Reviews for Reconciling faith and reason

The average rating for Reconciling faith and reason based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-12-20 00:00:00 Lisa Richards Father Thomas Rausch is a thoughtful and honest writer hobbled only by his tendency to see apparent conflicts between faith and reason as a tug of war between medieval and modern views. By his reckoning, stubborn traditionalists are responsible for many of the current tensions in the church. I disagree with his criticisms of popular lay Catholic apologists like Karl Keating and Peter Kreeft, and find it comical, given their influence, that he calls their "pre-critical" theology "unworkable." In praising doctrinal development and recommending that Catholic teaching be evaluated in part by how Catholics themselves receive it, Rausch allies himself with many of the people who want to remake the church in their own image. Unlike some of the ideological company he keeps, however, Rausch loves the church and wants it to flourish. Although it was written in the pontificate of John Paul II, this accessible little book remains a useful snapshot of the ongoing argument between traditionalists and modernists everywhere. It should be interesting even to non-Catholics. (Full disclosure: I took a couple of theology classes from Fr. Rausch as an undergraduate more than 20 years ago; I remember him as one of my better teachers.)

Review # 2 was written on 2018-06-15 00:00:00 Jocelyn Laurin The previous gentleman to review this book gave a link to some spurious website concerning the heretical errors contained in this book. Unfortunately that website isn't the best source for determining the orthodox nature of a theological work. However, having said that, this book is very erudite if not dense, yet it is very fruitful. Also, this book is a series of essays written over a ten year period which concern fundamental theology. FT is a branch of theology in the Catholic Church whereby, as a discipline, seeks to muster together the different aspects of revelation and theology and clarify them for those inside the Church and for dialogue with those outside as well. Think of Fundamental Theology as both the State and Defense departments of the tradition of the Catholic Church. Ratzinger was a major contributor to it but it was 'founded' by Henri de Lubac in the mid-1930's. It is still developing and is in its nascent stages. Some sections of the book to check out: Part 1: Tradition, anthropology of. Baptism Conversion-metanoia Part 2: Ecumenism with Protestantism and ecclesiology. Sacramental theology including the priesthood as necessary mediator-relationship. Part 3: Experience as basis for any faith. Science in relation to theology. This book is a very nuanced work and can be dense, so I hope that these sections can be fruitful reads to encourage you to continue through the end.