Ratzinger and Habermas on Faith, Reason, and Truth

Resumen

The question about truth acquires, in the relationship between faith and reason in the public sphere, an importance only surpassed by its complexity. The Christian tradition claims to be rational, one in which God reveals himself as the communicative “logos” (Jn 1:1). On the other side, secular rationality maintains that postmetaphysical societies achieve consensus only on the base of reasonable arguments. The concept of “rationality,” which both traditions claim to support themselves, is thus in need of clarification. In this article, I retrieve the views of Joseph Ratzinger, theologian and late pope of the Catholic Church (2005-2013), about the place of Christianity in the contemporary world and the relationship between faith and reason; on the other hand, I review the thought of Jürgen Habermas, one of the most influential contemporary philosophers, about discursive theory, democratic procedure as a moral ground of legitimation, and the need for “translating” religious claims into secular rationality prior to their entrance into the public sphere. The object of this article is descriptive and aims at better understanding the complex question regarding truth and rationality in our contemporary world in crisis. Therefore, I make no original claim in this very preliminary work.