Faithful Reason

In Faithful Reason, noted philosopher John Haldane lays out his thoughts on Christianity in daily life.

In Faithful Reason, the noted Catholic philosopher John Haldane explores various aspects of intellectual and practical life from a perspective inspired by Catholic thought and informed by his distinctive philosophical approach: 'Analytical Thomism'. Haldane's discussions of ethics, politics, education, art, social philosophy and other themes explain why Catholic thought is still relevant in today's world, and show how the legacy of Thomas Aquinas can benefit modern philosophy in its efforts to answer fundamental questions about humanity and its place within nature. Drawing on a Catholic philosophical tradition that is committed to concepts of the world's intrinsic intelligibility and the objectivity of truth, Faithful Reason's bold and insightful perspectives provide rich matter for debate, and food for further thought.

Many evangelical Christians have faith in the Bible, but struggle with confidence in its ethical principles. Some believe that biblical morals are not as effective as secular ideologies in promoting human well-being and societal progress. Others feel that using the Bible as a basis for moral arguments lacks persuasive power in public discussions. In Faithful Reason: Natural Law Ethics for God’s Glory and Our Good, Andrew T. Walker argues that developing a comprehensive Christian ethic is not simply a matter of appealing to biblical authority, but also of understanding the way that God has ordered creation and our place within it. In this work, he provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to natural law ethics from an evangelical perspective. In the first section of Faithful Reason, Walker develops a robust framework of natural law ethics, guided by biblical and theological evidence. In the second section, this framework is applied to various contemporary ethical issues within dignity ethics, embodied ethics, personal ethics, social ethics, and political ethics. Through a natural law framework, readers are empowered to reason through the particulars of any situation and develop a godly ethical response.

Everyone has thoughts about God. But how do we know if our thoughts are true? If we want to know the truth about God, we need a sound approach to incorporating what the whole Bible teaches. In this concise introduction to systematic theology, theologian Graham A. Cole explores how we move from Scripture to doctrine in order to shape what we believe, what we value, and how we live. He shows us the importance of having the right method: rooted in the word of God, consistent with church history, in the context of a broken world, dependent on divine wisdom, and ultimately aiming at pure worship.

"Gregg's book is the closet thing I've encountered in a long time to a one-volume user's manual for operating Western Civilization." —The Stream "Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization offers a concise intellectual history of the West through the prism of the relationship between faith and reason." —Free Beacon The genius of Western civilization is its unique synthesis of reason and faith. But today that synthesis is under attack—from the East by radical Islam (faith without reason) and from within the West itself by aggressive secularism (reason without faith). The stakes are incalculably high. The naïve and increasingly common assumption that reason and faith are incompatible is simply at odds with the facts of history. The revelation in the Hebrew Scriptures of a reasonable Creator imbued Judaism and Christianity with a conviction that the world is intelligible, leading to the flowering of reason and the invention of science in the West. It was no accident that the Enlightenment took place in the culture formed by the Jewish and Christian faiths. We can all see that faith without reason is benighted at best, fanatical and violent at worst. But too many forget that reason, stripped of faith, is subject to its own pathologies. A supposedly autonomous reason easily sinks into fanaticism, stifling dissent as bigoted and irrational and devouring the humane civilization fostered by the integration of reason and faith. The blood-soaked history of the twentieth century attests to the totalitarian forces unleashed by corrupted reason. But Samuel Gregg does more than lament the intellectual and spiritual ruin caused by the divorce of reason and faith. He shows that each of these foundational principles corrects the other’s excesses and enhances our comprehension of the truth in a continuous renewal of civilization. By recovering this balance, we can avoid a suicidal winner-take-all conflict between reason and faith and a future that will respect neither.

