In defense of Doubting Thomas

navigating faith and reason

Caravaggio

Every year the same gospel about Thomas is read on the Sunday after Easter. I wrote this a couple of years ago and yet—how more applicable is it today? So I share it here on Substack for whomever might stumble across it.

The gospel for the first Sunday after Easter tells the story of the apostles shut up in a room after the death of Jesus, scared, worried that they would be next, and just generally panicking. Jesus appears among them and reveals his risen state. He fills them with courage and gives them their orders to forgive others as he had done in the past. (This is often taken as the bestowing of the power of the priesthood.) One of the apostles is absent, Thomas. When he returns, he challenges their account and demands that when he can see Jesus for himself, put his hand in his side and touch his hand wounds, then he will believe. The next week Jesus returns and admonishes Thomas for his lack of faith. “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

This version from John, one of the latest of the gospel writers, sets the tone for the dominance of faith over reason for the early Christian church. This debate would rage in the first couple of hundred years but ultimately the Christian church of the Middle Ages accepted reason as a complement to faith. It never thought reason could replace faith, but it was willing to follow Augustine (5th century) and Anselm (11th century) in claiming that “faith seeks understanding.” And they were confident that truth through reason could never contradict a faith which itself is true.

Today we have lost that trust in reason and we too easily dismiss truth as simply how we feel. Was Thomas really so wrong to ask for some evidence? I mean, come on: a bunch of guys locked in a room fearful that they were next on the crucifixion docket — how reliable could they be? And usually dead guys do not come back, at least the really dead ones. But Jesus, via John here, elevates faith above reason and chides Thomas. But could not the act of doubt be the ultimate gesture of faith? And let’s face it, who amongst us has never been mistaken? Way before Jesus the Greeks warned of hubris — that overwhelming confidence in one’s own viewpoint as completely and utterly right. The uncritical acceptance of what someone tells you can likewise lead to a tragic downfall.

Fast-forward to now. Faith in many forms has overwhelmed reason and easily dismisses any attempts to question, seek proof, approach the world through that same god-given power of rational reflection. The conspiracy theorists spin absurd tales of a fake virus and the “deep state” plot but as they say things that confirm people’s opinions — they are immediately believed. All news is “fake news” if we do not like what it tells us. This represents a kind of faith in my own opinion. When it comes to religion, the history of Christianity itself offers an appalling story of faith being thrust down people’s throats and questioners summarily silenced, via condemnation or death. Which cardinal refused to look through Galileo’s telescope as an instrument of the devil?

Let’s rethink Thomas and give him some credit for doubting the word of others and for asking for proof. It might be worth noting that Jesus did provide it for him, as John tells it. He came back to verify and perhaps maybe, in the back story, Jesus appreciated Thomas’ careful skepticism. We humans are fallible. This means we can be mistaken; we might not actually understand everything. Our opinions are not true simply because we hold them. The history of philosophy stands as a reminder to always rethink what we are so confident we know — recall Socrates. And of course, science is willing to do likewise.

This is not a defense of radical skepticism, doubt for doubt’s sake. Ironically, that equally leads to a dogmatism. The refusal to accept evidence that has been rationally presented is doubt as a form of faith-blindness. In the gospel, Thomas believed in the end. I appreciate that one’s religion may demand a “leap of faith” and in some ways, that may be all one has for the tenets of any religious tradition, Christianity included. In many areas of life, faith burns bright and affirming.

But I for one am not going to condemn careful thinking Thomas. Yes, he doubted but sometimes doubt can be the ultimate sign of a faith taken seriously. And maybe we can end with the equally ironic Russian proverb, “Trust but verify.” Reason and faith work best when they work together. But a careful skeptical view, modulated by reason and evidence, an openness to being corrected, and a willingness to abandon an unfounded opinion — these are all essential qualities to have as human beings. In religion —  or right now, here —  as we face uncertainty, fear, and yet also hope. Thomas is not a loser here; he reminds us to be thinking human beings… with faith.