Thursday, February 16, 2006

Philosophy Behind "Deus Caritas Est"

Interview With Catholic University's Monsignor Sokolowski

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Msr. Sokolowski offers an interesting analysis of the Pope's Encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, as to it's philosophical aspects. Most importantly, he observes that the God of Jesus Christ, the God that is love, could only emerge as a consequence of revelation, it never could have developed purely from philosophy. He points to the God of the theists and to how, while He might be seen as benevolent, He could never be seen as love. Love is the meaning of being, what could be more reassuring.

What goes unsaid in Msr. Sokolowski's remarks is the importance in modern Christianity of turning away from the God of theism and from a way of speaking that sees from it's perspective. If the theology of the 20th century has done nothing else, it has returned the faith to a truly trinitarian vision and for that we can be grateful. Those Christian communities that persist in semi or anti-ontological outlooks, reducing the faith to categories of justice and morality, if they haven't already, will loose utterly all touch with the God of life that grounds them in being, their claims to a certain knowledge of Him notwithstanding. The God of theism is a poor substitute for the God of Love.

John Lowell