Faith and Reason [Paperback]

Timothy L. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2001

A series of important papers over the topics raised by Pope John Paul II in Fides et Ratio. Contributors include Jude Dougherty, Rev. Servais Th. Pinckaers, O.P., William Hoye, Mario Enrique Sacchi, Benedict Ashley, O.P., Grace Goodell, Louis Chammings, peter Hodgson, John Haldane, Steven Baldner, Vittorio Possenti, John Hittinger, Christopher Martin, Rémi Brague, Michael Sherwin, O.P., Roger Pouivet, Jennifer Hockenbery, John O’Callaghan, Alejandro Llano, and others.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: St. Augustines Press; 1 edition (April 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890318493
• ISBN-13: 978-1890318499
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,240,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A smooth assist for a great document, October 28, 2002

By 

Theodore (Ventura, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Faith and Reason (Paperback)

The authors of the Notre Dame Sympsium in the summer of 1999 worked toward the goal of helping people understand and appreciate a profound document from the Holy Father in Rome. Pope John Paul II introduces the 1998 encyclical "Fides et Ratio" with a question. He wonders whether philosophy makes people feel sick and queasy? The immediate answer is to say, Yes, philosophy does make people feel sick, because of a "widespread distrust of the human being's great capacity for knowledge" (paragraph no. 5). Try a simple test and read the following questions: "Who am I? Where have I come from and where am I going? Why is there evil? What is there after this life?" (no. 1). Do these questions of John Paul II bring about feelings of sickness and light-headedbess? If you are like some college students in philosophy class, then your anwer may be affirmative.

Sadly, philosophy and the above questions should be attractive to us and should cause us to relax. "These are questions which we find in the sacred writings of Israel, as also in the Veda and the Avesta," writes John Paul. "We find them in the writing of Confucius and Lao-Tze, and in the preaching of Tirthankara and Buddha." These questions have been confidently addressed in every place and every time history. "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."

Unfortunately, we do not find these questions at Disneyland or Las Vegas. Disneyland in Anaheim has 60 major rides among eight themed lands: Main Street, Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Critter Country, Mickey's Toontown and New Orleans Square. However, Philosophyland is excluded from the park. Las Vegas ignores the tough questions and provides "escapist fun" with colossal hotels and casinos: Excalibur, Luxor, New York-New York, Circus Circus, MGM Grand and Treasure Island. As the AAA Tour Book says, "Las Vegas became a city that thrived on illusion and fantasy" (California/Nevada 2000, p. 262). Sadly, there is no Philosophy land at Disneyland and no philosophy casino in Vegas.

After visiting Dineyland and Las Vegas a person might ask, Where can I find answers to the tough questions on page 9 in the encyclical? The Pope replies by saying that "the Church is no stranger to this journey of discovery" (no. 2). The Church is good place to investigate the philosophical questions, because the Church "received the gift of the ultimate truth about human life" from the Lord, and the Lord is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14: 6).