FAITH AND REASON

FAITH AND REASON

Pope John  Paul II

Faith and Reason are like two wings to the truth. To know rightly is to know oneself, which is among the fundamental questions common to all cultures that all have a quest for meaning. The Church proclaims Christ as the truth and shares the struggle to arrive at the truth. Philosophy is a human task to seek the truth, since the desire for truth is part of human nature. Philosophy has also helped Eastern and Western cultures to form legal systems. Philosophy begins with wonderment moving on to speculation and on to modes of thought and  then on to a systematic body of  knowledge. There is, however, the danger of identifying one system with the whole of philosophy. All systems must respect the primacy of philosophical enquiry.

We can discern a core of philosophical insight in the history of thought, shared by all as reference points. This core is known as ‘right reason’. So philosophy is a way to know the fundamental truths of life and the truth of the Gospel. Modern philosophy focuses on man but neglects transcendent truth. The result is pragmatism and technology. Reason has stopped short of the truth of being, which is deeper than human knowing. Today they have lost confidence in the capacity of the intellect, and speak only about its limitations. The result is agnosticism, relativism, scepticism, undifferentiated pluralism, reducing everything to opinion. This false modernity rests content with provisional truth. There is need to take a sure path that leads to truth.

The Encyclical concentrates on the theme of truth itself and its foundation in relation to facts. There is need of a foundation of personal and communal life.

CHAPTER  I  : 

The Revelation of God’s Wisdom

Revelation perfects what the human mind knows; it is knowledge peculiar to faith and surpasses human reason. Philosophy and Revelation are neither identical nor mutually exclusive. They comprise a twofold order of knowledge distinguished by source and object. Jesus Christ is the fullness of God’s revelation, immersed in time and history.  Therefore the contents of revealed truth follows a historical path towards complete fulfilment. History is the arena of the Incarnation: eternal enters time, whole lies hidden in the part, the divine takes on a human face. Men and women are offered the ultimate truth about life and history. Immersion in history does not evacuate the mystery, but faith enables us to penetrate the Mystery, since the intellect has no potential to grasp the mystery which is a gift for which it must be humbly open and receptive.  This openness is a moment of fundamental decision which engages the whole person and actualises his freedom.  In faith freedom attains the certainty of truth. From now on reason makes use of its own methods to penetrate the truth. Revelation stirs the mind to extend the range of its knowledge, for God is greater that all that can be conceived (cf. St. Anselm).  Christian Revelation is not only a summons but also an enablement to open to the transcendent, to go beyond the constrictions of a technocratic logic; for people to go beyond themselves and yet take possession of their lives.

Revelation is not devised by man, but something gratuitous, set within history, an anticipation of the ultimate vision of God. For all their difference in method, both philosophy and theology point to the path of life.

CHAPTER  II

Credo ut intelligam

Wisdom literature in the Bible brings out the relation between faith and culture. The happy (cultured) man pursues wisdom. The Bible has made its own contribution to the theory of knowledge. Far from abolishing reason, faith helps man realise that the God of Israel is acting in all human events. The path to life is known by reason but within the horizon of faith.   Though there is no competition between them, separating faith and reason would diminish human capacity. Each somehow contains the other and has its own scope of action. Thus the People of Israel realised that  human knowledge is a journey undertaken by the humble who have fear of the Lord. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God,” and lacks the full truth.  The author of the Book of Wisdom philosophises on the structure and cycles of the universe, and in doing so can rise to God, unless blocked by sin. Thus the fruit of reasoning must be set within the horizon of faith. Faith liberates reason to place it within the ultimate order of things. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.” Thus for the Old Testament, knowledge is linked with revelation-faith. Man understands himself only in being in relation. Reason enters the realm of the infinite. Despite his doubts, the believer is an explorer of the truth.

