Musings From Lunch

I enjoy going out to lunch with people with whom I work. They're smart and funny (well, most of them anyways). A typical discussion at lunch can cover politics, traveling, music, pop culture, 9/11, Dwight K. Schrute and Jim+Pam, as well as a host of other interests. Today, over Thai food, Mike, Yadira and I discussed in vitro fertilization (Yadira has a couple of friends who are going to try it); the ethics of stem-cell research; and our brain types. I'm an ENTP, she's an ENFP, and we think Mike is an INFP, which stands for Introversion, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving. Since I know Mike checks in on my blog from time to time, I figured I would post the character traits of an INFP:

"Idealist"

deep internal values; idealistic; romantic, appears calm; generally reticent; creative; avoids conflict; sensitive, aware of others' feelings; sacrificial; welcomes new ideas; flexible; interested in learning and writing; composer; language skilled.

Sounds about right.

We also briefly discussed the notion that Western Civilization in general, and America in particular, have greatly benefited from the confluence of its (predominately) Judeo-Christian religious foundation with scientific advancements (as well as its secular governmental institutions, among other things). I believe this idea was popularized by Leo Strauss, who asserted that Western Civilization evolved due to the convergence of "Athens and Jerusalem," or reason and revelation.

There is often tension, and sometimes outright hostility, between the scientific and faith communities. However, this tension, in my opinion, is a net gain--a source of strength for our society. A contemporary example from today's lunch discussion touched on the important role religious morality can play in informing issues such as genetic engineering--the ethical dilemma posed by the amazing scientific advances that enable babies to be designed (i.e. choosing their gender, eye/hair color, etc.).

Our reason/revelation discussion proved to be rather timely, as it came just a day after a papal address delivered to the University of Regensburg in Germany. In it, the Pope stated:

The vision of St. Paul, who saw the roads to Asia barred and in a dream saw a Macedonian man plead with him: "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" (cf. Acts 16:6-10) — this vision can be interpreted as a "distillation" of the intrinsic necessity of a rapprochement between biblical faith and Greek inquiry.

In point of fact, this rapprochement had been going on for some time. The mysterious name of God, revealed from the burning bush, a name which separates this God from all other divinities with their many names and declares simply that he is, already presents a challenge to the notion of myth, to which Socrates' attempt to vanquish and transcend myth stands in close analogy. Within the Old Testament, the process which started at the burning bush came to new maturity at the time of the Exile, when the God of Israel, an Israel now deprived of its land and worship, was proclaimed as the God of heaven and earth and described in a simple formula which echoes the words uttered at the burning bush: "I am."

This new understanding of God is accompanied by a kind of enlightenment, which finds stark expression in the mockery of gods who are merely the work of human hands (cf. Psalm 115). Thus, despite the bitter conflict with those Hellenistic rulers who sought to accommodate it forcibly to the customs and idolatrous cult of the Greeks, biblical faith, in the Hellenistic period, encountered the best of Greek thought at a deep level, resulting in a mutual enrichment evident especially in the later wisdom literature.

Today we know that the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced at Alexandria — the Septuagint — is more than a simple (and in that sense perhaps less than satisfactory) translation of the Hebrew text: It is an independent textual witness and a distinct and important step in the history of Revelation, one which brought about this encounter in a way that was decisive for the birth and spread of Christianity. A profound encounter of faith and reason is taking place here, an encounter between genuine enlightenment and religion. From the very heart of Christian faith and, at the same time, the heart of Greek thought now joined to faith, Manuel II [the Byzantine emperor] was able to say: Not to act "with logos" is contrary to God's nature.