Recently James posted a comment about Pope Benedict XVI's controversial speech. A while back I mentioned that the Pope had been in dialogue with a modern left-wing philosopher called Jurgen Habermas (left). It turns out to be fascinating.
Anyone who is interested in the meeting point between the paths of faith and reason should read this excellent article from Prospect magazine.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Elderly Germans In Action
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3 comments:
Thanks V -
a fascinating article. Once again I'm struck by how undogmatic these most senior of Catholic theologians appear to be.
I particularly like the new Pope's description of the task of philosophy as being, "to keep open a view of the whole, of the broader dimensions of human reality, of which only partial aspects can ever be revealed in science".
Also the description of natural law as "that body of principles binding on all human beings in virtue of their membership of the species."
Yes, thanks for this, V.
The last Pope's published Encyclical of 1999 on 'Faith and Reason' was also an impressive statement. He stressed the function of philosophy.
I thought the last Pope's view differed slightly - he seemed to think that reason was useful, but secondarily, as a support to faith. Mr Jaiswal alluded to this in the language lecture when he said that in the West we traditionally regard philosophy as a "handmaiden" to religion.
I may be imagining this, but I think the current Pope has a broader view.
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