scholarly journals Luther and Economic Questions

1910 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 131-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Alfred Faulkner
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Kingdom Of God ◽  
The Other ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Special Knowledge ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Church

There are two facts to be borne in mind in regard to Luther's whole attitude to social and economic questions. The first is that ordinarily this was a territory to be confined to experts, in which ministers should not meddle. He believed that a special knowledge was necessary to deal with some of these matters, and that they had better be left to those to whom Providence had assigned them, whether the jurists, those clever in worldly knowledge, or the authorities. The other fact is that the Church after all has social duties, and that Church and clergy must fight flagrant abuses and try to bring in the Kingdom of God on earth. The Church must use the Word of God against sin and sinners, and so by spiritual ministries help the needs of the time. The authorities on their part shall proceed by strict justice against evil doers. But there is another fact here which it is necessary to mention to get Luther's whole attitude, viz., that the State's function is not simply to administer justice, but to secure the general weal. They shall do the very best they can for their subjects, says Luther. “The authorities shall serve their subjects and use their office not petulantly [nicht zu Mutwillen] but for the advancement of the common good, and especially for the poor.” The princes shall give laws which shall limit as far as possible social misery and national dangers. They should listen to the proposals of the Church to this end, and on the ground of wise counsels of churchmen, do away with old laws and make new ones.

Method in Ecumenism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Abraham
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
The Other ◽  
Organic Unity ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Church Unity ◽  
Messianic Judaism ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

Method can mean either the steps taken to achieve church unity or the principles appropriate to the study of ecumenism. Most ecumenists have sought organic unity; they have hoped that agreement on the issue of authority would further this end. This turned out to be impossible, and recently there has been a shift from epistemology to pneumatology. This shift allows for a third option beyond the claims of Catholicism and Orthodoxy, on the one hand, and Magisterial Protestantism, on the other, as regards ecclesial continuity. We can think of the creation of the church as the reinstantiation of primitive Christianity in the wake of Pentecost. Messianic Judaism provides telling warrant for pursuing this option. This shift also provides fresh hope for ecumenism by moving beyond conciliar conversations about doctrine, and calling instead for gift-sharing—that is, the realistic sharing of what we actually think are gifts for the common good.

Renewal Theology and the ‘Common Good’

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-106
Author(s):  
Mark J. Cartledge
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Spiritual Gifts ◽  
Kingdom Of God ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common ◽  
Charismatic Renewal ◽  
The Church

This study investigates how an account informed by sources from the Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal tradition is able to address the domain of public theology and in particular the concept of ‘common good’. It uses the key Renewal topic of the charismata (spiritual gifts) as expressed by Paul in 1 Cor. 12.8–10 and reflects theologically on how these gifts may be used and expressed by the church for the benefit of wider society and the ‘common good’. It argues that because the mission of the church is for the benefit of the world there is an inevitable ‘spillover’ in the use of the charismata that is rooted in the concept of redemption. By means of these gifts the church both blesses society and resists evil. This argument is given a broader framework by being placed in relation to the concepts of creation, church and the kingdom of God.

Development within the limits of order, 1820–70

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Toye
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Nineteenth Century France ◽  
The Common ◽  
State List ◽  
The French Revolution

After the upheavals of the French Revolution, Enlightenment thinkers were blamed for loosening the bonds of society. In nineteenth-century France, Saint-Simon advocated a social compromise whereby scientists and artists planned the path of progress while the propertied classes retained political power albeit acting as trustees for the interests of the poor. Comte called for a scientific sociology to inform the design of political institutions. In Britain, Bentham rejected the doctrine of natural rights in favour of the principle of utility, while J. S. Mill flirted with Comte’s positivism briefly. Marx made little impact and socialism came in the guise of Fabianism and middle-class trusteeship for the poor. In Germany, Hegel interpreted the French Revolution as a phase in a moral struggle for freedom and called for freedom to be reconciled with the idea of the common good embodied in the state. List envisaged the common good as protectionist trade policy.

Theology as Work: The Mandatum and the Rights of Labor

Horizons ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-134
Author(s):  
Patrick T. McCormick
Keyword(s):  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church ◽  
Safe Working

ABSTRACTMany oppose the mandatum as a threat to the academic freedom of Catholic scholars and the autonomy and credibility of Catholic universities. But the imposition of this juridical bond on working theologians is also in tension with Catholic Social Teaching on the rights and dignity of labor. Work is the labor necessary to earn our daily bread. But it is also the vocation by which we realize ourselves as persons and the profession through which we contribute to the common good. Thus, along with the right to a just wage and safe working conditions, Catholic Social Teaching defends workers' rights to a full partnership in the enterprise, and calls upon the church to be a model of participation and cooperation. The imposition of the mandatum fails to live up to this standard and threatens the jobs and vocations of theologians while undermining this profession's contribution to the church.

