The debate sparked off by Benedict XVI’s speech in Regensburg has not only relaunched relations between Islam and Christianity, but has also provoked an internal debate in all around the world. In these lines we offer a summary of some interventions that have appeared so far, which serve to rethink and relaunch the current dialogue between faith and reason, modernity and Christianity, non-Christian religions and the Catholic Church. In this article, we will look at the responses that emerged after the (...) speech and other subsequent interventions, which have made this a “globalised discourse.” Rationality must be found not only in the sciences but also in philosophy, religions, ethics and art. (shrink)

En este artículo queremos profundizar en los datos científicos que hay en la actualidad sobre el Homo neanderthalensis para poder dilucidar, desde las dimensiones biológica, antropológica, anatómica, fisiológica y, finalmente, teológica, la posibilidad de que los neandertales pudieran tener alguna forma de espiritualidad o religiosidad. Si bien, Dios Creador, movido por su voluntad salvífica universal, quiso establecer, por gracia, una relación con todos los seres humanos desde sus orígenes, mostramos en este trabajo que los neandertales, esos homínidos contemporáneos de los (...) primeros humanos anatómicamente modernos (Homo sapiens), a partir de su capacidad intelectual, abstractiva y simbólica, podían tener –y tenían– ya un comportamiento religioso primitivo y rudimentario. Aunque no fueran aún capaces de la revelación divina explícita, estaban en camino hacia la capacidad trascendente. Así que el origen temporal de esa relación humano-divina (además de la dependencia de la Creación) y del don de la gracia debe situarse más allá de los 200.000 años. (shrink)

This article raises a very relevant question today: “Does AI think?” To come up with an answer, it explores several conceptions of knowledge, from classical Aristotelian notions to modern philosophers’ takes on it. For Aristotle, knowledge starts with the senses, and, through epagoge and nous, it grows into an understanding of the nature of the thing known, which is something that does not happen with AI. Modern schools of thoughts are either rationalist or empiricist. For rationalists, knowledge is innate, while (...) empiricists believe all knowledge comes from the senses. As Kant views it, knowledge is “built” on sensorial data with the use of theoretical reason categories. Based on these approaches, it is harder to claim that AI does not think by itself. The article also reviews current philosophers’ views on AI and AI thinking. Summing up, the answer to the initial question depends on the concept of knowledge adopted. As this article shares the classical notion of thinking, it concludes that AI does not think. (shrink)

Various images of the face of the Turin Shroud Man, acquired at different wavelengths, from the near infrared region to the ultraviolet, have been studied and compared. A correlation as a function of the wavelength, between the penetration depth in the fabric of the incident light and the anatomic details visible on the images, is discussed based on the physical properties of linen threads and light. In addition, the backside of the Turin Shroud, in correspondence of the region of the (...) face, has been examined, evidencing the possible presence of a second superficial image impressed on the backside. Notwithstanding the high level of scientific knowledge today reached, there is no known physical/chemical process which allows to explain all the properties of the Turin Shroud’s body image. According to our scientific knowledge, the corpse of a dead man cannot produce an energy capable to imprint on a linen cloth an image with all the microscopical and macroscopical properties discovered by analyzing the body image of the Turin Shroud, which has not yet been reproduced in any laboratory in the world. According to faith the corpse of a living Man can do it, during the resurrection, assuming a different state of matter. With this respect, the Turin Shroud can be considered as a two-thousand-old relic witnessing to the humanity, just in the age of science, the reasonableness of the faith in the resurrection. (shrink)

En los estudios sobre la discapacidad, surgió en su momento el malestar ante la escasa consideración que la condición corpórea estaba recibiendo en el llamado “modelo social de la discapacidad”. El estudio recientemente publicado por Jorge Martín Montoya Camacho y José Manuel Giménez Amaya bajo el título “Corporalidad, tecnología y deseo de salvación. Apuntes para una antropología de la vulnerabilidad” ofrece un interesante marco para los estudios sobre discapacidad, al permitir comprenderla dentro de una amplia propuesta de antropología filosófica. En (...) efecto, el estudio que comentamos, sirviéndose de la filosofía aristotélica, articula adecuadamente nuestras dimensiones corporal y social con los fines de la vida humana. (shrink)

