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Women silenced in the Assembly, prevented from asking their husbands in public, and having to bring their heads covered. All this points to a situation of subjugation of the woman/wife in relation to the man/husband. This textual situation, present in Paul's letters which are considered authentic, generally advocates a situation of gender equality, and raises questions about the figure of the Apostle and about the possibility of late textual interpolation in the Pauline letters. In this paper, we seek to analyze Paul's personality within his cultural and religious background. We also seek to identify who are the women with whom he worked in terms of apostolic and ministerial parity in order to understand the possible reasons for late textual interpolation in his written liberating message. The investigative procedure employed in this research is, mainly, the interpretative and analytic critique of the textual analysis. The main conclusions are that the Word of God is always a force of renewal capable of transforming the structures of a society. Wherever Paul went, this transformation took place in a germ. However, because of the incarnation process, the Word of God can suffer adverse forces, especially in the context of a sexist and misogynist society, making it possible, therefore, to think of textual extracts interpolated within the authentic Paulinum corpus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the current research on the letter to Colossians. It proposes the status quaestionis of the most significant interpretations concerning the identity of the addressees, archaeological research, epistolary introduction, Christology and theology of the letter. Comparative studies of the cities in the Lycus Valley suggest that the recipients of the letter were people scattered throughout the region, but unlike Laodicea and Hierapolis, only the humblest city in the valley was mentioned in the initial greetings. Numismatics and epigraphy highlight Colossae's secondary role. However, since the tell of ancient Colossae had not yet been excavated, scholars await further archeological evidence. Regard ing the epistolary introduction, current studies focus on the understanding of hope and the use of memory. The various attempts made to identify the opponents and the error of Colossians illustrate the methodological difficulties in studying the letter. For a suitable historical reconstruction of Paul's opponents, they may need a more balanced approach, distinguishing thoroughly both the historical situation and rhetorical situation. The exegetical-theological studies on the Christological Hymn of the last twenty years are fewer in number than those of a socio-historical nature. However, among the former, those that focus on the rhetoric and argumentation theory offer a holistic perspective more suited to understanding the letter. Rhetorical studies on the Christological Hymn of Col 1:15-20 have made it possible to overcome the one-sided perspective based on the correction of a possible heresy contained in the letter. Recent rhetorical and theological studies have also contributed greatly to identifying the features of the Christological μυστήριον. The study of the Christology of universal lordship has helped researchers to clarify the distinctive aspects of the letter's soteriology and eschatology. If diachronic exegesis has multiplied the hypotheses about the composition of the letter, the synchronic approach has offered a better articulated perspective on the mystery of Christ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This reflection paper aims to show how synodality comes from the action of the Holy Spirit in us. Christian life is driven by the Spirit to recover the meaning of following Jesus Christ. Allowing the Spirit to lead and transform us as a Church through his faithful and creative action will help us make synodality a reality, a vital ecclesial dimension already present in the first Christian communities, a fact that the epistles bear witness to. It is the action of the Spirit that makes a Church go on the move with a prophetic attitude of acting from the inside out, from the bottom up, reading the signs of the times. The action of the Spirit makes us men and women of prayer, a praying church in search of God's will. It is the Spirit who makes us capable of listening from the bottom of our heart to the voice of diversity, plurality, even criticism and opposition. The Spirit enables us to reach out to others, letting ourselves be found, and being there to meet with others. These are all real dynamics of listening to others. It is the Spirit who grants us the gift of discernment. The Spirit makes us capable of reading reality and discovering God's action in it. The action of the Spirit prepares us to have an attitude of service and dedication, to come out of ourselves and reach out to others, especially to the most vulnerable and unprotected. It moves us to liberation by making solidarity, justice, and peace real. We get to examine our behavior as believers by the action of the Spirit which makes us realize the characteristics and dimensions of our synodal experience as seen from a baptismal vocation perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the understanding that older women in Cafam Day Center (Centro Dia Cafam) of Bogotá have of their spirituality and its function in their lives. It is the result of a field investigation in which theology and nursing teachers took part. The study's purpose was to offer academic elements to improve the spiritual accompaniment of older women in the medical environment and in geriatric pastoral work. Studies of this nature underline the description of the spiritual experience of the older individual, but ignore the analysis of the spiritual quality that rules the lives of these persons. Our study analyzes the types of divine representation