|
My Venerable Brother Bishops, Health and
the Apostolic Blessing!
Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises
to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart
a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by
knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness
of truth about themselves (cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9; 63:2-3; Jn 14:8;
1 Jn 3:2).
Introduction
“KNOW YOURSELF”
1. In both East and West, we may trace a journey which has led
humanity down the centuries to meet and engage truth more and more
deeply. It is a journey which has unfolded—as it must—within the
horizon of personal self-consciousness: the more human beings know
reality and the world, the more they know themselves in their
uniqueness, with the question of the meaning of things and of their
very existence becoming ever more pressing. This is why all that is
the object of our knowledge becomes a part of our life. The
admonition Know yourself was carved on the temple portal at Delphi,
as testimony to a basic truth to be adopted as a minimal norm by
those who seek to set themselves apart from the rest of creation as
“human beings”, that is as those who “know themselves”.
Moreover, a cursory glance at ancient history shows clearly how in
different parts of the world, with their different cultures, there
arise at the same time the fundamental questions which pervade human
life: Who am I? Where have I come from and where am I going? Why is
there evil? What is there after this life? These are the questions
which we find in the sacred writings of Israel, as also in the Veda
and the Avesta; we find them in the writings of Confucius and Lao-Tze,
and in the preaching of Tirthankara and Buddha; they appear in the
poetry of Homer and in the tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles, as
they do in the philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle. They
are questions which have their common source in the quest for
meaning which has always compelled the human heart. In fact, the
answer given to these questions decides the direction which people
seek to give to their lives.
2. The Church is no stranger to this journey of discovery, nor could
she ever be. From the moment when, through the Paschal Mystery, she
received the gift of the ultimate truth about human life, the Church
has made her pilgrim way along the paths of the world to proclaim
that Jesus Christ is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn
14:6). It is her duty to serve humanity in different ways, but one
way in particular imposes a responsibility of a quite special kind:
the diakonia of the truth.(1) This mission on the one hand makes the
believing community a partner in humanity's shared struggle to
arrive at truth; (2) and on the other hand it obliges the believing
community to proclaim the certitudes arrived at, albeit with a sense
that every truth attained is but a step towards that fullness of
truth which will appear with the final Revelation of God: “For now
we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part;
then I shall understand fully” (1 Cor 13:12).
3. Men and women have at their
disposal an array of resources for generating greater knowledge of
truth so that their lives may be ever more human. Among these is
philosophy, which is directly concerned with asking the question of
life's meaning and sketching an answer to it. Philosophy emerges,
then, as one of noblest of human tasks. According to its Greek
etymology, the term philosophy means “love of wisdom”. Born and
nurtured when the human being first asked questions about the reason
for things and their purpose, philosophy shows in different modes
and forms that the desire for truth is part of human nature itself.
It is an innate property of human reason to ask why things are as
they are, even though the answers which gradually emerge are set
within a horizon which reveals how the different human cultures are
complementary.
Philosophy's powerful influence on the formation and development of
the cultures of the West should not obscure the influence it has
also had upon the ways of understanding existence found in the East.
Every people has its own native and seminal wisdom which, as a true
cultural treasure, tends to find voice and develop in forms which
are genuinely philosophical. One example of this is the basic form
of philosophical knowledge which is evident to this day in the
postulates which inspire national and international legal systems in
regulating the life of society.
4. Nonetheless, it is true that a
single term conceals a variety of meanings. Hence the need for a
preliminary clarification. Driven by the desire to discover the
ultimate truth of existence, human beings seek to acquire those
universal elements of knowledge which enable them to understand
themselves better and to advance in their own self-realization.
These fundamental elements of knowledge spring from the wonder
awakened in them by the contemplation of creation: human beings are
astonished to discover themselves as part of the world, in a
relationship with others like them, all sharing a common destiny.
Here begins, then, the journey which will lead them to discover ever
new frontiers of knowledge. Without wonder, men and women would
lapse into deadening routine and little by little would become
incapable of a life which is genuinely personal.
Through philosophy's work, the ability to speculate which is proper
to the human intellect produces a rigorous mode of thought; and then
in turn, through the logical coherence of the affirmations made and
the organic unity of their content, it produces a systematic body of
knowledge. In different cultural contexts and at different times,
this process has yielded results which have produced genuine systems
of thought. Yet often enough in history this has brought with it the
temptation to identify one single stream with the whole of
philosophy. In such cases, we are clearly dealing with a
“philosophical pride” which seeks to present its own partial and
imperfect view as the complete reading of all reality. In effect,
every philosophical system, while it should always be respected in
its wholeness, without any instrumentalization, must still recognize
the primacy of philosophical enquiry, from which it stems and which
it ought loyally to serve.
Although times change and knowledge increases, it is possible to
discern a core of philosophical insight within the history of
thought as a whole. Consider, for example, the principles of
non-contradiction, finality and causality, as well as the concept of
the person as a free and intelligent subject, with the capacity to
know God, truth and goodness. Consider as well certain fundamental
moral norms which are shared by all. These are among the indications
that, beyond different schools of thought, there exists a body of
knowledge which may be judged a kind of spiritual heritage of
humanity. It is as if we had come upon an implicit philosophy, as a
result of which all feel that they possess these principles, albeit
in a general and unreflective way. Precisely because it is shared in
some measure by all, this knowledge should serve as a kind of
reference-point for the different philosophical schools. Once reason
successfully intuits and formulates the first universal principles
of being and correctly draws from them conclusions which are
coherent both logically and ethically, then it may be called right
reason or, as the ancients called it, orth(o-)s logos, recta ratio.
5. On her part, the Church cannot but
set great value upon reason's drive to attain goals which render
people's lives ever more worthy. She sees in philosophy the way to
come to know fundamental truths about human life. At the same time,
the Church considers philosophy an indispensable help for a deeper
understanding of faith and for communicating the truth of the Gospel
to those who do not yet know it.
Therefore, following upon similar initiatives by my Predecessors, I
wish to reflect upon this special activity of human reason. I judge
it necessary to do so because, at the present time in particular,
the search for ultimate truth seems often to be neglected. Modern
philosophy clearly has the great merit of focusing attention upon
man. From this starting-point, human reason with its many questions
has developed further its yearning to know more and to know it ever
more deeply. Complex systems of thought have thus been built,
yielding results in the different fields of knowledge and fostering
the development of culture and history. Anthropology, logic, the
natural sciences, history, linguistics and so forth—the whole
universe of knowledge has been involved in one way or another. Yet
the positive results achieved must not obscure the fact that reason,
in its one-sided concern to investigate human subjectivity, seems to
have forgotten that men and women are always called to direct their
steps towards a truth which transcends them. Sundered from that
truth, individuals are at the mercy of caprice, and their state as
person ends up being judged by pragmatic criteria based essentially
upon experimental data, in the mistaken belief that technology must
dominate all. It has happened therefore that reason, rather than
voicing the human orientation towards truth, has wilted under the
weight of so much knowledge and little by little has lost the
capacity to lift its gaze to the heights, not daring to rise to the
truth of being. Abandoning the investigation of being, modern
philosophical research has concentrated instead upon human knowing.
Rather than make use of the human capacity to know the truth, modern
philosophy has preferred to accentuate the ways in which this
capacity is limited and conditioned.
This has given rise to different forms of agnosticism and relativism
which have led philosophical research to lose its way in the
shifting sands of widespread scepticism. Recent times have seen the
rise to prominence of various doctrines which tend to devalue even
the truths which had been judged certain. A legitimate plurality of
positions has yielded to an undifferentiated pluralism, based upon
the assumption that all positions are equally valid, which is one of
today's most widespread symptoms of the lack of confidence in truth.
Even certain conceptions of life coming from the East betray this
lack of confidence, denying truth its exclusive character and
assuming that truth reveals itself equally in different doctrines,
even if they contradict one another. On this understanding,
everything is reduced to opinion; and there is a sense of being
adrift. While, on the one hand, philosophical thinking has succeeded
in coming closer to the reality of human life and its forms of
expression, it has also tended to pursue issues—existential,
hermeneutical or linguistic—which ignore the radical question of the
truth about personal existence, about being and about God. Hence we
see among the men and women of our time, and not just in some
philosophers, attitudes of widespread distrust of the human being's
great capacity for knowledge. With a false modesty, people rest
content with partial and provisional truths, no longer seeking to
ask radical questions about the meaning and ultimate foundation of
human, personal and social existence. In short, the hope that
philosophy might be able to provide definitive answers to these
questions has dwindled.
6. Sure of her competence as the
bearer of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Church reaffirms the
need to reflect upon truth. This is why I have decided to address
you, my venerable Brother Bishops, with whom I share the mission of
“proclaiming the truth openly” (2 Cor 4:2), as also theologians and
philosophers whose duty it is to explore the different aspects of
truth, and all those who are searching; and I do so in order to
offer some reflections on the path which leads to true wisdom, so
that those who love truth may take the sure path leading to it and
so find rest from their labours and joy for their spirit.
I feel impelled to undertake this task above all because of the
Second Vatican Council's insistence that the Bishops are “witnesses
of divine and catholic truth”.(3) To bear witness to the truth is
therefore a task entrusted to us Bishops; we cannot renounce this
task without failing in the ministry which we have received. In
reaffirming the truth of faith, we can both restore to our
contemporaries a genuine trust in their capacity to know and
challenge philosophy to recover and develop its own full dignity.
There is a further reason why I write these reflections. In my
Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, I drew attention to “certain
fundamental truths of Catholic doctrine which, in the present
circumstances, risk being distorted or denied”.(4) In the present
Letter, I wish to pursue that reflection by concentrating on the
theme of truth itself and on its foundation in relation to faith.
For it is undeniable that this time of rapid and complex change can
leave especially the younger generation, to whom the future belongs
and on whom it depends, with a sense that they have no valid points
of reference. The need for a foundation for personal and communal
life becomes all the more pressing at a time when we are faced with
the patent inadequacy of perspectives in which the ephemeral is
affirmed as a value and the possibility of discovering the real
meaning of life is cast into doubt. This is why many people stumble
through life to the very edge of the abyss without knowing where
they are going. At times, this happens because those whose vocation
it is to give cultural expression to their thinking no longer look
to truth, preferring quick success to the toil of patient enquiry
into what makes life worth living. With its enduring appeal to the
search for truth, philosophy has the great responsibility of forming
thought and culture; and now it must strive resolutely to recover
its original vocation. This is why I have felt both the need and the
duty to address this theme so that, on the threshold of the third
millennium of the Christian era, humanity may come to a clearer
sense of the great resources with which it has been endowed and may
commit itself with renewed courage to implement the plan of
salvation of which its history is part.