The Shroud of Turin is an old linen fabric imprinted with the image of a tortured man who lies prone with his hands crossed before him. Since for many it is related to Jesus of Nazareth, this cloth is among the most studied, controversial and enigmatic of all archaeological and religious objects. Since its radiocarbon dating at the end of the eighties of the last century, it is considered by many to be an object made in the Middle Ages. The (...) controversy is due to the fact that there are other scientific and artistic evidences that place this object outside the medieval sphere. An argument map is a critical thinking way of representing the relationships between evidences and arguments, and is used here to represent the sequences of argumentation that defend that the Shroud of Turin is not a medieval object. (shrink)

This paper explores the program of theology of science proposed by renowned Polish physicist and philosopher, Michael Heller, with a particular focus on its ontological dimensions through the lens of Trinitarian theology. Firstly, an overview of the status and current discussions of theology of science is presented. Next, drawing on Heller's key texts the Trinitarian doctrine is used to enhance the intelligibility of the Universe, wherein the dynamic interplay of unity, diversity, and relationality is mirrored in the structure of physical (...) reality itself. Most importantly, however, we examine how Heller's theological perspective thus equipped provides justification for the specificity of the method of science itself, thereby revealing new dimensions of relations between science and theology. Through critical engagement with Heller's thought, this paper seeks ultimately to illuminate the profound implications of a Trinitarian perspective in his theology of science, shedding light on the interconnectedness of Christian doctrine and ontology in shaping our understanding of the universe and its underlying structure. (shrink)

The complexity of work in our time presents new challenges for a theology that understands this fundamental dimension of existence and gives it an integrating, truly human meaning and a path to holiness. In order to embrace all modern forms of work, a definition of work is proposed as an action that involves the whole person and leads to fulfilment through work. Not only is work not a punishment, but the punishment would be not to be able to work. In (...) work there is a convergence between nature and spirit. In order for the relationship between them to be harmoniously realised, a mediation is necessary that can only be exercised by man in which both meet. This avoids the risk of materialism and spiritualism in the understanding of work. But this mediation is limited to "this" concrete work. In order for there to be a mediation that includes all work, a Mediator is necessary, and that Mediator is Christ. The work that Jesus of Nazareth carried out was an exercise of his pro-existence and was therefore redemptive and salvific. It is in union with Christ that human work finds its ultimate meaning and transcendent efficacy. (shrink)

This article addresses the issue of attributing phenomenal consciousness to Artificial Intelligence (AI), a mistake that can lead to ethically dangerous consequences and that is becoming widespread due to the advances of Large Language Models such as ChatGPT. We juxtapose advancements in AI with the notion of inner experience as it is present in humans. The study draws from various disciplines, including philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, and theological texts such as "The Inner Castle" by Saint Theresa of Ávila and (...) "Confessions" by Saint Augustine. Firstly, it reviews the current state of the relationship between phenomenal consciousness and AI, followed by a critique of the idea that advanced language models, like ChatGPT, can achieve an inner experience in the same sense we use the term to describe the human inner experience. A common objection is raised, suggesting that AI can become conscious by increasing its complexity. This is countered by presenting theoretical and empirical evidence on the independence of computational intelligence and phenomenal consciousness. The study concludes that, despite AI's notable cognitive abilities, it lacks the inner experience that characterizes human experience. Then, our second main contribution is an analogy of the dwellings of the Inner Castle to the range of different subjective experiences that are available to human beings, together with actions associated to them, which can be useful to understand where the machine can perform tasks that are similar to the human and where subjective experience is key. We are now in a pivotal moment where it is essential to understand the limitations of AI for deploying it ethically. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to offer arguments in favor of doing broad science, which means focusing on the investigation of everything, supported by the elaboration and application of methods that make it possible to objectify reality, which includes the attempt to replicate evidence likely to come from a transcendent reality. We argue that doing broad science depends on adopting the assumption that there are other dimensions of reality since this broadens the horizon of investigation; and to take care (...) that such assumption does not come to be left out due to the influence of intrusive lines of thought of the most diverse. Here we discuss three lines of thought showing fragility in them, which we understand to be well established in current times, especially in the academic environment, and which directly or indirectly advocate the adoption of a materialist vision, namely: the disconnected psychophysical dualism, the myopic pragmatism, and the primacy of epistemology over ontology. (shrink)

What might a Christian Transhumanism or, better, a Transhumanist Christianity, look like? Might conscientious Christians today absorb transhumanist zeal and enhancement technology into holy goals of enriching the individual soul and transforming the social fabric? As stewards of human creativity, public theologians and cybertheologians are provided an opportunity by their transhumanist friends to contribute to wider human flourishing and global wellbeing. Yet, realism regarding original sin heightens the challenge to discern what is good while avoiding the pitfalls of messianic hubris.

