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CHRISTIAN FAITH & HUMAN UNDERSTANDING: STUDIES ON THE EUCHARIST, TRINITY, AND THE HUMAN PERSON, Robert Sokolowski (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2006), pp.317
This collection of nineteen essays shows how the leading American philosopher, theologian, and priest of the archdiocese of Washington DC, Robert Sokolowski uses phenomenology in conjunction with traditional classical philosophy to address contemporary questions concerning reason, both theoretical and practical, and the Christian faith. In doing so, Sokolowski, who is the Elizabeth Caldwell Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America, brings us the fruits of his thinking in language that transcends jargon, and with a subtlety of thought that belongs to the true scholar and philosopher. The essays in this book were written predominantly between 1990-2004. They are divided into four sections.
The first section, titled 'Faith and Reason', discusses the role of philosophy in Christian faith and the way reason is used in the Christian understanding of Creation and Christian religious discourse. In the opening essay titled 'The Autonomy of Philosophy in Fides et Ratio', Sokolowski reminds us that in this encyclical the Pope acknowledged that philosophy must be allowed to function on its own - 'even when it engages theology, philosophy must remain faithful to its own principles and methods' (§49). He identifies the role of philosophy in its unique preoccupation with the most comprehensive context and the first principles of that context that have always included...