Number 1 of Fides et ratio contains a phrase crucial for the dialogue between science and philosophy. Its meaning is clear in the Latin, polish, English, German, French and Portuguese versions, but it loses its strength in the Italian and Spanish texts.

On its twenty-fifth anniversary, Fides et ratio remains relevant for its bold defense of reason and the complementarity of faith and reason. It describes a philosophy that is not the preserve of academics but the duty of every person. It asserts that philosophy is never contained in one system but is always open to new questions and further insights. St. John Paul defends a philosophy that welcomes pluralism based on the richness of being but rejects a pluralism based (...) on the impossibility of knowing the truth. Reflecting on Fides et ratio, this article describes six ways that theology uses philosophy and offers five lessons for philosophers, i.e., the universal character of philosophy, the complementarity of faith and reason, the necessity and limits of pluralism, the requirements for a philosophy to be consonant with theology, and the current reinvigoration of philosophy in seminaries. (shrink)

Although Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas are often cited in support of “faith and reason,” the doublet achieved prominence in that form only in the nineteenth century. The encyclical Fides et ratio can be seen as forming Aeterni patris, Humani generis, and Dei verbum into a tradition. Indeed, it looks back to the nineteenth century and remains at best uninterested in twentieth-century thought. One difficulty with the expression is that each of “faith” and “reason” can be defined against “experience,” (...) and there is a danger that the doublet “faith and reason” invites abstraction from all contexts, including exegesis and love, imagination, and sacrament. Properly understood, “faith and reason” implies “faith and reason and . . .” The encyclical is unclear at crucial moments. It begins to speak of reason, then slides into talk of rationalism. It regards a crisis of rationalism as leading to nihilism, but the conclusion is hastily drawn, at best. It underlines the importance of metaphysics and is critical of “the end of metaphysics,” but confuses different senses of the word. (shrink)

Im Allgemeinen widmet sich das vorliegende Buch dem gemeinsamen Problembereich der zeitgenössischen Theologie und Philosophie, aber den konkreten Anlass der hiesigen Beiträgen geben jedoch die Parallelität in der Erscheinung der Enzyklika Fides et Ratio vom Papst Hl. Johannes Paulus II., und die Heiligsprechung Edith Steins (Mitpatronin Europas) von demselben heiligen Papst. Die Autoren des Bandes reflektieren sich auf die Gemeinsamkeit des Denkens dieser zwei Heiligen des 20. Jahrhunderts, auf ihre philosophischen Engagements in der christlichen Philosophie, sowie auf die (...) heutigen Möglichkeiten des gemeinsamen Denkens von Philosophie und Theologie. (shrink)

I ask everyone to look more deeply at man, whom Christ has saved in the mystery of His love, and at the human being’s unceasing search for truth and meaning. Different philosophical systems have lured people into believing that they are their own absolute master, able to decide their own destiny and future in complete autonomy, trusting only in themselves and their own powers. But this can never be the grandeur of the human being who can find fulfillment only in (...) choosing to enter the truth, to make a home under the shade of Wisdom and dwell there. Only within this horizon of truth will people understand their freedom in its fullness and their call to know and love God as the supreme realization of their true self. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the third chapter of Fides et ratio, entitled Intellego ut credam This sentence is usually connected with the preambula fidei, truths which are supposed to prepare human mind to receive the gift of faith. But in this case, Pope John Paul II develops this sentence in a different, more existential way according to which the real preambula fidei are not so much a set of truths as the real man who seeks the truth with (...) his entire life. This interpretation remarks the practical dimmension of the relationship between man and truth. (shrink)

O texto procura refletir sobre o diálogo contemporâneo da Teologia com a Arte a partir da antropologia contida em ambas que permite re-significar: 1) o aspecto soteriológico da fé, como aquela que vem salvar o humano gerando comunhão e não condená-lo, gerando marginalização; 2) refazer os fundamentos da razão como razão fria para uma razão voltada para seu compromisso com a vida.

Avant d'analyser Fides et ratio, l'A. reprend les réflexions récentes sur la théologie fondamentale effectuées à partir du Congrès International de Théologie Fondamentale de 1995 à l'Université Grégorienne de Rome et dans diverses publications postérieures jusqu'à la parution de l'encyclique. Puis il expose et développe les apports de cette dernière à la théologie fondamentale. Enfin il fait une proposition de structure de la théologie fondamentale.

This paper proposes a wider framework for the diagnostic and evaluative readings of Fides et Ratio. Each commentator has provided an exit from the impasse of the encyclical’s rhetoric of affirmation and denial in the form of a double reading of the text. In a wider framework, John Paul II holds up Antonio Rosmini among those whose works he considers paradigmatic for the fruitful relation between faith and reason. This displays a period of a prolonged struggle between an (...) Augustinian and a Thomist style of theology which finds expression in a Christ-versus-culture approach in Catholic theology. The reading of Fides et Ratio reveal something of a “third way” in their affirmative readings of the encyclical. (shrink)

The Encyclical Fides et ratio contains a very valuable explanation of what is called "Christian philosophy", both in its positive and negative aspects, and with specific references to the present time.

Introduction: "Know yourself" -- The revelation of God's wisdom -- Credo ut intellegam -- Intellego ut credam -- The relationship between faith and reason -- The interventions of the Magisterium in philosophical matters -- The interaction between philosophy and theology -- Current requirements and tasks -- Conclusion.