What emerges in this second book of the trilogy is that the very “ground” and content of experience is richer than what can be reduced to a particular account of it. As such, dialogue develops from the “natural” diversity of what is “of” faith and what is “of” reason. Neither faith nor reason, however, originates “from” experience; rather, both are “witnessed” in experience. In other words, taking up questions about the nature of man, whether philosophically, psychologically or in terms of social structures, manifests both a variety of points of departure and, at the same time, the manifold conversations that are possible in the “field of culture”.Focusing particularly on the work of St. John Paul II, the first essay examines the answer of reason and the answer of faith to the same question: What is man? Conversion, too, entails an “unexpected” relationship to natural truth, which, in its own way, is both adequate and inadequate to salvation. Communication, as it were, runs throughout these essays; however, in particular, there is a need to enrich our human understanding of the process of “coming to ourselves” with the insights of spiritual discernment. Axiomatically, however, it is possible to say that just as we come to exist through a relationship to others, so our healing and holiness are manifest through our relationship to others in the “Other”. Furthermore, while it is ultimately true that we exist as individually rooted in the social structure of our origin and the times in which we live, we need to critically participate in the dialogue which identifies our common “reality” and not live our lives covered in “psycho-social” labels of one kind or another.As a whole, then, there is an incomparable range and depth to “dialogue”. Indeed, given the many critical situations in the world, it is increasingly indispensable and essential that humanity choose the incredible wealth of dialogue in contrast to the possibility of a “polarised” and “conflictual” structure between people and peoples.

We begin philosophising (cf. Fides et Ratio, 3, 30) without realising that we are philosophers; but, in time, we discover our own identity as philosophers and, at the same time, come to critically examine it. What, therefore, is the interrelationship between reason and sense; indeed, is not “sense”, subtly sensitive through reason? Questions, then, arise out of our life, our observations and from what we learn. But it is not only about being ready, well-trained or perfect in our reasoning; rather, it is about taking up the impulse and the task of seeking the truth. On the one hand, then, we can question everything and end up with nothing; but, on the other hand, there are many points of departure: experience; maxims; and the wisdom which comes through “many advisers” (Prov 15: 22).Ideas abound about what might be the case; but a philosophical investigation is also about coming into the presence of “being”. Many people have gone before and go with us, and will come after us; and, therefore, this book marks a contribution to understanding both the “activity” of philosophising and the conversation about what “is” (cf. Fides et Ratio, 44). We discover that to exist is to search through the apparent contradictions in our experience and to find, eventually, that there are both good foundations and buildings begun, and also great unanswered or unsatisfactorily answered questions. There is an ongoing work, too, to establish the mystery of the person “implicated” in human action. Therefore, there is both the inveterate call of the subject to be investigated, and, at the same time, the ever-present need of the grace of perseverance to pursue it.This book is also about the slow discovery of the beautiful but inadequate nature of natural truth. The wonder of natural truth is that it exists like the literal sense: a kind of foundational reasoning; however, just as Revelation perfects natural truth, so the human person is a living expression of the “whole” literal and spiritual sense of created being. Hence the title of this volume, Faithful Reason, makes explicit a “witness” to what is beyond itself.

“Every pastor should read this. . . . Every believer who has ever despaired of church, been tempted to quit, or struggled with guilt over leaving should, too” (Rod Dreher). Americans still believe in God, but they are leaving the church in record numbers. Why are the faithful fleeing? Julia Duin, a veteran journalist and a Christian, has collected the research and added insights from interviews with disillusioned followers, as well as from her own story. In this engrossing account of churches in decline, Duin visits numerous churches and explores a number of factors underlying the social shift away from church: irrelevant teaching, the neglect of singles, the marginalization of women, and a lack of authentic spiritual power. She also journeys into house churches and emergent congregations. Duin’s careful analysis is sure to help church leaders and churchgoers examine how they might better serve their communities and create inviting spiritual homes for people of all kinds. “Engaging . . . as religion editor for the Washington Times, [Duin] is in her element marshaling statistics, interviewing authors and clergy, and commenting on the trend of faithful evangelicals who increasingly vote with their feet by leaving their churches.” —Publishers Weekly