Faith, Reason and the University Memories and Reflections - Essay Example

Christians are called upon to embrace the need of celebrating the achievements which have been brought through modernity by securing such achievements in grounding them to become more coherent and comprehensive through the understanding of human rationality. The lecture is not only brilliant and breathtaking but also very intelligible to some of the ordinary minds. This all not only addresses the heart of modernism but also to the Islamic societies and communities. Not acting in accordance with reason is deemed contrary to the nature of God and this is central to the Christianity as emphasized by Benedict XVI.

God’s transcendence is not precluded by the openness of some of the divine concepts to examination by form of reason as illustrated by the early Christian rapprochement between the Greek inquiry and biblical faith. The expedition for reason over against myth is in existence as a dynamic in the two traditions as well as being accompanied by the various forms of enlightenment in each. During the late middle ages, the church brought about and reaffirmed the real analogy which existed between man and God.

This was contrary to some of the arguments that it is only reason which can be taken as a reliable way of knowing God’s will, albeit that the Unlikeness of God is infinitely greater than his likeness. The de-hellenization of Christianity is continually highlighted by Benedict all through the modern age by the use of a long process using three stages. The first stage occurs in the reformation with the emphasis on sola scriptura which is followed by the liberal theology which occurs in the 19th century having its basis on the modern self-limitation of reason as Kant expresses and radicalized by the influence and impact of natural sciences.

Benedict delves into the irony that even though the sciences explain the rational structure of matter, this total dependence on the prestige brought about by the scientific