In the New Testament, Paul says that reason can have an intuition of divinity in created reality, going beyond mere sense data. Pauline text affirms the human capacity for metaphysical enquiry. Unfortunately, man’s hubris darkness and blocks access to God. Since the primal disobedience, the path to knowledge is strewn with obstacles. Reason became a prisoner to itself. But Jesus Christ has redeemed reason from its weakness and challenges its habitual pattern of thought. Thus the crucifixion of Jesus subverts mere human argumentation and logic. Human wisdom needs humility to see the potential in its very weakness. This is the wisdom of the Cross which breaks free of all cultural limitations. Human philosophy will transcend itself provided it accepts the foolishness of the Cross. Faith and philosophy can part company at the foot of the Cross or be wedded in a most salubrious and fruitful union.

CHAPTER  III

Intelligo ut credam

In the heart of man there is a nostalgia for God that man articulated through cultural forms and philosophy. To know the truth as it really is; no one wants to be deceived about the truth of things. The sign of maturity is to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Human progress depends on it. So it is essential to pursue values that are true, transcendent values. We need answers to questions of life and destiny, answers that are universal and ultimate, answers that no not fascinate but satisfy. In shaping their philosophies, traditions and systems, people are yearning to reach the certitude of truth, of absolute value. So the human being is defined as one who seeks the truth. The search for truth may be hampered, but is not vain or useless or beyond man’s capacity.

There are modes of truth  -  that arrived at by scientific research

                                             -  that arrived at by philosophy

                                             -  that arrived at by religion

Philosophy can shape a comprehensive vision for interpreting life. This includes critically evaluating human traditions and beliefs. Knowledge acquired through belief can be personalised but without breaking interpersonal relationship and trust. Seeking the truth must enhance the community of man.

33. “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 therefore a search which can reach its end only by reaching the absolute. Thanks to the inherent capacities of thought, man is able to encounter and recognise 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. “

Christian faith comes to meet people on their way to the truth. More than simple believing, faith immerses them into the mystery of Christ. Divine truth does not oppose philosophical perceptions but combines towards the fullness of the unity of truth. The God of creation is also the God of salvation, giving intelligibility to science and philosophy as He reveals himself in Christ.

CHAPTER  IV

The Relationship between Faith and Reason

 The early Church was already engaged with Greek thinking but without the mythological elements to provide a rational foundation for belief in divinity. The early Church avoided Gnosticism and refused to subordinate the truth of revelation to the interpretations of the philosophers. The first task was to proclaim the risen Christ, then to engage in philosophy in order to deepen faith knowledge. Gospel was higher than philosophy, offers satisfying answers, and even today disclaims elitism since truth is the right of all men, and access to the truth enables access to God. Sts. Justin and Clement proclaimed Christianity as true, sure and profitable philosophy. Thus philosophy paved the way for the Gospel. Philosophy also dismantles sophistries, and acts as a protective.

Yet Christian thinkers were also critical about adopting philosophical thought. “Theology” used to signify a generic doctrine about the gods; now it is a reflective undertaking by the believer in order to express the true doctrine about God. St. Augustine professed the Christian faith, even though it was difficult to understand and not always open to rational proof, rather than the myths, fables and rash promises of the Manichees. The Augustinian synthesis of Greek and Latin thought provided a high form of philosophical and theological thinking. Christian thinkers have always considered the positive and limiting aspects of the relationship between faith and philosophy. “What does Athens have in common with Jerusalem ?” asked Tertullian.

It is more than transposing the truths of faith into philosophical categories. They liberated reason from myths and external constraints, purified and rightly tuned to provide solid foundations for absolute truth, and infused with the riches of Revelation, surpassing its natural goals to attain the Word made flesh. According to St. Anselm, the function of reason is to discover explanations for the understanding of faith. Desire for the truth spurs reason on to go beyond its own achievements, looking for greater clarity and clearer formulations of the contents of the faith.

42: “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.”

St. Thomas Aquinas is great not only as a teacher but as one who dialogued with the Arab and Jewish thought of his time, giving pride of place to the harmony between faith and reason. Faith has confidence in reason; builds on nature and perfects it. Illumined by faith, reason is set free from the fragility and limitations caused by sin.

