Engaging the Thought of Pope Benedict XVI: Broadening the Horizons of Reason

I’ve included the entirety of an article from the Vatican Information Service. Pope Benedict XVI has spoken publicly about an important issue he addressed in some of his earlier books: Christian philosophy must respond to modernity and theology must also respond, though he apparently believes — plausibly enough — that theology will respond first to an updated philosophy.

Pope Benedict tells us, “Modernity is not simply a historically-datable cultural phenomenon; in reality it requires a new focus, a more exact understanding of the nature of man”. This is a good start though I would say that an understanding of man, a creature of this universe whatever our fate might be beyond the grave, requires some substantial understanding of the universe. Christian philosophers need first to deal with the work of Einstein, Godel, and their successors. Then they need to deal with Darwin and his successors, especially the current generation of brain-scientists. General relativity and quantum mechanics and, likely, string theory, and many fields of mathematics, tell us much about the nature of the being that God shaped into this universe and also some speculatively much about the underlying being which was the raw material God created from nothing. History and other fields of empirical knowledge also have much to say but we have to start with the basics of the pesky stuff we’re made from before we can more fully understand the story God is telling with this stuff.

Like it or not, geometries of space-time and the facts of electrons and electromagnetic fields provide the most certain knowledge we have of created being. A whole variety of empirical fields, from history to transfinite set theory, provide us with a more complete view of this universe, one which could then be disciplined to a Christian understanding of this universe as a world — which I define as a universe seen in light of God’s purposes. A world is much like a morally ordered narrative. But it will require a lot of work to build a philosophy founded upon being rather than “myth” or the “gods of religion”. And we have to realize it will be not only a great effort but also a disorienting effort. See my earlier entry, Hellenistic Metaphysics is Too Small, for a discussion of this issue. Note I say Hellenistic metaphysics is too small, not that it’s wrong.

If anyone wishes to see a first shot at just such a system of thought as Pope Benedict would desire, they can check into my first published book, To See a World in a Grain of Sand. I’ve also completed a book on the nature of human knowledge which can be downloaded for free, Four Kinds of Knowledge.

===============================================================

POPE HIGHLIGHTS THE VITAL ROLE OF PHILOSOPHY

VATICAN CITY, 7 JUN 2008 (VIS) – This morning in the Vatican, the Holy Father received participants in the sixth European Symposium of University Professors, which is being held in Rome from 4 to 7 June on the theme: “Broadening the Horizons of Reason. Prospects for Philosophy”.

The symposium has been promoted by university professors in Rome and organised by the Office for Pastoral Care in Universities of the Vicariate of Rome, in collaboration with regional and provincial institutions and the local city authorities.

In opening his address to them the Pope mentioned the fact that this year marks the tenth anniversary of John Paul II’s Encyclical “Fides et ratio”, and he recalled how when that document was published “fifty professors of philosophy in Roman universities … expressed their gratitude to the Pope with a declaration underlining the importance of re-launching the study of philosophy in universities and schools”.

“The events of the years that have passed since the publication of the Encyclical have”, said the Holy Father, “delineated more clearly the historical and cultural stage onto which philosophical research is called to enter. Indeed, the crisis of modernity is not a symptom of the decline of philosophy; on the contrary, philosophy must embark upon new lines of research in order to understand the true nature of that crisis”.

“Modernity is not simply a historically-datable cultural phenomenon; in reality it requires a new focus, a more exact understanding of the nature of man”.

Benedict XVI indicated that since the beginning of his pontificate he had received various suggestions “from men and women of our time”, and that “in the light of these I have decided to offer a research proposal which I feel may arouse interest in a relaunch of philosophy and of its unique role within the modern academic and cultural world”.

Quoting his own book, “Introduction to Christianity”, he said: “The Christian faith has made a clear choice: against the gods of religion for the God of the philosophers, in other words against the myth of custom and for the truth of being”. And he went on: “This affirmation … is still fully relevant in the historical-cultural context in which we now live. Indeed, only on the basis of this premise – which is historical and theological at one and the same time – is it possible to respond to the new expectations of philosophy. The risk that religion, even the Christian religion, be surreptitiously manipulated, is very real even today”.

“The proposal to ‘Broaden the Horizons of Reason’ should” he proceeded, “be understood as a request for a new openness towards the reality to which human beings in their uni-totality are called, overcoming old prejudices and reductive viewpoints in order to open the way to a new understanding of modernity”.

“The new dialogue between faith and reason which is needed today cannot come about in the terms and the ways it did in the past”, said the Pope. “If it does not want to see itself reduced to the status of sterile intellectual exercise, it must start from the current real situation of mankind, and upon that build a reflection that embraces man’s ontological and metaphysical truth”.

In closing, Benedict XVI referred to the need to “promote high-profile academic centres in which philosophy can enter into dialogue with other disciplines, in particular with theology, to favour new cultural syntheses capable of guiding society”. In this context, he expressed the hope that “Catholic academic institutions may be ready to create true cultural laboratories” and he invited the professors to encourage young people “to commit themselves to philosophical studies by facilitating appropriate initiatives” to guide them in that direction. AC/…/UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS VIS 080609 (620)

===============================================================