Chapter I
The Revelation of God's Wisdom
Jesus, revealer of the Father
7. Underlying all the Church's
thinking is the awareness that she is the bearer of a message which
has its origin in God himself (cf. 2 Cor 4:1-2). The knowledge which
the Church offers to man has its origin not in any speculation of
her own, however sublime, but in the word of God which she has
received in faith (cf. 1 Th 2:13). At the origin of our life of
faith there is an encounter, unique in kind, which discloses a
mystery hidden for long ages (cf. 1 Cor 2:7; Rom 16:25-26) but which
is now revealed: “In his goodness and wisdom, God chose to reveal
himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of his will (cf.
Eph 1:9), by which, through Christ, the Word made flesh, man has
access to the Father in the Holy Spirit and comes to share in the
divine nature”.(5) This initiative is utterly gratuitous, moving
from God to men and women in order to bring them to salvation. As
the source of love, God desires to make himself known; and the
knowledge which the human being has of God perfects all that the
human mind can know of the meaning of life.
8. Restating almost to the letter the
teaching of the First Vatican Council's Constitution Dei Filius, and
taking into account the principles set out by the Council of Trent,
the Second Vatican Council's Constitution Dei Verbum pursued the
age-old journey of understanding faith, reflecting on Revelation in
the light of the teaching of Scripture and of the entire Patristic
tradition. At the First Vatican Council, the Fathers had stressed
the supernatural character of God's Revelation. On the basis of
mistaken and very widespread assertions, the rationalist critique of
the time attacked faith and denied the possibility of any knowledge
which was not the fruit of reason's natural capacities. This obliged
the Council to reaffirm emphatically that there exists a knowledge
which is peculiar to faith, surpassing the knowledge proper to human
reason, which nevertheless by its nature can discover the Creator.
This knowledge expresses a truth based upon the very fact of God who
reveals himself, a truth which is most certain, since God neither
deceives nor wishes to deceive.(6)
9. The First Vatican Council teaches,
then, that the truth attained by philosophy and the truth of
Revelation are neither identical nor mutually exclusive: “There
exists a twofold order of knowledge, distinct not only as regards
their source, but also as regards their object. With regard to the
source, because we know in one by natural reason, in the other by
divine faith. With regard to the object, because besides those
things which natural reason can attain, there are proposed for our
belief mysteries hidden in God which, unless they are divinely
revealed, cannot be known”.(7) Based upon God's testimony and
enjoying the supernatural assistance of grace, faith is of an order
other than philosophical knowledge which depends upon sense
perception and experience and which advances by the light of the
intellect alone. Philosophy and the sciences function within the
order of natural reason; while faith, enlightened and guided by the
Spirit, recognizes in the message of salvation the “fullness of
grace and truth” (cf. Jn 1:14) which God has willed to reveal in
history and definitively through his Son, Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Jn
5:9; Jn 5:31-32).
10. Contemplating Jesus as revealer,
the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council stressed the salvific
character of God's Revelation in history, describing it in these
terms: “In this Revelation, the invisible God (cf. Col 1:15; 1 Tim
1:17), out of the abundance of his love speaks to men and women as
friends (cf. Ex 33:11; Jn 15:14-15) and lives among them (cf. Bar
3:38), so that he may invite and take them into communion with
himself. This plan of Revelation is realized by deeds and words
having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of
salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified
by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the
mystery contained in them. By this Revelation, then, the deepest
truth about God and human salvation is made clear to us in Christ,
who is the mediator and at the same time the fullness of all
Revelation”.(8)
11. God's Revelation is therefore
immersed in time and history. Jesus Christ took flesh in the
“fullness of time” (Gal 4:4); and two thousand years later, I feel
bound to restate forcefully that “in Christianity time has a
fundamental importance”.(9) It is within time that the whole work of
creation and salvation comes to light; and it emerges clearly above
all that, with the Incarnation of the Son of God, our life is even
now a foretaste of the fulfilment of time which is to come (cf. Heb
1:2).
The truth about himself and his life which God has entrusted to
humanity is immersed therefore in time and history; and it was
declared once and for all in the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth. The
Constitution Dei Verbum puts it eloquently: “After speaking in many
places and varied ways through the prophets, God 'last of all in
these days has spoken to us by his Son' (Heb 1:1-2). For he sent his
Son, the eternal Word who enlightens all people, so that he might
dwell among them and tell them the innermost realities about God
(cf. Jn 1:1-18). Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, sent as 'a human
being to human beings', 'speaks the words of God' (Jn 3:34), and
completes the work of salvation which his Father gave him to do (cf.
Jn 5:36; 17:4). To see Jesus is to see his Father (Jn 14:9). For
this reason, Jesus perfected Revelation by fulfilling it through his
whole work of making himself present and manifesting himself:
through his words and deeds, his signs and wonders, but especially
though his death and glorious Resurrection from the dead and finally
his sending of the Spirit of truth”.(10)
For the People of God, therefore, history becomes a path to be
followed to the end, so that by the unceasing action of the Holy
Spirit (cf. Jn 16:13) the contents of revealed truth may find their
full expression. This is the teaching of the Constitution Dei Verbum
when it states that “as the centuries succeed one another, the
Church constantly progresses towards the fullness of divine truth,
until the words of God reach their complete fulfilment in her”.(11)
12. History therefore becomes the
arena where we see what God does for humanity. God comes to us in
the things we know best and can verify most easily, the things of
our everyday life, apart from which we cannot understand ourselves.
In the Incarnation of the Son of God we see forged the enduring and
definitive synthesis which the human mind of itself could not even
have imagined: the Eternal enters time, the Whole lies hidden in the
part, God takes on a human face. The truth communicated in Christ's
Revelation is therefore no longer confined to a particular place or
culture, but is offered to every man and woman who would welcome it
as the word which is the absolutely valid source of meaning for
human life. Now, in Christ, all have access to the Father, since by
his Death and Resurrection Christ has bestowed the divine life which
the first Adam had refused (cf. Rom 5:12-15). Through this
Revelation, men and women are offered the ultimate truth about their
own life and about the goal of history. As the Constitution Gaudium
et Spes puts it, “only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the
mystery of man take on light”.(12) Seen in any other terms, the
mystery of personal existence remains an insoluble riddle. Where
might the human being seek the answer to dramatic questions such as
pain, the suffering of the innocent and death, if not in the light
streaming from the mystery of Christ's Passion, Death and
Resurrection?
Reason before the mystery
13. It should nonetheless be kept in
mind that Revelation remains charged with mystery. It is true that
Jesus, with his entire life, revealed the countenance of the Father,
for he came to teach the secret things of God.(13) But our vision of
the face of God is always fragmentary and impaired by the limits of
our understanding. Faith alone makes it possible to penetrate the
mystery in a way that allows us to understand it coherently.
The Council teaches that “the obedience of faith must be given to
God who reveals himself”.(14) This brief but dense statement points
to a fundamental truth of Christianity. Faith is said first to be an
obedient response to God. This implies that God be acknowledged in
his divinity, transcendence and supreme freedom. By the authority of
his absolute transcendence, God who makes himself known is also the
source of the credibility of what he reveals. By faith, men and
women give their assent to this divine testimony. This means that
they acknowledge fully and integrally the truth of what is revealed
because it is God himself who is the guarantor of that truth. They
can make no claim upon this truth which comes to them as gift and
which, set within the context of interpersonal communication, urges
reason to be open to it and to embrace its profound meaning. This is
why the Church has always considered the act of entrusting oneself
to God to be a moment of fundamental decision which engages the
whole person. In that act, the intellect and the will display their
spiritual nature, enabling the subject to act in a way which
realizes personal freedom to the full.(15) It is not just that
freedom is part of the act of faith: it is absolutely required.
Indeed, it is faith that allows individuals to give consummate
expression to their own freedom. Put differently, freedom is not
realized in decisions made against God. For how could it be an
exercise of true freedom to refuse to be open to the very reality
which enables our self-realization? Men and women can accomplish no
more important act in their lives than the act of faith; it is here
that freedom reaches the certainty of truth and chooses to live in
that truth.
To assist reason in its effort to understand the mystery there are
the signs which Revelation itself presents. These serve to lead the
search for truth to new depths, enabling the mind in its autonomous
exploration to penetrate within the mystery by use of reason's own
methods, of which it is rightly jealous. Yet these signs also urge
reason to look beyond their status as signs in order to grasp the
deeper meaning which they bear. They contain a hidden truth to which
the mind is drawn and which it cannot ignore without destroying the
very signs which it is given.
In a sense, then, we return to the sacramental character of
Revelation and especially to the sign of the Eucharist, in which the
indissoluble unity between the signifier and signified makes it
possible to grasp the depths of the mystery. In the Eucharist,
Christ is truly present and alive, working through his Spirit; yet,
as Saint Thomas said so well, “what you neither see nor grasp, faith
confirms for you, leaving nature far behind; a sign it is that now
appears, hiding in mystery realities sublime”.(16) He is echoed by
the philosopher Pascal: “Just as Jesus Christ went unrecognized
among men, so does his truth appear without external difference
among common modes of thought. So too does the Eucharist remain
among common bread”.(17)
In short, the knowledge proper to faith does not destroy the
mystery; it only reveals it the more, showing how necessary it is
for people's lives: Christ the Lord “in revealing the mystery of the
Father and his love fully reveals man to himself and makes clear his
supreme calling”,(18) which is to share in the divine mystery of the
life of the Trinity.(19)
14. From the teaching of the two
Vatican Councils there also emerges a genuinely novel consideration
for philosophical learning. Revelation has set within history a
point of reference which cannot be ignored if the mystery of human
life is to be known. Yet this knowledge refers back constantly to
the mystery of God which the human mind cannot exhaust but can only
receive and embrace in faith. Between these two poles, reason has
its own specific field in which it can enquire and understand,
restricted only by its finiteness before the infinite mystery of
God.
Revelation therefore introduces into our history a universal and
ultimate truth which stirs the human mind to ceaseless effort;
indeed, it impels reason continually to extend the range of its
knowledge until it senses that it has done all in its power, leaving
no stone unturned. To assist our reflection on this point we have
one of the most fruitful and important minds in human history, a
point of reference for both philosophy and theology: Saint Anselm.
In his Proslogion, the Archbishop of Canterbury puts it this way:
“Thinking of this problem frequently and intently, at times it
seemed I was ready to grasp what I was seeking; at other times it
eluded my thought completely, until finally, despairing of being
able to find it, I wanted to abandon the search for something which
was impossible to find. I wanted to rid myself of that thought
because, by filling my mind, it distracted me from other problems
from which I could gain some profit; but it would then present
itself with ever greater insistence... Woe is me, one of the poor
children of Eve, far from God, what did I set out to do and what
have I accomplished? What was I aiming for and how far have I got?
