Supererogation

Philosophy ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Heyd
Keyword(s):  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Ought Implies Can ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Moral Value ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Times ◽  
Supererogatory Action

Etymologically, the term “supererogation” refers to paying more than is due. Philosophically, it relates to the category of actions that lie beyond the call of duty. Historically, the concept was formed in Roman Catholic theology in the times of the Church Fathers but, following the fierce attacks on it by theologians of the Reformation, has almost become out of use. It was revived by J. O. Urmson in his article “On Saints and Heroes” (see Urmson 1958, cited under the Deontic Structure) and since then has played a major role in (nonreligious) ethical theory. Supererogation serves as a significant challenge to major ethical theories: Can utilitarians accept that obligatory action may be suboptimal (and that the very best action possible for an agent may often be supererogatory)? Can deontologists acknowledge the privileged moral value of actions that are not part of one’s duty but rather lie beyond it? Can virtue ethicists relate supererogatory action to a particular character disposition? Adherents to strict versions of these traditional ethical theories typically indeed deny the very possibility of supererogatory action (as did the Lutheran Reformers). Supporters of the idea of supererogation hold that ethical guidance to action has a double-tier structure: what one must do (the obligatory) and what one can only be encouraged to do (the supererogatory), the latter being concerned with nonobligatory yet (often highly) valuable action. Possible justifications of this two-tier structure lie within a wide spectrum of arguments and distinctions: what can or cannot be expected of average moral agents (on the basis of the “ought-implies-can” principle), accepting omissions of optimal action in terms of excuse, the value of leaving some space in moral action to free personal choice to go beyond given norms, basic conditions of social cooperation versus personal expressions of sympathy and solidarity, the moral as distinct from the rational, maximizing in contrast with satisficing, enforceable as against nonenforceable norms, universalizable norms versus self-imposed ideals, and the general gap between duty and (moral) value. The contested category of supererogation is often discussed through typical examples such as heroic actions, self-sacrifice, volunteering, forgiveness and pardon, and gifts and charity, as well as favors. The discussion of these examples exposes the two levels of the debate about the concept of supererogation: the first, which is mostly conceptual (although informed by normative concerns), relates to the issue of whether we need such a concept at all; the second, which is straightforwardly moral, focuses on the disputed demarcation line between the obligatory and the supererogatory.

Remembering the English Reformation in the Revision of the Communion Liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer, 1906–1920

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-257
Author(s):  
Dan D. Cruickshank
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
English Reformation ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
Liturgical Theology ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Prayer Book ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Main Period ◽  
The Church

This paper will examine how the Convocations of the Church of England remembered their past liturgies, and the reformation theology that formed the previous Prayer Books of the Church, in their main period of work on the revision of the Prayer Book from 1906 to 1920. Focusing on the Communion Service, it considers the lack of defenders of the 1662 Communion service and its reformed theology. It will examine how the 1549 Prayer Book was used as a basis for reordering the Communion service, and how this original Prayer Book was seen in relation to preceding medieval Roman Catholic theology. Ultimately it considers how a re-imagination of the English Reformation was used to justify the incorporation of liturgical theology that had no historical basis in the Church of England.

scholarly journals Recent Tendencies in Roman Catholic Theology

1922 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
George La Piana
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Scholastic Philosophy ◽  
The Church

Catholic writers on Scholastic Theology do not hesitate to admit that no work contributing new and valuable additions to this science has been published since the days of Bellarmin, Suarez, and Lugo. The collapse of scholastic philosophy after the fifteenth century could not fail to affect also scholastic theology, which in losing all contact with the new scientific progress lost also its strong appeal to speculative minds. Moreover, the Church, instructed by the events of the Reformation, had become so suspicious of novelties that any attempt to introduce new additions to the traditional teaching of theology was more likely to bring a thinker into the hands of the Inquisition than to lead towards a cardinal's hat.