that support the spiritual universe of older women who attend the Cafam Day Center, the types of spirituality derived from such representations and the spiritual risks inherent to a situation in which gods and spirituality merge into a retributive dynamic of fear and obedience. The study bases itself on the theoretical dynamics of the transcendental anthropological method whose premise states that the human being is able to have a deep inner experience of God's reality, a transcendental experience that takes place with no other mediation than ourselves, while God's reality takes place in an act of self-communication. The study bases itself on the theoretical dynamics of the transcendental anthropological method whose premise states that the human being is able to have a deep inner experience of God's reality, a transcendental experience that takes place with no other mediation than ourselves, while God's reality takes place in an act of self-communication. This paper is divided in three parts: first, it presents the research method, which is followed by the explanaition of its procedure (participants and procedure implemented in the construction of data); and it concludes with the presentation of the results and some conclusions drawn from the investigative process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In analyzing 1 Cor 1:26-31, this paper seeks to highlight the rhetorical power of the Pauline argument which states that most of the people God called to create the Christian community at Corinth are not "wise," "powerful," and "from a prestigious family," but "fool things," "weak things," "despicable things," and "things that are nothing." By revealing his wisdom and power in the cross of Christ, God chooses the weakness and madness of the world, destroying the foundations of human pride. The paper also shows that Paul's statements cannot be dissociated from the Greco-Roman culture's honor discourse, associated with power, gender, and social standing. In addition to wealth, associated with people of high social status, there was a hierarchy of values that included family lineage, connections with Rome, and cultural sophistication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the concept of human quality and deep human quality which, according to Catalan epistemologist Marià Corbí, expresses what was previously called spirituality. Deep human quality is a constitutive dimension of the human being, an anthropological fact that does not depend on religions. The text shows, in consonance with the axiological epistemology theory elaborated by Corbí, that spirituality is associated with ways of knowing that date back to pre-industrial period anthropologies. The wisdom traditions were born and constituted from a pattern that is no longer recognized in modern knowledge societies. The way of proceeding and acting in pre-industrial societies with all their cultural creations is framed by the idea of submission. In other words, deep human quality has to do with free inquiry and is therefore associated with modern knowledge societies, incompatible with beliefs, orthodoxies, and homogeneity. It demonstrates the role of speech and its function of grasping the relative dimension to our needs and another dimension not limited to our needs, i.e., the absolute dimension. As unfounded beings, the condition of speakers allows human beings to create their collective axiological projects, full of meanings of reality, values, interpretation of the world, and forms of survival. Speech, in this context, is a consequence of the human need for survival, a biological event, which allows the human-animal to develop its communication system without modifying its genetic programming or its morphology. Finally, the paper discusses the circumstances of deep human quality development in modern knowledge societies. Deep human quality, for Corbí, is usually defined by unconditional interest, distancing, silencing, and by free inquiry, community, and service. All-access to the absolute dimension as well as the cultivation of the deep human quality passes through unconditional interest, distancing and silencing, and free inquiry, community, and service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the complex scenario of the issue of women. To do this, she outlines the feminine movement trajectory in the last few years, indicating a value of her own in its specificity. The study of Edith Stein's reflections is relevant for understanding her biblical and anthropological foundations of the "differentiation" and "unity" between both sexes. In this regard, and supported by a phenomenology of religion, this study examines the peculiar way of being a man or a woman, along with the "common vocation" attributed to a human being. A complex reading of steiniana work and mainly her Conferences on Women makes it possible to clarify what this natural feminine and masculine vocation consists of and if they belong to an original order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviewing the documents of the II General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate (1968), a lack of specifically missiological reflection emerges. However, Medellin offers essential elements for a proper Latin American missionary debate. The objectives of this paper are: to recall the contributions of the Melgar Document in preparation to Medellin, to remember Bishop Samuel Ruiz' conference "Evangelization in Latin America" and to share some considerations about the major lines that characterize the Final Document. From this study it is possible to glimpse emerging problems, missionary perspectives, some gaps and, in particular, the fundamental axes upon which it may be possible to set up a Theology of Mission from Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts a bibliographic review of the growth and the characteristics of the population identified as atheist, agnostic or