Against Fundamentalism

Third Sunday in the Ordinary Time

January 24, 2016

Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

“I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus (Luk 1:3)”

Fundamentalism is man’s decision to hold a particular view as the only one that is right and consequently, the others are considered as dissenting views and even dead wrong. Though we easily associate fundamentalism with religions, fundamentalism can take place also in other realms of our human society. There are religious, politic, scientific and even economic fundamentalism. Science doubtless is good and beneficial for humankind, but when some people make science, especially certain theories, as the only way to know the truth, then we have fundamentalism. Economics is necessary for human society to function, but when people consider profit as the only thing that matters and even sacrifice other human lives and environment for this, then we have fundamentalism. 

Today, we listen to the beginning of the Gospel according to Luke. He slightly differed from other evangelists because he intentionally placed in his prologue his methodology of writings: “investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence.” It may be because Luke, as the tradition says, was a physician and being one, he was trained to work in orderly fashion and use the available methods and scientific tools in his own time. In Luke, we may discover that even the story of Jesus was written based on a thorough research and rigorous procedures of that time. In short, Luke comfortably wrote about faith in scientific manners. Jesus was born from a woman, yet He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. He suffered and died, yet He also resurrected. He was truly divine, yet truly human. The Gospel was born precisely to uproot any fundamentalism in the heart of Theophilus.

I am currently studying at the Institute of Preaching in Quezon City, Metro Manila, and there, we learn how to preach our faith aided by various human sciences like rhetorics, hermeneutics (study of interpretation), psychology and more. The Code of Canon Law has legislated that every future priest shall take at least four years of Theology. Theology, by simple definition, is ‘science of God’. We try to plunge into the mystery of God through various scientific methods. Thus, my priestly training is to drive away any form of religious fundamentalism in me.

In the heart of the Dominican Order is the Truth. And St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican and one of the greatest Christian thinkers, has showed to us that event this Truth can be discovered in pagan philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, in Jewish and Muslim scholars, and other theologians who had opposing views. In his opus, Summa Theologiea, we can easily see how he comfortably and orderly gathered all the views, both against and for his main argument, into single unity. St. Thomas taught us not to monopolize truth, but with humility, to learn also from the others, especially those who are different from us.

Now, we may be aware that we don’t subscribe to any religious absolutism and extreme views, but fundamentalism still can creep in our daily lives. When we become stubborn husbands who think that we are always right, when we become domineering parents who refuse to listen to our children, those are fundamentalism. When a priest acts like a king and all his parishioners have to obey, when a sister superior behaves like an empress and treats other like her servants, these are fundamentalism. We must remember that we are Catholic and being a fundamentalist Catholic is actually contradiction in term. Catholic means universal, man and woman for all, and we must not be limited by any form of fundamentalism.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP