Fides et Ratio et…

Abstract

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