The Relationship Between Faith, Reason, and Science in the Transmission of the Faith in the Times of Growing Secularization

Krzysztof Kaucha

Krzysztof Kaucha Institute of Fundamental Theology, John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin, Poland

Keywords: apologetics; atheism; catholic faith; christian faith; communism; credibility; darwinism; Galileo affair; fundamental theology; John Paul II; Lublin School of Fundamental Theology; Marian Rusecki; materialism; marxism; naturalism; origin of life; origin of the universe; reason; religion; science; secularization; theory of evolution; transmission of the faith; Year of the Faith

Abstract

This article touches mostly on two points: the relationship between faith, reason, and science (1) and John Paul II's explanation of the growth of secularization (2) asavery important context of the transmission of the Christian faith today.

1. Faith and reason need each other and support each other. Christian faith is not a natural product of human reason and always provokes reason to open itself and to see much more than reason alone can see.
Genuine science is not in conflict with Catholic Christianity. Science, which came to exist thanks to Judeo-Christian Revelation, is a different order of knowledge that has its own built-in logic and dignity. Science wants to know better the material side of nature, while faith is apersonal and active answer to God's Revelation which was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Its credibility has many reasons. Some of them are confirmed by scientists investigating nature but more of them are the subject of Fundamental Theology which is a successor of Apologetics.
The Catholic Church owes very much to science and scientists and honors their genius. Good science makes many peoples' lives better: medical care, the production of more food, the confirmation of the authenticity of The Shroud of Turin, the confirmation of medical miracles are all products of good science.

2. John Paul II was aware of a phenomenon of growing secularization, especially in the western world. He knew that this phenomenon is explained by some people as proof of the fact that Christian faith is going to end. According to him, secularization seems to grow only in the western world and is a proof of its cultural and ethical crisis. This is the crisis of man, of vision, and the vocation of men. This culture needs repairs, needs a new spirit, a new certain hope to be able to survive. It might be given by the Christian faith which offers a full meaning of human life and answers all existential questions.

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