DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

„A truth that is merely handed down, without being thought anew from its very foundations, has lost its vital power.”
(Hans Urs von Balthasar)

Department of Philosophy and Religion

The objectives, the spirit and the method of the work carried out by the Department are determined by the ambition of which the encyclical Fides et ratio is a particularly fine example: the reconciliation of faith and reason, which in turn is the key to a meaningful life and human fulfilment. íThe study of the philosophy of religion cannot focus on man alone, for then it would fail to encompass the entirety of the truth which is its aim, yet it must not be reduced to a description of existence that ignores personal and interpersonal human experience.

A courageous exploration of religion, faith and, ultimately, eternal truth as a mystery played out in history, free from reductionist ambitions, requires that we do not abandon either the path of „credo ut intellegam” (believing in order to understand) or that of „intellego ut credam” (understanding in order to believe).

The encounter with ultimate truth is always personal and dramatically free. Far more important than theoretical research is practical reflection, that is, reflection seeking to discover good so that it may be realized in the world. The encyclical teaches that religious truths: ” cannot be described by the sometimes ephemeral teachings of philosophers alone” (Fides et ratio, n. 30). At the same time, the need for existential clarity and the responsibility towards the community urge us to express in a systematic and reasoned way all that can be grasped and put into words in this field.

The following subjects are our attempts to accomplish the aims stated above: history of philosophy, the theology and philosophy of religion, the theory of being, theology of the Godhead, anthropology, epistemology and research seminars.