En el presente trabajo abordamos la cuestión metafísica de la potencialidad física y su relación con la potencialidad metafísica como una cuestión que ayuda a comprender la tarea de la metafísica de la ciencia. Para ello nos planteamos tres cuestiones. Una relativa a la relación entre necesidad y contingencia que tiene varias ramificaciones lógicas y naturales, que filosóficamente se vierte en la visión de un mundo fenoménico o real y concomitantemente a la intersección entre la aproximación racional y la empírica. (...) Una segunda abordará la solución dada a esta intersección necesidad-contingencia a través del cálculo de probabilidades y su evolución hacia la probabilidad o potencialidad cuántica. La tercera cuestión tendrá como punto clave las raíces metafísicas medievales que plantea la física cuántica, especialmente la metafísica modal de Juan Duns Escoto. (shrink)

Religion is one lens in which people understand the world around them and interpret the world around them. However, it is unclear whether religion has an impact upon attitudes towards robots around the world. In this article, the authors investigate how an individual’s religiosity impacts upon perceptions of robots. The article investigates how an individual’s religiosity impacts attitudes towards robots, using data from a large-scale global survey of attitudes towards robots (N=1263). In order to investigate how religion impacts upon such (...) perceptions, cluster, factor and regression analyses were used for data analysis. The findings illustrate that there are discernible clusters of individuals exhibiting different levels of religiosity and that these clusters have different perceptions of robots, showing as hypothesized, that more religious individuals are more likely to be robophobic than robophilic. The relationship between religiosity and attitudes towards robots is negative: less religious people show more positive attitudes towards robots. While there is clear indication that there is a relationship between religiosity and attitudes towards robots, religiosity does not have a particularly strong impact upon perceptions of robots. The analysis of the data illustrates that there are factors more clearly associated with perceptions of robots, meaning that while religiosity may have some impact on perceptions of robots, that there are more important attitudes and other factors that should be taken into consideration to encourage users to use robots in various service environments. In addition, in this particular research, there seems to be no notable relationship between perceptions of robots and demographics of individuals, illustrating that the age, gender, wealth, and education of an individual may not play a strong role in shaping perceptions of robots in service industries. (shrink)

En el presente artículo, se explicará la noción de ‘ciencia’ plasmada en las obras del antropólogo francés René Girard. Esta ciencia se entiende como método de investigación principalmente inductivo en el que el concepto central de ‘hipótesis’ no refleja una tentativa de respuesta a un problema dado, sino que resulta la propia conclusión del proceso de búsqueda intelectual que, en el caso de este autor, tiene por objeto al ser humano. El proyecto de Girard se cifra en construir una antropología (...) realmente científico-evolucionista que no elimine las especificidades humanas, sino que trate de entenderlas radicalmente desde el mundo de la biología animal, sin apriorismos filosóficos o semejantes. La idea en torno a la cual se irá forjando esta antropología será la ‘mímesis’, que es un elemento que, por su naturaleza y evolución, está asimismo vinculado con el ‘deseo’ y el ‘sacrificio’. Sin embargo, paradójicamente, Girard acabará declarando que su ‘hipótesis’ revela que los estudios religiosos son el ámbito donde, en definitiva, adquieren todo su sentido la Antropología e, incluso, la Metafísica. En suma: la ‘hipótesis’ de Girard erige la teoría de la religión como una especie de “ciencia primera” y referencia de las demás disciplinas del saber humano. Tal ciencia primera es llamada también ‘Teoría Mimética’ y está marcada por un claro carácter crítico y apofático, solo templado por la aportación positiva de la revelación del Dios bíblico en los ritos y mitos de la cultura judeocristiana. (shrink)

