Elizabeth Murray

Faith and Reason

Philosophy

“'This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the meaning and possibility of a Christian philosophy. Neil Ormerod provides a compendious account of two giants of Twentieth-century Catholic thought, Etienne Gilson and Bernard Lonergan. He examines both how they agree on basic philosophic positions, and how they stand in chasmal opposition. He explores in scholarly detail how these two thinkers are both greatly indebted to the thought of Thomas Aquinas and take a historical approach to philosophy. He shows how they concur on the metaphysical distinction of essence and existence, on the significant role of judgment in intellectual activity, on the unity-in-tension of faith and reason, on the significance of revelation for the development of philosophic thought, and on the possibility of a Christian philosophy or Christian realism. At the same time, Ormerod lays bare the dialectical divide that separates Lonergan’s critical realism from Gilson’s dogmatic realism. His deft and charitable reading of Gilson and Lonergan allows for genuine appreciation of both thinkers. Ormerod further explores contemporary developments that challenge the fruitful interaction of faith and reason, placing the New Atheism on one end of the spectrum and Radical Orthodoxy on the other."”