Feminist Theology, Roman Catholicism, and Alienation

Horizons ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 280-300
Author(s):  
Chester Gillis

AbstractThe topic of this article is the effects that the writings of feminist theologians, many of whom are Roman Catholic, have upon Catholic students. The questions it attempts to answer are: Has feminist theology served to alienate American Catholics further from the church, discouraging them from identifying with the tradition or institution, or has it awakened them to retrieve the tradition in a creative way and to take responsibility within the institution and reshape it? The article further seeks to differentiate between spirituality, theology, and religious institution. How will Catholicism affect the larger culture if this generation is alienated from institutional identification? If they settle permanently on alternative forms of religious identification and spiritual fulfillment the face of Catholicism in the future will be even more conservative than it is today. However, feminist theology may be the basis for hope. Seriously attended to by the church, it could help to inform the consciousness of the next generation.

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-280
Author(s):  
Rhoderick John Suarez Abellanosa

The declaration of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in various provinces and cities in the Philippines did not impede the Catholic Church from celebrating its sacraments and popular devotions. Mired with poverty and various forms of economic and social limitations, the presence of God for Filipinos is an essential element in moving forward and surviving in a time of pandemic. Predominantly Roman Catholic in religious affiliation, seeking the face of God has been part of Filipinos' lives whenever a serious disaster would strike. This essay presents how the clergy, religious and lay communities in the Philippines have innovatively and creatively sustained treasured religious celebrations as a sign of communion and an expression of faith. In addition to online Eucharistic celebrations that are more of a privilege for some, culturally contextualised efforts were made during the Lenten Season and even on Sundays after Easter. This endeavour ends with a reflection on the Church as the sacrament of God in a time of pandemic. Pushed back to their homes, deprived of life's basic necessities and facing threats of social instability, unemployment and hunger, Filipinos through their innovative celebrations find in their communion with their Church the very presence of God acting significantly in their lives.


2020 ◽  
pp. 184-208
Author(s):  
D. G. Hart

This chapter investigates the use of Americanism to appropriate Roman Catholicism for the good of a nation. It recounts older Roman Catholic heresy claimed that the American political system was not at odds with church teaching, even though the United States seemed to stand for most of the social and political realities that nineteenth-century popes had condemned. It also talks about the Americanists in the nineteenth-century who argued that Vatican officials misread the United States, stating that the nation was far friendlier to Roman Catholicism than Europeans imagined. The chapter details how Americanists urged the church to update its polity to the nation's political sensibilities, a strategy that would make Roman Catholicism look less odd in the United States. It also highlights ways Americanists adapt Roman Catholicism to life in a secular, constitutional republic.


1993 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Questier

This article is concerned with one aspect of movement between religions in England at the end of the Jacobean period, namely the polemical use which could be made of the convert to Protestantism. The increasing likelihood of a successful conclusion of the Spanish Match negotiations had for some time been threatening the Protestant Establishment. In this climate, prominent changes of religion were of great interest to polemicists of both sides. As in Elizabeth’s reign, Protestants could attack the Church of Rome by focusing on the apostates from it. The point of reference from which this polemical use of conversion will be analysed is the best-selling vitriolic anti-Catholic tract written by the wavering Protestant minister John Gee, entitled The Foot out of the Snare. Gee is familiar to modern historians as a source on Roman Catholic priests in the 1620s but he is important also for the way in which he was employed as an anti-Catholic writer. His tract originated with the clerical group which gathered around Archbishop Abbot, clerics distinguished by their violent opposition to encroaching Roman Catholicism, evident in the likely success of the Spanish Marriage project and the conversions which had started to occur as the political climate changed. Gee’s tract may be used as a starting point to explore some of the politics and literature of conversion at this time.


1998 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-253
Author(s):  
George Marshall

Ever since the Reformation, and increasingly since the example set by Newman, the Church of England has had to contend with the lure of Rome; in every generation there have been clergymen who converted to the Roman Catholic Church, a group either statistically insignificant or a momentous sign of the future, depending on one’s viewpoint. From the nineteenth century Newman and Manning stand out. From the first two decades of the twentieth century among the figures best remembered are Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) and Ronald Arbuthnot Knox (1888–1957). They are remembered, not because they were more saintly or more scholarly than others, but because they were both writers and therefore are responsible for their own memorials. What is more, they both followed Newman in publishing an account of the circumstances of their conversion. This is a genre which continues to hold interest. The two works demonstrate, among other things, the continuing influence of Newman’s writings about the identity of the Church.


