A Penny Catechism (for Philosophers)
EDITORIAL
Fides et Ratio (FR) “Faith and Reason,” the Holy Father’s new encyclical, is an old philosopher’s gift to Mother Church, and it calls us to our lessons.
Warm-up question: What did The New York Times say in its news section?
The Times reported that the encyclical signals “paradoxes” — we have a papacy “marked by a return to rigid conformity in doctrinal matters,” and yet we have a Pope who “still meets regularly with scholars to debate ideas….”
Hmm. Was the Times’s dumbfounded woman on the beat, Alessandra Stanley, perhaps angling for an invitation? Are there scholarship funds (not that she’d really need them)?
You May Also Enjoy
When our God came to earth He did not reject the human pleasures He had created: He ate and drank, and worked His first miracle at a wedding feast.
As much as we assume Christianity's home is Europe, the reality is that, in its first few centuries, Christianity was far more Middle Eastern than European.
In my field-work I found people of stoic dignity, often enough making do rather shrewdly, patiently, and thoughtfully against great odds.