In this collection of essays, renowned philosopher Robert Sokolowski illustrates how Christian faith is not an alternative to reason, but rather an enhancement of it. Reflecting on the mysteries of Creation, the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Eucharist, he examines in his distinctive lucid style the ways in which Christian faith contributes to the understanding of the human person.

The book is divided into four sections. The first directly addresses the relation between faith and understanding, showing how philosophy has an autonomy within Christian theology even as it acknowledges that revelation makes known truths that could not have been reached by reason alone. It also explains how central the doctrine of Creation is to the relation between faith and reason. The rest of the book illustrates particular ways in which reason and faith interact in Christianity.

The second section deals with the mysteries of the Holy Trinity, the Church, and the Eucharist. It shows that Christ is the primary minister of the Eucharist because his words are quoted in its celebration, and it offers a contemporary interpretation of the meaning of transubstantiation. This section also discusses the episcopal teaching office in the Church, and it shows how Christ's words in the gospels, his use of the first-person pronoun, serve to manifest the Holy Trinity.

The third section discusses the human person in the light of Christian faith, exploring what is meant by the human soul, natural law, and personal relationships, as well as the place of political philosophy within revelation. The fourth and final section turns to the relationship between faith and practical reasoning. It discusses Christian aspects in the art and science of medicine, psychoanalysis, and the professions, as well as issues in Catholic higher education, including the place of philosophy in seminary formation.

Robert Sokolowski is Elizabeth Breckenridge Caldwell Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America. The author of eight books and more than 90 articles, Msgr. Sokolowski was awarded the Aquinas Medal by the American Catholic Philosophical Association. His highly respected works have been the subject of two conferences. His books include The God of Faith and Reason and Eucharistic Presence: A Study in the Theology of Disclosure, both published by CUA Press.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:

“In this collection of essays, a leading American philosopher shows the fruitfulness of phenomenology for Christian philosophy. He illustrates how appearances disclose the reality that comes to light through them and how biblical religion casts added light on the realities known to reason. Applying this method, Sokolowski reflects with rare lucidity on Christian mysteries such as the Eucharist and on mundane pursuits such as medicine, psychoanalysis, and the professions.”—Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.

“This book offers us a series of intense glimpses into the comprehensive vision of a great master on both philosophy and theology. Sokolowski’s brilliant account of the blending of reason and faith, while honoring their respective integrities, is nothing short of an offering to the human future, in all its various spheres; the culmination of a lifetime’s work of love which, if received in the same spirit, will make that future a better one.—Catherine Pickstock, University of Cambridge

“Christian Faith and Human Understanding is a masterpiece of good sense, clarity, profundity, and accuracy of expression….Sokolowski has a genius for making what otherwise would be abstruse points to become intelligible to ordinary people….[T]his is not merely a profound book, but a very readable book. Any person to whom the book is implicitly addressed in its very subject matter—bishop, priest, seminarian, medical doctor, psychoanalyst, politician, craftsman, engineer, lawyer, soldier, businessman, housewife, public intellectual, college professor, graduate student, yes, theologian and philosopher—can understand it.” – Fr. James V. Schall, Ignatius Insight

“[Sokoloski] makes Fides et Ratio more understandable as he explores the particular value of, and the connection between, philosophy and faith. . . . This book is both profound and readable. . . . [It] does give a new light to some vital topics and helps the reader to exercise both his faith and his reason.” – Regis Flaherty, Lay Witness

“Christian Faith and Human Understanding is a magnificent example of the commingling of erudition and piety, knowledge and grace. The author has provided 19 essays, each one a scholarly and reverential treatment of the thesis in a unique, penetrating, and thought-provoking manner. Each essay conjures epiphanies that move the spirit and shake the soul. . . . Sokolowski . . . recognizes the horrors of modernity. He seeks a better way, where man is understood as material and spiritual, and God is understood as transcendent and generous. Sokolowski is calling for nothing less than the ordering of modern life around and through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We would be wise to listen.” – Robert Cheeks, Crisis Magazine

“This volume points back to the author’s earlier theological works and points forward to the long-awaited major work on the human person with which we may hope he will soon present us. . . . The range of the essays reaches from the most fundamental notions of theology, to details of the central Christian teachings on the Trinity and the Eucharist, to the foundations of a philosophy of the person, and finally to very practical matters. . . . The last past of the essay . . . ‘Religion and Psychoanalysis’ is an especially rich condensation of Sokolowski’s attitudes toward the psychology of religion and some aspects of ‘religious studies.’ . . . Is the tradition of the Bible one that is intelligible and coherent? . . . A good part of this book as well as Sokolowksi’s other theological writings make a brilliant and eloquent case for an affirmative answer.” – James G. Hart, Journal of Phenomenological Psychology

“After decades of influential teaching and prolific writing, Monsignor Robert Sokolowski, philosophy professor at the Catholic University of America, has released this collection of essays that illuminates the core of his philosophical anthropology: the use of phenomenology to examine both faith and reason in the created world. . . . Through flowing prose and the lucid ideas, Sokolowski invites his readers to an invigorating encounter with the central questions surrounding the mysteries of God and the human person.” – University Bookman

“Each essay is a further contribution to the “theology of disclosure” that Fr. Sokolowski brought onto the scene in his brilliant study The God of Faith and Reason (1982). Each is also a philosophical, theological, and even literary gem in its own right, and together they form an excellent introduction to his thought.” – Stephen Brock, Acta Philosophica

“This collection of nineteen essays shows how the leading American philosopher, theologian, and priest of the archdiocese of Washington DC, Robert Sokolowski uses phenomenology in conjunction with traditional classical philosophy to address contemporary questions concerning reason, both theoretical and practical, and the Christian faith. In doing so, Sokolowski brings us the fruits of his thinking in language that transcends jargon, and with a subtlety of thought that belongs to the true scholar and philosopher. . . . These essays bring to the reader the fruits of Sokolowski’s life-long thinking on how to safeguard a sense of continuity between the present Church and the Church of previous centuries. . . . [H]e has written these essays not only to demonstrate the way phenomenology can be used to break open Christian tradition and re-discover the ‘pearl of great price’ within the faith, but also to engage in conversation with the modern world. It is highly recommended not only to faculty staff of universities, theological colleges, and seminaries, but also to priests, religious and all those people of God seeking to nourish and live an adult faith.” – Mary T. Roddy, The Australasian Catholic Record