Saeculum–Ecclesia–Caliphate: An Eternal Golden Braid

2019 ◽  
pp. 94-107
Author(s):  
Paul J. Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Common Good ◽  
The United States ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Church ◽  
Catholic Perspective ◽  
Secular State

The secular state, the church, and the caliphate are associations that each hold universal aspirations, at least implicitly. While the universal aspirations of the church and caliphate may be obvious enough, every state seeks dominion over the whole world. (“Secular” describes states that limit their vision to this world, as opposed to the transcendence to which both the church and caliphate appeal.) As an essay in Catholic speculative theology, Griffiths asks two questions: Whether Catholic theology supports or discourages the variety of political orders, and whether these orders could be ranked in terms of goodness from a Catholic perspective? In response to these questions, Griffiths appeals to two aspects of St. Augustine’s political thought: Political rivalries serve the common good; and the principal indicator of the degree to which a state serves the common good is its explicit service to the god of Abraham. The United States (a secular state) is compared with ISIS (an attempted caliphate).

scholarly journals O możliwości zbawienia poza Kościołem. Wybrane zagadnienia soteriologii św. Augustyna

Vox Patrum ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 511-539
Author(s):  
Mariusz Terka
Keyword(s):  
No Value ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Human Heart ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Spiritual Community ◽  
The Common ◽  
Love Of God ◽  
God's Grace ◽  
The Church ◽  
Good Deeds

In Saint Augustine’s teaching, salvation is always an act of God’s grace given to man through the agency of Christ. For this reason, the space of granting this grace is the Church, understood as a component of the structure of totus Christus. The Bishop of Hippo stresses, therefore, the need for belonging to the Church and the importance of baptism in the sanctification and salvation of man, because good deeds done without God’s grace have no value deserving salvation. The Church is, above all, a spiritual community in which a factor decisive to man’s communication with God, besides God’s grace, is primarily the love of God; and what closes up the human heart to this grace is pride. Therefore, aside from the visible community of Christians, there are also those just, who are among the saved. They include also those, who cure the disease of pride with the love of other people and service for the common good.

Analyzing the Morality of Owning and Suspending Patent Rights for COVID-19 Vaccines in the Light of Catholic Social Teaching

2021 ◽  
pp. 002436392110504
Author(s):  
Vivencio O. Ballano
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Pharmaceutical Companies ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Preferential Option ◽  
The Common

Using the Roman Catholic Church’s set of moral principles on social concerns called Catholic social teaching (CST) and utilizing some secondary data and scientific research literature, this article examines the morality of India and South Africa’s request to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily suspend the property rights and patents of top pharmaceutical companies to their vaccines to allow low-income countries to locally manufacture them to save the lives of the poor during this COVID-19 pandemic. Applying the theological method of “See-Judge-and-Act,” this article argues that the suspension of patents for COVID vaccines is morally justifiable in the light of CST’s principles on the universal destination of earth’s goods, the common good, and preferential option for the poor. The top pharmaceutical companies cannot claim absolute ownership to their vaccines as they do not totally own and fund the entire development and production process. Furthermore, the right to private ownership and patents has a social dimension and must serve the common good and welfare of the poor, especially in times of global emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Patent holders have a moral obligation to promote the common good and save the lives of the poor which must prevail over their capitalist quest for profit. This article recommends that Catholics and Christians must join this crusade for the suspension of patents as part of their spirituality of social transformation. Summary: Applying the Roman Catholic Church’s set of moral principles on social concerns called CST and utilizing some secondary data and scientific research literature, this article examines the morality of India and South Africa’s request to the World Trade Organization to temporarily suspend the property rights and patents of top pharmaceutical companies to their vaccines to allow low-income countries to locally manufacture them to save the lives of the poor during the current pandemic. Applying the theological method of “See-Judge-and-Act,” this article argues that the suspension of patents for COVID vaccines is morally justifiable in the light of CST’s principles on the universal destination of earth goods, the common good, and preferential option for the poor. It recommends that Catholics and Christians must join this crusade for the suspension of patents as part of their spirituality of social transformation. Short Summary: This article argues that patents of the top pharmaceutical companies to their COVID-19 vaccines must be suspended as requested by India and South Africa in the WTO in the light of CST’s moral principles on the universal destination of earth’s goods, the common good, and preferential option for the poor.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document