Search

After almost sixty years, the theology of earthly realities contained in the first part of Gaudium et spes continues to be a promising source of reflection. As a perspective that synthesizes the relationship between God and the world, it reminds man of his missionary identity and the mandate to transform the world. However, interest in this perspective seems to have declined a few years after the Council. This essay traces the content of this theology, seeks to highlight possible reasons that have hindered its development, and identifies the conditions for its retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I revisit a debate between Ludwig Feuerbach and Karl Barth, known as the 'Barth–Feuerbach confrontation'. I begin by framing the contours of this dispute as it was initiated by Barth and carried forward by his interpreters, who have sought in vain to make Barth's and Feuerbach's positions commensurable. Having narrated the history of this ongoing scholarly discussion and clarified why it remains intractable, I turn to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose this-worldly conception of theology, I argue, provides resources for 'mediating' the insights of Feuerbach and Barth. By attending to Bonhoeffer's earliest engagements with Barth on the question of divine revelation, and by exploring his striking proximity to Feuerbach on the issue of this-worldliness, we can see how Bonhoeffer helps overcome not only the dichotomies that plague the Barth–Feuerbach confrontation but also those that pervade modern attempts to safeguard this-worldliness by dispensing with divine transcendence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El articulo discute sobre el pensamiento social del Papa Francisco en sus primeros diez años de pontificado. El articulo también discute sobre la coherencia del pensamiento social dentro de la tradición de la doctrina social de la Iglesia, especialmente desde el Concilio Vaticano, la respuesta de la Iglesia a los desafíos sociales en diferentes momentos históricos y cambio fundamental en la relación de la Iglesia con la Modernidad tras el Vaticano II.

El articulo discute sobre cuerpo teológico colombiano con el enfoque del descubrimiento de América y elaboración teológica. El articulo discute también la tesis doctoral “Cinco siglos de producción teológica en Colombia, la theologica cristiana durante el descubrimiento de americalationa y en la colonizacion. Ademas habla de lobras teológicas registradas correspondientes de los autores de america Latina.

El articulo discute sobre el muerte de la Hans Küng y rol de la Iglesia y sociedad ante el espejo con el enfoque del homenaje con motivo de la muerte de Hans Küng. EL articulo también se centra en la confrontación a la Iglesia y sociedad con el mensaje del Evangelio y manifiesto los temas de la teología de Küng a la sociedad, a la Iglesia y la la teología, y

Have rumors of the demise of liberation theology been greatly exaggerated? There is a prevailing belief among scholars and other observers that the Latin American Catholic Church has withdrawn from the preferential option for the poor, which had encouraged a combination of faith and activism for social justice. This article challenges that belief by means of qualitative data gathered during 8 months in Brazil that provide evidence of close connections between the Pastoral of the Street, a church program that mobilizes homeless people, and the National Movement of the Street Population (MNPR). The principal data came from 42 interviews with homeless or formerly homeless people, movement leaders, and religious sisters and lay workers in the pastoral program. Participant observation and documentary research supplemented the interviews. The findings demonstrate that the Pastoral of the Street helped to create the MNPR and continues to provide it with material and ideological support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay addresses the role of theological education in shaping how Christian leaders and institutions respond to public debate, conflict, and crisis by analyzing Bonhoeffer's approach to theological education in times of conflict and crisis. It argues that his pedagogical approach of education as formation for public life should inform our pedagogical practice, as the church increasingly engages in a diverse pluralistic public and political life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents a criticism of the film "Sweet Jesus, Preacher Man." She mentions the role of the church in African American society, the depiction of the character Cyrus Holmes and his impersonation of a preacher, and how the character evolves to find his loyalty in the community, fulfilling the main theme in blaxploitation films.

