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Godfaring: On Reason, Faith, and Sacred Being
Godfaring On Reason Faith and Sacred Being Author:Francis Clark From the time of the Second Vatican Council, there have been extraordinary developments in the Catholic Church's understanding of God's unitary plan for bringing Christians and non-Christians to salvation and eternal life. This book draws out the meaning and consequences of those developments, both in theology and in the world-view of Christian ... more »believers. The author offers a searching discussion of the importance, for Christian faith and life, of the relation between the natural religion of humanity-as reflected in different ways by all the religions of the world-and the revealed religion of Jesus Christ. Francis Clark makes a significant contribution to the ongoing debate on the theology of religious pluralism. Among the themes progressively integrated in the catholic synthesis that is presented in the book are: the sources, content, and validation of natural theology; ontology as a universal pathway to religious understanding; theological perspectives on created matter and on the origins of the universe and of life; defense of divine design against the Neo-Darwinian denial; the dark mystery of evil; conscience and its supreme imperative; the nature of religious experience; and "the truth that pantheism distorts." While Godfaring offers new and striking insights on fundamental questions of theology, philosophy, and religious anthropology, it also aims to discuss them in a way that is accessible to all readers who ponder the ultimate meaning of the world, of life, and of Christian faith. Throughout the book, the author tells of his personal wayfaring to God. He refers incidentally to particular events and experiences of his own long life of searching for answers to the ultimate questions. A glossary of religious and philosophical terms is provided, as well as a list of Church documents cited, which serves as a useful history of the Church's official position on inter-religious dialogue.« less