What did I aspire to and what did I long for?... O Lord, you are not
only that than which nothing greater can be conceived (non solum es
quo maius cogitari nequit), but you are greater than all that can be
conceived (quiddam maius quam cogitari possit)... If you were not
such, something greater than you could be thought, but this is
impossible”.(20)
15. The truth of Christian Revelation,
found in Jesus of Nazareth, enables all men and women to embrace the
“mystery” of their own life. As absolute truth, it summons human
beings to be open to the transcendent, whilst respecting both their
autonomy as creatures and their freedom. At this point the
relationship between freedom and truth is complete, and we
understand the full meaning of the Lord's words: “You will know the
truth, and the truth will make you free” (Jn 8:32).
Christian Revelation is the true lodestar of men and women as they
strive to make their way amid the pressures of an immanentist habit
of mind and the constrictions of a technocratic logic. It is the
ultimate possibility offered by God for the human being to know in
all its fullness the seminal plan of love which began with creation.
To those wishing to know the truth, if they can look beyond
themselves and their own concerns, there is given the possibility of
taking full and harmonious possession of their lives, precisely by
following the path of truth. Here the words of the Book of
Deuteronomy are pertinent: “This commandment which I command you is
not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven
that you should say, 'Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it
to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea,
that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it
to us, that we may hear and do it?' But the word is very near you;
it is in your mouth and in your heart, that you can do it”
(30:11-14). This text finds an echo in the famous dictum of the holy
philosopher and theologian Augustine: “Do not wander far and wide
but return into yourself. Deep within man there dwells the truth” (Noli
foras ire, in te ipsum redi. In interiore homine habitat veritas).(21)
These considerations prompt a first conclusion: the truth made known
to us by Revelation is neither the product nor the consummation of
an argument devised by human reason. It appears instead as something
gratuitous, which itself stirs thought and seeks acceptance as an
expression of love. This revealed truth is set within our history as
an anticipation of that ultimate and definitive vision of God which
is reserved for those who believe in him and seek him with a sincere
heart. The ultimate purpose of personal existence, then, is the
theme of philosophy and theology alike. For all their difference of
method and content, both disciplines point to that “path of life”
(Ps 16:11) which, as faith tells us, leads in the end to the full
and lasting joy of the contemplation of the Triune God.
Chapter II
Credo ut Intellegam
“Wisdom knows all and understands all” (Wis 9:11)
16. Sacred Scripture indicates with remarkably clear cues how deeply
related are the knowledge conferred by faith and the knowledge
conferred by reason; and it is in the Wisdom literature that this
relationship is addressed most explicitly. What is striking about
these biblical texts, if they are read without prejudice, is that
they embody not only the faith of Israel, but also the treasury of
cultures and civilizations which have long vanished. As if by
special design, the voices of Egypt and Mesopotamia sound again and
certain features common to the cultures of the ancient Near East
come to life in these pages which are so singularly rich in deep
intuition.
It is no accident that, when the sacred author comes to describe the
wise man, he portrays him as one who loves and seeks the truth:
“Happy the man who meditates on wisdom and reasons intelligently,
who reflects in his heart on her ways and ponders her secrets. He
pursues her like a hunter and lies in wait on her paths. He peers
through her windows and listens at her doors. He camps near her
house and fastens his tent-peg to her walls; he pitches his tent
near her and so finds an excellent resting-place; he places his
children under her protection and lodges under her boughs; by her he
is sheltered from the heat and he dwells in the shade of her glory”
(Sir 14:20-27).
For the inspired writer, as we see, the desire for knowledge is
characteristic of all people. Intelligence enables everyone,
believer and non-believer, to reach “the deep waters” of knowledge
(cf. Prov 20:5). It is true that ancient Israel did not come to
knowledge of the world and its phenomena by way of abstraction, as
did the Greek philosopher or the Egyptian sage. Still less did the
good Israelite understand knowledge in the way of the modern world
which tends more to distinguish different kinds of knowing.
Nonetheless, the biblical world has made its own distinctive
contribution to the theory of knowledge.
What is distinctive in the biblical text is the conviction that
there is a profound and indissoluble unity between the knowledge of
reason and the knowledge of faith. The world and all that happens
within it, including history and the fate of peoples, are realities
to be observed, analysed and assessed with all the resources of
reason, but without faith ever being foreign to the process. Faith
intervenes not to abolish reason's autonomy nor to reduce its scope
for action, but solely to bring the human being to understand that
in these events it is the God of Israel who acts. Thus the world and
the events of history cannot be understood in depth without
professing faith in the God who is at work in them. Faith sharpens
the inner eye, opening the mind to discover in the flux of events
the workings of Providence. Here the words of the Book of Proverbs
are pertinent: “The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs
the steps” (16:9). This is to say that with the light of reason
human beings can know which path to take, but they can follow that
path to its end, quickly and unhindered, only if with a rightly
tuned spirit they search for it within the horizon of faith.
Therefore, reason and faith cannot be separated without diminishing
the capacity of men and women to know themselves, the world and God
in an appropriate way.
17. There is thus no reason for
competition of any kind between reason and faith: each contains the
other, and each has its own scope for action. Again the Book of
Proverbs points in this direction when it exclaims: “It is the glory
of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things
out” (Prov 25:2). In their respective worlds, God and the human
being are set within a unique relationship. In God there lies the
origin of all things, in him is found the fullness of the mystery,
and in this his glory consists; to men and women there falls the
task of exploring truth with their reason, and in this their
nobility consists. The Psalmist adds one final piece to this mosaic
when he says in prayer: “How deep to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them! If I try to count them, they are more
than the sand. If I come to the end, I am still with you”
(139:17-18). The desire for knowledge is so great and it works in
such a way that the human heart, despite its experience of
insurmountable limitation, yearns for the infinite riches which lie
beyond, knowing that there is to be found the satisfying answer to
every question as yet unanswered.
18. We may say, then, that Israel,
with her reflection, was able to open to reason the path that leads
to the mystery. With the Revelation of God Israel could plumb the
depths of all that she sought in vain to reach by way of reason. On
the basis of this deeper form of knowledge, the Chosen People
understood that, if reason were to be fully true to itself, then it
must respect certain basic rules. The first of these is that reason
must realize that human knowledge is a journey which allows no rest;
the second stems from the awareness that such a path is not for the
proud who think that everything is the fruit of personal conquest; a
third rule is grounded in the “fear of God” whose transcendent
sovereignty and provident love in the governance of the world reason
must recognize.
In abandoning these rules, the human being runs the risk of failure
and ends up in the condition of “the fool”. For the Bible, in this
foolishness there lies a threat to life. The fool thinks that he
knows many things, but really he is incapable of fixing his gaze on
the things that truly matter. Therefore he can neither order his
mind (Prov 1:7) nor assume a correct attitude to himself or to the
world around him. And so when he claims that “God does not exist”
(cf. Ps 14:1), he shows with absolute clarity just how deficient his
knowledge is and just how far he is from the full truth of things,
their origin and their destiny.
19. The Book of Wisdom contains
several important texts which cast further light on this theme.
There the sacred author speaks of God who reveals himself in nature.
For the ancients, the study of the natural sciences coincided in
large part with philosophical learning. Having affirmed that with
their intelligence human beings can “know the structure of the world
and the activity of the elements... the cycles of the year and the
constellations of the stars, the natures of animals and the tempers
of wild beasts” (Wis 7:17, 19-20)—in a word, that he can
philosophize—the sacred text takes a significant step forward.
Making his own the thought of Greek philosophy, to which he seems to
refer in the context, the author affirms that, in reasoning about
nature, the human being can rise to God: “From the greatness and
beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their
Creator” (Wis 13:5). This is to recognize as a first stage of divine
Revelation the marvellous “book of nature”, which, when read with
the proper tools of human reason, can lead to knowledge of the
Creator. If human beings with their intelligence fail to recognize
God as Creator of all, it is not because they lack the means to do
so, but because their free will and their sinfulness place an
impediment in the way.
20. Seen in this light, reason is
valued without being overvalued. The results of reasoning may in
fact be true, but these results acquire their true meaning only if
they are set within the larger horizon of faith: “All man's steps
are ordered by the Lord: how then can man understand his own ways?”
(Prov 20:24). For the Old Testament, then, faith liberates reason in
so far as it allows reason to attain correctly what it seeks to know
and to place it within the ultimate order of things, in which
everything acquires true meaning. In brief, human beings attain
truth by way of reason because, enlightened by faith, they discover
the deeper meaning of all things and most especially of their own
existence. Rightly, therefore, the sacred author identifies the fear
of God as the beginning of true knowledge: “The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of knowledge” (Prov 1:7; cf. Sir 1:14).
“Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding” (Prov 4:5)
21. For the Old Testament, knowledge
is not simply a matter of careful observation of the human being, of
the world and of history, but supposes as well an indispensable link
with faith and with what has been revealed. These are the challenges
which the Chosen People had to confront and to which they had to
respond. Pondering this as his situation, biblical man discovered
that he could understand himself only as “being in relation”—with
himself, with people, with the world and with God. This opening to
the mystery, which came to him through Revelation, was for him, in
the end, the source of true knowledge. It was this which allowed his
reason to enter the realm of the infinite where an understanding for
which until then he had not dared to hope became a possibility.
For the sacred author, the task of searching for the truth was not
without the strain which comes once the limits of reason are
reached. This is what we find, for example, when the Book of
Proverbs notes the weariness which comes from the effort to
understand the mysterious designs of God (cf. 30:1-6). Yet, for all
the toil involved, believers do not surrender. They can continue on
their way to the truth because they are certain that God has created
them “explorers” (cf. Qoh 1:13), whose mission it is to leave no
stone unturned, though the temptation to doubt is always there.
Leaning on God, they continue to reach out, always and everywhere,
for all that is beautiful, good and true.
22. In the first chapter of his Letter
to the Romans, Saint Paul helps us to appreciate better the depth of
insight of the Wisdom literature's reflection. Developing a
philosophical argument in popular language, the Apostle declares a
profound truth: through all that is created the “eyes of the mind”
can come to know God. Through the medium of creatures, God stirs in
reason an intuition of his “power” and his “divinity” (cf. Rom
1:20). This is to concede to human reason a capacity which seems
almost to surpass its natural limitations. Not only is it not
restricted to sensory knowledge, from the moment that it can reflect
critically upon the data of the senses, but, by discoursing on the
data provided by the senses, reason can reach the cause which lies
at the origin of all perceptible reality. In philosophical terms, we
could say that this important Pauline text affirms the human
capacity for metaphysical enquiry.
