On Sept. 17, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a scholarly
dissertation at Regensberg University, the site of his days as a
professor of theology in the 1960s. A portion of this speech was
found to be offensive to radical Muslims. The result has been
worldwide protests and violence against Christian churches and the
slaying of an elderly Catholic nun in Somalia.
On Sept. 17, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a scholarly dissertation at Regensberg University, the site of his days as a professor of theology in the 1960s. A portion of this speech was found to be offensive to radical Muslims. The result has been worldwide protests and violence against Christian churches and the slaying of an elderly Catholic nun in Somalia.
On Sept. 18, the Vatican announced the release of some thousands of pages of documents from the era 1922 to 1939 concerning the actions of the Pope of that era. This is being done in a spirit of openness to set the record straight concerning the Holy See’s relationship to the Nazis and the Jews of Germany and Eastern Europe. The juxtaposition of these events may not be pure coincidence. The history of the Vatican is such that it is particularly circumspect and measured with regard to communications.
The address by Pope Benedict to the University is not about the relationship of Muslims to Christians. It is a scholarly dissertation concerning the relationship of religion to modernity – specifically the scientific and technological world of today. The language is the language of the Scholastics and draws heavily on Catholic and Christian theological sources. A central theme of the address is the role of the “logos” in a modern context. Logos is a historical word of long-standing usage in discussions of Christian philosophy and theology. As explained, it is the concept of Wisdom and Word combined. God’s quality of being wise and also communicating that wisdom in a manner that is receivable by the human mind, travels under the word logos.
The development of the Western preoccupation with scientific rationalism and its nihilistic tendencies is a central concern of Pope Benedict. In Europe (Benedict specifically mentions Europe), philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, denied that God can be known by the human mind. In other words, there may be a God, but God does not communicate his being in a way that humans can know. This is the antithesis of the logos idea that the creation can uncover God in the order of the universe, for example. Pope Benedict places in front of the reader the conclusion that if God is unknowable, then the dialogue between religion and modern science is impossible. If this is so, both religion and science are diminished. The call to re-kindle the logos dialogue is the challenge that Benedict is directing at both the West and at Islam.
The papacy of Benedict XVI is directed to the proposition that Christians in Western Europe specifically, must re-discover their faith tradition. For Benedict, the Biblical dialogue between Reason as represented by Athens (Greek) and Revelation as represented by Jerusalem (Hebrew), is the defining characteristic of Western historical development. This is seen in Romans where St. Paul writes; “For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom.” The forces denying this active dialogue can look forward to a future that can find nothing of empirical reality in religion, and can find no ethical or moral basis whereby to judge the obvious moral questions raised by the progress of technology. Benedict goes further. If this dialogue is lost, the West ceases to exist.
The Benedictine dissertation is a clarion call to engage in this dialogue. It is unthinkable that this scholarly man of letters would not appreciate the meanings and interpretations that would be given to his words. This brings us to the second activity of the Vatican during the week of Sept. 18. It may well develop that the Catholic Popes during the years leading up to and during WWII – specifically Popes Pius XI and XII – were less vociferous in condemning the rise of Nazism than they could or might have been. In taking the longer view of history, this Pope may be struck with his duty as head of the Roman communion, to speak out now in opposition to the injustices being visited on people of other faiths, by some segments of the Muslim faithful.
Injustices such as the horrendous beheading of three teenage Christian schoolgirls on the Indonesia island of Sulawesi on Oct. 29, 2005 by Islamist militants. A note was found at the gory scene that read. “We will murder 100 more Christian teenagers and their heads will be presented as presents.”
The demonstrations and condemnations of the Pope by Islamist protesters is important, but it is a side issue to the soaring and timely call by this scholarly Pope for the West to return to the dialogue between science and religion especially now, else the very soul of Western civilization will disappear completely.
Al Kelsch is a Hollister resident who writes a weekly column for the Free Lance that appears on Saturdays. He can be reached at
oi******@ya***.com
