Reason and the Reasons of Faith ed. by Paul J. Griffiths and Reinhard Hütter (review)

154 BOOK REVIEWS remote history and its proximate history demonstrate, even if Thomism is not fully flourishing at present, it soon enough will be, once again. University ofNotre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana ALFRED J. FREDDOSO Reason and the Reasons of Faith. Edited by PAUL J. GRIFFITHS and REINHARD HOTTER. New York: T. & T. Clark, 2005. Pp. ix+ 373. $60.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-567-02830-3. This book is a fruit of the seed that John Paul H's encyclical Fides et ratio planted. Mindful of the current crises of reason and of faith, the contributors focus their attention on theological reasoning, especially in light of modern and postmodern attacks on its legitimacy. It is rare to find a collection of essays in which authors so different in their starting-points engage one another so well. The essays that constitute this volume come from meetings held over the course of three years at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton. Although inspired by the work of a pope, the authors of these essays include Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, and Reformed voices as well as Roman Catholics. The organizers inform us that they made no effort to assure homogeneity in theological method or in philosophical preferences, but simply trusted in a common commitment to investigate resources of reason for theology in the face of current challenges. As systematic theologians, they frequently had recourse to philosophy and decided to invite the renowned Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor to join them for the final meeting. His postscript ("Engaging the Citadel of Secular Reason") clearly anticipates his latest blockbuster, A Secular Age (2007), with its musings on the prospect that it is the simultaneous presence of mutually incompatible but equally plausible world views that paralyzes contemporary intellectual culture, including theological reasoning. Resolving Taylor's perplexities will be no easy task, but this volume helps to make clear that what is needed is vigorous epistemological and metaphysical reflection, for it is not clear that all these world views are equally plausible, and some may be the result of intellectual mistakes or perhaps even willful decisions that are only disguised as discoveries. The collection has four parts. The first set of papers inquires into the nature of theological reasoning; the second, the assessment of reason's powers by theologians; the third, the significance for theology ofphilosophical shifts during the passage into modernity and postmodernity; and the fourth, the inexorable necessity and ongoing importance of philosophy for theological inquiry. Throughout the authors show respect for John Paul H's Fides et ratio and BOOK REVIEWS 155 broadly agree with his concern about the contemporary crisis of reason. But the contributors by no means agree with the course suggested by the encyclical for the resolution of that crisis. Much of the debate in this book is really about whether there are praeambula fidei that can be known by reason independently of faith that could thereby enhance the credibility of faith-claims. In the tradition of {ides quaerens intellectum, the first group of essayists examines the "reasons of faith" typical of specific areas of expertise within systematic theology. Alan J. Torrance writes on revelation, Bruce D. Marshall on the Trinity, Colin Gunton and Robert W. Jenson on Christology, and Lois Malcolm and Mark Mcintosh on the Cross. Torrance is typical of those disinclined to allow for any such praembula. In his essay on the criteria by which Christianity claims to recognize when God has spoken in genuine revelation, he insists that Christians must avoid judging the authenticity of the Word of God not only by some extrinsic standard of what makes worldly sense but also by the tests of "Socratic immanentism" (as if resonance with truths already within us could serve to differentiate genuine revelation from false claims in a fashion comparable to the doctrine of recollection in the Platonic dialogues). An adequate theological understanding of how God speaks requires a conversion of reason under the influence of the Holy Spirit, not the presumption that the canons of reason are culturally neutral and beyond any particular world view. Torrance insists that the testimony of Jesus is self-authenticating. Even when believers articulate their own reasons for thinking that their particular religious...