Descartes, Pro and Contra

On the one hand: Method is a discipleship – a “following after.” And the Cartesian methodus is in conflict with the “following after” demanded of a Christian disciple. Here, Descartes offers a different way, a different truth and life. The Christian “method” of knowledge and wisdom is discipleship, not doubt or the pursuit of “clear and distinct ideas.”

On the other hand: Descartes, the orthodox charged, confused the Creator and creature, demanding for man not just the earth but “the possession and lordship of heaven, fire, air, water, the earth and all nature.” To this, orthodoxy’s characteristic reply was to emphasize original sin. Europe was forced to choose between universal lordship and misery, and understandably chose the former.

There is something profoundly right, even evangelical, about the Cartesian spirit. In it we hear distorted echoes of Paul: “All is yours, life death the present the future; all is yours.”