It has long been a cornerstone of Catholic belief that Christians can be intelligent and creative thinkers-inquisitive seekers after truth-as well as men and women of ardent faith. Catholics are entirely committed, then, to the claim that human rationality and religious faith are complementary realities since they are equally gifts of God. But understanding precisely how faith and reason cohere has not always been a smooth path. At times, theology has allowed philosophy to become the leading (and baleful) partner in the faith-reason relationship, thereby lapsing into rationalism or relativism. At other times, theology has been tempted by fideism, with philosophy now regarded as little more than a pernicious intruder corrupting Christian faith, life and thought. The essays in this volume display how Catholicism understands the proper confluence between philosophy and theology, between human rationality and Christian faith, between the natural order and supernatural grace. To illustrate these points, the book draws on a long line of Christian thinkers: Origen, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas and, in our own day, Fides et Ratio of John Paul II and the Regensburg Address of Benedict XVI. How is theology always a "Jewgreek" enterprise-to borrow a term from Jacques Derrida-always a combination of the biblical (Hebraic) and philosophical (Hellenic) traditions? Why is one particular element of philosophy, metaphysics, essential for the intelligibility and clarity of Catholic theology? Why is this so much the case that John Paul II could state emphatically: "a philosophy which shuns metaphysics would be radically unsuited to the task of mediation in the understanding of Revelation"? But theology cannot simply be about dialogue with philosophers of yesteryear. Theology must constantly incorporate fresh thinking and remain in lively conversation with an extensive variety of contemporary perspectives. This book displays how reciprocity and absorption has been characteristic of theology's past and must represent its future as well.

An examinations of Vattimo's work asking to what extent his insights present new challenges to Christian thought. Gianni Vattimo, who has long been a prominent postmodern European philosopher, has recently taken a more significant interest in religion. His claim is that postmodern philosophy, with its incisive critique of rationalist, objectifying ways of thinking, can help religion once again find a voice in a largely disinterested Europe and an often fundamentalist America. To accomplish this, Vattimo contends, religion must attend to certain contemporary philosophical themes that, he argues, are ultimately consistent with biblical intentions. To this end, Vattimo employs his theoretical insights on themes such as: the nature of modernity/post modernity, the importance of 'weak' as opposed to 'strong' thought, the dissolution of metaphysics; and the end of the authoritarian, moralistic God. This book will examine the entire range of Vattimo's work asking to what extent his insights present new challenges to Christian thought. "The Philosophy and Theology" series looks at major philosophers and explores their relevance to theological thought as well as the response of theology.

An examinations of Vattimo's work asking to what extent his insights present new challenges to Christian thought. Gianni Vattimo, who has long been a prominent postmodern European philosopher, has recently taken a more significant interest in religion. His claim is that postmodern philosophy, with its incisive critique of rationalist, objectifying ways of thinking, can help religion once again find a voice in a largely disinterested Europe and an often fundamentalist America. To accomplish this, Vattimo contends, religion must attend to certain contemporary philosophical themes that, he argues, are ultimately consistent with biblical intentions. To this end, Vattimo employs his theoretical insights on themes such as: the nature of modernity/post modernity, the importance of 'weak' as opposed to 'strong' thought, the dissolution of metaphysics; and the end of the authoritarian, moralistic God. This book will examine the entire range of Vattimo's work asking to what extent his insights present new challenges to Christian thought. "The Philosophy and Theology" series looks at major philosophers and explores their relevance to theological thought as well as the response of theology.

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) radically shook up many centuries of tradition in the Roman Catholic Church. This book by Thomas Guarino, a noted expert on the sources and methods of Catholic doctrine, investigates whether Vatican II's highly contested teachings on religious freedom, ecumenism, and the Virgin Mary represented a harmonious development of-or a rupture with-Catholic tradition. Guarino's careful explanations of such significant terms as continuity, discontinuity, analogy, reversal, reform, and development greatly enhance and clarify his discussion. No other book on Vatican II so clearly elucidates the essential theological principles for determining whether-and to what extent-a conciliar teaching is in continuity or discontinuity with antecedent tradition. Readers from all faith traditions who care about the logic of continuity and change in Christian teaching will benefit from this masterful case study.

Guarino argues in this book that the doctrinal form of the Christian faith, in its essential characteristics, calls for certain theoretical exigencies. This is to say that the proportion and beauty of the form is not served or illuminated by simply any presuppositions. Rather, a determinate understanding of first philosophy, of the nature of truth, of hermeneutical theory, of the predication of language and mutual correlation is required if Christian faith and doctrine are to maintain a recognizable and suitably meditative form. Failing to adduce specific principles will lead either to a simple assertion of Christian truth, in which case the form of Christianity becomes less intelligible and attractive - or one will substitute a radically changed form, which is itself inappropriate for displaying the fundamental revelatory narrative of faith. The house of Christian faith possesses a certain proportion of structure; the form will sag badly if one removes an undergirding item, or if one beam is replaced with another of variable shape or size. The form's beauty will either be obscured, no longer clearly visible, or the form will become something quite different, no longer architectonically related to what was originally the case. The intention of this book is to discuss those doctrinal characteristics considered fundamental to the Christian faith, as protective of its revelatory form and, concomitantly, to examine the theoretical principles required if such form is to remain both intelligible and beautiful.