The arguments for theology are intimately connected to Newman's high ideal of education, rightly celebrated by educators today. Yet there are promising signs of a renewal of liberal education through a deeper appreciation of theology in the course of studies in higher education. They encompass the rational foundation of philosophy and the application of a critical method to central contents. Realist phenomenology plays a key role in the seventh voyage by providing an objective foundation to a priori knowledge. It shows also that essential necessity possesses a supreme form of intelligibility.
Cognition is reached via insight and deduction.
Rethinking Edmund Husserl's method allows access to real existence, where objective values replace axiological nihilism. Rigorous philosophy is thus compatible with divinely revealed truth about the mysteries of God and man. Wird die philosophische Theologie, die eben im philosophischen Gottesbeweis kulminiert, abgelehnt, so tritt an ihre Stelle die Gefahr des Abgleitens in einen irrationalen Dezisionismus. David Morsey Award for Best Biblical Exegesis, 1999. God's action in the world poses a challenge for the Christian scholar.