© 4/4/2013, Jeffrey Bame – Content of this presentation may not be used without explicit permission.
“Know Yourself: The Relationship Between
Faith and Reason”
 Cornerstone document: Fides et Ratio – Encyclical
Letter of Pope John Paul II
 Date: September 14, 1998
 English Copy:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/docu
ments/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091998_fides-et-ratio_en.html
 Spanish Copy:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/docu
ments/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091998_fides-et-ratio_sp.html
Tonight’s Outline
A. Faith and Reason
1. “I WILL NOT Believe”
2. Faith and Reason: Opposed?
3. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
4. Everyday faith
5. Who is God?
6. The Loss of Truth and Meaning
7. Power and Pride – Original Sin
8. Mary, Seat of Wisdom
B. The Rosary
1. “I WILL NOT Believe!”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John:
“…Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, ‘We have seen the
Lord.’
But he said to them,
‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’”
1. “I WILL NOT Believe!”
“Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’
Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my
hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.’
Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’
Jesus said to him, ‘Have you come to believe because you
have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.’”
– John 20: 19-31
1. “I WILL NOT Believe!”
“Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’
Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my
hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.’
Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’
Jesus said to him, ‘Have you come to believe because you
have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.’”
– John 20: 19-31
Caravaggio (1571 -1610), “Doubting Thomas” 1602-1603, Oil on Canvas
Pop Quiz
Question 1:
For what offense was Galileo
famously condemned by the
Church?
Pop Quiz
Answer:
Galileo promoted heliocentrism
as a fact, instead of as a theory
(despite a lack of proof) and
challenged Church teaching on
Scripture. The Church, in fact, did
not object to scientists
researching the theory.
Tonight’s Outline
A. Faith and Reason
1. “I WILL NOT Believe”
2. Faith and Reason: Opposed?
3. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
4. Everyday faith
5. Who is God?
6. The Loss of Truth and Meaning
7. Power and Pride – Original Sin
8. Mary, Seat of Wisdom
B. The Rosary
2. Faith and Reason: Opposed?
 “What does Athens have in common with Jerusalem?”
(Tertullian – De Praescriptione Haereticorum)
 “To believe is nothing other 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”. (St. Augustine – De Praedestinatione
Sanctorum)
 The flaw of fideism /
“sola fide”
2. Faith and Reason: Opposed?
 Credo ut intellegam (“ I believe so that I may
understand”) (St. Anselm – Proslogion)
 Fide quarens intellectum (“Faith seeking
understanding”) (St. Anselm – Proslogion)
 Humans have an innate
desire to know
(Aristotle - Metaphysics)
 Created in the Image of
God – The Divine Logos
 “Know Yourself”
Tonight’s Outline
A. Faith and Reason
1. “I WILL NOT Believe”
2. Faith and Reason: Opposed?
3. The Relationship of Faith and Reason
4. Everyday faith
5. Who is God?
6. The Loss of Truth and Meaning
7. Power and Pride – Original Sin
8. Mary, Seat of Wisdom
B. The Rosary
3. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
 “Faith and Reason are like two wings on which the
human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth;
and God has placed in the human heart a desire to
know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so
that, by knowing and
loving God, men and
women may also
come to the fullness
of truth about
themselves.”
(Apostolic Greeting
of Fides et Ratio)
3. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
 “Faith and science: ‘Though faith is above reason, there
can never be any real discrepancy between faith and
reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and
infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the
human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth
ever contradict truth.’” (CCC 159)
 “Reason in fact is not asked to pass judgment on the
contents of faith, something of which it would be
incapable, since this is not its function. Its function is
rather to find meaning, to discover explanations which
might allow everyone to come to a certain
understanding of the contents of faith.”
(Fides et Ratio 42)
3. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully”
(1 Cor 13:12)
“Reason and faith cannot be separated without
diminishing the capacity of men and women to know
themselves, the world and God in an appropriate way.”
(Fides et Ratio 16)
“Faith therefore has no fear of reason, but seeks it out
and has trust in it. Just as grace builds on nature and
brings it to fulfilment, so faith builds upon and perfects
reason.” (Fides et Ratio 43)
3. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
The Far Side of Reason: Faith does not surrender reason –
it is a surrender or assent when reason reaches its limits
(Fr. Robert Barron)
Pop Quiz
Question 2:
How old is the earth?
A) 6000 years
B) 4.54 billion years
Pop Quiz
Answer:
C) The Church does not have an
official stance. However, science
clearly shows the earth is much
older than 6000 years and the
Church does not see this as a
threat to its teachings.
Tonight’s Outline
A. Faith and Reason
1. “I WILL NOT Believe”
2. Faith and Reason: Opposed?
3. The Relationship of Faith and Reason
4. Everyday faith
5. Who is God?
6. The Loss of Truth and Meaning
7. Power and Pride – Original Sin
8. Mary, Seat of Wisdom
B. The Rosary
4. Everyday Faith
Most of what people hold as true has as its source the
teaching of parents, teachers, authorities, witnesses
Much of what we hold we have not fully investigated or
proven for ourselves
The Earth is round?