43: “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.”  Pope Paul VI on St. Thomas Aquinas:  ”Without doubt, Thomas possessed supremely the courage of the truth, a freedom of spirit of 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 to 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.”

St. Thomas traced the process by which knowledge matures into wisdom, which is more than an intellectual virtue, but enables judgement according to divine truth.  Here we are in the realm of the Holy Spirit.  “Rightly then, he may be called an ‘apostle of the truth’. Looking unreservedly to truth, the realism of Thomas could recognise the objectivity of truth and produce not merely a philosophy of ‘what seems to be’ but a philosophy of ‘what is.’”  Sts. Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas were the first to recognise the autonomy of philosophy and the sciences in order to perform well in their respective fields. Sadly, the autonomy became separation in the late medieval period from faith, the rise of rationalism and mistrust of reason. Faith was evacuated of its rationality. Modern philosophy has moved further away from Revelation, even opposed to it as alienating and damaging reason. Far from liberating, this gave rise to totalitarian systems. Scientific research lost its Christian, metaphysical, and moral vision. Technology thus became dehumanised and market-based.  This has finally led to nihilism, according to which the search is an end in itself without hope of attaining the goal of truth. Nihilism destroys all commitment.  Sadly in modern culture philosophy lost its universal status to become just another field of knowing, utilitarian and hedonistic.  Today man is a slave of his own technology, afraid of what he produces. Search for truth has been abandoned in favour of a subjective and pragmatic certainty.

However, there are some hopeful signs. Now-a-days people are engaging in analyses of experiences, imagination, the artistic and the unconscious, of personhood and intersubjectivity, freedom and values, of time and history and the theme of death.  There is an urgent need to inject faith into all these endeavours.

48: “This is why I make this strong and insistent appeal, 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

Philosophy enjoys an autonomy since reason is naturally oriented to truth, and is equipped to arrive at it. And by this token philosophy respects the demands and data of revealed truth.  But sadly philosophy has taken wrong turns and fallen into errors.  The Magisterium intervenes, not to fill the gap of deficient philosophy but when it threatens the truth of revelation. In a pluralistic environment the Church has to make judgements of the compatibility or otherwise of tenets with the word of God,  of which the Church is the guardian. Opinions about God, man, freedom and ethics bear directly on revealed truth. This is the service of right reason. Magisterium promotes enquiry, but this includes self-criticism and correction. No philosophy can claim to embrace the totality of truth or be a complete explanation of reality. Critical discernment in the light of faith is urgent today. Historically the Church has pronounced on idolatry, superstition, fideism, radical traditionalism, rationalism, and ontologism. Thanks to the First Vatican Council, there is a solemn pronouncement on the relationship between faith and reason.

Revelation teaches the natural knowability of God’s existence. Faith is superior to reason, while reason makes its contribution to faith knowledge. The God of faith is also the God of reason. Erroneous thinking like fideism, on the one hand, and Modernism, on the other, challenges us to a more discriminating discussion and evaluation of philosophical and theological truths. The CDF has pointed out the danger of uncritical adoption of Marxist opinions and methods for liberation theology. Today there is a distrust of reason, spelling out the death of metaphysics. Philosophy is restricted to mere interpretation of facts. Some theologians, lacking competence in philosophy, are easily swayed by current parlance and culture. One fideistic trend today is “biblicism”, which tends to make the reading and exegesis of 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. Tradition, Scripture and Magisterium are reciprocal  -  none of the three can survive without the others. The truth of Scripture does not derive from one method alone, and the philosophical underpinnings of hermeneutics need to be carefully evaluated.  Fideism also ignores speculative theology and tradition terminology.

Sadly there is widespread distrust of universal and absolute statements, and a belief that truth is born of consensus and not an adequation of intellect with objective reality. The passion for ultimate truth and the audacity to forge new methods must not be abandoned.  “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.” (56)

The Church’s interest in the renewal of philosophy was clearly indicated in Leo XIII’s “Aeterni Patris”. This gave an impetus to historical studies, rediscovery of medieval, Thomistic thought. The most influential Catholic theologians who contributed to Vatican II were products of the Thomistic revival. Other non-Thomistic insights have helped greatly: remarkable syntheses, a new epistemology of faith and moral consciousness, analysis of immanence, combining faith with the phenomenological perspective.