non-affiliated to any religion in Colombia. Based on the review of research papers press articles and information available on blogs and web pages on the subject, it aims to characterize this population in aspects such as its positions about spirituality, ethics, science, and politics. It also proposes some hypothesis about the causes of the growth of this sector of the population and on the relationship of this growth with the secularization of Colombian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically explores the thesis according to which the main difference between science and religion is that while the former seeks to explain the causal order of the world, the latter deals with giving meaning to the totality of what exists and to individual experiences and actions. In the first part, it shows that explaining and giving meaning are solidarity endeavours, which cannot be easily separated either in science or in religion. Likewise, it finds the central issue of the dialogue between both domains in the question of the origin of meaning. In the second part, it argues against the social constructionist assumption according to which all meanings are entirely a human product. Finally, some aspects are pointed out about which the sciences and Christianity can talk about the existence of transcendent meaning in both nature and human life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spirituality, understood as the search for the transcendent, and the personal experience of what constitutes the object of faith, is a fundamental tenet in any religious tradition. In the case of Christianity, in all its main branches (Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism), the importance of spirituality cannot be exaggerated. Rubem Alves (1933-2014), one of the most complex and creative thinkers that Brazilian Protestantism has produced, completely innovated the knowledge of spirituality, understood it from an erotic perspective, that is, a perspective of delight, and by the aesthesis-aesthetics experience. This paper intends to present some elements of this Alvesian understanding of spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the evaluation of religious truth claims is one of the conditions for the possibility of interreligious dialogue. This thesis takes dis tance from the theories that, bracketing the truth of religious claims, suggest that it is enough with argumentative, pragmatic or ethical criteria for making dialogue possible. Firstly, it explores the role of truth in dialogue; then it analyses the features and functions of religious truth claims, showing its differences with regard to other types of truth. The last part presents two criteria to evaluate the truth of religious claims in dialogue--one based on the meaning-giving function of religion, and the other on the historical and relational character of religious truth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the result of a documentary and bibliographic research carried out in the general archive of the Latin American Episcopal Council, Celam. It focuses on its contribution to ecumenical dialogue during its sixty years of history. It presents the people involved in the process, the contributions of the General Assemblies of the Episcopate and their main theological and ecumenical emphasis. It also highlights the evolution of the concepts, the influence of the Ecclesiology of Communion and of the missionary discipleship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author faces the Biblical narrative of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar with narratological tools. He reads these texts (Gn 11,26–25,18) in the context of the Second Temple canon. The author believes that the complexity of all characters, their moral ambiguity and the intraceability of Abraham’s seed question some rigid ideas about the cultural and narrative identity of Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church and later magisterial documents have identified and further developed four “principles of the Church’s social doctrine”: the dignity of the human person, the common good, subsidiarity and solidarity. Since these concepts are very different and can be associated with different traditions, it is not always clear how they should be interpreted. Based on magisterial documents, this paper delves deeper into the notion of a “principle of the Church’s social doctrine”, distinguishing the sense in which each of these principles may be called as such, and paying attention to the way in which human dignity can be considered a specific social principle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper centers on the elements that constitute critical thinking starting from the humanization of the human being in search of emancipation. The concepts of humanization and emancipation are elaborated from the starting point of a world conceived ever more as secular and at our disposal, where humanizing is freeing the human being of its bonds, and freedom is freedom from the bonds, therefore, critical thinking has to say what those bonds are. The paper proposes the development of a categorical frame for critical thinking or critical theory, centered on three elements: the ethic of emancipation, justice as guide of the emancipation process, and the relation between the subject and common good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Centered in the New Testament, this paper presents a biblical and theological reflection, in order to give a content to the keyword «communion» and to show its impact on exegesis and theology, on ecclesiology, spirituality and pastoral work, on the life and actions of pastoral agents. After an approach to the different meanings of the term «communion» in Latin America and in some documents of the papal Magisterium, the author directs his attention to a syntactical and semantic reflection on the terms «community» and «communion» and on their pragmatic implications. This paper focuses on a theme of great importance for the Church of the present time and its implications in a globalized world, and especially for the Church of the American continent, which, faithful to this inheritance of communion, prepares itself for the 5th General Conference of CELAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a reflection about the degradation of the spiritual dimension of men today, the crisis and frustration of human beings concerning their current situation, and their desire for authentic existence. This reflection is based on the works of two important authors from different time periods: The Spiritual Situation of Our Time, by Karl Jaspers, and Heading for the Abyss? An Essay on the Fate of Humanity, by Edgar Morin, These works and their authors are the point of departure of a dialogue with other famous writers, such as Paul Tillich, Viktor Frankl and Erich Fromm, who devoted themselves to investigate about human spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Johannine communities represent a distinct hermeneutic movement in the complex world of New Testament books. It is crystal clear that the principle of subsidiarity is present in St. John's Gospel, as I have shown in previous works. "After seeing the relationships between the Father and the Son, the Son of God and his beloved disciple, or the Son of God and his disciples, there is no doubt that in St. John's texts there is a community that sees these relationships--essentially relations of love--as subsidiarity." Based on a contemporary ecclesiological reflection about the topic, this paper aims at developing the ideas related to this principle and contained in Chapter 5 of John's Gospel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study traces the historical development of the concept of person in Western thought. It begins with an overview of the semantic evolution of the terms originally assigned to the concept, that is to say, the words person, prosopon and hypostasis, showing their theological, christological and anthropological meanings in the light of the reflection of some Patristic theologians. The paper then analyzes the evolution of the concept in Latin Philosophy, particularly with the contributions of Boethius in medieval Theology. Later, the study shows the modern and contemporary philosophical approaches to the concept and its relations with other anthropological terms; finally, the current meaning of the term is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at discussing the text of Mark 10,32-45 under the scope of the Biblical Theology and Foucault's analytical theory of power. The methodology of this study corresponds to a bibliographical order based on contributions from research on Mark, Mediterranean society in the first Century and Foucault's texts on power. Results show that while Jesus' disciples seek for power, Jesus proposes a counterargument in order to turn power into solidarity for the community. Jesus intervention brings a discourse about resignation to power and about service and solidarity. These two approaches towards power demonstrate how values that were quite rooted in an ambitious society could be challenged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Divisions within the field of Theology correspond to the diverse knowledge strands, which once unity within the discipline is guaranteed, allow for and demand specializations. One of them has been the division known as Pastoral Theology, also called -with remarkable conceptual vagueness, Practical Theology, Applied Theology and Theology of Praxis. Human action has been invoked by the Second Vatican Council for the last fifty years such as a central element in the design of the Kingdom of God in history, that human action has become a theological place in which the phenomenon of revelation itself has been ascribed, which constitutes the major principle of Theology. This paper aims at seeking motivations and configurations of Theology of Action in light of the Council. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at contributing to the understanding of theology and its relationship to Philosophy based on the principal work of H. U. von Balthasar. The analogia entis is the fundamental topic here. This article attempts to scrutinize the purpose of Von Balthasar by studying the diverse quotes by Nicolas de Cusa in The Glory, and by establishing his inspiration. The cusan topics of perception, participation and coincidentia oppositorum are analyzed in order to explore his contributions to Theology and the theological method. This topic allows for a deeper understanding of human awefor beauty and of their search for loyalty. Adhering to a faith goes hand-in-hand with the God of love kenosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at presenting an ethic-theological approach to a serious violation of fundamental human rights: human trafficking. The eyes of faith show us that giving people a condition of merchandise in the 21st Century implies the sin of idolatry of wealth. Overcoming this crime against humanity underpins the ethical decision of listening to the victims claims (Levinas). The Church does not only see the victims' faces but also God's glory shining in them. Inspired by Jesus, she supports those who are neglected and suffer from injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colombian society currently undergoes a process of secularization, that is to say, a process in which the social spheres are different and autonomous. Based on an extensive empirical research, this paper presents such a process, which has gone hand-in-hand with cultural transformations. Among these last ones, we can highlight the reconstruction of religious affiliations. Secularization and pluralization have had paradoxical effects due to the fact that they have not provoked the decline of religion; on the