Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

CAN ANYTHING GOOD COME OUT OF POSTMODERNISM?... 245
these key themes of postmodern ethics and articulate a critique
of them from the point of view of Catholic ethical thought.
Morality according to Fides et ratio
The subject of Fides et ratio, as noted above, is a good deal
wider than the question of morality in that it treats the entire
question of the relationship between faith and reason. It must be
stressed, however, that the understanding of morality represented
in the encyclical is fully integrated into, and inseparable
from, a certain vision of the appropriate relationship between
theology and philosophy. It would be a grave mistake to imagine
that one could grasp the moral import of this encyclical by simply
extracting the various sections in which the theme of ethics
is explicitly broached. While it is beyond the purpose of this article
to study the broader questions in depth, the only way to understand
adequately the vision of morality being proposed is to
take note of the philosophical and theological context in which
it is set.
The key features of the teaching of Fides et ratio which have
direct import for the understanding of morality presented in the
encyclical might be articulated under the following major
themes:
a. reason is the key natural resource in the human quest for
meaning
b. the ultimate truth about human life is revealed in Christ
c. the truth revealed in faith and the truth perceived by reason
are not alone compatible but ultimately complementary
Reason is the key natural resource in the human quest
for meaning
Although, in general, Fides et ratio could be described as expository
and didactic in style, it includes a strong element of
narration. This is particularly in evidence in the treatment of Sacred
Scripture, the Fathers and Tradition, but is also present in
the brief accounts of the history of human philosophical en-