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WASHINGTON, D.C. (APRIL 3, 2008) - On the eve of Pope Benedict XVI’s first visit to the United States, an ecumenical gathering of renowned Christian theologians from around the world will come together to discuss how Christians may meaningfully speak about God, who is infinitely beyond our comprehension. Can we, by our own natural reason, say anything substantive about God? Or is all knowledge of God found uniquely in Christ?

The conference, to be held from April 4 – 6 in Washington, DC, is entitled, “The Analogy of Being: Invention of the Anti-Christ or the Wisdom of God?” It will focus on the legitimacy of the “analogia entis” (the analogy of being) as a way of coming to true knowledge about God. The speakers for the conference will represent a broad spectrum of Christian thought, including Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions. The conference will be held at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center. On April 17, the Cultural Center will host Pope Benedict’s his historic meeting with representatives of other religions. Jointly sponsoring this symposium are the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center (www.jp2cc.org), the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies (www.dhs.edu), and Eerdmans Press (www.eerdmans.com).

“Given the former Holy Father’s commitment both to ecumenical dialogue and to rigorous theological debate, there could be no more appropriate place for this Symposium than the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center,” says Fr. Steven C. Boguslawski, who serves as director of the Cultural Center and as President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception. “This symposium is unique in that it represents a broadly ecumenical gathering of scholars discussing a truly substantive theological issue.”

The title of the symposium, “The Analogy of Being: Invention of the Anti-Christ or the Wisdom of God?” stems from a controversy over the “analogy of being” begun in 1931 as a theological debate in Germany between the Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth and the Polish Jesuit, Erich Przywara, SJ. In a series of public debates, the two argued over the role philosophy should play within Christian theology. In the tradition of theologians from Augustine to Aquinas, Fr. Przywara argued that theologians can speak analogously of God as “being”, or “truth”, or “goodness”, even apart from Christian revelation. Barth, on the other hand, claimed that this analogy of being “is the Anti-Christ, and the only reason not to become Catholic.” He argued that all true knowledge of God comes through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus alone. This he occasionally called the “analogia fidei” (the analogy of faith), in opposition to the “analogia entis”.

Organizing the event is Dominican brother, Thomas Joseph White, OP, a theologian currently in residence at the Dominican House of Studies. The Dominican House of Studies is the location of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, the theological school of the Eastern Province of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) in the United States. One of the great proponents of the “analogy of being” was the 13th century Dominican theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas. Br. Thomas Joseph explains that the conference, “amounts to a debate about how we can come to know God: by faith, by philosophical reason, or by both?” These issues are not simply academic concerns, however. Rather, “these issues relate to our understanding of the relationship between the Bible and natural science, and the interactions between Christianity and other religions, for example,” he says. “We hope to have a lively and thought-provoking debate.”

The confirmed speakers for the conference include:
• John Betz, Assistant Professor of Theology at Loyola College, Baltimore;
• Martin Bieler, a privatdozent in systematic theology at the University of Berne, Switzerland;
• Peter Casarella, Professor of Catholic Studies at DePaul University;
• Michael Hanby, Assistant Professor of Theology at the John Paul II Marriage and Family Institute in Washington, D.C;
• David Bentley Hart, Visiting Professor of Theology at Providence College;
• Reinhard Hütter, Professor of Christian Theology at Duke Divinity School;
• Bruce L. McCormack, Frederick and Margaret Weyerhaeuer Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton University;
• Bruce D. Marshall; Professor of Historical Theology at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University;
• Richard Schenk, Professor of Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California; and
• John Webster is Professor of Systematic Theology at the King's College, Aberdeen, Scotland.
The symposium, “The Analogy of Being: Invention of the Anti-Christ or the Wisdom of God?” will be held April 4 to 6, 2008 at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, DC.