okay so I mean we've got a question of reason the role of Reason in in science and are we putting too much faith and then the question of humanism and then the distinct contribution of Christianity and the Christian Gospel so I mean answer the question of reason and science I I don't think we can have too much reason I don't think we can have too much science I think advances and reason advances and science better application of of reason is always uh at advantageous I think that it has led to an extraordinary progression in knowledge
it is contributed enormously to the you know the trends that that Steve brought up earlier um so I think this is important can we have too much faith in these things I I think we can um I think if we neglect um that the you know the human person is free and sometimes uses that knowledge for for wrong purposes if we think that reason and science are going to solve all of our problems I do think we can have too much faith in them but not not too much reason not too much science per se
um you know with humanism I I essentially agree with with with Steve and and what he said I mean I I would view humanism as really any effort to help the human person achieve their uh potential and um as noted earlier and as Steve pointed out as well there's a lot um on on which we agree and so I think we should be working together to advancing those goals again to my mind those are not just material goals of of Health and Longevity and literacy in income but also should be pointing towards the experience of
beauty of of meaning of trying to be a good person of of good relationships um and so I think we should be working together to use both of both our science and reason and also those humanistic impulses to try to bring that about as as a society to work across religious Traditions to work across the religious secular uh divide to work with all peoples to to achieve at night and I agree that the Declaration of writes is an extraordinary um accomplishment in that regard and we should do whatever whatever we can um I mean with
regard to the to the distinctive uh contributions of of of of Christianity itself towards um humanism towards uh towards flourishing I mean one one might uh you know Point towards the the historical contributions contributions in terms of understanding the the the equality of peoples or or or um charity or the contributions to science one might Point towards the um you know the proportion of of of Health Care in African countries that churches other religious organizations are providing one might point to I mean this is a topic of some of my own research the the contribution
to participating in religious community towards health and well-being lowering depression suicide reducing mortality uh risk and divorce and so on but I mean I think those are kind of more uh historical and and empirical questions in terms of you know Christianity's contribution to our understanding of of humanism of human flourishing a lot could be said that that I'll perhaps restrict my my remarks to three things I think um first the centrality of of love the the sort of basing they're encapsulating the whole of morality the whole of Ethics as is essentially love of neighbor of
God um and and extending that so far his love of enemy as well in Jesus's teachings and I think we're actually in great need of that in in in this country I think with political polarization um that that we're that we're seeing we need that love of the opponent we need um a sense of forgiveness if we really are going to come to together and so I think um both the teachings on love but then the motivations um to love examples like the life of of Mother Teresa who gave her her life caring for others
you know when when anecdote's news reporter saw her doing her work and said I wouldn't do this for a million dollars and her response was neither would I um and you know what was what was motivating her was that love of of of other people and I think it is a love that's both taught by by Christianity um but also empowered but I think her example points to you know I would say a second contribution of um Christianity to our understanding of um crew and girl humanism true true flourishing which is that of making sense
of suffering um what what do we do uh when we when we suffer do we do do we ignore this is there any uh value in in that suffering and again what could be said on this topic but and I think there's both an ocean of voluntary suffering suffering for the sake of helping others of loving others but then there's also kind of trying to make use of and understand the suffering and experiences in one's own life for the purposes of of transformation to turn um one's um one's desires once will towards the higher goods
and again from a Christian perspective ultimately towards God so I think there's there's kind of a second contribution and trying to make sense of and Find meaning in the midst of suffering which we really do all encounter uh and then you know lastly and I think this is really the effectively the heart of um of of Christianity is that that attainment um of that uh spiritual well well-being that that communion um with with with God and again we could go on and on with regard to the theology um around this but you know with regard
to trying to obtain that Community I think there are kind of three Central and difficult challenges one is if you if you really view that communion as an understanding of of a vision of of God that is beyond our capacity so how do we how do we attain this this is something that's in some sense uh superhuman um secondly how do we reconcile um our Brokenness or imperfectability the fact that when we do wrong with with something that is someone that is perfectly good how how is that reconciled um and then thirdly it's it's sort
of this notion of if what is Central is is love of God but love involves Freedom um how is it that we can freely uh come come to love and um I think those those three problems are dressed within Christianity as as being Jesus Christ incarnation in the world his his atonement his his death and um and his empowering us uh to to to to to love that is becoming a human person is uniting himself with human nature the understanding is that does eventually help us equip us and give us that Supernatural capacity uh eventually
uh to see God the the the atonement is his death he understands the theological understanding um is that's that's that the way that um we we are reconciled with respect to our own Brokenness our own imperfectability our own wrongdoing our own guilt um in God's God's Perfection it's it's it's that Union with Jesus on on the cross and then lastly with with with love it is it is God's um helping us drawing Us in um through the through the through the life of Jesus and hopefully through the loving um actions of of of of of
of the church so um uh it I think it's it's sort of those are more theological abstract terms I mean as his analogy one might one might um Envision a person on a ship who can't swim and the ship is burning um and you know what what are they what are they to do um imagine someone else on the ship grabbing the person and who can swim jumping into the water and helping them uh swim that still requires the cooperation of the of the end of vigil who would otherwise drown or burn to death but
you know in some sense that that pulling one off of the of the ship is that deliverance from our wrongdoing that that that assistance in swimming is what was accomplished by uh the Incarnation by Jesus as becoming man uniting human nature to um himself and then again we do need that that cooperation however to swim to the surface to swim uh to safety and and critically importantly part of that learning to swim is in fact loving others contributing to their uh well-being seeking those common ends of of of humanism helping people to obtain their highest
material intellectual moral cultural and and spiritual ends and so I do think again from the Christian understanding there are important and unique contributions that Christianity makes to the notion of human flourishing [Music] foreign