contrary, they have rekindled religious practices, like competition between Catholic Church and the new religious movements regarding the faithful loyalty and commitment of the faithful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Possession of the land is a major theme of the Bible. In a similar way, conflicts regarding the possession/dispossession of land are at the core of social problems in Colombia and Latin America. This paper offers a study of the story about Naboth's vineyard in its present form, in order to show how the text reveals the causes for the confiscation of land, denounces the responsible ones, shows the technicques employed for this, and denounces the situation as completely opposed to the will of the Lord. Thus, this rich story arouses our spirit in the work for overcoming social differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fatherhood-sonship relations in the Gospel of John reveal a subsidiary dynamic that is to be stressed in the measure in which we search today not only for new theological-exegetical languages but at the same time for new ways to understand the truth of the Gospel and its personal, communitarian and ecclesial consequences. The paper studies diachronically the concept of subsidiarity and the integration and use the Catholic Church has made of it. Then it goes on to examine the different relations found in the Fourth Gospel and why they can be adequately identified as subsidiary. It finally poses some questions pertinent to the future of the individuals, the communities and the Church as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second Encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI develops an up-to-date vision of Christian hope. The present paper presents, in the first place, a general sight of the present theological context of hope: an active hope centered on Jesus' Paschal mystery, as an anticipation of God's future that engages us with history's crucified people. In a second place, it offers a reading of the document on hope in the perspective of a sound dialectic with illustrated modernity. Finally, it shows how active hope is an impulse that motivates the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a link between the eschatological interpretation and Mark's christology, and defends the idea that the messianic interpretation is founded on the ignorance principle. We find this in apocalyptic groups of the II to I centuries B.C. and specifically in the Qumran literature. With this idea in mind, the relation existing between the eschatological reading of these apocalyptic Jewish groups, such as Qumran, and the Gospel of Mark will be discussed. In particular, from the proposed perspective, aspects will be shown that explain the motif of the incomprehension of the disciples. This relation is established diachronically, with texts of the Enochic traditions and the Qumran literature, as much as synchronically, with texts of Mark's Gospel. It will be shown that this principle was known and used by the evangelist in order to compose and work out his Gospel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some authors have expressed the idea that Del Verbum -the Dogmatic Constitution of the II Vatican Council on Divine Revelation- as well as the document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church juxtapose exegesis and theology so that one cannot clearly perceive how the Bible -litteral sense- can be the soul of theology. After referring to some of them, the author of this paper mentions some features of the Catholic Interpretation of the Bible. Later he poses the problem of whether -and in what sense- a Catholic exegesis is possible, and finally focuses on the question of what are the norms of actualization that The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church considers that the exegesis proposes to theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the problem of violence as legitimate means for the work of Christians in search of justice, and centers on the problem of Just war. It uses a reading of the Scriptures in non-sacrificial perspective as a fundament for conversion that makes possible a following of Jesus in the practice of non-violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to revise the concept of ethnocentric nationalism applied by certain authors to the case of Israel, from its birth as a people until the total loss of autonomy in 135 A.D. With the help of religious texts and historical studies it intends to show that the nationalism of this people was not based on the supreme leadership of a high priest, since there existed three powers -prophetic, priestly and political- and the one with the utmost moral weight was the prophetic since it corrected the two others. In some periods the priestly and the political powers were held by the same person, although the fields of action were separate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper informs about the research carried out by the group «Theology and Gender». It inquires about the gender perspective present in the study programs of the Theology Department of the Pontificia Universidad javeriana and responds to the ethical exigencies of such inclusion. The research confirms the presence of the gender category in three of the disciplines of the programs of the Theology career: Theological Anthropology Fundamental Moral and Eschatology. On the base of such results, transforming proposals are made toward a critical and liberating attitude along the whole curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accelerated process of secularization carries with it an existential loss of interest for belonging to the Church, which prompts the question for Its meaning and value as salvation community in the present world. In this respect Bernard Lonergan's methodic proposal is pertinent for the anthropological and theological articulation of this problem, as