The anthropology of Vatican II is one of the richest sources of knowledge about man, both philosophically and theologically. Philosophical anthropology dovetails with theological anthropology, which in turn, is assumed to Christology. Pope John Paul II personally emphasises the importance of philosophical formation for those who have to address today’s world, but also expresses his disappointment over the neglect of Aquinas’ insights.  “I cannot fail to note with surprise and displeasure that this lack of interest in the study of philosophy is shared by not a few theologians” (61). Sadly philosophy has been marginalised or replaced by other human sciences and cultural theology. Philosophy is fundamental and indispensable to the structure of theological studies.

The need of a constructive harmony between philosophy and theology was decided by the 5th. Lateran Council and confirmed by experience.

            CHAPTER   VI

The Interaction between Philosophy and Theology

The Magisterium has no competence to direct theologians to particular methods of relating to philosophy, but to point out certain tasks. Philosophy contributes to theology by the study of the structure of knowledge, personal communication and the use of language. Tradition and Magisterium have made use of concepts and thought forms drawn from a particular philosophical tradition. Theologians must know in depth these philosophical systems. This will answer the specific demands of disciplined thought. Again, divine truth must be expounded as an authentic body of knowledge in an intelligible and logically constructive way, making clear the specific meaning of theological propositions. Dogmatic theology must articulate the divine mysteries both as narrative and as argument, in a critical and communicable way. Moral theology employs concepts which are in part defined by ethics. “Speculative dogmatic theology thus presupposes and implies a philosophy of the human being, the world, and, more radically, of being, which has objective truth as its foundation” (66).

Fundamental theology expands and justifies the relationship between faith and philosophical thought. Truths discerned by reason are endowed with ultimate purpose by Revelation. Rational thought is the propaedeutic path to faith without compromising its own autonomy; and reason needs to be reinforced by faith to discover horizons it cannot reach on its own. Moral theology leads believers to freedom and responsibility, and requires a sound philosophical vision of man and the general principles of decision making. It is true that theology must make use of modern sciences and culture, but cannot dispense with critical thinking which is concerned with the universal. In fact, philosophy enables us to discern in different world views and cultures not what people think but what the objective truth is.

In preaching its universal message, the Church has always encountered cultural differences. And this has created something new. In depth, cultures show forth the human beings characteristic openness to the universal and transcendent. They are different paths to the truth which makes life more human. Culture, like nature, points to God. Culture is as dynamic as human experience, feeding on values and assimilating new experiences. People depend upon culture but also shape it. Basically there is an impulse towards fulfilment. Culture permeates Christian faith and in turn is shaped and purified by it. Christian faith helps preserve cultural identity and also fosters the value implicit in culture to become explicit in the light of truth. No one culture can be the criterion of truth of divine Revelation, but is liberated by it and enabled to develop in new ways.

Greek philosophy is not the only approach to Christian faith. Hence there are new tasks of inculturation.  The Holy Father points out certain criteria:

maintain the universality of the human spirit; do not abandon Greco-Latin thought; the originality of Indian thought should not affirm itself by opposing other traditions. There are the two poles of God’s Word and the a better understanding of it. Reason moves between these two poles and needs guidance lest it stray from the truth. The relationship between faith and reason is fruitfully evinced in the teaching of the Fathers  of the Church. Worthy of mention: Gregory Nazianzus, Augustine, Anselm, Bonaventure, Aquinas. Recent thinkers: Newman, Rosmini, Maritain, Gilson, Edith Stein. In the East: Soloviev, Florensky, Chaadaev, Lossky.  Pope John Paul hopes that present and future thinkers will continue to develop the philosophical and theological tradition for the service of humanity.

There are different stances of philosophy vis-à-vis Revelation.