This article is an exercise in combining the exegesis, hermeneutical issues and application of 1 Timothy 2:12 in ecclesial contexts where this prohibition is still taken seriously as a Pauline injunction or, at least, as part of the canon of the Church. It surveys representative proposals in New Testament studies of dealing with this least compromising assertion regarding the teaching of women in early Christianity. It discusses the hermeneutical issues involved in exegesis and application and how one should relate this prohibition to other New Testament references to women and their role in the early Christian communities. In closing, the article discusses whether and how this assertion can still be relevant in contemporary contexts when and where women have a very different role in society and church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on recent reports on the global status quo of theological education, including a mapping of Danish organizations supporting theological education in a cross‐cultural setting, the paper asks how theological education is best supported. It argues that theological education, while referring to a historical heritage and sacred text, is also exposed to developments in church and society. Stretched between the historical and contemporary perspective, theological education includes a cultural component that we need to consider when discussing development and support. The paper argues further that support of theological education offered in a cross‐cultural setting is susceptible to failure if the cultural aspect is not considered, primarily through engaging in the cultural background of the supporting agencies. As a help to identifying the cultural element, the paper proposes four indicators, challenging agencies of the global North to face latent aspects of culture and secularization, presenting a global and social perspective of theological education. The cultural component visualized in cross‐cultural support reveals that we must complement the classical notion of theological education as Christian leadership training with an understanding of formation, where spiritual and cognitive aspects accompany social and cultural critique of totalitarian regimes both inside and outside churches. Critique in this setting is not a matter of giving in to secularization, but rather expresses an openness to historical and contemporary perspectives and a commitment to the sources of faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past fifty years, the reciprocal interiority of the universal Church and particular churches has been very frequently emphasized. An exact equivalence between one and the others has been proposed. Attempts to point out the temporal or ontological priority of the universal Church have not been well understood. This article offers some arguments that affirm the precedence of the universal Church (or, rather, of the Catholic Church), while at the same time intends to extirpate misgivings about the so-called «universalism.» [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This thesis presents, in its' context, the figure and thought of Richard John Neuhaus, and its' connections with Catholic Social Doctrine. Starting from the religious history of Protestantism since the origins of the United States of America one can follow Neuhaus's own religious and political conversion: from lutheranism to catholicism over a time span of almost four decades. Neuhaus revindicates the legitimate space of religion in public life against the dictates of secularist ideology. He proposes a public argumentation based upon reason and open to transcendence. For him this task must be carried out from the grounds of civilian initiative, and by the means of mediating structures, especially family as a sanctuary where the virtue, which Neuhaus calls civility, can flourish. The study shows how, since Neuhaus's first writings, it is possible to distinguish significant coincidences with the Magisterium of the Church (particularly John Paul II and Benedict XVI), and the principles of Catholic Social Doctrine: 1. The sacredness of human life in all its' phases. 2. The importance of subjectivity and subsidiarity through society's mediating structures. 3. The importance of religious freedom understood as the right of the citizens to publicly manifest their religious convictions; to live their lives according to such convictions, and to participate in the construction of the common good precisely from their personal experience of faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of integral human development is central to the Catholic social tradition. Yet, it remains under-explored with regard to its integrating components and their implications. What does taking an integral human development perspective mean for social analysis and action? The paper seeks to answer this question on the basis of the four encyclicals in which the idea of integral human development is treated, and in combination with the literature on human development in the multidisciplinary social science field of international development studies and its conceptual foundations in Amartya Sen's capability approach. Based on this comparative analysis, the paper proposes an understanding of integral human development that it calls a "spirituality-extended capability approach to the progress of peoples". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the question in focus is the church and Christianity's prophetic responsibility towards society, and how in the specific case of the South African-born theologian Gerald John Pillay, his prophetic voice should be characterised. The question is addressed as to whether he was an activist at the barricades or a soft-spoken intellectual in his views on society. After a brief discussion on his bio, the focus is on the phenomenon of being a prophet towards society. Then, the focus, largely based on a literature study, moves to Pillay's perspectives on the South African and New Zealand contexts, and then a discussion of some of Pillay's writings on being a prophetic voice follows. Finally, in the conclusion, his specific style and model of being a prophetic voice are analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to reconstruct an early history of the Norwegian Pentecostal Mission's (NPM) work in Kenya. The Free Pentecostal Church (FPC), known as the Free Pentecostal Fellowship in Kenya (FPFK) until April 2018, was born out of a 1984 merger between the Swedish Free Mission and the NPM. The Norwegians came earlier in 1955, whereas their Scandinavian counterparts arrived in 1960. The article contests that during the period under review, the first 29 years of NPM's presence in Kenya, the