it integrates the mutual relationship between religion and culture. In this paper, through the identification of anthropological-theological sources and categories the author shows the path to ward an appropriation of the redemptive meaning and value of the Church in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents an aspect of moral theology that deals with the dynamics of value judgments in the process of making decisions. For the present purpose of seeking consensus on certain minimum values as a common basis for dialogue on moral social responsibility, Bernard Lonergan makes explicit the basic dynamics of human behaviour which, being common to all, should lead us down the path of authenticity and positive moral fulfillment that we seek. We find ourselves in the realm of existential decisions. In a previous paper (Theologica Xaveriana 55/3, 463-476), the author discussed the dynamics of feelings and values as constituents of morality. He now complements that subject with the dynamics of value judgments in the process of making decisions and of moral autotranscendence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper researches concisely the biblical and theological meaning of holiness, expressed in faith, love and hope, which leads us to a Marian reading meaningful for the present day believer. It also invites the reader to be in the society a person of faith, assuming it as a gift, aperture, response and fidelity to God; and with the example of Mary opening up to the Word and its dynamic which disposes the existence to the meeting with the others in the living experience of love; because love is the "permanent state of a Christian" which activates the joyful expectancy of new human realities; impregnated by the saving action of God in history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To present Paul's theology in a concise way is no easy task. Some deny any contribution of the apostle to it, considering that he limits himself to reproducing the ideas generated in primitive Christianity. Others try to indicate "christology," "anthropoIogy," "eschatology" or "ecclesiology" as the hermeneutical key themes or starting points of pauline thought. The present paper tries to show that in the mind of the apostle these four main theological themes are inextricably intertwined and shed light on each other, so that it is not possible to understand one of them without taking a look at the others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crisis of enlightened modernity and the new configuration modes of culture and society in part manifested by the rise of new rationalities, demand that theology expose its contributions and its pertinence. With this in mind, this paper seeks to establish an approach to theology from its own epistemological statute (its own language, its scope, procedures, concepts...), so that it can be validated as knowledge by an academic community as a coherent, systematic, methodical, hermeneutical logos that finds in symbolic language its best way of expressing the experience of Theos in the midst of human history Within this context, theology--which goes through critical times--has to be able to define its permanence as a discipline and as knowledge, as much as the place it takes in the institutions of higher learning, where the validation of its condition of knowledge is at play, even though not in a definitive way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of the beloved disciple in the Fourth Gospel (The Gospel of John) has prompted many and diverse interpretations in the course of the centuries. Little attention to the narrative and forgetting the old commentaries (such as that of Origen) lead to an abundance of proposals and to the fact that absurd Interpretations take shape and be spread. The central idea of this paper is that, on the basis of two johannine texts (1,18 and 13,23), the beloved disciple is a prototype and cannot be identified. Starting from this assertion, the theme of typology and its function in the johannine text is briefly developed. The first part centers the attention on the analysis of the two texts in order to establish their exegetical relationship and their hermeneutical consequences, which has a bearing on the identification of the beloved disciple. The second part deals with the typology in the Gospel of John in order to establish the way in which the figure of the beloved disciple functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents an aspect of moral theology that deals with the dynamics of the judgment of values in the process of taking decisions. In the present purpose of seeking a common consensus about minimal values, as a common basis for the dialogue about moral social responsibility Bernard Lonergan makes explicit the basic dynamics of human behaviour which, being common to alt should make possible a way of authenticity and positive moral realization that we seek. We find ourselves in the existential field of decisions. In a previous paper (Theologica Xaveriana 5 5/3, 463-476) the author exposed the dynamics of feelings and values as constituent of morality. As a complement, he deals now with the dynamics of the judgment of values in the process of taking decisions and of moral autotranscendence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to illustrate the growing interest in Raimon Panikkar, a theologian and philosopher not very well known in the Latin American theological context. At a first moment, the course of his life and the stages of his thinking make evident the seriousness with which he has assumed a reflexion characterized by the permanent dialogue between Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, a condition that situates him as a theologian of religious pluralism. A second moment takes into account a great number of theological and religious studies that have been carried starting from his work studies which