Facts And Their Interpretation

By RICHARD I’. McBRIEN, S.T.D., Crowley-O’Brien-Walter Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame [Available on this website with Fr. McBrien’s permission]

     Last month, in introducing a series of three columns on the Detroit “Call to Action” conference, I made a distinction between fact and interpretation, and suggested that such a distinction runs through all of our theology.

     I return now to that point because it merits direct consideration, apart from its application to the Detroit meeting.

     Facts are readily observable events. Two cars collide at an intersection. A policeman takes a photograph of the battered vehicles, the skid marks, and other damaged property.

Witnesses

     One witness says that car A deliberately slammed into car B, as if A were trying to apprehend the driver of car B.

     Another witness shrugs his shoulders and says it looked like an ordinary accident to him. The driver in car B was probably trying to beat a red light and lost his gamble, that’s all.

     A third witness insists that car A hesitated while proceeding through the intersection, leading B to believe that he could still make it through without hitting anyone.

Clear Facts

     The fact is clear. Two cars collided at a specific intersection, at a specific time of the day. But, it will take legal proceedings to sort out the interpretations and to find the fuller meaning behind the fact.

     Another example. A president appears on television to explain a political crisis. He speaks from a prepared text and completes his statement in 30 minutes. Matters of fact.

Meaning

     But what did it all mean? Was the man using the occasion to stall for more time? Was he really getting at the heart of the problem or was he emphasizing marginal issues to distract the public from more damaging ones?

     One viewer tells a pollster that she thought the President was honest, straightforward, and totally forthcoming about the crisis. She’s satisfied that he was telling the whole truth.

     Another viewer is unhappy because it seemed to her as the man spoke that he was nervous and uncomfortable. He was probably lying, or at least shaving the truth.

     A third viewer can’t make up his mind. The President seemed to be dealing with the problem head-on, but the issues are complicated and it’s difficult to tell just how much the man was holding back. Put this one down as “Not sure.”

     Again, the facts are clear. It’s not as if only one out of three people could really see and hear the man speaking on television. All three watched the program. All three heard the same words and saw the same expressions. But each one assigned a different meaning to what was seen and heard.

     The same distinction applies to matters of Christian faith. Many people were on Calvary the day Jesus was executed, nailed to a cross between two thieves.

     For some, it was simply the death of a religious fanatic who got himself in trouble with the law.

     For others, it was the end of the road for a blasphemer and a trouble-maker. Putting Jesus to death was itself an act of religion.

     For still others, of course, the crucifixion of Jesus was an act of God for the sake of the redemption of all.

     The Eucharist provides a similar example. Holding a flattened piece of bread and then a chalice containing some wine, a man says specific words at a specific time in the course of a specific ritual. “This is my body . . . This is my blood . . .”

     An atheist sitting in the front row, seeing and hearing everything, raises his eyebrows in contempt.

     A nonbelieving scholar, attending Mass for the first time, is excited to observe a ritual with such deep historical roots.

     A Catholic worshipper makes an act of faith. The Eucharistic Lord is present among us again.

     In years past, Catholic apologists thought it was enough to reconstruct the facts of early Christian times. If we can establish beyond all historical doubt that Jesus lived, that he preached a certain doctrine and made certain claims, that he died on the cross as the New Testament reports, then resistance to Christian faith must dissolve.

     But that is never sufficient. Faith is a matter of ”seeing” beyond the merely factual. It is a matter of perceiving the deeper meaning.

     It is not as if Christians have facts available to them not available to others. Nor is it that non-Christians stubbornly deny the facts in front of their noses.

     Rather, Christian faith is a matter of seeing more than meets the eye, of viewing all reality in the light of Jesus Christ. It is a light that God alone bestows.