Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

StMor 40 (2002) 205-236
JOSEPH CHAPEL
PHILOSOPHY IN THE ONGOING RENEWAL
OF MORAL THEOLOGY:
DIALOGICAL PERSONALISM REVISITED
Introduction
In the wake of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, Fides et ratio, 1
the relationship between philosophy and theology has moved to
the forefront of discussion – a discussion which likewise sheds
light on the contribution of philosophy to the ongoing renewal
of moral theology.
Indeed, the Holy Father calls for a revitalized relationship
between philosophy and theology in which philosophy will once
again assist theology in discovering the proper place of faith in
understanding our very existence. It is necessary to recover the
fundamental understanding that at the heart of life and faith
there is an “encounter, unique in kind,” by which, “God chose to
reveal Himself,” and make His will known to us, so that,
“through Christ, the Word made flesh, man has access to the Father
in the Holy Spirit and comes to share in the divine nature.” 2
This is the defining reality for the human person, originating
completely in God’s gratuitous goodness, “moving from God to
men and women in order to bring them to salvation. As the
source of love, God desires to make himself known; and the
knowledge which the human being has of God perfects all that
the human mind can know of the meaning of life.” 3
It was for this reason that Jesus came into the world: to live
among men and women, speaking in a human way the very
words of God, the intimate desire of God to bring all people to
1 JOHN PAUL II, Fides et ratio: On the Relationship between Faith and Reason
(Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1998) (hereafter FR).
2 FR, 7, citing Dei Verbum, 2.
3 FR, 7.