Scientific truth, the unity of knowledge, scientism, and scientific progress , are topics that occupy a central place in the dialogue between science and faith. Fides et ratio illuminates them in the light of the present-day circumstances, and provides new philosophical and theological insights.

"Do I believe to understand or do I understand to believe? From an analysis of chapters II and III of Fides et ratio, and the texts of St. Thomas Aquinas, an analysis is sought that aims to offer a response that reconciles these two ambits within an anthropological perspective.".

Die Enzyklika Fides et Ratio öffnet sich betont einem Verständnis von Philosophie, das deren neuzeitliche Ansätze nicht grundsätzlich diskreditiert; sie richtet aber klare Forderungen an die Philosophierenden und weist sie aus philosophischen Motiven auf ihre genuinen Aufgaben hin. Dies wird sachlich gesehen an zwei Kernthemen der Enzyklika , geschichtlich gesehen an Augustinus und Kant untersucht, wobei Kant nach einem erstaunlich positiven Anfang alsbald durch ungünstige Konstellationen bei katholischen Lesern in ein schiefes Licht gekommen war. Gezeigt wird, dass dem (...) Ausdruck 'Autonomie' im Kontext der Philosophie Kants alles Willkürhafte fehlt, das ihm in der Sprache der Enzyklika anhaftet, und dass der nicht subjektivistische Sinn der 'Autonomie' auch bei Augustinus eine klar hervortretende Rolle spielt. Beider Denken ist von der Offenheit für Transzendenz und vom Bewusstsein der Notwendigkeit der Gnade bestimmt. Beiden geht es wesentlich um die Beziehung zum 'lebendigen Gott' und um die Möglichkeit des Selbstseins endlicher vernünftiger Wesen.The encyclical Fides et Ratio explicitly embraces an understanding of philosophy which does not, on principle, discredit its modern approaches. It does, however, make certain demands which philosophers must respect and has philosophical motivations for reminding them of their genuine tasks. The present paper offers an analysis that focuses - systematically - on two central themes of the encyclical and - historically - on Augustine and Kant. After surprisingly positive beginnings of Kant's reception among Catholics, he soon appeared in a bad light due to unfavourable circumstances. This paper shows that the term "autonomy", in Kant's philosophy, lacks any connotation of arbitrariness with which it is associated in the encyclical's language; the paper furthermore shows that the non-subjectivistic meaning of "autonomy" is markedly discernible in Augustine as well. Both philosophies are characterized by an openness to transcendence and acknowledge the necessity of grace. A chief concern of both thinkers is the relationship with the 'living God' and the possibility of selfhood for finite rational beings. (shrink)

The author considers Pope John Paul II's 1998 encyclical, Fides et ratio, as bringing into view new horizons for Catholic philosophical theology by virtue of its endorsement of a constrained philosophical pluralism. Through a retrospective examination of the history of magisterial interventions as depicted in the encyclical, the author notes how a progressive openness to philosophical pluralism relates to the changed status of Thomism within magisterial teaching on the practice of Catholic philosophical theology. Fides et ratio (...) describes an evolution in magisterial emphasis from proscription to prescription, which corresponds to change in the status of Thomism from an absolute to an exemplary norm. Attention to this decisive shift in the normative status of Thomism, as implied within the encyclical itself, provides both new illumination on the Pope's general intentions and new clarity with regard to some contested interpretive issues. Finally, the author highlights several new challenges that are implied by this development in magisterial teaching. (shrink)

The criticism of Bernstein on the encyclical Fides et ratio, claiming that it does not take into account the progress made by the best philosophies of this Century on the analysis of truth, is false. This paper show that the encyclical does take into account the achievements of analytical epistemology. Also it says that the even challenges analytical philosophy to deal with even more important issues such as the role of metaphysics in the analysis of human knowledge and (...) conceptual language. (shrink)

Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter Fides et Ratio examines the foundations of epistemology and encourages a renewed discourse on what it actually means to know truth. The pontiff—both a philosopher and a theologian—reevaluates through the prism of man’s proper relation to truth the age-old question about the compatibility of faith and reason as means of acquiring knowledge. John Paul offers his perspective on the matter in the “Introduction” to Fides et Ratio by employing, in his (...) native Polish, four non-exchangeable epistemological terms. Due, however, to the rather imprecise translations of his work, the profundity of John Paul’s thought largely has been obscured.The author of this paper attempts to recover the pope’s particular understanding of the nature of knowledge by expounding on the epistemological paradigm and norm presented by John Paul in addition to critiquing his view that modern society’s pursuit of knowledge parallels sinking in quicksand. Uncovering these insights ultimately leads him to a fuller interpretation of what kind of “knowledge,” according to Pope John Paul II, properly reflects the totality of man’s innate personhood and therefore what ought to constitute the underpinnings of knowledge itself. (shrink)

The encychcal Fides et ratio proclaimed by John Paul II on 14 September 1998 is a continuation of doctrinal statements by the Magisterium of the Church on a matter that has been an object of its concern from its very beginnings. This is the problem posed by the relationship between philosophy and faith. The solutions put forward by Vatican Council I in connection with this problem provoked a response in Catholic philosophical and theological circles. One of the most (...) important events in this field in Polish terms was the publication of Father Marian Ignacy Morawski's S J considerable work Filozofia i jej zadanie. This work is the subject of discussion in the article below. (shrink)