The End of Orthodoxy and the Catholicism of Tomorrow

1912 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Romolo Murri
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
Religious Consciousness ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Times ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Church ◽  
Jewish Religion

A well-known Roman Catholic review recently observed that modernism is not merely an internal difficulty of the Catholic church, but that the Protestant and Jewish bodies are likewise tormented and undermined by it. And the remark is certainly correct. For if, on the one hand, modernism tends to apply to the internal discipline and rites of the Roman church many of those reforms which the Protestants adopted from the beginning of the Reformation,—reforms rendered necessary by the changed conditions of the times, and today even more necessary than ever, —on the other hand it is profoundly modifying the very concept of revelation and making more and more difficult every kind of stability of doctrine and every regula fidei; so that Christianity itself, and the Jewish religion from which it comes, are to a large extent challenged by it and are in a measure associated with the church of Rome in one common defence. This defence, so far as it has any probability of success, thus tends to change not only the relation of these religions to the spirit of contemporary thought, but even their inter-relations, constraining them to abandon one or another of those positions which caused dissension and associating them under the protection of their common spiritual inheritance. Hence it will be worth while to consider briefly what conclusions are suggested by the most recent experience in this controversy, and what forecast we can make, not so much for the future of the individual churches as for a future of much greater interest, that, namely, of Christianity itself and of the religious consciousness among the nations of western civilization.

The Radical Reformation and Revolutionary Tradition

Worldview ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 43-46
Author(s):  
Claude R. Foster
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Unity ◽  
Radical Reformation ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Times

Faust tells his servant, Wagner, "The past, my friend, is a book with seven seals. What you call the spirit of the ages is in reality the spirit of the men in which the times are reflected." What is happening to Reformation historiography today in the light of new ideological commitments illustrates Faust's point.The historical interpretation of the Protestant Reformation was, up until the nineteenth century, ordinarily based upon what has been called classical Protestant and Catholic scholarship. Roman Catholic scholarship regarded the Reformation as a great misfortune that destroyed Catholic civilization and ruptured European unity. Luther was a rebel who opened the door to the violent revolutions patterned after his own rebellious and irresponsible conduct.

scholarly journals The Five Solas of the Reformation: Then and Now

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
GARRY J. WILLIAMS
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
The Core ◽  
Vatican I ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Catholic Church

Abstract: After a description of the five solas of the Protestant Reformation and their biblical basis, the rejection of the solas by the Roman Catholic Church at Trent and Vatican I is traced, focusing on revelation, justification, and worship. The account of Roman Catholic theology is brought up to date by an examination of changes that occurred at Vatican II. A different stance toward Protestants and the wider world is explained by a shift in the Church’s view of the nature-grace relationship. Despite this change, the core commitments of the Catholic Church on revelation, justification, and worship remain unaltered. They are held within a less adversarial but still expansionist Rome-centered theology that Protestants must continue to resist.

The Aggiornamento Phenomenon and the Second Vatican Council

2020 ◽  
pp. 98-105
Author(s):  
Hiermonk Ioann ( Bulyko) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
John Xxiii ◽  
The People ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Pope John Xxiii ◽  
The Church

The Second Vatican Council was a unique event in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Initiated by Pope John XXIII, it was intended to make the Roman Catholic Church more open to the contemporary society and bring it closer to the people. The principal aim of the council was the so called aggiornamento (updating). The phenomenon of updating the ecclesiastical life consisted in the following: on the one hand, modernization of the life of the Church and closer relations with the secular world; on the other hand, preserving all the traditions upon which the ecclesiastical life was founded. Hence in the Council’s documents we find another, French word ressourcement meaning ‘return to the origins’ based on the Holy Scripture and the works of the Church Fathers. The aggiornamento phenomenon emerged during the Second Vatican Council due to the movement within the Catholic Church called nouvelle theologie (French for “new theology”). Its representatives advanced the ideas that became fundamental in the Council’s decisions. The nouvelle theologie was often associated with modernism as some of the ideas of its representatives seemed to be very similar to those of modernism. However, what made the greatest difference between the two movements was their attitude towards the tradition. For the nouvelle theologie it was very important to revive Christianity in its initial version, hence their striving for returning to the sources, for the oecumenical movement, for better relations with non-Catholics and for liturgical renewal. All these ideas can be traced in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and all this is characterized by the word aggiornamento.

‘Awakening the echoes of the ancient faith’: the National Pilgrimages to Iona

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-154
Author(s):  
Katherine Haldane Grenier
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Religious History ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Theological Understanding

This article examines two pilgrimages to Iona held by the Scottish Roman Catholic Church in 1888 and 1897, the first pilgrimages held in Scotland since the Reformation. It argues that these religious journeys disrupted the calendar of historic commemorations of Victorian Scotland, many of which emphasized the centrality of Presbyterianism to Scottish nationality. By holding pilgrimages to “the mother-church of religion in Scotland” and celebrating mass in the ruins of the Cathedral there, Scottish Catholics challenged the prevailing narrative of Scottish religious history, and asserted their right to control the theological understanding of the island and its role in a “national” religious history. At the same time, Catholics’ veneration of St. Columba, a figure widely admired by Protestant Scots, served as a means of highlighting their own Scottishness. Nonetheless, some Protestant Scots responded to the overt Catholicity of the pilgrimages by questioning the genuineness of “pilgrimages” which so closely resembled tourist excursions, and by scheduling their own, explicitly Protestant, journeys to Iona.

