal.”
The second attitude people at this level often manifest is an expectation that everyone who shares their faith should also share exactly the same standards and values they hold in in their own lives, so they respond to others who fall short of those ideals with shock and intolerance.
Anderson shared Hafen’s concern that neither type is well-prepared for adversity. “Their roots have not sunk deep enough into the soil of experience to establish a firm foundation.” Anderson added, “At this stage, a person’s faith is on shaky ground. Because we’re all going to encounter problems and challenges in life, if we don’t learn to see the world clearly and others sympathetically, we are likely to deal with such challenges through denial or by finding our faith is insufficient to sustain us.”
Anderson used the example of Friedrich Schleiermacher, an 18th-century German theologian. “While studying at the university to become a priest, he encountered challenges to his faith and responded by rejecting the faith and beliefs he had been taught at home.
“Learning to see clearly both the world and our own place in it need not of itself entail a rejection of faith, but is a stage that we have to go through in further developing our faith,” said Anderson. “Starting to see the world for what it is, recognizing that bad things happen in the world that our faith and present understanding cannot always explain, usually requires us to struggle.”
This struggle in response to a disillusioned view of the world is the second stage, in which our faith is forced to deal with a world that isn’t perfect. “You have these experiences where you think you’re on top of the world and you’re doing everything you should, and bad things still happen.” It’s these experiences, Anderson explains, that will either cause us to lose our faith or grow in faith and thereby see the world in yet another way.
“The third stage,” Anderson said, “is seeing matters of faith as real possibilities. But the key word is ‘real.’ The possibilities have to appear to us against the horizon of a real world along with a clearer understanding of ourselves, others, and our relationship to God.” We can acquire at this point the maturity of faith needed to recognize that the Lord may not see fit to answer a prayer in the way we hope. But we can still believe that miracles are within the realm of possibility and that God is hearing our prayers and directing our lives.
To reach this third stage requires that we learn about ourselves. As Anderson said, Jeremiah, Moses and Enoch all needed to overcome self-perceptions that conflicted with the Lord’s plans for them. Likewise, we too must come to know ourselves better through deep personal reflection – an activity that Anderson believes philosophy students are specially well-trained for. “It can take hours and hours of really careful thought and lots of deliberation to decide the right thing to do in challenging situations. But it also requires a hard-won and divinely-guided understanding of ourselves.”
Schleiermacher, after passing though his own crisis of faith, went on to become one of the most prominent theologians of his era. Anderson encouraged students to learn from that example and take courage, trusting in their abilities to turn their own crises into firm foundations for increased spirituality and faith.
For a more information about the Philosophy Lecture Series, visit their website.
—Samuel Wright (B.A. English '15)