Faith and Reason in the First Vatican Council's 'Dei Filius' and the Writings of Bernard Lonergan

This study explores the ways in which presuppositions about human knowing influence stances on faith, reason, and the relationship between them. Such a topic is important not only to scholars in theology, religious studies, and philosophy, but to anyone who wishes to develop a greater awareness of the philosophic assumptions that underlie disputes.;The catalyst for this study is an under-investigated connection between the German philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, the Roman Catholic thinkers Louis- Eugene-Marie Bautain and Anton Gunther, and the First Vatican Council's 1870 constitution Dei Filius. In an effort to refine Immanuel Kant's account of human knowing such that it will permit knowledge of God's existence, Jacobi reconceptualizes the cognitive faculty Vernunft (reason) and its relation to Verstand (understanding). Bautain and Gunther find appeal in Jacobi's project and integrate his view of these faculties into their stances on faith, reason, and the relationship between them. The resulting stances are sufficiently unorthodox that they elicit ecclesial responses. The responses anticipate the structure and content of Dei Filius. Such are the topics of interest in chapter one. Chapter two unpacks passages in Dei Filius that pertain to Bautain and Gunther, most of which treat natural knowledge of God, the acts that lead to faith, and faith itself. Chapter three introduces Bernard Lonergan, whose critique of knowing-as-taking-a-look refutes Jacobi's account of human knowing. Insofar as this undermines the views of Bautain and Gunther, Lonergan supplements a venture of the authors of Dei Filius. Yet Lonergan is a thinker with his own stances on natural knowledge of God, the acts that lead to faith, and faith itself, each of which can be tested for compatibility with Dei Filius. Chapter four shows that Lonergan's stance on natural knowledge of God is wholly compatible with Dei Filius. Chapter five shows that Lonergan's early stances on the acts that lead to faith and faith itself are wholly compatible with Dei Filius, whereas his later stances are narrowly compatible with it. The narrow compatibility results from a heightened emphasis on the modern differentiations of consciousness and the fourth level of consciousness.