NPM was characterised by a fast-growing enthusiasm in establishing mission stations and local churches through evangelism and social work activities in education, medical care, orphanages, midwifery and compassionate handouts of commodities to villagers. These would be overtaken by the efforts to merge Swedish and Norwegian interests and establishments into one denomination in 1976 and the move towards nationalising the FPFK by handing over church leadership to the Kenyans by 1997. The article contests that the zeal and successes of the missionaries and local church workers in sowing the seeds of the gospel were checked by cultural and socio-economic setbacks in Kenya's colonial context as well as the nationalisation process. The increased presence of Norwegian missionaries in Kenya during the 1960s were largely motivated by, among other factors, the channelling of Norwegian government aid monies to foreign development regions through missionary agencies and the imminent independence of the East African state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that God sides with particular groups as they try to achieve their political goals by way of violence has emerged and re-emerged throughout the history of the Christian Church. This article examines some of these occasions where partisan theologies led to inhuman actions justified by a self-identified divine cause. The purpose is to explain how the motto, 'God with us' (Gott mit uns), was used to justify inhuman actions and selfish goals and that Christians should be hesitant to design a theology on the foundation of this idea and to further a certain political cause with a divine purpose. The central theoretical argument of this investigation is that the dictate Gott mit uns leads to partisan theologies that can be misused to justify inhuman policies and practices. Four theologies are selected as examples: the Puritan theology in the colonial America of the 17th century, Reformed theology in the Dutch colonisation of the South Africa and the formation of apartheid, the theology in the Reichskirche in Germany in the 20th century and liberation theology in the developing world in the 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of effective entrepreneurial education in township communities, to address some of the economic challenges facing poor township communities. Effective entrepreneurial education has the potential to ignite economic transformation in township communities. This effective entrepreneurial enterprise should be based on the understanding of whole education principles. This article also explores the role of the social missional entrepreneurial church by applying effective enterprises that would run entrepreneurial activities in township communities. The social missional entrepreneurial church understands that it should approach its mission holistically; 'holistic' here referring to the spiritual, physical, mental, social, emotional and economic spheres. This explorative study aims at understanding how to implement the social missional entrepreneurial enterprises in township communities. It explores effective entrepreneurial programmes that could be an engine in transforming the township communities. It focuses on the definition of education, specifically entrepreneurship education, and how can it be implemented effectively. This entrepreneurship education should resonate with those who live in township communities. It should address the needs and challenges that face township communities. The article will also explore the meaning of the township economy. It will examine the role of Churchpreneur, which refers to the social missional entrepreneurial church in the spotlight, and how this kind of church can be a place where entrepreneurial education is promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates the impact of transformation in the Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (COCZ) over the past 10 years. The study is guided by the following questions: What does it mean to be COCZ in the Zimbabwean society? What is the COCZ mission that empowers it to play a meaningful role in nation building? The critical analysis is observed from the Christian education (CE) pedagogy. This raises questions on the historical foundations, transformation tenets and future plans and guidelines towards authentic transformation. Transformation could be affected by new developments, and thus participants need to be guided accordingly. The article gives a critical analysis of the COCZ journey experiences using a dialogical approach to CE. This study presupposes that lack of CE is a limiting factor to the transformation process in the church. This study is an interdisciplinary study that combines missiology, African ecclesiology and Christian theology. The study was conducted using surveys, observations and interviews among leaders and members of the COCZ. [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 lay Christian vocation, as a way of following Christ closely in the midst of one's professional and social tasks, has been rediscovered by the ecclesiology of communion elaborated in the Second Vatican Council, which conceives the mission of the Church in its twofold dimension: «to bring the message and grace of Christ to men» and «to penetrate and perfect the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel» (AA n.5). Therefore, the sanctified and sanctifying work of the laity in the midst of the world, which aims at restoring the temporal order, has a theological and ecclesial character and, consequently, constitutes a true vocation, which the pastoral ministry of the Church must promote by placing Christ as its foundation and model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The film Calvary raises a host of issues around how the movie‐going public understands clergy. Perceptions of clergy are often caught between expectations of hypocrisy and accusations of naivety. By subverting any sharp distinctions between that which is “holy” and that which is fully human in the calling of the priest, the movie demonstrates a kind of cinematic Christology that is also instructive for ecclesiological purposes, particularly when put in dialogue with the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the same subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the catholic liturgical music education in Detroit. Topics discussed include information on the catholic liturgical music diocese play in educating its young muscians in sacred music; discussions on the church approaches the Gregorian melody in movement; and the information on the Palestrina Institute program with support of the archdiocese for an administration, faculty and curriculum.

