Milwaukee Catholic Herald

Pallium speaker emphasizes link
between faith and reason

Robert George draws on writings of JPII to convey message

By Sam Lucero
Catholic Herald Staff

Robert George, a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University in New Jersey, delivers the third and final 2007 Pallium Lecture Series June 11. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero)

ST. FRANCIS — Drawing on the writings of the late Pope John Paul II, Robert George, a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, asserted that Catholic doctrine and morals must rely on reason as well as faith. George was guest lecturer June 11 at the third and final presentation in the 2007 Pallium Lecture Series, held for the final time at the Archbishop Cousins Catholic Center.

Next year the Pallium Lecture Series will be held at Alverno College’s Wehr Hall, announced Fr. Paul Hartmann, Pallium Lecture coordinator. Next year’s speakers and their topics will include:

• Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver, “Catechesis that Impacts the Public Square,” March 6

• Colleen Carroll Campbell, a Marquette graduate and author of “The New Faithful: Why Young Adults are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy,” April 10

• Michael and Jana Novak, co-authors of “Tell Me Why: A Father Answers His Daughter’s Questions About God,” May 8.

Speaking to a crowd of more than 300 people, George, who also serves as director of Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, used John Paul II’s 1998 encyclical, “Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason),” as a backdrop to his lecture. Unlike other papal encyclicals, “Fides et Ratio” was addressed to bishops of the world.

“The pontiff’s principal concern ... was with the moral and spiritual health of the church herself,” he said. “The pope wishes to instruct his brother bishops in the importance of the intellectual as well as spiritual formation of priests.

“It was, I believe, the pope’s view that the church’s essential tasks of catechesis and evangelization are severely hampered by what the pope perceived to be widespread intellectual weaknesses in seminaries and other Catholic institutions.”

According to George, Scripture — the revealed word of God — is the foundation on which the church builds its teachings. While the role of theologians is to interpret Scripture, philosophers help frame the application of faith into modern society. He said that the human condition requires faith and reason to advance knowledge properly.

“Fides et Ratio” “is at one level a sort of celebration of the dignity and importance of philosophy and exhortation to philosophers to think big,” said George. “The pope denies the self sufficiency of faith. He says it can’t be faith alone. Reason’s got to have a role. Quoting St. Augustine, the pope declared that if faith does not think, it is nothing; our faith is not an unthinking faith. Faith and reason must be intercooperative.”

John Paul saw the need to train priests and other religious educators in philosophy. “Priests do benefit in their ministries by a rigorous understanding of philosophical methods,” said George. He added that recent priestly formation has relied too heavily on “psychological and sociological approaches to theological subjects. ... All of these disciplines have their proper place. The problem comes when these other methods are used outside of their proper areas.”

In contemporary society, many moral issues require the interpretation of faith and reason, said George. He gave the examples of same-sex marriage and frozen embryos.

“These are philosophical questions that can’t simply rely on the Bible. For ourselves to understand the teaching we must begin from the Bible, but think philosophically through what the Bible means when it says that the two shall become one flesh. When we begin to reflect on that teaching philosophically, then it makes profound sense,” he said.

While reason “can become our own worst enemy,” said George, “philosophical reflection on the data of revelation is often necessary.”

George gave the example of frozen embryo adoption. It is a new moral issue on which the church has not yet commented.

“If couples wish to adopt those embryos ... is that morally legitimate? The Catholic Church has no position on that. The church is in the process right now of settling its mind on that issue. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will ... listen to the competing points of view and pray. There are many other issues unsettled, as of yet, where faith and reason, prayer and reflection, philosophical and scientific work must go together if the church is to provide guidance to the faithful on the issue,” he said.

In 2,000 years of church history, particularly since the Reformation, faith and reason have been viewed as incompatible, he said. However, their interdependence was eloquently described John Paul II in “Fides et Ratio.”

“The pope says, ‘Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises or ascends to the contemplation of the truth,’” said George. “Faith and reason are two orders of knowledge that are linked.

“If, as Pope John Paul taught and as Pope Benedict teaches us, faith has nothing to fear and much to gain from reason, then it’s also true that reason has nothing to fear and much to gain from faith.”