1. Philosophy completely independent of Revelation. We do not condemn but support this search for truth. Even though grace supports nature, philosophy should not claim self-sufficiency of thought but be open to Revelation.

2. The term Christian philosophy does not signify an official philosophy of the Church. Faith as such is not philosophy. Yet Christian philosophy would not happen if it did not receive from Christian faith. Thus it avoids presumption, humbly acknowledging, for instance, that the problem of evil and suffering can be solved by including the data of Revelation. Revelation  also helps insights into the nature of God, meaning of life, the fact of being as against non-being, the notion of person as spiritual being, human dignity, equality and freedom. Philosophy of history is supported by the history of salvation. Other issues include the possibility of man’s supernatural vocation and original sin, thereby broadening the scope of reason’s activity. Sadly, recent thinkers have abandoned Christian orthodoxy.

The Fathers and medieval theologians adopted non-Christian philosophies to formulate concepts and arguments. This shows philosophy’s autonomy and possibility of transformation. The truths of faith make certain demands which philosophy must respect when it engages theology. “In the thinking of St. Thomas, the demands of reason and the power of faith found the most elevated synthesis ever attained by human thought, for he could defend the radical newness introduced by Revelation without ever demeaning the venture proper to reason” (78).

What are the demands the Word of God makes on philosophy today ?

Truth being one, revealed truth illumines the path of philosophical enquiry. Philosophers and theologians will be guided by the authority of truth alone. “To believe is nothing than to think with assent...Believers are also thinkers; in believing they think, and in thinking they believe. If faith does not think, it is nothing” (79).

CHAPTER   VII

Current Requirements and Tasks

Today’s tasks and needs are the following:

Absolute need of the Word of God, and man’s absolute dependence on God. Need of the proper use of freedom, avoidance of relativism, materialism, pantheism. The world and man have meaning, which is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  We need to address the crisis of meaning, ambiguous thinking and introversion, reason reduced to an accessory function. Philosophy should be the ultimate framework of the unity of human knowledge and action. This is the sapiential dimension of philosophy, which must address not only the subordinate and particular aspects of reality but the very being of the object,  and vindicate the mind’s capacity to know the truth and the natural foundation of man’s final destiny.  A phenomenalist or relativist philosophy cannot do this, since Holy Scripture is made up of texts and statements of genuine ontological content, of objective reality, for instance, about the very being of Jesus Christ. Sacred Scripture also considers the judgements of the moral conscience to be objectively true. Thus Pope John Paul II insists on a philosophy of a genuinely metaphysical range, a metaphysics that vindicates the mind’s capacity to attain the true and certain, although analogically. The call to the absolute and the transcendent is already a metaphysical opening. So we must move from phenomenon to foundation, from experience to the ground of being, for there is where we touch God. A solid metaphysics will also correct certain mistaken modes of behaviour in society. Metaphysics should be at the base of hermeneutics and analysis of language since human language is capable of expressing divine and transcendent reality meaningfully though analogically. Analogically, since Revelation is much more than the expression of human notions about God.

One of our tasks in the next millennium is to present a unified and organic vision of knowledge in organic continuity with the great traditions. Tradition is a cultural heritage that belongs to all humanity and not ours to dispose of at will. Rootedness in tradition is the enablement to develop the future. The same can be  said for theology. Our philosophy must avoid eclecticism which is an incoherent bunching of disparate ideas. Such manipulation does not help the search for truth. Lying under eclecticism is historicism according to which a truth is valid for a certain period and purpose. We maintain that even if a formulation is bound by a certain time and culture, the underlying reality can be identified irrespective of space-time. Recent opinions and language must be critically evaluated in the light of tradition. We must not look for relevance at the cost of truth.

