God is there, the Protestant thinker Francis Schaeffer once said, and He is not silent.

He has spoken.

His Word, His acts in history, His Person and Presence are inseparable. It is not enough for us to presume a numinous, inexpressible, presence in history or in our lives if we disregard the fact that He has spoken his will and direction to us in Jesus Christ and His Cross

We are not inexplicable autonomous beings emerged from slimy chance and nothingness. This used to be obvious in theology, in human thought, and it was profoundly received with thanksgiving. But the Darwin myth has put God’s Word and our times to the test.

 Such nonsense (today considered dogma) was once considered obvious, as such, to thinkers. In Scripture (which is the received tradition of humankind) we are told that we are, on the contrary, the work and direction of His hands. Our being is His doing and His leading.

Catholic theology(1) speaks to very, very few people today. And until the Church relearns to “think our way back to thought” (Chesterton) we will remain largely ineffectual, and even amusing, to those who should be shaken by such a confrontation with the what and wherefore of being.

God calls us to deploy this Word, passed on to us by Patriarchs, Prophets, Saints and real thinkers, to expose all lies and myths. Genesis 1-3 is the dynamite which explodes and exposes these lies on which the global culture totters, thanks to the empty presumptions and arrogance of those who lead us towards the metaphysical cliffs.

Alas, many (hardly all) of these academic fools dwell timidly in the Church. This kind of cowering ought to make more of us ashamed.

Stephen Hand

Updated.

——–

(1) Theology. I do not say preaching or ministry.