Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy 5.10

“Yet how absurd it is that we should say that the result of temporal affairs is the cause of eternal foreknowledge! And to think that God foresees future events because they are about to happen, is nothing else than to hold events of past time to be the cause of that highest Providence.

“Besides, just as, when I know a present fact, that fact must be so; so also when I know of something that will happen, that must come to pass. Thus, it follows that the fulfilment of a foreknown event must be inevitable.”

—from Book 5, Prose 3

Man is a creature granted reason and will, and yet it is in the very nature of these powers of judgment and free choice to permit him to use them well or to use them poorly.

A weakness I discern, both in myself and in others, is the tendency to put the cart before the horse, starting with preferred conclusions and then inserting favorable premises, instead of starting with true premises and proceeding to sound conclusions. If you are unsure of the prevalence of this problem, I ask you only to observe the state of politics and religion in public discourse.

Whenever I have taught Boethius, which I try to do whenever I can, some people will simply grow bored, because they don’t see how the questions are relevant to their immediate gratifications. In that sense, they have already determined what is most important to them, I suppose, even if they haven’t given it much thought.

For those who take up the challenge, however, there is still a further obstacle. Beginning only with what they already take for granted as an unquestionable orthodoxy, of whatever sort, they try to resolve the tension by stressing only one aspect of the whole.

If they already believe in a God, they gloss over the problem of free will by saying that it will happen however God wants it to happen.

If they already don’t believe in a God, they will gloss over the problem of Providence by saying that their own freedom makes it irrelevant.

And so the devout Catholic is tempted to look only one way, and the progressive existentialist is tempted to look only the other way, and both are building on a faith that is both comfortable and blind. They are sadly working backwards.

It is for this reason that I vividly remember when students have taken up the challenge with an open mind and a willing heart. One young lady put it wonderfully, and so I pass on her account:

I see how this isn’t just an abstract question, but also a deeply personal one.

In trying to make God bigger in our estimation, more necessary to us, it is too easy to make ourselves so small that we cease to have any significance. Therefore, we mistakenly think that because God matters, we don’t matter at all.

In trying to make ourselves bigger in our estimation, the center of the world, it is too easy to make God so small that He ceases to have any significance. Therefore, we mistakenly think that because we matter, God doesn’t matter at all.

If I’m going to make sense of all of it, and not just the bits I happen to like, only having certain assumptions isn’t going to be enough.

I think there is a perfectly good reason Boethius has saved this dilemma for last. Yes, it can be technically difficult, but it also gets straight to the core of how our being fits together with all of Being. It won’t do to brush it under the carpet with this or that popular ideology.

If I claim that God knows because we choose, then are we not just pulling God’s strings? And if I claim that we choose because God knows, isn’t God just pulling our strings?

I have overheard many good conversations in Texas and Oklahoma diners, most of them far more enlightening than any lecture at a fancy university. They can remarkably cover any topic under the sun, and they can become so ridiculous that they end up being profound.

On one day, a classically surly waitress was wearing a button on her shirt, which informed her customers that “God knows when you don’t tip!”

An equally iconic customer took up the challenge, enjoying every moment of it.

“Well, the way I see it, if he already knows, then I guess I’m gonna have to not give you a tip, because who am I to question the wisdom of the Lord?”

“Shut up, Jack, don’t you get all high and mighty with me!”

“Hey, you’re the one who brought God into it, not me!”

Good times, and also rather relevant points.

Written in 1/2016