Another threat is scientism: only knowledge derived from the positive sciences is valid. Hence, religion and ethics are mere fantasy. A critical epistemology will prevent science and technology from dominating human life, leading to the impoverishment of human thought. Another danger is pragmatism which precludes judgement based on ethical principles to favour decisions taken by institutional agencies, thereby harming a comprehensive anthropology. Finally, nihilism, which is the denial of objective truth and the identity of the human being, image and likeness of God,  thus giving rise to a destructive will to power and a solitude without hope; thus freedom becomes an illusion. In our time there has been an enrichment of certain sections of philosophy, like logic, epistemology, anthropology, existentialist approach to the analysis of freedom. However, post-modernity needs appropriate attention. Some of the post-modern tenets are: absence of certainty and meaning, everything is provisional and ephemeral, thereby destroying the certitude of faith. In the aftermath of so much destruction this century we are left with a sense of despair. Technical progress can produce the illusion  that man can single-handedly take charge of his destiny.

Current tasks for theology:

1. Renew the methods in order to serve evangelisation more effectively.

2. To believe in the possibility of knowing a universally valid truth is the essential condition for dialogue.

3. Provide an understanding of Revelation in terms of the kenotic love of God which gives meaning to life.

Problems of Theology:

1. Relationship between meaning and truth. The truth of the biblical historical events lies in the meaning in and for the history of salvation. Need to examine the relationship between fact and meaning.

2. Dogmatic formulations must move from the historical and contingent circumstances in which they developed to the truth that transcends those circumstances. This is also true for Conciliar statements.

Certain basic concepts retain their universal epistemological value, so that they are at home in any culture. Philosophy can help towards understanding the relationship between conceptual language and truth. Dogmatic theology is more than rules of conduct or functional truth. It has to do with existence and therefore needs the philosophy of being which views reality in its ontological, causal and communicative structures.  Thus theology draws its principles from the relationship between Revelation and metaphysical reasoning. The understanding of faith is also linked to the moral life of the believers. The criteria of good and evil are not the prerogative of the individual conscience but drawn from an understanding of the truth, truth ultimately and unambiguously rooted in the Word of God. This presupposes a philosophical anthropology and a metaphysics of the good.  “Drawing on this organic vision, linked necessarily to Christian holiness and to the practice of the human and supernatural virtues, moral theology will be able to tackle the various problems in its competence, such as peace, social justice, the family, the defence of life and the natural environment, in a more appropriate and effective way (98).  Catechesis also has philosophical implications since it forms the person and his living in the light of the mystery of the living God. This again involves a reciprocity between theology and philosophy.

CONCLUSION

Faith and reason mutually support, influence and critique each other, in the common endeavour to contribute to humanity’s progress.  Today theology and philosophy need to recover their relationship in an ecclesial context. From this strong base the Church can continue to promote man’s dignity and culture and his capacity to know the truth and life’s meaning as they entrust themselves to the Gospel.

The Holy Father appeals to the philosophers to be at the service of the new evangelisation, to explore the points of openness and key issues of the historical moment, in a way that is comprehensible and appealing to those who do not yet grasp the full truth of divine revelation. The key issues are ecology, peace, and the co-existence of different races and cultures.

Holy Father then appeals to theologians to pay special attention to the philosophical implications of the Word of God.  Appeal to academic and pastoral formators to work towards a genuine and profound communication of the truth of the Gospel. There must be a scholarly and systematic training of the teachers of philosophy, keeping in view the needs of Church and world. Appeal to teachers of philosophy to be open to the impelling questions from the Word of God in order to formulate a genuine ethics.  Appeal to scientists to keep in view the sapiential horizon in their research which includes philosophical and ethical values of the human person and of divine mystery.  Final appeal to everyone to consider man, saved in Christ, and searching for truth and meaning, freedom and openness to God.

TRIBUTE TO MARY, SEAT OF WISDOM

Just as Mary, the Seat of Wisdom, lost nothing of her true humanity and freedom by her assent  to Gabriel’s word, so too philosophy, heeding the Gospel’s summons, loses none of its autonomy but rather sees its enquiries rising to their highest expression.

“Mary is the table at which faith sits in thought”

Given in Rome, at St. Peter’s,

on 14 September,

the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross,

in the year 1998,

 the 20th. of my pontificate.

(signed)

Joannes Paulus II