in gratitude of grand rhetorical strategies

Read the speech. It is found in pdf format here (thanks to Sarabite for the lead). Note that after the Manuel II Paleologus quote Pope Benedict qualifies emperor Paleologus' comments with phrases such as "[t]he emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully" and "he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness..." Thus within Pope Benedict's speech he distances himself from the rhetoric used by Manuel II Paleologus, while at the same time he endorses the emperor's position that with regard to the transmission of faith it is reason, and not violence, which is the proper means. It would have been a moment of competence had news agencies mentioned that the Pope refers to the very words which the Muslims have found offensive as forceful and brusque. But we know better than to expect competence from a news agency. News agencies spoon feed the masses, and the masses do not care for any nuance in their news.

Many have now commented on the Muslim response to the speech. Some have actually read and commented on the speech itself. What I would like to offer my readers is a theory as to what Pope Benedict intended by giving this speech. I can offer no hard evidence to support my theory, so basically this is simply a long winded guess. Take it or leave it as you please.

At first reading it is clear that Pope Benedict is speaking about the relationship of theology to science in light of the Catholic understanding of the relationship between faith and reason and through the lens of this issue of the contradiction of reason and violence with regard to the transmission of the faith. It is a very careful speech in which one can see the encyclical Fides et ratio looking over Pope Benedict's shoulder throughout. That stated, let us consider these facts:
A. The speech is given to (primarily) a secular European intellectual audience. The Pope has spent much of his young papacy speaking to this general audience.
B. Pope Benedict is intelligent. He was speaking at a high profile event with many press at hand. The text he read was one from a previous work of his with one major change - the offensive quote was added. Surely the Pope knew what the Muslim response to that quote was going to be. Though the speech is directed to a secular audience, it would seem that he had a secondary audience in mind as well - the Islamic disaffected class.
C. The Pope's speech is an argument for why the university needs theology and classical philosophy. In the context in which the speech was given and considering the well known views of the man who gave it we can assume that the Pope does not only mean that universities in general need theology and classically informed philosophy, but even more specifically that there is a need for European universities to reassociate themselves with the disciplines of theology and philosophy as they relate to the very identity of Europe and the European university in its own historical context and cultural milieux. We know that the Pope is very concerned with the current spiritual and intellectual crises of identity which rampages Europe, and that he sees it as his role to remind Europe of her true identity, and to call Europe back to herself.
D. As those of us who have the misfortune of being exposed to news media on a regular basis have been reminded incessantly in the past week, the Pope, while still Cardinal Ratzinger, publicly expressed his view that Turkey should not be allowed into the EU on the basis that the difference of religious identity was such that Turkey could not be considered properly European because of it.

If we agree that the above facts are, indeed, facts, then we might assume as follows:
1. The Pope gave this speech to European secularists knowing full well that Islamic extremists (that is, a sizable portion of Muslims in both Europe and the Middle East) would react to the speech in an uncivil manner. Their uncivil reaction would highlight to those European secularists who heard the speech or read it that the secular European world and the Catholic intellectual world share something in common that is not shared with them by the Islamic world in general - civility and a cultured intellectual reserve. By highlighting this the Pope suggests in a subtle manner that this shared civility may just have something to do with a common intellectual heritage - the synthesis of Christian and hellenic thought which is found in the intellectual patrimony of Europe.
2. If "1" is true then we might view the Pope's speech as a brilliant rhetorical devise used to attempt to reestablish a common intellectual bond between the European university (or European intellectuals in general) and the Catholic Church in the midst of a Europe which is increasingly being Islamicized. This is a very subtle way for the Pope to remind Europeans that even as secularists they have more in common with Catholic Christianity than they do with Islam. This may seem an obvious point, but in today's Europe it is not - many secularists instinctually feel some resonance with Islam due to their shared hatred of Christianity. Thus if one can present Christianity as a reasoned, intellectually reserved and cultured form of thought which is quintessentially European at the exact moment that the Muslims in the midst are waving their "death to the infidels" signs then one has just effectively changed the former "us vs. them" to a new alliance of "us vs. them." I believe that this is exactly what Pope Benedict intended with this speech.

But that intent may have been only secondary. The Pope may have had an even bigger fish to fry. If we accept the above we may need to consider one more fact. This week, six days after the Pope's speech was given Catholic-Eastern Orthodox dialogue resumes. All of the significant players are meeting in Serbia. Pope Benedict already enjoys much better relations with the Russian Church than did JPII, in part due to relationships Ratzinger has quietly worked on over many years. Note that of all the quotes Pope Benedict could have used to make a point that has been made many times in Christian intellectual history, he chooses to quote a Byzantine emperor. Now, there are substantial differences between the way that many Orthodox view the relationship of faith and reason (and specifically the proper Christian appropriation of classical Greek thought) and the Catholic view of the relationship between faith and reason. Pope Benedict in his speech may have been sending a message to the Eastern Orthodox in which he attempts to convince them that there is common ground with regard to the understanding of the relationship between faith and reason. Furthermore, that message was sent in the context of a quote which refers to what we must now regard (once again) as a real common enemy that is a serious threat to both Churches. The fact that the Pope basis his argument on the sayings of a Byzantine emperor, combined with the fact that this results in violent Muslim over-reaction against Christians everywhere, only serves to build a sense of "us vs. them" between Catholicism and Orthodoxy (the two Churches comprising the us; Islam the them). Again, the Pope seems to be stressing, through the means of what must be considered pure rhetorical genius, the common intellectual heritage of Eastern and Western Christianity. And he does this right before the most significant Catholic-Orthodox meeting to occur in years. I simply cannot believe that this is a coincidence when the giver of the speech is someone with the intellect of Pope Benedict. I am of the opinion that we are all witnesses to a brilliant tactical achievement in the arena of serious rhetoric.

I am not sure that the different Orthodox and Catholic inclinations regarding the relationship between faith and reason can be worked out easily [see Bradshaw, whose work I have mentioned here before]. I do not think that much in the manner of substantial theological agreement will come out of Serbia. But I do think this: Catholics and Orthodox have two common enemies which seek to destroy us both, secularism and Islam. It would be of great benefit for the Churches to work together as much as possible to tame one of those enemies so as to be able to fight the other. Pope Benedict sees this necessity, and for that he deserves the gratitude of all Christians.