The article offers information on the role of the nuns in providing the sacred music education to the children. Topics discussed include information on the educational impact of Mother, Georgia Stevens who promoted the cause of Gregorian chant as a means to move the faithful to engage with the liturgy; and the discussions on the life and work experience of the Georgia Lydia Stevens, nun and the music composer.

The article highlights the Boys Town, a village in Nebraska example of the transformative power of sacred music in the life of the young. Topics discussed include information on the efforts of the Father, Edward J. Flanagan for opening the doors to a home for troubled and neglected children; discussions on the challenges faced in the enrollment of the children during the German-American war in 1917; and the information on the Church Music Association of America founded at the Boys Town.

The article offers information on the historically significant institutions of education in sacred music. Topics discussed include information on the development of a complete repertory of Gregorian propers with an inexperienced choir; discussions on the sacred music education by the church musicians; and the information on the personal education concerning the treasury of sacred polyphony.

This paper shows how turns in theology in early Modernity and in the last century framed the context of distinct philosophical understandings of the self. Focusing on the concept of "pure nature," the foreshadowing of philosophical themes in theology is shown. It is further argued that while the modern self emerging from certain early Modern theological discourses from Suárez, through Descartes to Kant was deeply implicated in Stoic apatheia, the self which arises from a phenomenological rethinking (especially in Marion) of the place of love and beauty in the worldliness of being and appearance is one which is fundamentally passionate. At play here is a shift in the notion of will from that of sovereign indifference to desire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to present two notions that are not well known in the religion sciences and in theology: "unrealized modernity" and "immanence of gnosis", by Bruno Latour and Eric Voegelin. What theoretical contributions do these two ideas give to the understanding of the religious phenomenon in moderncontemporary society? As a general hypothesis, this article defends that both notions are useful conceptual tools to comprehend the status of being religious in the complex-modern society. In order to give an answer to such problem, the article is based on the partial bibliographic review methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Karl Rahner's thesis that Vatican II constituted the begi nning of a World Church, a qualitative leap would have taken place, by leaving behind a historical era in which the Church has exported its European cultural model of Christianity. This thesis provides a key to interpret the processes of ecclesial reform under development with the "Francis case". The article discusses three key conciliar issues that would reveal the transition from a Western Church to a World Church. The liturgical "reform of the reform" has come to an end. In the case of ecclesiology, the category God's people, has "returned". The reception of Gaudium et Spes--more coherent with the will of the Council Fathers--has reached the Church of Rome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the social and political perspective of collective entities. Topics discussed the relationship between states, business enterprises and church, the various factors which govern the role of the said collective entities to the social change, and notes the various functions of collective entities.

The dialectic between citizens and a foreigners illuminates the profound distance which divides Public Law from the Social Doctrine of the Church. According to the first, the identity of the citizen and the identity of the community are ruled by the laws which rule the belonging. According to the second, no one is a foreigner, and the Church is not foreign to any man. In no place. Should we be content with such distinction and endure the separation of groups, peoples and nations that it implies and supposes? Or should the State and the public law gain a new perspective on the problem? Trying to provide a valid answer to this question, the Author reconstructs the category of citizenship under the sign of duty, identifying in the term «duty» the only concept which could link together freedom, dignity, equality and common good. Keeping universal and particular intertwined, we can therefore propose the definitive overcoming of the ancient dialectic between citizen and civis mundi. Because a cohesive, open and caring society is possible if only both of them know and respect their own duties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty levels in Kenya, as in many other parts of the world, are still unacceptably high. Various responses against poverty since independence, by the government and non-governmental agencies, especially churches, have not succeeded in eradicating the scourge. A closer look at Black theology demonstrates its emphases on the conflict between the oppressor and the oppressed; and on preferential options for the poor. These emphases in Black theology provided a theological legitimacy for a response against slavery in the Americas and apartheid in South Africa, and are now strongly related to the ongoing engagement with poverty and its causes. Although the Africa Inland Church plays a notable role in the provision of education, healthcare and relief supplies among the poor and the vulnerable in Kenya, the theological framework provided by Black theology could position the Africa Inland Church to better respond to poverty and its causes, while partnering with other responsible poverty response agencies in Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the famous conflict beween Iosif of Volokolamsk and Archbishop Serapion of Novgorod that in 1509 saw Iosif excommunicated and then Serapion deposed. The immediate cause of the conflict was the transfer of Iosif's monastery from the control of the local prince, Fedor Borisovich, to the protection of the grand prince of Moscow, Vasilii III Ivanovich, without the prior knowledge or consent of the ecclesiastical superior, the archbishop of Novgorod. While the episode has attracted previous scholarly attention, this article examines the handling of the canonical issues underlying the positions of the two protagonists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TheIglesia ni Cristo(INC) is one of the fastest-growing indigenous Christian churches in the world. They have an estimated membership of 2.25 million adherents in more than 100 countries. In recent years its civic engagements have expanded through bigger relief operations and charity dedicated to the poor and those affected by calamities. These initiatives are typically articulated in terms of unity, duty and obedience to God. This article gives attention to this expansion by spelling it out and explaining it in view of its newfound role in civil society. This is an important intervention in the literature. Studies on INC have mainly focused on its successes in the political and religious spheres. INC now repackages itself as a civic organisation, which cares about public welfare. My argument is that this is how it manifests its new triumphalism in the Philippines, but with implications on its expanding presence in civil society. [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 article discusses the role of Canadian Christian churches in immigrant settlement and integration and discusses implications for the settlement sector. A total of 34 denominations responded to an online survey. Findings show that many churches are intentionally involved in immigrant ministry, motivated by their Christian and social concern. Existing immigrant supports are wide ranging and holistic, include the unique contribution of immigrant congregations but are limited by underdeveloped partnerships. It is in the equipping processes of leadership development, training, planning, and evaluation that churches are weakest and could benefit most from partnerships with other settlement players. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article comments on Luke 20: 20–26 which presents the circumstances that led to Jesus's death by engaging in the area of faith and politics. Topics include false charges brought against Jesus as cast by Luke in a political framework; the political and practical consequences of the gospel of the crucified and risen Christ on people; and the theme of the reign of God through the Spirit-inaugurated life and mission of the church in the world.