On 16 November Fr James Pereiro, a priest of the Opus Dei Prelature, a member of the History Faculty at Oxford University, will talk about ‘Newman on Reason and Faith’. Among his publications are Cardinal Manning (1998) and Ethos. At the Heart of the Oxford Movement (2008). He is co-editing the Oxford Handbook of the Oxford Movement.
While one hears often about the ‘Victorian crisis of faith’, little is heard about the ‘Victorian crisis of reason’. The success of the scientific method and its technological achievements have obscured the dramatic crisis at the heart of a rationality which, considering rational only that which can be proved experimentally, has abdicated from finding an answer to fundamental questions of truth and meaning, human nature and destiny. What can faith do for reason? What does reason contribute to faith? Newman was aware of the pressing nature of this questions and his approach to them has influenced contemporary philosophers and theologians, among them Benedict XVI.