Two Wings: Integrating Faith and Reason

In this book two college professors explain how believing and reasoning are two human activities that may be integrated to form a complete view of human existence. They take their title from the opening of John Paul II's encyclical Fides et Ratio, which speaks of the human spirit rising on the two wings of faith and reason to stretch toward the truth that is available to all.

In the first part of the book, the authors offer a basic yet engaging encounter with traditional arguments for and against God's existence. They grapple with doubts arising from the question of evil and the discoveries of contemporary natural science. The final chapters take up questions from ethics and politics that impact the way individuals and communities choose to structure their lives.

This book is non-dogmatic; it seeks to probe the contours of the questions asked by inquiring minds. The authors fairly address arguments supporting and opposing their own viewpoints while using simple analogies designed for non-specialists. Thus they provide the best available starting point for confidently entering into the greatest conversation of all time.

Douglas Kries, Ph.D., is a Professor of Philosophy at Gonzaga University. He is the author of The Problem of Natural Law, and his essays have appeared in various journals including the Claremont Review of Books and the Review of Politics.

Brian Clayton, Ph.D., is a Professor of Philosophy at Gonzaga University, where he teaches courses on faith and reason, and the authors C. S. Lewis, Walker Percy, and J. R. R. Tolkien. He has been Director of Gonzaga University's Faith and Reason Institute since 2009.