Vatican I declares that "right reasoning . . . illumined by [the light of faith], perfects the knowledge of divine things," but also that, "the doctrine of faith . . . has not been handed down as a philosophic invention to the human mind to be perfected, but has been entrusted as a divine deposit to the Spouse of Christ, to be faithfully guarded and infallibly interpreted." (Dei Filius, 4)



How does reason perfect faith? How does the theologian perfect knowledge of divine things while faithfully guarding the revelation entrusted to the Church? If, as St. John Henry Newman says, "here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often," how does our faith stay alive while remaining the same? How do we distinguish between organic and inorganic development of doctrine?

These questions cut to the heart of philosophy and theology as disciplines in service to the Church. Differing answers to these questions are the source of the contemporary crisis in Catholic thought.