CRYF Study Session on the X anniversary of the encyclical Fides et Ratio
Pamplona, November 27, 2008

Person? One who seeks truth
A scientific meeting has been celebrated in commemoration of the X anniversary of the encyclical Fides et Ratio. The texts exposed in the lectures will soon be posted in this webpage.

The Study Session in the X anniversary of the encyclical Fides et ratio, organized by the CRYF Research Group and the Ecclesiastical Philosophy Faculty of the University of Navarre, took place last November 27. A varied audience debated in this interdisciplinary event the connection between Christian faith, reason, and the numerous fields of knowledge.

Fides et ratio, written by John Paul II in 1998, is a reminder that the search of truth is philosophy’s primary vocation. The Study Session was structured in three main thematic parts to enable a better comprehension of the encyclical’s message and its intellectual context.

The first part dealt with the circularity between Theology and Philosophy. Professor Rafael Alvira, director of the Philosophy Department and the Institute of Business and Humanism of the University of Navarre, opened the session with a speech on the trust this document deposits in reason as a gateway to truth and a social life that pursues common good. The lecture of Prof. César Izquierdo, expert in Dogmatic Theology, complemented the vision of Prof. Alvira. He exposed the relationship between Theology and Philosophy such as it has occurred throughout the centuries within Christian tradition.

The second segment of the Study Session centred on the connection between Philosophy, Theology and Hermeneutics. Prof. Lourdes Flamarique, specialist in Contemporary Philosophy, offered an analysis for the correct interpretation of the text. Prof. Vicente Balaguer, expert in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, provided his view as an academic of the bible.

The last block of the Study Session focused on the unity of knowledge between science, reason, and faith. Prof. Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti from the Pontificia Università della Santa Croce (Rome), developed in his lecture the message Fides et ratio bears for people dedicated to science. He reminded that a scientist, as a person, has a mind susceptible of perceiving truth through his scientific rationality as well as by asking himself for the fundamental truth in nature.

The second speaker of this block was Dr. José María Valderas, magazine director of the Spanish edition of Scientific American and Mente y cerebro (a publication dealing with scientific news on the Mind-Brain debate). Dr. Valderas, winner of the European Science Writer´s Award this year, exposed a series of topics that occupy many of today’s philosophers and biologists. Issues like life in space or attempts to prove the existence of soul and free will through scientific methods, aroused in his discourse.

Each of the three parts of the Study Session had an extended period of time for questions and active debate. Philosopher José Ignacio Murillo, anthropologist José María Barrio Maestre, anatomy and neuroscience expert José Manuel Giménez Amaya, among others, contributed through their questions to the development of an enriching interdisciplinary dialogue.

This scientific reunion was made possibly thanks to the support of the John Templeton Foundation. The texts exposed in the lectures will soon be posted in this webpage.