Schaber 1 Lou Schaber Professor Vincent Sultenfuss Christion Spiritual Vision January 22, 2014 Reasonable Faith: A Look at the Interaction of Faith and Reason in Christianity The statement, “The truth of Christianity also can never be based on strict logic”, is very true if we are to take the scriptures as truth (Albl 27). Albl also noted that people with faith believe that their existence is a gift, and should not be taken for granted. It is this gift that allows us to learn and understand life through reason, yet also experience a relationship with God that requires a great deal of faith. “Faith and reason continually interact: our reason helps us to gain a clearer understanding of our faith, but our faith first guides our reason to help it to reason rightly” (Albl 49). Similarly, Pope John Paul II stated in his introduction of Fides et Ratio: Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart the desire to know the truth — in a word, to know himself — so that by knowing and loving God, men and women can come to the fullness of the truth about themselves. (n. 1) Through the combination of faith and reason we can know the truth . . . the complete truth according to the Word of God. The absence of either reason or faith, “Will diminish man's ability to know himself, the world and God. Human reason seeks the truth, but the ultimate truth about the meaning of life cannot be found by reason alone” (Fagan). Though questions are still raised concerning the interaction of faith and reason, I wish to demonstrate that the inclusion of both is not just necessary, but vital for following after Christ.