scholarly journals LIETUVOS NACIONALINĖS MARTYNO MAŽVYDO BIBLIOTEKOS RETŲ KNYGŲ IR RANKRAŠČIŲ SKYRIAUS PALEOTIPŲ RINKINYS

Knygotyra ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 135-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
VIKTORIJA VAITKEVIČIŪTĖ
Keyword(s):  
Church Fathers ◽  
Religious Literature ◽  
National Library ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Xvith Century ◽  
Xixth Century ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
The Times ◽  
Music Theorist ◽  
Book Culture

Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo bibliotekaGedimino pr. 51, LT-01504 Vilnius, LietuvaEl. paštas: [email protected] nagrinėjami Lietuvos nacionalinės Martyno Mažvydo bibliotekos Retų knygų ir rankraščių skyriaus paleotipai: jų leidimo vieta, spaustuvininkai, tematika bei proveniencijos, dėmesį telkiant į retesnius, Lietuvos knygos kultūrai svarbesnius leidinius. Iš šiame skyriuje saugomų daugiau kaip 800 paleotipų analizuojama tik dalis jų, nes daugiau negu 200 knygų teturi kortelinį bibliografinį aprašą ir išsamiai juos ištirti šiuo metu neįmanoma. Dalies šių paleotipų analizė papildo jau esamus tyrimus, praplečia senosios knygos kultūros vaizdą.Reikšminiai žodžiai: knygotyra, paleotipai, retos knygos, spaustuvininkai, proveniencijos.THE COLLECTION OF POST-INCUNABULA IN THE MARTYNAS MAŽVYDAS NATIONAL LIBRARY OF LITHUANIAViktorija VAITKEVIČIŪTĖ AbstractPost-incunabula or the books printed in the first half of the 16th century (from January 1, 1501 to January 1, 1551), along with incunabula, are considered to be the oldest and most valuable publications in the world. Due to their likeness to incunabula and publishing specifics, post-incunabula are considered to be historical treasures and monuments of culture. The Rare Book and Manuscript Department of the National Library of Lithuania has in its holdings more than 800 post-incunabula, not including the ones kept at the Department of the National Archival Fund of Published Documents. The exact number is still unknown, since not all the books have been included into the electronic catalogue: more than 200 of them have only a card catalogue description and are awaiting a more detailed study. This article analyses specific features of part of the post-incunabula collection in the NLL Rare Book and Manuscript Department: their place of publication, publishers, thematics and provenances. Principal attention is accorded to the books that are rarer, more interesting and more important for Lithuania’s culture and book culture in general.The most of the post-incunabula kept in the Rare Book and Manuscript Department were published in Germany, many in Switzerland, France and Italy. There also is a small number of post-incunabula published in Poland (Cracow). Of the publications produced by Cracow’s printers, the article discusses those by Jan Haller (ca. 1467–1525), Hieronim Wietor (ca. 1480–1546) and Florian Ungler (d. 1536). It is necessary to mention Aldines – the publications by one of themost famous European printers, Aldo Manuzio (Lat. Aldus Manutius; ca. 1450–1515) and by his descendants. The article also touches upon the work of such acclaimed French publishers as Henri Estienne (lat. Henricus Stephanus, ca. 1460–1520), founder of the famous dinasty of printers, and the Lyonese printer Sébastien Gryphius (ca. 1493–1556). The Rare Book and Manuscript Department also keeps quite a few post-incunabula published by Johannes Frobenof Basel (1460–1537).As to the content aspect, the collection of post-incunabula in the department is versatile. For the most part, it is made up by religious literature: sermons, bibles, theological treatises, Church Fathers’ writings. There are many works by and commentaries on classical authors, of whom Cicero, at the time of the Renaissance viewed as the greatest authority on rhetoric, is the most famous one. The post-incunabula collection illuminates the emergence of the Reformations and the related spread of new ideas in the first half of the XVIth century. The Rare Book and Manuscript Department boasts a number of works by the founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther (1483–1546) and by the most acclaimed humanist of the times, Desiderius Erasmus (1469–1536).The provenances in the post-incunabula (manuscript inscriptions, stamps, bookplates) provide much interesting information. Most often found are ownership marks of the establishments that since the olden times had been preserving books: various monasteries, churches and priest seminaries,. The notable representative of the post-incunabulum culture is the Bernardine Order. According to the electronic catalogue, the Rare Book and Manuscript Departmenthas in its holdings 21 post-incunabula formerly kept by the library of the Tytuvėnai Bernardine Monastery. Most provenance inscriptions are from Kaunas Priest Seminary, the library of the Samogitian Priest Seminary, the library of the Vilnius Seminary and Kražiai College. Of the XIXth century personal libraries,particularly noteworthy are the collections of Jonas Krizostomas Gintila (1788–1857), XIXth-century bibliophile, hebraist and administrator of the Samogitian Diocese, and of Friedrich August Gotthold (1778–1858), educator and music theorist. A separate, rather abundant group of provenance inscriptions consists of the books that formerly belonged to Königsberg University. An in-depth study of all the post-incunabula kept in the NLL would significantly add to the existing research and broaden the understanding of old book culture.