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The term theodicy was coined by the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) and is inherent in the question of how evil can exist if an intrinsically good God guides everything. The publication of this oeuvre initiated intense philosophical and theological discourse in the subsequent centuries, during which many issues that bare upon human well-being were articulated. Also, Leibniz’s rational approach to the relationship between God and evil raised a number of issues related to the topic of belief. This topic has (...) entangled discourses on theodicy with a long-lasting debate on beliefs, which goes back to Antiquity. Recently, a paradigm-shift shed new light on the understanding of belief. Science has begun to address the neurophysiological mechanisms of the processes that underpin belief formation, modulation, and change. The term credition was coined in order to capture and reflect this new and innovative understanding of the fluidity of beliefs and believing. This paper presents various features of a pattern of interrelationships between well-being, theodicy, and credition. (shrink)

Dynamic Theodicy (DT) is a broad concept we bring up to designate some modern Philosophical Theology attempts to reconcile the necessary and perfect existence of God with the contingent characteristics of human life. In this paper we analyze such approaches and discuss how they have become incomprehensible because the metaphysical assumptions implicit in these explanations have lost their intrinsic relation to the natural human desire for salvation. In the first part we show Charles Hartshorne's DT-model, arising from the modal logic (...) of perfection, and the modern rational problems of this position in making infinite-necessary Being (God) and finite-contingent being (human) compatible. We note that at the heart of the contradictions in this DT account is a dialectical mode of thinking that makes it difficult to find a correct solution to this dichotomy, and to assume a human desire that could be considered related to lifelong goals. In the second part, supported by the proposal of Hans Urs von Balthasar's DT, we develop the concepts of bodily vulnerability, corporeal intentionality, and natural desire for salvation, which come from an Aristotelian-Thomistic thought. This theory is established in order to build an argument, following Alasdair MacIntyre’s ethical framework, on how to make possible the recovery of a metaphysical and anthropological desire that transcends natural aging and goes beyond death. We conclude that both human dependence and the virtues that arise naturally when human beings decide to seek the good of their transcendent condition, make it possible to recover the natural desire for salvation through divine and human love. (shrink)

The theory of biological evolution has often provoked disagreement, which has frequently been divisive and counterproductive. At other times this scientific paradigm has been discussed with an apologetic intent, to explain why the science of biology and the theology of creation cannot be seen to be mutually exclusive. This paper urges Christians to move decisively to a third type of discourse. The new field of comparative genetics has provided conclusive evidence that biological evolution has given rise to the diversity of (...) living forms, including human beings. Consequently, Christians should, with confidence, gladly accept the evolutionary paradigm and look upon evolution as a divinely ordained historical process that develops through random (stochastic, free) process, but that leads to a divinely purposed consummation. As a result, biological history in its freedom but directedness to God’s final purposes should elicit wonder. People who have come to faith in the God revealed redemptively in Jesus should uninhibitedly offer adoration and praise for evolutionary fruitfulness. Worship should characterise the human response to biological history.[1] [1] In appreciation of Professor Tom McLeish FRS, scientist, teacher, theologian. (shrink)

The philosopher Byung-Chul Han affirms that the present age reduces the human being to a performance-machine, and that, because of this reduction, the type of disease that characterizes it this age is neuronal. In the present article, I argue that Han’s analysis is correct but incomplete. Behind this reductionism, which leads to neuropathologies of different types, lies another type of pathology that the philosopher Eric Voegelin calls ‘pneumopathology’—disease of the spirit. The transhumanist view of human enhancement deepens this reduction and (...) shows that the pneumopathology that blights today’s society is in a process of unprecedented chronification. To justify this thesis, I first explain the connection between human enhancement and the achievement imperative denounced by Han; I then analyze the Voegelian category of pneumopathology to show its value for an ontological-historical understanding of human enhancement. (shrink)

The topic of pain and suffering is complex and requires a holistic vision. This article begins by clarifying concepts to understand pain as a biological, psychological, and social phenomenon that has an evolutionary history whose maximum expression arises in humans. Established this common ground, it explores altruism and animal cooperation as incipient phenomena of care for the other, though contextual. Then it points out that the difference with humans is that they perceive caring for the weak, innocent, and marginalized as (...) a moral duty and a path of personal flourishing. Finally, in the face of human weakness and from Christian theology, God shows with deeds a path of care for the weak by making himself weak, suffering and remaining innocent. (shrink)

