Thomas Merton and Christian Morality

Thomas Merton has commented on Camus's interpretation of Kafka's The Castle and summarizes Camus's understanding of grace, faith, and justification, finding that Camus believed that the meaning conveyed by these terms is that the individual "is bidden to renounce his human dignity, his honor, his assertion of his personal worth, and submit blindly to 'answers' and 'commands' which are an insult to his humanity. His act of submission makes him 'worthy of grace.' He who has thus surrendered his dignity in a blind act of self-prostration before the unknown has passed the test of faith, has made the 'leap' into the dark, and is thereafter 'justified.' All further activity rooted in this submission is 'right' and 'good.' It is virtuous and it [proves that] he is one of the elect. . . " Merton further finds that Camus's understanding of these central Christian concepts is a caricature for which Christians are responsible, for Camus is simply expressing his repugnance for a twisted and degraded form of "Christian morality" which has evolved historically in the framework of a civilization with social institutions that have tended to preserve "Christian values" by embalming them instead of allowing them to renew their own intrinsic life. Different writers and theorists have tended either to embalm Christian values or to allow them to renew themselves by means of their own intrinsic life.

Martin Luther, for instance, saw a reason for renewing Christian values by removing them f

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alidated by its conformity to their teaching. This means that only the Scripture can establish and substantiate articles of faith (Althaus 5). The only truth needed by the Christian for salvation was the truth to be found in the scriptures. This also meant that neither the Church nor any of her representatives had the authority to establish new articles of faith or new commandments. The validity of all Church teachings depended on the degree of their conformity to scripture. In terms of the teachings prevalent in his time, Luther accepted the basic dogmas of the early church on the Trinity and the person of Christ, and he agreed with the church on its rejection of the heretics. He frequently criticized the terminology of the dogmas, however, and maintained for himself and granted to others the right not to use the terminology as long as the substance of the dogmas was preserved (Althaus 3-8). He saw Christianity as a religion that required dedication and understanding even as it would speak to the individual freely: Many people have considered Christian faith an easy thing, and not a few have given it a place among the virtues. They do this because they have not experienced it and have never tasted the great strength that

Category: Philosophy - T