2010 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 753-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Darlage

Studies of early modern Anabaptism have shown that many Anabaptists sought to model their communities after the examples of the New Testament and the early church before the “fall” of the church into a coercive, sword-wielding institution through the person of Constantine in the fourth centuryc.e.The Anabaptists claimed that one had to voluntarily choose to become a Christian through believer's baptism and suffer for his or her faith just as the martyrs of old had done in the face of Roman persecution. During the course of the sixteenth century, their Protestant and Roman Catholic enemies did not disappoint, as hundreds of Anabaptists were executed for their rejection of “Christendom.” To the “magisterial” Christians, Anabaptists were dangerous heretics because they denied the God-given power of spiritual and secular authorities.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hajijah binti Lamiri ◽  
Zairul Md Dawam

The content of Malaysia films as well as the film posters itself reflects the “face” or culture of Malaysian peoples, especially the Malays. Content analysis was the main methodology been used in this study, which by analysing content portrayed in 12 movie posters that has been selected randomly from year 1955 until 2013. By using the Roland Barth’s semiotic theoretical approach, 12 Malay movie posters were chosen for the study purpose which are film posters for film Penarek Becha (1955), Siti Muslihat (1962), Cinta dan Lagu (1976), Panglima Badul (1978), Ali Setan (1985), Kekasih Awal dan Akhir (1993), Maria Mariana (1996), Perempuan Melayu Terakhir (1999), Spinning Gasing (2001), Puteri Gunung Ledang (2004), 1957: Hati Malaya (2007) and Tanda Putera (2013). The Malay cultural elements identified in the Malay movie posters are through the language in the poster, characters in posters, wardrobe and make-up of the characters, equipment’s, background locations and symbols in the poster.Thus, the main question here is what is the “Malay” that is being portrayed in the Malay film posters? and the Malay film poster actually describing “Malay face”?. These questions will only be answered by studying and reviewing the contents of Malay film posters as a cultural representation that reflects the Malay culture (our movie is our face). The awareness on the issue of the importance of providing a proper understanding of “our faces” in the display of the contents of Malay film posters is seen as purely pursuit of preserving Malay culture continues to grow and can be inherited from one generation to the next generation in the future.


Author(s):  
Vincenzo Bova

The consequences of the pandemic on the presence of the Catholic Church. The relation State-Church. The adaptive strategies by the church followers and by the religious institution. The role played by Pope Francis.The Catholicism between visibility and evanescence. The questions asked to the institution and the possible outcomes for the future way of believing.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
D. G. Hart

This chapter focuses on how Roman Catholics became prominent players in conservative circles and provides an understanding on the affinity and tension between national and Roman Catholic traditions and ideals. It describes John F. Kennedy's kind of Roman Catholicism, which Americans and the press found acceptable. It also mentions John Courtney Murray, who was considered a potential breakthrough for Roman Catholicism that harmonizes church teaching with national ideals, unlike Kennedy whose electoral victory was an example of religious indifference. The chapter talks about Pope Leo XIII's 1899 condemnation of Americanism or adjustment of the church to freedom, democracy, and popular sovereignty as Roman Catholics were still laboring under papal opposition to modernity in the 1950s. It refers to John T. Noonan, Jr., who authored important books about the church's evolving moral theology.


2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rein Brouwer

The missional church concept promises to guide local churches in the direction of a new identity and mission. It is a response to a sense of ecclesiological and congregational urgency that is felt all over the world. In Africa, North America and Europe, churches and local faith communities have been challenged by the changes in the religious state of affairs since the 1960s. Whether we still call it �secularisation� or rephrase it as �differentiated transformation�, the face of religion is changing globally. In many parts of the world, this raises a feeling of crisis that gives way to the redef nition of the mission and purpose of the church. �Missional church�, however, is a precarious concept. Nobody disagrees with the intention but can it be more than an inspiring vision? In order to realise this vision, a multi-layered and multi-dimensional analysis of �culture� is essential. We should move the analysis beyond the philosophical interpretation of relatively abstract and evasive macro-level processes, such as �modernity� and �post-modernity�. The future of the missional church depends on a differentiated and empirical, informed perspective on culture. For this purpose, this article proposes the concept of ecology: A system of diverse populations, including populations of congregations and faith communities, that interacts with these populations and with their specific environments. Preparing a missional congregation for the future should be accompanied with a thorough empirical investigation into the ecology of the congregation. We should be thinking intensively about and looking for vital ecologies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 142-152
Author(s):  
A. Szabaciuk

This essay evaluates the standpoint that the Roman Catholic Church has adopted regarding the European migrant crisis. Some countries feel a severe outfl ow of people due to mass labor migration; others must deal with the challenges as transit states, and others – enormous challenges generated by the infl ux of economic immigrants and refugees. The most popular theories of migration and public policies very often ignore the ethical component of migration. One of the entities that constantly emphasizes the humanitarian aspect of migration is the Holy See. Popes, beginning with Leo XIII, have repeatedly raised the issue of rights to a dignifi ed life and decent work, and if it is necessary also to migrate in search of a safe shelter and a better life. Pope Francis, like his predecessors, referring to the problem of migration, puts people fi rst. He emphasizes that all migration streams consist of individuals who deserve respect and care because we see in them the face of God. This paper concludes that the Church remains the signifi cant international body impartial amidst the growing European schism on the migrant issue.


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