It is now over a hundred years
since Pope Leo X111 issued his Encyclical ‘Aeterni Patris’ on 4 August 1879,
which was devoted entirely to philosophy showing how philosophical thinking
contribute in fundamental ways to faith and theological learning.
Pope John Paul 11 decided in his
Encyclical ‘Fides et Ratio dated 14 September 1998 to revisit the above
Encyclical and to elaborate in a more systematic way the relationship between
faith and philosophy, the latter of which helped to develop culture and
influence social behaviour of people.
In addition the Pope considered
philosophy exercises a powerful influence on theology and its disciplines. When philosophy neglects or rejects the
truths of Revelation, it limits its value to humanity. The Church is convinced that faith and reason
‘mutually support each other’ as they offer to each other a purifying critique
and a stimulation to pursue the search of deeper understanding.
Humanity has progressed through
the meshing of thoughts contributed by both theology and philosophy. Theology has challenged reason to remain open
to God’s Revelation, and philosophy has likewise seen further meanings which
reason is required to penetrate.
It is right that philosophy
should recover its relationship with theology for the benefit of mankind. Theology is not the sole thinking of a single
person but the wealth of a communal reflection.
It is sustained in the search of truth by reference to tradition, and
its harmony of many different fields of learning and culture within the unity
of faith.
The Church promotes both the
defence of human dignity and the proclamation of the Gospel message. It is an urgent task to lead people to
discern their capacity to know the truth and yearn for definitive meaning of
life. God has inscribed in human nature,
the need to know the meaning of God’s word.
Through mediation of truly based philosophy, people are more prone to
follow the Gospel and give themselves to Christ.
Philosophy is the mirror
refecting the culture of a people. If
philosophy works in unison with theology’s demands, then it becomes part of
‘evangelisation of culture as outlined by Pope Paul V1.
Pope John Paul 11 has appealed to
philosophers to explore more comprehensively the beauties that follow for the
word of God. The new millennium seems to
have given rise to many new challenges affecting regions and cultures of long
standing Christian traditions. So he
hopes philosophy can be brought to bear in fostering the new evangelisation.
Christian philosophers can guide
and help other philosophers, not of Christian faith, to gain an understanding
of the truth, which divine Revelation declares.
If there is a clear and honest collaboration between Christians, and the
followers of other religions or those with no religious belief, then they can
combine to tackle other issues such as ecology, peace and the co-existence of
different races and cultures.
The Second Vatican Council in its
document ‘Gaudium et Spes’ was all in favour of such an approach.
The Pope encourages theologians
to pay special attention to the philosophical implications of the word of God,
and to all the speculative and practical aspects of the science of
theology. He thanked them for the service
to the Church.
The Pope asked theologians to
recall the words of Saint Bonaventure who ‘invites the reader to recognise the
inadequacy of reading without repentance, knowledge without devotion, research
without the impulse of wonder, prudence without the ability to surrender to
joy, action divorced from religion, learning sundered from love, intelligence
without humility, study unsustained by divine grace, thought without the wisdom
inspired by God.’
Those responsible for training
priests in the seminary have a big task of preparing them in philosophical
knowledge so that they can proclaim the Gospel to men and women, and to those
carrying out theological research and teaching.
They have grave responsibility to provide for the appropriate training
of those charged with teaching philosophy which requires a suitable scholarly
preparation and systematic presentation of the Christian tradition, and current
needs of the Church and world.
The Pope wants all philosophers
and teachers of philosophy to have the courage to recover the range of
authentic wisdom and truth proper to philosophical enquiry. They should always be alert to truth and the
good which truth brings. By exercising
reason, believers working in the philosophical field will become more assured
and penetrating from the support received from the faith.
He then addressed a word to
scientists whose research in complex atomic and molecular structures has given
the world ever-greater knowledge. He
urges them to continue their efforts without ever abandoning the philosophical
and ethical values, which are a mark of the human person. The search for truth is never ending, but it
always points beyond to something higher than the immediate object of study,
viz the Mystery of God.
Different philosophical systems
have led some philosophers to believe that they are absolute masters of their
own destiny in complete autonomy, trusting only in themselves and their own
powers. But they are mistaken because
fulfilment can only be achieved by dwelling under God’s protection. Only by understanding this truth will people
understand the freedom granted by God and love Him in gratitude.
The Pope left the final paragraph
108 to refer to the Virgin Mary as the ‘Seat of Wisdom’. He said that there is a deep harmony between
vocation of the Blessed Virgin and the vocation of true philosophy.
Mary accepted God’s invitation to
become the Mother of God for mankind’s benefit so too is philosophy required of
offer its rational and critical resources that theology may be fruitful and
creative. When philosophy follows the
truth of the Gospel, its autonomy is in no way impaired. In fact it is then that philosophy sees all
its enquiries rise to their highest expression.
He then asked Mary, Seat of
Wisdom to aid and assist all who devote their lives to the search of wisdom, so
that they will not be hindered in their quest. Mary gave birth to the truth,
and treasuring it in her hear, has shared it forever with all the world.
Given in Rome by Pope
John Paul 11 on 14/9/1998.
This concludes this series on the encyclical on Faith and Reason. I hope you have benefited from reading this summarized version of this Encyclical. Next week we continue to explore ways to live out this Year of Grace and how the Year of Faith which the whole universal church celebrates may be interconnected.
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