According to the Apostle, it was part of the original plan of the
creation that reason should without difficulty reach beyond the
sensory data to the origin of all things: the Creator. But because
of the disobedience by which man and woman chose to set themselves
in full and absolute autonomy in relation to the One who had created
them, this ready access to God the Creator diminished.
This is the human condition vividly described by the Book of Genesis
when it tells us that God placed the human being in the Garden of
Eden, in the middle of which there stood “the tree of knowledge of
good and evil” (2:17). The symbol is clear: man was in no position
to discern and decide for himself what was good and what was evil,
but was constrained to appeal to a higher source. The blindness of
pride deceived our first parents into thinking themselves sovereign
and autonomous, and into thinking that they could ignore the
knowledge which comes from God. All men and women were caught up in
this primal disobedience, which so wounded reason that from then on
its path to full truth would be strewn with obstacles. From that
time onwards the human capacity to know the truth was impaired by an
aversion to the One who is the source and origin of truth. It is
again the Apostle who reveals just how far human thinking, because
of sin, became “empty”, and human reasoning became distorted and
inclined to falsehood (cf. Rom 1:21-22). The eyes of the mind were
no longer able to see clearly: reason became more and more a
prisoner to itself. The coming of Christ was the saving event which
redeemed reason from its weakness, setting it free from the shackles
in which it had imprisoned itself.
23. This is why the Christian's
relationship to philosophy requires thorough-going discernment. In
the New Testament, especially in the Letters of Saint Paul, one
thing emerges with great clarity: the opposition between “the wisdom
of this world” and the wisdom of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The
depth of revealed wisdom disrupts the cycle of our habitual patterns
of thought, which are in no way able to express that wisdom in its
fullness.
The beginning of the First Letter to the Corinthians poses the
dilemma in a radical way. The crucified Son of God is the historic
event upon which every attempt of the mind to construct an adequate
explanation of the meaning of existence upon merely human
argumentation comes to grief. The true key-point, which challenges
every philosophy, is Jesus Christ's death on the Cross. It is here
that every attempt to reduce the Father's saving plan to purely
human logic is doomed to failure. “Where is the one who is wise?
Where is the learned? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God
made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Cor 1:20), the Apostle
asks emphatically. The wisdom of the wise is no longer enough for
what God wants to accomplish; what is required is a decisive step
towards welcoming something radically new: “God chose what is
foolish in the world to shame the wise...; God chose what is low and
despised in the world, things that are not to reduce to nothing
things that are” (1 Cor 1:27-28). Human wisdom refuses to see in its
own weakness the possibility of its strength; yet Saint Paul is
quick to affirm: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10).
Man cannot grasp how death could be the source of life and love; yet
to reveal the mystery of his saving plan God has chosen precisely
that which reason considers “foolishness” and a “scandal”. Adopting
the language of the philosophers of his time, Paul comes to the
summit of his teaching as he speaks the paradox: “God has chosen in
the world... that which is nothing to reduce to nothing things that
are” (cf. 1 Cor 1:28). In order to express the gratuitous nature of
the love revealed in the Cross of Christ, the Apostle is not afraid
to use the most radical language of the philosophers in their
thinking about God. Reason cannot eliminate the mystery of love
which the Cross represents, while the Cross can give to reason the
ultimate answer which it seeks. It is not the wisdom of words, but
the Word of Wisdom which Saint Paul offers as the criterion of both
truth and salvation.
The wisdom of the Cross, therefore, breaks free of all cultural
limitations which seek to contain it and insists upon an openness to
the universality of the truth which it bears. What a challenge this
is to our reason, and how great the gain for reason if it yields to
this wisdom! Of itself, philosophy is able to recognize the human
being's ceaselessly self-transcendent orientation towards the truth;
and, with the assistance of faith, it is capable of accepting the
“foolishness” of the Cross as the authentic critique of those who
delude themselves that they possess the truth, when in fact they run
it aground on the shoals of a system of their own devising. The
preaching of Christ crucified and risen is the reef upon which the
link between faith and philosophy can break up, but it is also the
reef beyond which the two can set forth upon the boundless ocean of
truth. Here we see not only the border between reason and faith, but
also the space where the two may meet.
Chapter III
Intellego ut Credam
Journeying in search of truth
24. In the Acts of the Apostles, the Evangelist Luke tells of Paul's
coming to Athens on one of his missionary journeys. The city of
philosophers was full of statues of various idols. One altar in
particular caught his eye, and he took this as a convenient
starting-point to establish a common base for the proclamation of
the kerygma. “Athenians,” he said, “I see how extremely religious
you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked
carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an
altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god'. What therefore you
worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:22-23). From
this starting-point, Saint Paul speaks of God as Creator, as the One
who transcends all things and gives life to all. He then continues
his speech in these terms: “From one ancestor he made all nations to
inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their
existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so
that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find
him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us” (Acts
17:26-27).
The Apostle accentuates a truth which the Church has always
treasured: in the far reaches of the human heart there is a seed of
desire and nostalgia for God. The Liturgy of Good Friday recalls
this powerfully when, in praying for those who do not believe, we
say: “Almighty and eternal God, you created mankind so that all
might long to find you and have peace when you are found”.(22) There
is therefore a path which the human being may choose to take, a path
which begins with reason's capacity to rise beyond what is
contingent and set out towards the infinite.
In different ways and at different times, men and women have shown
that they can articulate this intimate desire of theirs. Through
literature, music, painting, sculpture, architecture and every other
work of their creative intelligence they have declared the urgency
of their quest. In a special way philosophy has made this search its
own and, with its specific tools and scholarly methods, has
articulated this universal human desire.
25. “All human beings desire to
know”,(23) and truth is the proper object of this desire. Everyday
life shows how concerned each of us is to discover for ourselves,
beyond mere opinions, how things really are. Within visible
creation, man is the only creature who not only is capable of
knowing but who knows that he knows, and is therefore interested in
the real truth of what he perceives. People cannot be genuinely
indifferent to the question of whether what they know is true or
not. If they discover that it is false, they reject it; but if they
can establish its truth, they feel themselves rewarded. It is this
that Saint Augustine teaches when he writes: “I have met many who
wanted to deceive, but none who wanted to be deceived”.(24) It is
rightly claimed that persons have reached adulthood when they can
distinguish independently between truth and falsehood, making up
their own minds about the objective reality of things. This is what
has driven so many enquiries, especially in the scientific field,
which in recent centuries have produced important results, leading
to genuine progress for all humanity.
No less important than research in the theoretical field is research
in the practical field—by which I mean the search for truth which
looks to the good which is to be performed. In acting ethically,
according to a free and rightly tuned will, the human person sets
foot upon the path to happiness and moves towards perfection. Here
too it is a question of truth. It is this conviction which I
stressed in my Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor: “There is no
morality without freedom... Although each individual has a right to
be respected in his own journey in search of the truth, there exists
a prior moral obligation, and a grave one at that, to seek the truth
and to adhere to it once it is known”.(25)
It is essential, therefore, that the values chosen and pursued in
one's life be true, because only true values can lead people to
realize themselves fully, allowing them to be true to their nature.
The truth of these values is to be found not by turning in on
oneself but by opening oneself to apprehend that truth even at
levels which transcend the person. This is an essential condition
for us to become ourselves and to grow as mature, adult persons.
26. The truth comes initially to the
human being as a question: Does life have a meaning? Where is it
going? At first sight, personal existence may seem completely
meaningless. It is not necessary to turn to the philosophers of the
absurd or to the provocative questioning found in the Book of Job in
order to have doubts about life's meaning. The daily experience of
suffering—in one's own life and in the lives of others—and the array
of facts which seem inexplicable to reason are enough to ensure that
a question as dramatic as the question of meaning cannot be
evaded.(26) Moreover, the first absolutely certain truth of our
life, beyond the fact that we exist, is the inevitability of our
death. Given this unsettling fact, the search for a full answer is
inescapable. Each of us has both the desire and the duty to know the
truth of our own destiny. We want to know if death will be the
definitive end of our life or if there is something beyond—if it is
possible to hope for an after-life or not. It is not insignificant
that the death of Socrates gave philosophy one of its decisive
orientations, no less decisive now than it was more than two
thousand years ago. It is not by chance, then, that faced with the
fact of death philosophers have again and again posed this question,
together with the question of the meaning of life and immortality.
27. No-one can avoid this questioning,
neither the philosopher nor the ordinary person. The answer we give
will determine whether or not we think it possible to attain
universal and absolute truth; and this is a decisive moment of the
search. Every truth—if it really is truth—presents itself as
universal, even if it is not the whole truth. If something is true,
then it must be true for all people and at all times. Beyond this
universality, however, people seek an absolute which might give to
all their searching a meaning and an answer—something ultimate,
which might serve as the ground of all things. In other words, they
seek a final explanation, a supreme value, which refers to nothing
beyond itself and which puts an end to all questioning. Hypotheses
may fascinate, but they do not satisfy. Whether we admit it or not,
there comes for everyone the moment when personal existence must be
anchored to a truth recognized as final, a truth which confers a
certitude no longer open to doubt.
Through the centuries, philosophers have sought to discover and
articulate such a truth, giving rise to various systems and schools
of thought. But beyond philosophical systems, people seek in
different ways to shape a “philosophy” of their own—in personal
convictions and experiences, in traditions of family and culture, or
in journeys in search of life's meaning under the guidance of a
master. What inspires all of these is the desire to reach the
certitude of truth and the certitude of its absolute value.
The different faces of human truth
28. The search for truth, of course,
is not always so transparent nor does it always produce such
results. The natural limitation of reason and the inconstancy of the
heart often obscure and distort a person's search. Truth can also
drown in a welter of other concerns. People can even run from the
truth as soon as they glimpse it because they are afraid of its
demands. Yet, for all that they may evade it, the truth still
influences life. Life in fact can never be grounded upon doubt,
uncertainty or deceit; such an existence would be threatened
constantly by fear and anxiety. One may define the human being,
therefore, as the one who seeks the truth.
29. It is unthinkable that a search so
deeply rooted in human nature would be completely vain and useless.
The capacity to search for truth and to pose questions itself
implies the rudiments of a response. Human beings would not even
begin to search for something of which they knew nothing or for
something which they thought was wholly beyond them. Only the sense
that they can arrive at an answer leads them to take the first step.
This is what normally happens in scientific research. When
scientists, following their intuition, set out in search of the
logical and verifiable explanation of a phenomenon, they are
confident from the first that they will find an answer, and they do
not give up in the face of setbacks. They do not judge their
original intuition useless simply because they have not reached
their goal; rightly enough they will say that they have not yet
found a satisfactory answer.