go from the typically religious-cultural themes to the most sensible aspects of dogmatic theology. An understanding look into his being and doing becomes a novel invitation to theological work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with Anselmian Corpus spirituale, constituted by nineteen prayers and three meditations. Written in the course of twenty years, these texts collect and celebrate as a perennial homage the giving itself of the human spirit to the sources of transcendence. The introduction points to the characteristics of this language of prayer. Then it considers the style and the method that help to understand the Corpus. In the central section the Oratio ad Deum, written between 1103 and 1105, is analysed. The conclusions point to Anselm's figure among those theologians who see the need of seeking a verbal expression to their speculative work as much as to their innermost spiritual life. For that reason the language is at the service of a pedagogical intention, and the reader is not left out of the spiritual climate that accompanies that language. It is an itinerary that continually invites to the transformation of one is own attitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the actuality of Paul VI's Encyclical on development, forty years after its publication, emphasizing the connection between the Pope's thinking and the legitimate strife for the liberation of peoples submitted to the new yoke of neoliberal ideology and market economy. It insists on the necessity of pondering over the whole teaching of Paul VI to arrive at a just interpretation of this document. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has as reflection frame the experience of a significant group of women victims of violence in the area of Eastern Antioquia (Colombia). Starting with their narratives, it deals with two ways of understanding the experience of God in their conditions of victims which at the same time become two ways of understanding forgiveness, reconciliation, truth, justice and reparation. In one case this leads to a condition of resignation and victimization, in a situation of submission to God; the other one is a way to liberation, building of citizenship, empowerment and transformation of that experience into a process of humanization which becomes a deep experience and vicinity to that God with us, who walks at the side of those who suffer. This prompts a reflection on the pastoral work and on the types of religious experience that is promoted in the Christian communities and on how to help them to a better fife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notification by the Congregation of Faith to the christological works of the Jesuit theologian Jon Sobrino starts with a calling to attention about the methodological principles. Since what seems to be under suspicion is the Latin American method and the corresponding hermeneutical method, this paper searches the problem from its roots in the Instruction on some aspects of the Liberation Theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an approach to the questions raised by the emerging rationalities ("Critique of utopic reason", "Critique of instrumental reason", "Critique of anamnetical reason", among others) for modern biblical studies. It tries to show how these academic discourses have kept these studies in continuous agitation. Those questionings generate crisis situations. Some elements are offered to pinpoint the present crisis in biblical studies, from the viewpoint of methodology and exegetical interpretation. Lastly, the paths are shown to which present biblical exegesis is being called. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to focus on a concrete contemporary phenomenon: the construction of religious meaning in television. It tries to articulate the logic of the media precesses in the construction of meaning, given the pertinence of the media in the configuration of new meanings, applied especially to the construction of religious meaning in television, emphasizing the interaction of the media processes as well as the importance of the transcendental domain, as summit of the social construction of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the way in which the jesuit missionaries used to report on the progress of their work in the Marañón region starting in the XVII century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While underdeveloped as an academic field, Indian philosophical language has permeated Western imagination. However as concepts such as yoga, karma, or reincarnation enter Western discourse, they tend to be appropriated in a manner that bolsters pre-determined notions of selfhood rather than representing anything "Indian". Thus, these discourses often reveal more about Western ways of thinking. This paper analyzes the concept of 'self as developed within early Sanskrit texts, including the Sāmkhyakārika and the writings of Vedāntin thinker Śankara, to argue that Western notions of selfhood present an entirely inadequate frame through which to interpret "Indian" self-identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the 5th General Conference of CELAM in Aparecida and starting from the document on Participation an analysis is made of a fundamental church option that has been present in the theology, the faith and the praxis of the Latin American Church: the option for the poor. Does this fact continue to be a church force, incarnated in the very mystery of God? Trying to institute a serious reflection on the ecclesial and historic challenges which the Church mission has to face in the Latin American context, the paper points to a theological cause that can explain the fading of the option for the poor in the above-said document: an option that is not articulated with the mystery of God and the mission of Christ, the reigning of God in actu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]