A stunning and life-giving definition of reason from Rowan Williams:

“Remember where Pope Benedict’s theological inspiration comes from. It comes from an era in the life of the Church when ‘reason’ was seen not as a tool of argument, but as a vehicle of vision. It was our capacity to reason that allowed us to behold and wonder at the world together, to see the order of creation and to participate joyfully in it.

A human family which does not believe in reason is a family terminally and fatally divided—not because some people know how to argue better than others, but because we’ve lost sight of the notion that what God gives us is the capacity to listen to one another and learn from one another in a common world.”

From his remarks at the Solemn Pontifical Vespers, kicking off the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Westminster Cathedral on Tuesday 1/20/26.