The same must be equally true of the search for truth when it comes
to the ultimate questions. The thirst for truth is so rooted in the
human heart that to be obliged to ignore it would cast our existence
into jeopardy. Everyday life shows well enough how each one of us is
preoccupied by the pressure of a few fundamental questions and how
in the soul of each of us there is at least an outline of the
answers. One reason why the truth of these answers convinces is that
they are no different in substance from the answers to which many
others have come. To be sure, not every truth to which we come has
the same value. But the sum of the results achieved confirms that in
principle the human being can arrive at the truth.
30. It may help, then, to turn briefly
to the different modes of truth. Most of them depend upon immediate
evidence or are confirmed by experimentation. This is the mode of
truth proper to everyday life and to scientific research. At another
level we find philosophical truth, attained by means of the
speculative powers of the human intellect. Finally, there are
religious truths which are to some degree grounded in philosophy,
and which we find in the answers which the different religious
traditions offer to the ultimate questions.(27)
The truths of philosophy, it should be said, are not restricted only
to the sometimes ephemeral teachings of professional philosophers.
All men and women, as I have noted, are in some sense philosophers
and have their own philosophical conceptions with which they direct
their lives. In one way or other, they shape a comprehensive vision
and an answer to the question of life's meaning; and in the light of
this they interpret their own life's course and regulate their
behaviour. At this point, we may pose the question of the link
between, on the one hand, the truths of philosophy and religion and,
on the other, the truth revealed in Jesus Christ. But before
tackling that question, one last datum of philosophy needs to be
weighed.
31. Human beings are not made to live
alone. They are born into a family and in a family they grow,
eventually entering society through their activity. From birth,
therefore, they are immersed in traditions which give them not only
a language and a cultural formation but also a range of truths in
which they believe almost instinctively. Yet personal growth and
maturity imply that these same truths can be cast into doubt and
evaluated through a process of critical enquiry. It may be that,
after this time of transition, these truths are “recovered” as a
result of the experience of life or by dint of further reasoning.
Nonetheless, there are in the life of a human being many more truths
which are simply believed than truths which are acquired by way of
personal verification. Who, for instance, could assess critically
the countless scientific findings upon which modern life is based?
Who could personally examine the flow of information which comes day
after day from all parts of the world and which is generally
accepted as true? Who in the end could forge anew the paths of
experience and thought which have yielded the treasures of human
wisdom and religion? This means that the human being—the one who
seeks the truth—is also the one who lives by belief.
32. In believing, we entrust ourselves
to the knowledge acquired by other people. This suggests an
important tension. On the one hand, the knowledge acquired through
belief can seem an imperfect form of knowledge, to be perfected
gradually through personal accumulation of evidence; on the other
hand, belief is often humanly richer than mere evidence, because it
involves an interpersonal relationship and brings into play not only
a person's capacity to know but also the deeper capacity to entrust
oneself to others, to enter into a relationship with them which is
intimate and enduring.
It should be stressed that the truths sought in this interpersonal
relationship are not primarily empirical or philosophical. Rather,
what is sought is the truth of the person—what the person is and
what the person reveals from deep within. Human perfection, then,
consists not simply in acquiring an abstract knowledge of the truth,
but in a dynamic relationship of faithful self-giving with others.
It is in this faithful self-giving that a person finds a fullness of
certainty and security. At the same time, however, knowledge through
belief, grounded as it is on trust between persons, is linked to
truth: in the act of believing, men and women entrust themselves to
the truth which the other declares to them.
Any number of examples could be found to demonstrate this; but I
think immediately of the martyrs, who are the most authentic
witnesses to the truth about existence. The martyrs know that they
have found the truth about life in the encounter with Jesus Christ,
and nothing and no-one could ever take this certainty from them.
Neither suffering nor violent death could ever lead them to abandon
the truth which they have discovered in the encounter with Christ.
This is why to this day the witness of the martyrs continues to
arouse such interest, to draw agreement, to win such a hearing and
to invite emulation. This is why their word inspires such
confidence: from the moment they speak to us of what we perceive
deep down as the truth we have sought for so long, the martyrs
provide evidence of a love that has no need of lengthy arguments in
order to convince. The martyrs stir in us a profound trust because
they give voice to what we already feel and they declare what we
would like to have the strength to express.
33. Step by step, then, we are
assembling the terms of the question. It is the nature of the human
being to seek the truth. This search looks not only to the
attainment of truths which are partial, empirical or scientific; nor
is it only in individual acts of decision-making that people seek
the true good. Their search looks towards an ulterior truth which
would explain the meaning of life. And it is therefore a search
which can reach its end only in reaching the absolute.(28) Thanks to
the inherent capacities of thought, man is able to encounter and
recognize a truth of this kind. Such a truth—vital and necessary as
it is for life—is attained not only by way of reason but also
through trusting acquiescence to other persons who can guarantee the
authenticity and certainty of the truth itself. There is no doubt
that the capacity to entrust oneself and one's life to another
person and the decision to do so are among the most significant and
expressive human acts.
It must not be forgotten that reason too needs to be sustained in
all its searching by trusting dialogue and sincere friendship. A
climate of suspicion and distrust, which can beset speculative
research, ignores the teaching of the ancient philosophers who
proposed friendship as one of the most appropriate contexts for
sound philosophical enquiry.
From all that I have said to this point it emerges that men and
women are on a journey of discovery which is humanly unstoppable—a
search for the truth and a search for a person to whom they might
entrust themselves. Christian faith comes to meet them, offering the
concrete possibility of reaching the goal which they seek. Moving
beyond the stage of simple believing, Christian faith immerses human
beings in the order of grace, which enables them to share in the
mystery of Christ, which in turn offers them a true and coherent
knowledge of the Triune God. In Jesus Christ, who is the Truth,
faith recognizes the ultimate appeal to humanity, an appeal made in
order that what we experience as desire and nostalgia may come to
its fulfilment.
34. This truth, which God reveals to
us in Jesus Christ, is not opposed to the truths which philosophy
perceives. On the contrary, the two modes of knowledge lead to truth
in all its fullness. The unity of truth is a fundamental premise of
human reasoning, as the principle of non-contradiction makes clear.
Revelation renders this unity certain, showing that the God of
creation is also the God of salvation history. It is the one and the
same God who establishes and guarantees the intelligibility and
reasonableness of the natural order of things upon which scientists
confidently depend,(29) and who reveals himself as the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. This unity of truth, natural and revealed, is
embodied in a living and personal way in Christ, as the Apostle
reminds us: “Truth is in Jesus” (cf. Eph 4:21; Col 1:15-20). He is
the eternal Word in whom all things were created, and he is the
incarnate Word who in his entire person (30) reveals the Father (cf.
Jn 1:14, 18). What human reason seeks “without knowing it” (cf. Acts
17:23) can be found only through Christ: what is revealed in him is
“the full truth” (cf. Jn 1:14-16) of everything which was created in
him and through him and which therefore in him finds its fulfilment
(cf. Col 1:17).
35. On the basis of these broad
considerations, we must now explore more directly the relationship
between revealed truth and philosophy. This relationship imposes a
twofold consideration, since the truth conferred by Revelation is a
truth to be understood in the light of reason. It is this duality
alone which allows us to specify correctly the relationship between
revealed truth and philosophical learning. First, then, let us
consider the links between faith and philosophy in the course of
history. From this, certain principles will emerge as useful
reference-points in the attempt to establish the correct link
between the two orders of knowledge.
Chapter IV
The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
Important moments in the encounter of faith and reason
36. The Acts of the Apostles provides evidence that Christian
proclamation was engaged from the very first with the philosophical
currents of the time. In Athens, we read, Saint Paul entered into
discussion with “certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers” (17:18);
and exegetical analysis of his speech at the Areopagus has revealed
frequent allusions to popular beliefs deriving for the most part
from Stoicism. This is by no means accidental. If pagans were to
understand them, the first Christians could not refer only to “Moses
and the prophets” when they spoke. They had to point as well to
natural knowledge of God and to the voice of conscience in every
human being (cf. Rom 1:19-21; 2:14-15; Acts 14:16-17). Since in
pagan religion this natural knowledge had lapsed into idolatry (cf.
Rom 1:21-32), the Apostle judged it wiser in his speech to make the
link with the thinking of the philosophers, who had always set in
opposition to the myths and mystery cults notions more respectful of
divine transcendence.
One of the major concerns of classical philosophy was to purify
human notions of God of mythological elements. We know that Greek
religion, like most cosmic religions, was polytheistic, even to the
point of divinizing natural things and phenomena. Human attempts to
understand the origin of the gods and hence the origin of the
universe find their earliest expression in poetry; and the
theogonies remain the first evidence of this human search. But it
was the task of the fathers of philosophy to bring to light the link
between reason and religion. As they broadened their view to include
universal principles, they no longer rested content with the ancient
myths, but wanted to provide a rational foundation for their belief
in the divinity. This opened a path which took its rise from ancient
traditions but allowed a development satisfying the demands of
universal reason. This development sought to acquire a critical
awareness of what they believed in, and the concept of divinity was
the prime beneficiary of this. Superstitions were recognized for
what they were and religion was, at least in part, purified by
rational analysis. It was on this basis that the Fathers of the
Church entered into fruitful dialogue with ancient philosophy, which
offered new ways of proclaiming and understanding the God of Jesus
Christ.
37. In tracing Christianity's adoption
of philosophy, one should not forget how cautiously Christians
regarded other elements of the cultural world of paganism, one
example of which is gnosticism. It was easy to confuse
philosophy—understood as practical wisdom and an education for
life—with a higher and esoteric kind of knowledge, reserved to those
few who were perfect. It is surely this kind of esoteric speculation
which Saint Paul has in mind when he puts the Colossians on their
guard: “See to it that no-one takes you captive through philosophy
and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the
elemental spirits of the universe and not according to Christ”
(2:8). The Apostle's words seem all too pertinent now if we apply
them to the various kinds of esoteric superstition widespread today,
even among some believers who lack a proper critical sense.
Following Saint Paul, other writers of the early centuries,
especially Saint Irenaeus and Tertullian, sound the alarm when
confronted with a cultural perspective which sought to subordinate
the truth of Revelation to the interpretation of the philosophers.
38. Christianity's engagement with
philosophy was therefore neither straight-forward nor immediate. The
practice of philosophy and attendance at philosophical schools
seemed to the first Christians more of a disturbance than an
opportunity. For them, the first and most urgent task was the
proclamation of the Risen Christ by way of a personal encounter
which would bring the listener to conversion of heart and the
request for Baptism. But that does not mean that they ignored the
task of deepening the understanding of faith and its motivations.