scholarly journals Jan Chryzostom objaśnia "Hymn o miłości" [1Kor 13] (In I Epistolam ad Corinthios hom. 33-34)

Vox Patrum ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 291-315
Author(s):  
Jan Iluk
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The Road ◽  
Shortest Route ◽  
John Chrysostom ◽  
Christian Love ◽  
The Times ◽  
Autumn And Winter ◽  
The Church

In 1CorHom, edited in the autumn and winter of 392 and 393 AD, John Chrysostom found a natural opportunity to return to his numerous utterances on the role of love in the lives of people. Obviously, the opportunity was the 13“ chapter of this Letter - The Song of Love. Among his works, we will find a few more smali works which were created with the intention of outlining the Christian ideał of love. Many of the contemporary monographs which were devoted to the ancient understanding of Christian „love” have the phrase „Eros and Agape” in their titles. In contemporary languages, this arrangement extends between sex and love. Both in the times of the Church Fathers (the 4th century AD) and currently, the distance between sex and love is measured by feelings, States and actions which are morę or less refined and noble. The awareness of the existence of many stops over this distance leads to the conviction that our lives are a search for the road to Agape. As many people are looking not so much for a shortcut but for a shorter route, John Chrysostom, like other Church Fathers, declared: the shortest route, because it is the most appropriate for this aim, is to live according to the Christian virtues that have been accumulated by the Christian politeia. There are to be found the fewest torments and disenchantments, although there are sacrifices. Evangelical politeia, the chosen and those who have been brought there will find love) - as a State of existence. In the earthly dimension, however, love appears as a causative force only in the circle of the Christian politeia. Obviously, just as in the heavenly politeia, the Christian politeia on earth is an open circle for everyone. As Chrysostom’s listeners and readers were not only Christians (in the multi-cultural East of the Roman Empire), and as the background of the principles presented in the homilies was the everyday life and customs of the Romans of the time, the ideał - dyam] - was placed by him in the context of diverse imperfections in the rangę and form of the feelings exhibited, which up to this day we still also cali love. It is true that love has morę than one name. By introducing the motif of love - into deliberations on the subject of the Christian politeia, John Chrysostom finds and indicates to the faithful the central force that shaped the ancient Church. This motif fills in the vision of the Heavenly Kingdom, explains to Christians the sense of life that is appropriate to them in the Roman community and explains the principles of organised life within the boundaries of the Church. It can come as no surprise that the result of such a narrative was Chrysostonfs conviction that love is „rationed”: Jews, pagans, Hellenes and heretics were deprived of it. In Chrysostonfs imagination, the Christian politeia has an earthly and a heavenly dimension. In the heavenly politeia, also called by him Chrisfs, the Lord’s or the

scholarly journals An engagement from a puritan theology perspective on some dominant ideas held by the contemporary culture on work, vocation and calling

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Geoffrey
Keyword(s):  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
The Cost

The reformers, Luther and others protested against the Roman Catholic theology that allegedly created a wedge between sacred and secular vocations and glorified the sacred at the cost of demeaning and devaluing the secular. However with the dawn of modernity, many individualistic ideas of work, vocation and calling have risen in the culture that goes against Protestant/Puritan thought in many ways yet the Protestant theology is in many ways blamed for the rise in individualism. Therefore this article weighs in with some Christian reflection from a puritan theology perspective over some contemporary ideas held by the culture concerning work, vocation and calling from a protestant perspective in an attempt to reclaim truly puritan thinking on these matters of work, vocation and calling

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