The Problem of the “Three Cities”

The Conditions for Dialogue Between Faith, Science, and Technology

Abstract

Tertullian’s dyad of Athens and Jerusalem, which symbolically defines the relationship between faith and reason, and thus between theology and science, must be expanded today to include a third “City”: Silicon Valley. It represents a new type of relationship between science and technology, which, on the one hand, poses an important challenge to philosophical and theological reflection, and on the other, tends to encourage the formulation of philosophical and theological theses. The aim of this article is to analyze selected obstacles to a fruitful dialogue between the three “Cities,” a dialogue which is not only possible, but also necessary. Above all, it presupposes the observance of methodological boundaries, the absence of which makes it impossible to establish points of contact between the three views of reality. Dialogue requires that not only the latest scientific knowledge and philosophical insights be opened up and taken into account, but also contemporary theological concepts, especially those concerning the Creator and the creation of the world. More than thirty years after the promulgation of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Fides et ratio on the reciprocal relationship between faith and reason, it is worth reopening the question of the conditions for dialogue between Jerusalem, Athens, and Silicon Valley.