True Believers and Critical Thinkers

I define true believers as those whose religious faith has resolved all existential questions about life and provided a rationale for living in this world and that to come (if such there be). They neither challenge what they are told, nor any longer seriously ponder life’s verities, making adjustments where old beliefs are found to be lacking. There are other definitions of what constitutes being a true believer.¹

            A critical thinker, on the other hand, is one who constantly ponders and probes and for whom nothing is ever finally resolved, particularly life’s verities.²

One example of a critical thinker is found in Plato’s description of Socrates, who, claiming ignorance, spent his time asking questions and probing others as to their opinions and views of virtue [aretē], and pointing out inconsistencies in the views held by others. He was tried for “impiety” and “corrupting the minds of the young,” convicted, and sentenced to death. In his final address to the court, he observed:

Perhaps someone may say ‘But surely, Socrates after you have left us you can spend the rest of your life in quietly minding your own business.’ This is the hardest thing of all to make some of you understand. If I say that this would be disobedience to God, and that is why I cannot ‘mind my own business,’ you will not believe I am serious. If on the other hand I tell you to let no day pass without discussing goodness [aretē] and all the other subjects about which you hear me talking and examining both myself and others is really the very best thing a man can do, and that life without this sort of communication is not worth living, you will be even less inclined to believe me. Nevertheless that is how it is, Gentlemen, as I maintain; though it is not easy to convince you of it.³

“Discussing goodness…and examining myself and others is really the very best thing a man can do, and that life without this sort of communication is not worth living.” Is it true do you suppose, that life is not worth living unless one constantly probes oneself and others about goodness/virtue/excellence?

            The Apostle Paul apparently seemed to think so, although I would hardly call him a critical thinker, as I have defined it in this essay. At the very least, however, he seemed to share with Socrates the idea of virtue or excellence in life and recommended that one ponder (logizesthe) those things that are characterized by aretē (Phil 4:8).⁴

            And what about the rest of us, where do we fall on the spectrum: true believer—critical thinker? Hopefully, we might be found somewhere near the middle of the spectrum, at least. There, we have found ways to share in some religious beliefs of a particular gathering of believers, but have not yet surrendered our critical thinking skills. If that is where you find yourself, some things about the faith of the Christian Church must make you mighty uncomfortable. For example, what the church teaches about a Trinity comprised of three divine figures: God, the Father; Jesus, a human being confessed as the Son of God; and the Holy Spirit. These three figures, kept distinct in the New Testament, are finally declared to be one figure, a divine God Head as early as the fourth century.⁵ Nevertheless, if you think about it, three distinct entities cannot in actuality be/become one, although, true enough, they may be regarded as being one. For example, a sponge, a brush, and a rag are regarded as tools for cleaning, but they remain in themselves three distinct entities. Critical thinkers either find ways to finesse that particular dogma of the church, or try to quit thinking about it.

Charles W. Hedrick
Professor Emeritus
Missouri State University

¹https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_believer

²https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking

³Plato, The Last Days of Plato: Euthyphro, The Apology, Crito, Phaedo (translated by Hugh Tredennick; England: Penguin Books, 1969), 73–74. The Greek word aretē is translated into English by several words, for example, goodness, virtue, excellence, etc.

⁴See John M. Dillon, “Platonism” in The Anchor Bibe Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 5:381: “Platonism is thus the single greatest outside intellectual influence on Christianity in its formative stages.”

⁵http://blog.charleshedrick.com/search?q=trinity