Why do creationists persist in rejecting the evidence for Darwin’s theory of evolution? This paper explores longstanding disagreements among Christians over the epistemic status of evolution. Like other studies that have tried to define the evidence for evolution, a recent analysis by Gijsbert van den Brink, Jeroen de Ridder, and René van Woudenberg does not adequately face up to antecedent commitments that play into any assessment of evolution. The scientific theory of evolution involves higher-level models that are associated with a (...) range of non-scientific factors, including theological judgments. In light of these realities, an emphasis on mutual dialogue and understanding offers promising opportunities for Christians trying to discover the truth about God’s creation. (shrink)

The text presents a transhumanist point of view on evolution. It focuses on the lack of clear and obvious evolutionary solutions to the issue of involuntary suffering. It poses difficult questions about the possibility of enhencement of human nature and respecting the laws of evolution. It reflects on the positive role of pain for the development of individual people and the entire human species. It considers the thesis that perhaps evolution “needs” pain for proper human development. It asks whether the (...) transition to a higher than evolutionary stage of human development, as proposed by transhumanists, will not lead to the extinction of our species? After all, it relates all this mosaic of thoughts and theories to God, who can be the answer to many posed questions. (shrink)

Evolutionary studies have provided several explanations about how pain and suffering can be fitted into that framework, which tries to make sense of every biological and human feature in terms of evolution, survival, and fitness. These explanations point usually to how such apparently negative aspects become useful and contribute to an evolution that after all has delivered good outcomes. Such an approach might eventually render the theodicy question less sharp and critical for believers who are trying to cope with the (...) scandal of so great suffering in our world and history. Theologically we can welcome such new insights, less noticed in former tradition, but at the same time we need to be cautious before a development which could render less clear the message of Christian salvation. In any case, the new data and knowledge clearly invite to revise and reformulate the Christian salvific message, to better answer before the mystery of evil and suffering. (shrink)

The scientific papers published in a special edition of the journal “Scientia et Fides” are the result of an international scientific project titled “The Dynamic Theodicy Model: Understanding God, Evil, and Evolution.” The project leaders are Prof. Piotr Roszak (Nicolaus Copernicus University) and Prof. Saša Horvat (University of Rijeka), under the auspices of the University of Oxford and the John Templeton Foundation. Other members of the project team include Grzegorz Karwasz, Michał Oleksowicz, Tomasz Huzarek, and Jan Wółkowski.

In this communication recent evidence from cognitive neuroscience is presented showing that believing is a fundamental brain function. It integrates the perception of information from the environment with personal perspective taking (“what does it mean to me?”) as the basis for predictive coding of action. Observing that another person becomes injured can make one believe that the pain in the injured person is similar to pain that oneself has experienced previously. This first-person perspective has been called empathy and includes primal (...) beliefs about potentially pain eliciting objects and painful events in the sense of “what does it mean to you?”. Furthermore, observing other people to suffer involves the conceptual belief that their condition is aversive and burdensome. Believing in love and peace involves the perspective of “what does it mean to us?”. Contradictory events may cause the sensation of pain and suffering in the afflicted individuals resulting in mutual distrust and eventually disruption of social bonds. In conclusion, beliefs play an important, though long underestimated role in cognitive neuroscience of pain and suffering and more generally for the cultural notions of deities and evil. (shrink)

Contrary to the commonly assumed opinion that Christianity sees pain as intrinsically evil – where evil is defined as the lack of something good – Aquinas defines pain not as a privation but rather a passion of the soul, i.e., an emotion that depends on sensual and/or intellective cognition of something evil, is good in itself, and may serve a purpose. This article offers a formalized version of the Thomistic definition of pain and related negative (unpleasant) emotions experienced by humans. (...) It also compares and contrasts this view with some contemporary scientific and philosophical models of pain. (shrink)

It is often claimed that our knowledge of the evolutionary process adds an extra dimension to the classical problem of natural evil and makes this problem worse. Especially the principle of natural selection is often portrayed as morally inappropriate or “unfitting” for a perfectly good God to use as a means for creating biological complexity. In this article, I argue that this common view is misconceived, and that natural selection is a wholly innocuous principle. The real source of evolutionary evils (...) is the fact that resources in nature are scarce – a fact that was known long before Darwin. The problem of natural and evolutionary evil, therefore, is best construed as a question about why God permits scarcity in nature. I argue that recent research about the interrelation between competition and cooperation in the evolutionary process provides resources for answering this perennial question in a more satisfactory way than could be done before the advent of evolutionary theory. (shrink)