GIFT AND RESPONSIBILITY: THE PHILOSOPHY
OF FAITH OF ST. AUGUSTINE
by Prof. Alexis Deodato S. Itao , M.A.
The Catholic Church has always prized the value of philosophy since time immemorial. Echoing this esteem, a Papal Encyclical declares: "The Church considers philosophy an indispensable help for a deeper understanding of faith." This declaration implies how Catholic theology's recourse to philosophy is perennial, especially where it concerns on certain articles of faith that require sufficient metaphysical and epistemological foundations to be fully grasped and appreciated. Thus it is never by chance that philosophy is traditionally referred to as ancilla theologiae (handmaid of theology). Precisely, philosophy is there literally to "give a hand" — that is, to assist, like a maid — to theology so that theology can fulfill its task in understanding ever deeper the depositum fidei (deposit of the faith).
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