Quite the contrary. That is why the criticism of Celsus—that
Christians were “illiterate and uncouth”(31)—is unfounded and
untrue. Their initial disinterest is to be explained on other
grounds. The encounter with the Gospel offered such a satisfying
answer to the hitherto unresolved question of life's meaning that
delving into the philosophers seemed to them something remote and in
some ways outmoded.
That seems still more evident today, if we think of Christianity's
contribution to the affirmation of the right of everyone to have
access to the truth. In dismantling barriers of race, social status
and gender, Christianity proclaimed from the first the equality of
all men and women before God. One prime implication of this touched
the theme of truth. The elitism which had characterized the
ancients' search for truth was clearly abandoned. Since access to
the truth enables access to God, it must be denied to none. There
are many paths which lead to truth, but since Christian truth has a
salvific value, any one of these paths may be taken, as long as it
leads to the final goal, that is to the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
A pioneer of positive engagement with philosophical thinking—albeit
with cautious discernment—was Saint Justin. Although he continued to
hold Greek philosophy in high esteem after his conversion, Justin
claimed with power and clarity that he had found in Christianity
“the only sure and profitable philosophy”.(32) Similarly, Clement of
Alexandria called the Gospel “the true philosophy”,(33) and he
understood philosophy, like the Mosaic Law, as instruction which
prepared for Christian faith (34) and paved the way for the
Gospel.(35) Since “philosophy yearns for the wisdom which consists
in rightness of soul and speech and in purity of life, it is well
disposed towards wisdom and does all it can to acquire it. We call
philosophers those who love the wisdom that is creator and mistress
of all things, that is knowledge of the Son of God”.(36) For
Clement, Greek philosophy is not meant in the first place to bolster
and complete Christian truth. Its task is rather the defence of the
faith: “The teaching of the Saviour is perfect in itself and has no
need of support, because it is the strength and the wisdom of God.
Greek philosophy, with its contribution, does not strengthen truth;
but, in rendering the attack of sophistry impotent and in disarming
those who betray truth and wage war upon it, Greek philosophy is
rightly called the hedge and the protective wall around the
vineyard”.(37)
39. It is clear from history, then,
that Christian thinkers were critical in adopting philosophical
thought. Among the early examples of this, Origen is certainly
outstanding. In countering the attacks launched by the philosopher
Celsus, Origen adopts Platonic philosophy to shape his argument and
mount his reply. Assuming many elements of Platonic thought, he
begins to construct an early form of Christian theology. The name
“theology” itself, together with the idea of theology as rational
discourse about God, had to this point been tied to its Greek
origins. In Aristotelian philosophy, for example, the name signified
the noblest part and the true summit of philosophical discourse. But
in the light of Christian Revelation what had signified a generic
doctrine about the gods assumed a wholly new meaning, signifying now
the reflection undertaken by the believer in order to express the
true doctrine about God. As it developed, this new Christian thought
made use of philosophy, but at the same time tended to distinguish
itself clearly from philosophy. History shows how Platonic thought,
once adopted by theology, underwent profound changes, especially
with regard to concepts such as the immortality of the soul, the
divinization of man and the origin of evil.
40. In this work of christianizing
Platonic and Neo-Platonic thought, the Cappadocian Fathers,
Dionysius called the Areopagite and especially Saint Augustine were
important. The great Doctor of the West had come into contact with
different philosophical schools, but all of them left him
disappointed. It was when he encountered the truth of Christian
faith that he found strength to undergo the radical conversion to
which the philosophers he had known had been powerless to lead him.
He himself reveals his motive: “From this time on, I gave my
preference to the Catholic faith. I thought it more modest and not
in the least misleading to be told by the Church to believe what
could not be demonstrated—whether that was because a demonstration
existed but could not be understood by all or whether the matter was
not one open to rational proof—rather than from the Manichees to
have a rash promise of knowledge with mockery of mere belief, and
then afterwards to be ordered to believe many fabulous and absurd
myths impossible to prove true”.(38) Though he accorded the
Platonists a place of privilege, Augustine rebuked them because,
knowing the goal to seek, they had ignored the path which leads to
it: the Word made flesh.(39) The Bishop of Hippo succeeded in
producing the first great synthesis of philosophy and theology,
embracing currents of thought both Greek and Latin. In him too the
great unity of knowledge, grounded in the thought of the Bible, was
both confirmed and sustained by a depth of speculative thinking. The
synthesis devised by Saint Augustine remained for centuries the most
exalted form of philosophical and theological speculation known to
the West. Reinforced by his personal story and sustained by a
wonderful holiness of life, he could also introduce into his works a
range of material which, drawing on experience, was a prelude to
future developments in different currents of philosophy.
41. The ways in which the Fathers of
East and West engaged the philosophical schools were, therefore,
quite different. This does not mean that they identified the content
of their message with the systems to which they referred. Consider
Tertullian's question: “What does Athens have in common with
Jerusalem? The Academy with the Church?”.(40) This clearly indicates
the critical consciousness with which Christian thinkers from the
first confronted the problem of the relationship between faith and
philosophy, viewing it comprehensively with both its positive
aspects and its limitations. They were not naive thinkers. Precisely
because they were intense in living faith's content they were able
to reach the deepest forms of speculation. It is therefore
minimalizing and mistaken to restrict their work simply to the
transposition of the truths of faith into philosophical categories.
They did much more. In fact they succeeded in disclosing completely
all that remained implicit and preliminary in the thinking of the
great philosophers of antiquity.(41) As I have noted, theirs was the
task of showing how reason, freed from external constraints, could
find its way out of the blind alley of myth and open itself to the
transcendent in a more appropriate way. Purified and rightly tuned,
therefore, reason could rise to the higher planes of thought,
providing a solid foundation for the perception of being, of the
transcendent and of the absolute.
It is here that we see the originality of what the Fathers
accomplished. They fully welcomed reason which was open to the
absolute, and they infused it with the richness drawn from
Revelation. This was more than a meeting of cultures, with one
culture perhaps succumbing to the fascination of the other. It
happened rather in the depths of human souls, and it was a meeting
of creature and Creator. Surpassing the goal towards which it
unwittingly tended by dint of its nature, reason attained the
supreme good and ultimate truth in the person of the Word made
flesh. Faced with the various philosophies, the Fathers were not
afraid to acknowledge those elements in them that were consonant
with Revelation and those that were not. Recognition of the points
of convergence did not blind them to the points of divergence.
42. In Scholastic theology, the role
of philosophically trained reason becomes even more conspicuous
under the impulse of Saint Anselm's interpretation of the
intellectus fidei. For the saintly Archbishop of Canterbury the
priority of faith is not in competition with the search which is
proper to reason. Reason in fact is not asked to pass judgement on
the contents of faith, something of which it would be incapable,
since this is not its function. Its function is rather to find
meaning, to discover explanations which might allow everyone to come
to a certain understanding of the contents of faith. Saint Anselm
underscores the fact that the intellect must seek that which it
loves: the more it loves, the more it desires to know. Whoever lives
for the truth is reaching for a form of knowledge which is fired
more and more with love for what it knows, while having to admit
that it has not yet attained what it desires: “To see you was I
conceived; and I have yet to conceive that for which I was conceived
(Ad te videndum factus sum; et nondum feci propter quod factus
sum)”.(42) The desire for truth, therefore, spurs reason always to
go further; indeed, it is as if reason were overwhelmed to see that
it can always go beyond what it has already achieved. It is at this
point, though, that reason can learn where its path will lead in the
end: “I think that whoever investigates something incomprehensible
should be satisfied if, by way of reasoning, he reaches a quite
certain perception of its reality, even if his intellect cannot
penetrate its mode of being... But is there anything so
incomprehensible and ineffable as that which is above all things?
Therefore, if that which until now has been a matter of debate
concerning the highest essence has been established on the basis of
due reasoning, then the foundation of one's certainty is not shaken
in the least if the intellect cannot penetrate it in a way that
allows clear formulation. If prior thought has concluded rationally
that one cannot comprehend (rationabiliter comprehendit
incomprehensibile esse) how supernal wisdom knows its own
accomplishments..., who then will explain how this same wisdom, of
which the human being can know nothing or next to nothing, is to be
known and expressed?”.(43)
The fundamental harmony between the knowledge of faith and the
knowledge of philosophy is once again confirmed. Faith asks that its
object be understood with the help of reason; and at the summit of
its searching reason acknowledges that it cannot do without what
faith presents.
The enduring originality of the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas
43. A quite special place in this long
development belongs to Saint Thomas, not only because of what he
taught but also because of the dialogue which he undertook with the
Arab and Jewish thought of his time. In an age when Christian
thinkers were rediscovering the treasures of ancient philosophy, and
more particularly of Aristotle, Thomas had the great merit of giving
pride of place to the harmony which exists between faith and reason.
Both the light of reason and the light of faith come from God, he
argued; hence there can be no contradiction between them.(44)
More radically, Thomas recognized that nature, philosophy's proper
concern, could contribute to the understanding of divine Revelation.
Faith therefore has no fear of reason, but seeks it out and has
trust in it. Just as grace builds on nature and brings it to
fulfilment,(45) so faith builds upon and perfects reason. Illumined
by faith, reason is set free from the fragility and limitations
deriving from the disobedience of sin and finds the strength
required to rise to the knowledge of the Triune God. Although he
made much of the supernatural character of faith, the Angelic Doctor
did not overlook the importance of its reasonableness; indeed he was
able to plumb the depths and explain the meaning of this
reasonableness. Faith is in a sense an “exercise of thought”; and
human reason is neither annulled nor debased in assenting to the
contents of faith, which are in any case attained by way of free and
informed choice.(46)
This is why the Church has been justified in consistently proposing
Saint Thomas as a master of thought and a model of the right way to
do theology. In this connection, I would recall what my Predecessor,
the Servant of God Paul VI, wrote on the occasion of the seventh
centenary of the death of the Angelic Doctor: “Without doubt, Thomas
possessed supremely the courage of the truth, a freedom of spirit in
confronting new problems, the intellectual honesty of those who
allow Christianity to be contaminated neither by secular philosophy
nor by a prejudiced rejection of it. He passed therefore into the
history of Christian thought as a pioneer of the new path of
philosophy and universal culture. The key point and almost the
kernel of the solution which, with all the brilliance of his
prophetic intuition, he gave to the new encounter of faith and
reason was a reconciliation between the secularity of the world and
the radicality of the Gospel, thus avoiding the unnatural tendency
to negate the world and its values while at the same time keeping
faith with the supreme and inexorable demands of the supernatural
order”.(47)
44. Another of the great insights of
Saint Thomas was his perception of the role of the Holy Spirit in
the process by which knowledge matures into wisdom. From the first
pages of his Summa Theologiae,(48) Aquinas was keen to show the
primacy of the wisdom which is the gift of the Holy Spirit and which
opens the way to a knowledge of divine realities. His theology
allows us to understand what is distinctive of wisdom in its close
link with faith and knowledge of the divine. This wisdom comes to
know by way of connaturality; it presupposes faith and eventually
formulates its right judgement on the basis of the truth of faith
itself: “The wisdom named among the gifts of the Holy Spirit is
distinct from the wisdom found among the intellectual virtues. This
second wisdom is acquired through study, but the first 'comes from
on high', as Saint James puts it. This also distinguishes it from
faith, since faith accepts divine truth as it is. But the gift of
wisdom enables judgement according to divine truth”.(49)
Yet the priority accorded this wisdom does not lead the Angelic
Doctor to overlook the presence of two other complementary forms of
wisdom—philosophical wisdom, which is based upon the capacity of the
intellect, for all its natural limitations, to explore reality, and
theological wisdom, which is based upon Revelation and which
explores the contents of faith, entering the very mystery of God.
