How is it that Christian faith can be said to be in accordance with
reason and at the same time to transcend reason? On the one hand,
the concordance of faith with reason appears to reduce faith to
rational thinking and to natural human experience; on the other
hand, the difference between faith and reason seems to make belief
unreasonable and arbitrary. In The God of Faith and Reason, Robert
Sokolowski treats this theological difficulty not by speaking
directly about faith and reason, but through an examination of the
Christian understanding of God that focuses on God the creator and
the world as created. In so doing, he demonstrates how the
Christian concept of God preserves both the integrity of reason and
the distinctiveness of faith. Sokolowski begins with a statement of
the Christian understanding of God developed in terms provided by
St. Anselm, in whose writings the issue of faith and reason
surfaces in an historically significant way. He next brings to
light the special character of the Christian understanding of God
by contrasting it with the pagan understanding of the divine. While
pagan and other natural religions see god as the most powerful part
of the world, Christianity understands God to be separate from the
world, not added to in any way by the act of creating it. This
understanding of God and the world lies behind the belief in
Creation, and is shown to provide the context for the other
Christian mysteries, such as the Incarnation, Redemption, the
Church, grace, and the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. The
author also shows how the Christian understanding of God and the
world helps clarify the difference between natural human virtues
and the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. In an
appendix, he deals with the relationship between political
philosophy and Christian revelation, and, through a discussion of
the ideas of Leo Strauss, speaks of the place of politics and
political reason in Christian belief. Throughout the book
Sokolowski employs a method of theology based on phenomenology in
order to show how the things of Christian faith differentiate
themselves from the phenomena given to natural experience. With its
insightful, straightforward arguments, The God of Faith and Reason
is ideal for use in both introductory and advanced courses in
natural theology, fundamental theology, Christian philosophy,
philosophy of God, philosophy of religion, and metaphysics.
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