Mellon Disciplinary Workshops Christian Faith and Metaphysical Reason between East and West The early patristic authors – from Clement of Alexandria, Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa to Augustine of Hippo, Maximus the Confessor and John of Damascus – distinguished themselves through their constant attempt to construe Christian doctrine by contemplating theologically and conversing philosophically about truth, goodness, beauty, seen as first attributes of God. Thus, early Christianity, as with other streams of Jewish and Islamic thinking, did not divorce revelation from the intellectual pursuit of truth. The early scholastic thinkers endeavoured, in their turn, to reconcile the patristic legacy with the metaphysical systems of Aristotle and of the Neo-Platonist thinkers, in ways that were later challenged both by theologians of Eastern Orthodox and Protestant persuasion, and by modern philosophers of sceptical orientation. Ever since nominalism has conqueredthe early modern mind, faith and reason have been seen as separated realms of discourse. Truth by reason has been alienated from the revelation of truth in faith. Consequently, Western philosophy became disconnected from the epistemological concerns of early Christian theology. With Spinoza, the dialogue between biblical revelation and modern philosophy reached a deadlock. This has led to the birth of fideism, on the one hand, and the revival of rationalism, on the other. The weakening of scriptural reason achieved the relegation of theology to the margins of metaphysical rationality, and the reduction of religion to private ethics. With Immanuel Kant, theology ceased to be part of those sciences that produce critical and, thus, respectable knowledge. Late modernity, however, has challenged the universal claim of secular rationality. The shocking experiences of World War I and WW II, the Holocaust and the Gulag in Europe and across Russia have brought into question the adversarial model of rationality cultivated by the Academia during the Enlightenment. Paradoxically, the decline of faith in reason has triggered an unusual amount of interest in rethinking the sacred. In different ways, contemporary thinkers such as Leo Strauss, Emmanuel Lévinas, Jacques Derrida or Jean-Luc Marion have raised questions about the possibility of faith and ethics in the absence of metaphysics? In what the Christian world is concerned, the rediscovery of the patristic sources during the 20th together with the creative leadership of John Paul II and Benedict XVI in the Roman-Catholic world have been instrumental for the revival of the dialogue between faith and reason in the third millennium. This international Colloquium aims at exploring some historical and conceptual aspects of the monotheistic religions, in general, and the Christian faith in particular, confronted with the (post-) metaphysical rationality of the West. Among the many broad questions that will be addressed by the participants, one should mention the relationship between the Christian doctrine of the uncreated Logos and the progress in discursive knowledge. What was Athens to Jerusalem, and vice versa? Which was the role of dialectics and argumentation in the practice of faith for Jews, Christians or Muslims? In what way did the Christian Latin traditions differ from the Eastern Orthodox take on fides et ratio? How does theology today relate to the democratic and pluralistic epistemology of modern University? Methodology Colloquium Conveners Keynote Speakers Friday, 07.03.2007 10.00h-10.15h Opening Remarks Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Andrei PLEŞU, Rector of New Europe College 10.15h-11.15h Keynote Address Professor David BRADSHAW (Kentucky University): Reason and the Heart in East and West. Discussions 11.30h-13.00h The Patristic and Medieval Tradition Dr. Mihail NEAMŢU (NEC alumnus): Defending the Infinity of God: Scriptural Reasoning and Philosophical Reflection in St Gregory of Nyssa. Bogdan TĂTARU-CAZABAN (PhD candidate, University of Bucharest): Biblical Faith and Philosophical Reason in the Medieval Angelology [in French] Dr. Tereza-Brânduşa PALADE (National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest): Intellectual Light and Proximity to God in St. Thomas Aquinas. Discussions 13.00-15.00h Lunch break 15.00h-16.30h Political and Metaphysical Interactions between Reason and Faith in Early Modernity Professor Daniel BARBU (University of Bucharest), TBA. Dr. Cătălin AVRAMESCU (University of Bucharest): The Guilty Conscience between Natural Law and Religion. Professor Vlad ALEXANDRESCU (University of Bucharest): Définition de la pensée et vie universelle chez Cantemir. Discussions 16.30h-17.00h Coffee break 17.00h-18.30h Philosophy and Theology in the Post-Enlightenment Period Dr. Leo STAN (Romanian Association for the History of Religions, Bucharest): The Redemptive Tragedy of Reason: Søren Kierkegaard and the Heterogeneity of Faith. Dr. Christoph SCHNEIDER (Cambridge/Zürich): Eastern Orthodox Reflections on Reason and Revelation in Karl Barth. Dr. Raj SAMPATH (Lecturer, University of California Santa Cruz): Time and Death in the Thought of Hans Urs Von Balthasar and Martin Heidegger: A Comparison of the Future Directions of Philosophical Theology and Anti-Theological Metaphysics.’ Discussions
Saturday, 08.03.2007 10.00h-11.00h Keynote Address Professor Russell RENO (Creighton University): The Virtue of Docility. Discussions 11.00-11.30h Coffee break 11.30h-13.15h F aith and Reason in the University and The Public Forum Dr. Alin TAT (Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj): Philosophie, théologie et philosophie chrétienne chez Etienne Gilson Dr. Douglas KNIGHT (Ealing College, London): The Church in the Public Square: Oliver O’Donovan on Reason and Secularity. Bruce CLARK (The Economist, London): Faith, Reason, and the Media in the Western Culture. Discussions. Final Remarks About Faith and Reason in Eastern Europe and the Western World 13.30h- Hospitality
Partners About the Keynote Speakers Professor David Bradshaw is a specialist in ancient and medieval philosophy, especially metaphysics, natural theology, and philosophy of mind. He also has interests in philosophy of religion and the interaction between philosophy and theology. His recent book, Aristotle East and West: Metaphysics and the Division of Christendom, is a study of the role of metaphysics in the division between the eastern and western branches of Christianity. It begins with Aristotle and the pagan Neoplatonists, and continues through representative thinkers such as Augustine, Boethius, and Aquinas (in the West) and Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, and Gregory Palamas (in the East). It has been awarded the Forkosch Prize by the Journal of the History of Ideas as the best work of intellectual history by a new author published in 2004. |
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