Profoundly convinced that “whatever its source, truth is of the Holy
Spirit” (omne verum a quocumque dicatur a Spiritu Sancto est) (50)
Saint Thomas was impartial in his love of truth. He sought truth
wherever it might be found and gave consummate demonstration of its
universality. In him, the Church's Magisterium has seen and
recognized the passion for truth; and, precisely because it stays
consistently within the horizon of universal, objective and
transcendent truth, his thought scales “heights unthinkable to human
intelligence”.(51) Rightly, then, he may be called an “apostle of
the truth”.(52) Looking unreservedly to truth, the realism of Thomas
could recognize the objectivity of truth and produce not merely a
philosophy of “what seems to be” but a philosophy of “what is”.
The drama of the separation of faith and reason
45. With the rise of the first
universities, theology came more directly into contact with other
forms of learning and scientific research. Although they insisted
upon the organic link between theology and philosophy, Saint Albert
the Great and Saint Thomas were the first to recognize the autonomy
which philosophy and the sciences needed if they were to perform
well in their respective fields of research. From the late Medieval
period onwards, however, the legitimate distinction between the two
forms of learning became more and more a fateful separation. As a
result of the exaggerated rationalism of certain thinkers, positions
grew more radical and there emerged eventually a philosophy which
was separate from and absolutely independent of the contents of
faith. Another of the many consequences of this separation was an
ever deeper mistrust with regard to reason itself. In a spirit both
sceptical and agnostic, some began to voice a general mistrust,
which led some to focus more on faith and others to deny its
rationality altogether.
In short, what for Patristic and Medieval thought was in both theory
and practice a profound unity, producing knowledge capable of
reaching the highest forms of speculation, was destroyed by systems
which espoused the cause of rational knowledge sundered from faith
and meant to take the place of faith.
46. The more influential of these
radical positions are well known and high in profile, especially in
the history of the West. It is not too much to claim that the
development of a good part of modern philosophy has seen it move
further and further away from Christian Revelation, to the point of
setting itself quite explicitly in opposition. This process reached
its apogee in the last century. Some representatives of idealism
sought in various ways to transform faith and its contents, even the
mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, into dialectical
structures which could be grasped by reason. Opposed to this kind of
thinking were various forms of atheistic humanism, expressed in
philosophical terms, which regarded faith as alienating and damaging
to the development of a full rationality. They did not hesitate to
present themselves as new religions serving as a basis for projects
which, on the political and social plane, gave rise to totalitarian
systems which have been disastrous for humanity.
In the field of scientific research, a positivistic mentality took
hold which not only abandoned the Christian vision of the world, but
more especially rejected every appeal to a metaphysical or moral
vision. It follows that certain scientists, lacking any ethical
point of reference, are in danger of putting at the centre of their
concerns something other than the human person and the entirety of
the person's life. Further still, some of these, sensing the
opportunities of technological progress, seem to succumb not only to
a market-based logic, but also to the temptation of a quasi-divine
power over nature and even over the human being.
As a result of the crisis of rationalism, what has appeared finally
is nihilism. As a philosophy of nothingness, it has a certain
attraction for people of our time. Its adherents claim that the
search is an end in itself, without any hope or possibility of ever
attaining the goal of truth. In the nihilist interpretation, life is
no more than an occasion for sensations and experiences in which the
ephemeral has pride of place. Nihilism is at the root of the
widespread mentality which claims that a definitive commitment
should no longer be made, because everything is fleeting and
provisional.
47. It should also be borne in mind
that the role of philosophy itself has changed in modern culture.
From universal wisdom and learning, it has been gradually reduced to
one of the many fields of human knowing; indeed in some ways it has
been consigned to a wholly marginal role. Other forms of rationality
have acquired an ever higher profile, making philosophical learning
appear all the more peripheral. These forms of rationality are
directed not towards the contemplation of truth and the search for
the ultimate goal and meaning of life; but instead, as “instrumental
reason”, they are directed—actually or potentially—towards the
promotion of utilitarian ends, towards enjoyment or power.
In my first Encyclical Letter I stressed the danger of absolutizing
such an approach when I wrote: “The man of today seems ever to be
under threat from what he produces, that is to say from the result
of the work of his hands and, even more so, of the work of his
intellect and the tendencies of his will. All too soon, and often in
an unforeseeable way, what this manifold activity of man yields is
not only subject to 'alienation', in the sense that it is simply
taken away from the person who produces it, but rather it turns
against man himself, at least in part, through the indirect
consequences of its effects returning on himself. It is or can be
directed against him. This seems to make up the main chapter of the
drama of present-day human existence in its broadest and universal
dimension. Man therefore lives increasingly in fear. He is afraid of
what he produces—not all of it, of course, or even most of it, but
part of it and precisely that part that contains a special share of
his genius and initiative—can radically turn against himself”.(53)
In the wake of these cultural shifts, some philosophers have
abandoned the search for truth in itself and made their sole aim the
attainment of a subjective certainty or a pragmatic sense of
utility. This in turn has obscured the true dignity of reason, which
is no longer equipped to know the truth and to seek the absolute.
48. This rapid survey of the history
of philosophy, then, reveals a growing separation between faith and
philosophical reason. Yet closer scrutiny shows that even in the
philosophical thinking of those who helped drive faith and reason
further apart there are found at times precious and seminal insights
which, if pursued and developed with mind and heart rightly tuned,
can lead to the discovery of truth's way. Such insights are found,
for instance, in penetrating analyses of perception and experience,
of the imaginary and the unconscious, of personhood and
intersubjectivity, of freedom and values, of time and history. The
theme of death as well can become for all thinkers an incisive
appeal to seek within themselves the true meaning of their own life.
But this does not mean that the link between faith and reason as it
now stands does not need to be carefully examined, because each
without the other is impoverished and enfeebled. Deprived of what
Revelation offers, reason has taken side-tracks which expose it to
the danger of losing sight of its final goal. Deprived of reason,
faith has stressed feeling and experience, and so run the risk of no
longer being a universal proposition. It is an illusion to think
that faith, tied to weak reasoning, might be more penetrating; on
the contrary, faith then runs the grave risk of withering into myth
or superstition. By the same token, reason which is unrelated to an
adult faith is not prompted to turn its gaze to the newness and
radicality of being.
This is why I make this strong and insistent appeal—not, I trust,
untimely—that faith and philosophy recover the profound unity which
allows them to stand in harmony with their nature without
compromising their mutual autonomy. The parrhesia of faith must be
matched by the boldness of reason.
Chapter V
The Magisterium's Interventions in Philosophical Matters
The Magisterium's discernment as diakonia of the truth
49. The Church has no philosophy of her own nor does she canonize
any one particular philosophy in preference to others.(54) The
underlying reason for this reluctance is that, even when it engages
theology, philosophy must remain faithful to its own principles and
methods. Otherwise there would be no guarantee that it would remain
oriented to truth and that it was moving towards truth by way of a
process governed by reason. A philosophy which did not proceed in
the light of reason according to its own principles and methods
would serve little purpose. At the deepest level, the autonomy which
philosophy enjoys is rooted in the fact that reason is by its nature
oriented to truth and is equipped moreover with the means necessary
to arrive at truth. A philosophy conscious of this as its
“constitutive status” cannot but respect the demands and the data of
revealed truth.
Yet history shows that philosophy—especially modern philosophy—has
taken wrong turns and fallen into error. It is neither the task nor
the competence of the Magisterium to intervene in order to make good
the lacunas of deficient philosophical discourse. Rather, it is the
Magisterium's duty to respond clearly and strongly when
controversial philosophical opinions threaten right understanding of
what has been revealed, and when false and partial theories which
sow the seed of serious error, confusing the pure and simple faith
of the People of God, begin to spread more widely.
50. In the light of faith, therefore,
the Church's Magisterium can and must authoritatively exercise a
critical discernment of opinions and philosophies which contradict
Christian doctrine.(55) It is the task of the Magisterium in the
first place to indicate which philosophical presuppositions and
conclusions are incompatible with revealed truth, thus articulating
the demands which faith's point of view makes of philosophy.
Moreover, as philosophical learning has developed, different schools
of thought have emerged. This pluralism also imposes upon the
Magisterium the responsibility of expressing a judgement as to
whether or not the basic tenets of these different schools are
compatible with the demands of the word of God and theological
enquiry.
It is the Church's duty to indicate the elements in a philosophical
system which are incompatible with her own faith. In fact, many
philosophical opinions—concerning God, the human being, human
freedom and ethical behaviour— engage the Church directly, because
they touch on the revealed truth of which she is the guardian. In
making this discernment, we Bishops have the duty to be “witnesses
to the truth”, fulfilling a humble but tenacious ministry of service
which every philosopher should appreciate, a service in favour of
recta ratio, or of reason reflecting rightly upon what is true.
51. This discernment, however, should
not be seen as primarily negative, as if the Magisterium intended to
abolish or limit any possible mediation. On the contrary, the
Magisterium's interventions are intended above all to prompt,
promote and encourage philosophical enquiry. Besides, philosophers
are the first to understand the need for self-criticism, the
correction of errors and the extension of the too restricted terms
in which their thinking has been framed. In particular, it is
necessary to keep in mind the unity of truth, even if its
formulations are shaped by history and produced by human reason
wounded and weakened by sin. This is why no historical form of
philosophy can legitimately claim to embrace the totality of truth,
nor to be the complete explanation of the human being, of the world
and of the human being's relationship with God.