Tonight’s Outline
A. Faith and Reason
1. “I WILL NOT Believe”
2. Faith and Reason: Opposed?
3. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
4. Everyday faith
5. Who is God?
6. The Loss of Truth and Meaning
7. Power and Pride – Original Sin
8. Mary, Seat of Wisdom
B. The Rosary
5. Who is God?
Ontological Argument: God is “that than which nothing
greater can be conceived” (St. Anselm – Proslogion)
Quinquae Viae (Five Ways) of St. Thomas Aquinas
Book of Nature
 Humans can “know the structure of the world and
the activity of the elements…the cycles of the year
and the constellations of the stars, the nature of
animals and the tempers of wild beasts”
(Wis 7:17,19-20)
 “in reasoning about nature, the human being can
rise to God: ‘from the greatness and beauty of
created things comes a corresponding perception of
their Creator’ (Wis 13:5)” (Fides et Ratio 19)
Pop Quiz
Question 3:
True or False? The theory of
evolution is contrary to the
teaching of the Church.
Pop Quiz
Answer:
C) False. The Church has no
official teaching on the matter.
However, in Humani Generis
(1950), Pope Pius XII confirmed
that there is no intrinsic conflict
between Church teaching and the
theory of evolution.
Tonight’s Outline
A. Faith and Reason
1. “I WILL NOT Believe”
2. Faith and Reason: Opposed?
3. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
4. Everyday faith
5. Who is God?
6. The Loss of Truth and Meaning
7. Power and Pride – Original Sin
8. Mary, Seat of Wisdom
B. The Rosary
6. The Loss of Truth and Meaning
“In short, what for Patristic and Medieval thought was in
both theory and practice a profound unity, producing
knowledge capable of reaching the highest forms of
speculation, was destroyed by systems which espoused
the cause of rational knowledge sundered from faith and
meant to take the place of faith.” (Fides et Ratio 45)
“Opposed to this kind of thinking were various forms of
atheistic humanism” which “did not hesitate to present
themselves as new religions serving as a basis for
projects which, on the political and social plane, gave
rise to totalitarian systems which have been disastrous
for humanity.” (Fides et Ratio 46)
6. The Loss of Truth and Meaning
“Deprived of what Revelation offers, reason has taken
side-tracks which expose it to the danger of losing sight
of its final goal. Deprived of reason, faith has stressed
feeling and experience, and so run the risk of no longer
being a universal proposition.” (Fides et Ratio 48)
 “To believe it possible to know a universally valid truth is
in no way to encourage intolerance; on the contrary, it is
the essential condition for sincere and authentic
dialogue between persons. On this basis alone is it
possible to overcome divisions and to journey together
towards full truth, walking those paths known only to the
Spirit of the Risen Lord.” (Fides et Ratio 92)
Tonight’s Outline
A. Faith and Reason
1. “I WILL NOT Believe”
2. Faith and Reason: Opposed?
3. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
4. Everyday faith
5. Who is God?
6. The Loss of Truth and Meaning
7. Power and Pride – Original Sin
8. Mary, Seat of Wisdom
B. The Rosary
7. Power and Pride – Original Sin
 “The blindness of pride deceived our first parents into
thinking themselves sovereign and autonomous, and
into thinking that they could ignore the knowledge which
comes from God. All men and women were caught up in
this primal disobedience, which so wounded reason that
from then on its path to full truth would be strewn with
obstacles. From that time onwards the human capacity
to know the truth was impaired by an aversion to the
One who is the source and origin of truth.” (Fides et
Ratio 22)
 “People can even run from the truth as soon as they
glimpse it because they are afraid of its demands.”
(Fides et Ratio 28)
Pop Quiz
Question 4:
True or False? The Church denies
the possibility of extra-terrestrial
life.
Pop Quiz
Answer:
False. The Pontifical Academy of
Sciences even held a conference
on astrobiology in 2009 to
discuss the scientific possibility.
The Church, along with most
scientists, doubts that it exists,
but does not deny the possibility.
Tonight’s Outline
A. Faith and Reason
1. “I WILL NOT Believe”
2. Faith and Reason: Opposed?
3. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
4. Everyday faith
5. Who is God?
6. The Loss of Truth and Meaning
7. Power and Pride – Original Sin
8. Mary, Seat of Wisdom
B. The Rosary
Tonight’s Outline
A. Faith and Reason
1. “I WILL NOT Believe”
2. Faith and Reason: Opposed?
3. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
4. Everyday faith
5. Who is God?
6. The Loss of Truth and Meaning
7. Power and Pride – Original Sin
8. Mary, Seat of Wisdom
B. The Rosary
© 4/4/2013, Jeffrey Bame – Content of this presentation may not be used without explicit permission.