Fides et Ratio On the Relationship between Faith and Reason

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 131 pages
• Published by: Pauline Books & Media
• Edition: 1st Edition December 1, 1998
• Written in: Latin
• ISBN 10 Number: 0819826693
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0819826695
• Book Dimensions: 7 x 4.8 x 0.3 inches
• Weighs: 4 ounces

Product Description
Pope John Paul II - Encyclical Letter "On the Relationship between Faith and Reason." (FIDES ET RATIO)

Reader Reviews
In Fides et Ratio, Pope John Paul II is addressing Catholic bishops regarding the value and relationship philosophy holds in regards to theology. The purpose of the encyclical letter is to stem certain abusive tendencies among theologians that distort divine revelation and to urge a new interest in philosophy as a means of articulating Christian truth. Divine revelation by its very nature proposes to man certain truths not naturally accessible to man from the standpoint of pure reason. Methodical reason, however, can explore these revealed truths in relation to established universal objective principles. A symbiotic relationship can therefore develop between theology and philosophy in which theology provides direction to the human quest for meaning and understanding and philosophy provides the language and method for articulating divine revelation. Divine and natural truth cannot be at odds since they both emanate from the God who is Truth, Jesus Christ. The Holy Father addresses the fact that much of modern philosophy bears a mistrust of reason and has abandoned metaphysical studies, having no confidence in the existence of universal truths. This has led to a crisis of meaning and contributes to the phenomenon of widespread despair and the culture of death. Finding universal truths to be confining, and limiting as regards freedom, modern philosophy has abandoned their pursuit and focuses upon utilitarian endeavors. The Holy Father warns that such a path, as embodied in such philosophies as the will to power, are ultimately self-destructive and lead to a disintegration of the human community. To deny the existence of universal truth is ultimately to deny existence. Nothing could be said to exist, not even one's own phenomenological experience. Truth, conversely, does not bind freedom, but is rather freedom's sole path. Any philosophy that denies the existence of truth is ultimately of no human value since it is absolutely at odds with lived experience. Human beings base their lives, their existence, upon what they know - whether through reason or divine revelation. If nothing can be know, as so much of modern philosophy contends, then our lives, our civilization, is groundless and doomed to fall. Truth, however, is inherently sought after by the human person and no matter what the philosophers say, man will not allow it to die. The Church for its part must insure that the articulation of revealed Christian truth proceeds within linguistic methods of reasoning, themselves based upon natural truth that in its own manner proceeds from God.