Today, then, with the proliferation of systems, methods, concepts
and philosophical theses which are often extremely complex, the need
for a critical discernment in the light of faith becomes more
urgent, even if it remains a daunting task. Given all of reason's
inherent and historical limitations, it is difficult enough to
recognize the inalienable powers proper to it; but it is still more
difficult at times to discern in specific philosophical claims what
is valid and fruitful from faith's point of view and what is
mistaken or dangerous. Yet the Church knows that “the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge” are hidden in Christ (Col 2:3) and therefore
intervenes in order to stimulate philosophical enquiry, lest it
stray from the path which leads to recognition of the mystery.
52. It is not only in recent times
that the Magisterium of the Church has intervened to make its mind
known with regard to particular philosophical teachings. It is
enough to recall, by way of example, the pronouncements made through
the centuries concerning theories which argued in favour of the
pre-existence of the soul,(56) or concerning the different forms of
idolatry and esoteric superstition found in astrological
speculations,(57) without forgetting the more systematic
pronouncements against certain claims of Latin Averroism which were
incompatible with the Christian faith.(58)
If the Magisterium has spoken out more frequently since the middle
of the last century, it is because in that period not a few
Catholics felt it their duty to counter various streams of modern
thought with a philosophy of their own. At this point, the
Magisterium of the Church was obliged to be vigilant lest these
philosophies developed in ways which were themselves erroneous and
negative. The censures were delivered even-handedly: on the one
hand, fideism (59) and radical traditionalism,(60) for their
distrust of reason's natural capacities, and, on the other,
rationalism (61) and ontologism (62) because they attributed to
natural reason a knowledge which only the light of faith could
confer. The positive elements of this debate were assembled in the
Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius, in which for the first time an
Ecumenical Council—in this case, the First Vatican
Council—pronounced solemnly on the relationship between reason and
faith. The teaching contained in this document strongly and
positively marked the philosophical research of many believers and
remains today a standard reference-point for correct and coherent
Christian thinking in this regard.
53. The Magisterium's pronouncements
have been concerned less with individual philosophical theses than
with the need for rational and hence ultimately philosophical
knowledge for the understanding of faith. In synthesizing and
solemnly reaffirming the teachings constantly proposed to the
faithful by the ordinary Papal Magisterium, the First Vatican
Council showed how inseparable and at the same time how distinct
were faith and reason, Revelation and natural knowledge of God. The
Council began with the basic criterion, presupposed by Revelation
itself, of the natural knowability of the existence of God, the
beginning and end of all things,(63) and concluded with the solemn
assertion quoted earlier: “There are two orders of knowledge,
distinct not only in their point of departure, but also in their
object”.(64) Against all forms of rationalism, then, there was a
need to affirm the distinction between the mysteries of faith and
the findings of philosophy, and the transcendence and precedence of
the mysteries of faith over the findings of philosophy. Against the
temptations of fideism, however, it was necessary to stress the
unity of truth and thus the positive contribution which rational
knowledge can and must make to faith's knowledge: “Even if faith is
superior to reason there can never be a true divergence between
faith and reason, since the same God who reveals the mysteries and
bestows the gift of faith has also placed in the human spirit the
light of reason. This God could not deny himself, nor could the
truth ever contradict the truth”.(65)
54. In our own century too the
Magisterium has revisited the theme on a number of occasions,
warning against the lure of rationalism. Here the pronouncements of
Pope Saint Pius X are pertinent, stressing as they did that at the
basis of Modernism were philosophical claims which were phenomenist,
agnostic and immanentist.(66) Nor can the importance of the Catholic
rejection of Marxist philosophy and atheistic Communism be
forgotten.(67)
Later, in his Encyclical Letter Humani Generis, Pope Pius XII warned
against mistaken interpretations linked to evolutionism,
existentialism and historicism. He made it clear that these theories
had not been proposed and developed by theologians, but had their
origins “outside the sheepfold of Christ”.(68) He added, however,
that errors of this kind should not simply be rejected but should be
examined critically: “Catholic theologians and philosophers, whose
grave duty it is to defend natural and supernatural truth and
instill it in human hearts, cannot afford to ignore these more or
less erroneous opinions. Rather they must come to understand these
theories well, not only because diseases are properly treated only
if rightly diagnosed and because even in these false theories some
truth is found at times, but because in the end these theories
provoke a more discriminating discussion and evaluation of
philosophical and theological truths”.(69)
In accomplishing its specific task in service of the Roman Pontiff's
universal Magisterium,(70) the Congregation for the Doctrine of
Faith has more recently had to intervene to re-emphasize the danger
of an uncritical adoption by some liberation theologians of opinions
and methods drawn from Marxism.(71)
In the past, then, the Magisterium has on different occasions and in
different ways offered its discernment in philosophical matters. My
revered Predecessors have thus made an invaluable contribution which
must not be forgotten.
55. Surveying the situation today, we
see that the problems of other times have returned, but in a new
key. It is no longer a matter of questions of interest only to
certain individuals and groups, but convictions so widespread that
they have become to some extent the common mind. An example of this
is the deep-seated distrust of reason which has surfaced in the most
recent developments of much of philosophical research, to the point
where there is talk at times of “the end of metaphysics”. Philosophy
is expected to rest content with more modest tasks such as the
simple interpretation of facts or an enquiry into restricted fields
of human knowing or its structures.
In theology too the temptations of other times have reappeared. In
some contemporary theologies, for instance, a certain rationalism is
gaining ground, especially when opinions thought to be
philosophically well founded are taken as normative for theological
research. This happens particularly when theologians, through lack
of philosophical competence, allow themselves to be swayed
uncritically by assertions which have become part of current
parlance and culture but which are poorly grounded in reason.(72)
There are also signs of a resurgence of fideism, which fails to
recognize the importance of rational knowledge and philosophical
discourse for the understanding of faith, indeed for the very
possibility of belief in God. One currently widespread symptom of
this fideistic tendency is a “biblicism” which tends to make the
reading and exegesis of Sacred Scripture the sole criterion of
truth. In consequence, the word of God is identified with Sacred
Scripture alone, thus eliminating the doctrine of the Church which
the Second Vatican Council stressed quite specifically. Having
recalled that the word of God is present in both Scripture and
Tradition,(73) the Constitution Dei Verbum continues emphatically:
“Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture comprise a single sacred
deposit of the word of God entrusted to the Church. Embracing this
deposit and united with their pastors, the People of God remain
always faithful to the teaching of the Apostles”.(74) Scripture,
therefore, is not the Church's sole point of reference. The “supreme
rule of her faith” (75) derives from the unity which the Spirit has
created between Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the
Magisterium of the Church in a reciprocity which means that none of
the three can survive without the others.(76)
Moreover, one should not underestimate the danger inherent in
seeking to derive the truth of Sacred Scripture from the use of one
method alone, ignoring the need for a more comprehensive exegesis
which enables the exegete, together with the whole Church, to arrive
at the full sense of the texts. Those who devote themselves to the
study of Sacred Scripture should always remember that the various
hermeneutical approaches have their own philosophical underpinnings,
which need to be carefully evaluated before they are applied to the
sacred texts.
Other modes of latent fideism appear in the scant consideration
accorded to speculative theology, and in disdain for the classical
philosophy from which the terms of both the understanding of faith
and the actual formulation of dogma have been drawn. My revered
Predecessor Pope Pius XII warned against such neglect of the
philosophical tradition and against abandonment of the traditional
terminology.(77)
56. In brief, there are signs of a
widespread distrust of universal and absolute statements, especially
among those who think that truth is born of consensus and not of a
consonance between intellect and objective reality. In a world
subdivided into so many specialized fields, it is not hard to see
how difficult it can be to acknowledge the full and ultimate meaning
of life which has traditionally been the goal of philosophy.
Nonetheless, in the light of faith which finds in Jesus Christ this
ultimate meaning, I cannot but encourage philosophers—be they
Christian or not—to trust in the power of human reason and not to
set themselves goals that are too modest in their philosophizing.
The lesson of history in this millennium now drawing to a close
shows that this is the path to follow: it is necessary not to
abandon the passion for ultimate truth, the eagerness to search for
it or the audacity to forge new paths in the search. It is faith
which stirs reason to move beyond all isolation and willingly to run
risks so that it may attain whatever is beautiful, good and true.
Faith thus becomes the convinced and convincing advocate of reason.
The Church's interest in philosophy
57. Yet the Magisterium does more than point out the misperceptions
and the mistakes of philosophical theories. With no less concern it
has sought to stress the basic principles of a genuine renewal of
philosophical enquiry, indicating as well particular paths to be
taken. In this regard, Pope Leo XIII with his Encyclical Letter
Ęterni Patris took a step of historic importance for the life of the
Church, since it remains to this day the one papal document of such
authority devoted entirely to philosophy. The great Pope revisited
and developed the First Vatican Council's teaching on the
relationship between faith and reason, showing how philosophical
thinking contributes in fundamental ways to faith and theological
learning.(78) More than a century later, many of the insights of his
Encyclical Letter have lost none of their interest from either a
practical or pedagogical point of view—most particularly, his
insistence upon the incomparable value of the philosophy of Saint
Thomas. A renewed insistence upon the thought of the Angelic Doctor
seemed to Pope Leo XIII the best way to recover the practice of a
philosophy consonant with the demands of faith. “Just when Saint
Thomas distinguishes perfectly between faith and reason”, the Pope
writes, “he unites them in bonds of mutual friendship, conceding to
each its specific rights and to each its specific dignity”.(79)
58. The positive results of the papal
summons are well known. Studies of the thought of Saint Thomas and
other Scholastic writers received new impetus. Historical studies
flourished, resulting in a rediscovery of the riches of Medieval
thought, which until then had been largely unknown; and there
emerged new Thomistic schools. With the use of historical method,
knowledge of the works of Saint Thomas increased greatly, and many
scholars had courage enough to introduce the Thomistic tradition
into the philosophical and theological discussions of the day. The
most influential Catholic theologians of the present century, to
whose thinking and research the Second Vatican Council was much
indebted, were products of this revival of Thomistic philosophy.
Throughout the twentieth century, the Church has been served by a
powerful array of thinkers formed in the school of the Angelic
Doctor.
59. Yet the Thomistic and neo-Thomistic
revival was not the only sign of a resurgence of philosophical
thought in culture of Christian inspiration. Earlier still, and
parallel to Pope Leo's call, there had emerged a number of Catholic
philosophers who, adopting more recent currents of thought and
according to a specific method, produced philosophical works of
great influence and lasting value. Some devised syntheses so
remarkable that they stood comparison with the great systems of
idealism. Others established the epistemological foundations for a
new consideration of faith in the light of a renewed understanding
of moral consciousness; others again produced a philosophy which,
starting wi |
