Another Source of Morality?

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-56
Author(s):  
Olivier Roy

This chapter details the Catholic Church's struggle with modernism during 1864–1964. This was a century of tension, even conflict, but also one of misunderstanding between the Church and European states. The quarrels affected all of Europe, and they all resulted in disqualifying religion as the source of shared values, although in different ways. Ultimately, in the 1960s, they produced another divorce between Catholicism and secularism, which this time pertained not to the source of values but to the very definition of what is good. The chapter then considers the Catholic Church's reaction against modernism. In the eyes of the Church, the rejection of ‘modernism’ pertained to two essential points: its role in society and its authority in matters of values. The first conflict was political. It pitted the Church not only against secular and anticlerical forces but also against conservative states that professed to be Christian.

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-85
Author(s):  
Sr Bénédicte Mariolle

In our contemporary cultural context, the Christian references and the ritual cues no longer work as rites provided by an ecclesiastical institution in the way that they were still able to in the 1960s. The long-term memory which guaranteed the symbolic effectiveness of this rituality has evaporated. The author identifies three ways in which people’s relationship with memory has changed: it is no longer inscribed in time and space; this goes hand in hand with a form of “virtualization” of memory; but especially of its de-institutionalization, meaning that the norms guiding the ritual are no longer founded on an institutional basis linked to a collective memory, but rather on the individual subject and his or her unique character. This is a situation which poses a challenge to the Christian tradition of funerals, precisely because this is founded on a long ritual memory, which is incarnated, and is institutional. One solution to this problem has been to adapt to the expectations and aspirations of our contemporaries by relativizing traditional ritual forms. The author suggests the real question is rather to discern the specifically Christian features of ritualizing death within the long tradition of the Church and identify the elements of this deep Christian “memory” on which certain aspects of the liturgy depend for meaning. Losing this memory would endanger the proclamation of faith and Christian hope. An important source for this rereading is Augustine’s treatise De cura gerenda pro mortuis. It provides the key to interpreting this tradition, thereby enabling a definition of the characteristics of this Christian “memory” which is operative in funerals, and saying how this serves toward building Christian identity. This enables the author to outline the features of a specifically Christian ritualization of funerals for today and the implications for proclaiming a truly paschal faith.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Jaitin

This article covers several stages of the work of Pichon-Rivière. In the 1950s he introduced the hypothesis of "the link as a four way relationship" (of reciprocal love and hate) between the baby and the mother. Clinical work with psychosis and psychosomatic disorders prompted him to examine how mental illness arises; its areas of expression, the degree of symbolisation, and the different fields of clinical observation. From the 1960s onwards, his experience with groups and families led him to explore a second path leading to "the voices of the link"—the voice of the internal family sub-group, and the place of the social and cultural voice where the link develops. This brought him to the definition of the link as a "bi-corporal and tri-personal structure". The author brings together the different levels of the analysis of the link, using as a clinical example the process of a psychoanalytic couple therapy with second generation descendants of a genocide within the limits of the transferential and countertransferential field. Body language (the core of the transgenerational link) and the couple's absences and presence during sessions create a rhythm that gives rise to an illusion, ultimately transforming the intersubjective link between the partners in the couple and with the analyst.


Author(s):  
Jay T. Collier

Chapter 5 continues to investigate the Montagu affair by surveying adjacent doctrines related to the perseverance debate. For instance, Dort’s more narrow definition of perseverance caused difficulties for those holding a more traditionalist view of baptism and regeneration. After looking at Montagu’s baptismal argument against perseverance of the saints, the chapter evaluates published responses to Montagu’s advocacy of baptismal regeneration as well as more private debates where John Davenant and Samuel Ward tried to reconcile a form of baptismal regeneration with Dort’s determination on perseverance. This survey shows division on the efficacy of baptism even within the pro-Dortian party, with readings and receptions of Augustine factoring in. It also reveals further evidence of how a broad-church approach to being Reformed set the Church of England at odds with the international trends of the Reformed churches.


Author(s):  
Sam Brewitt-Taylor

This chapter outlines three examples of how secular theology was put into practice in the 1960s: Nick Stacey’s innovations in the parish of Woolwich; the radicalization of the ‘Parish and People’ organization; and the radicalization of Britain’s Student Christian Movement, which during the 1950s was the largest student religious organization in the country. The chapter argues that secular theology contained an inherent dynamic of ever-increasing radicalization, which irresistibly propelled its adherents from the ecclesiastical radicalism of the early 1960s to the more secular Christian radicalism of the late 1960s. Secular theology promised that the reunification of the church and the world would produce nothing less than the transformative healing of society. As the 1960s went on, this vision pushed radical Christian leaders to sacrifice more and more of their ecclesiastical culture as they pursued their goal of social transformation.


1916 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 437-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold J. Laski

“Of political principles,” says a distinguished authority, “whether they be those of order or of freedom, we must seek in religious and quasi-theological writings for the highest and most notable expressions.” No one, in truth, will deny the accuracy of this claim for those ages before the Reformation transferred the centre of political authority from church to state. What is too rarely realised is the modernism of those writings in all save form. Just as the medieval state had to fight hard for relief from ecclesiastical trammels, so does its modern exclusiveness throw the burden of a kindred struggle upon its erstwhile rival. The church, intelligibly enough, is compelled to seek the protection of its liberties lest it become no more than the religious department of an otherwise secular society. The main problem, in fact, for the political theorist is still that which lies at the root of medieval conflict. What is the definition of sovereignty? Shall the nature and personality of those groups of which the state is so formidably one be regarded as in its gift to define? Can the state tolerate alongside itself churches which avow themselves societates perfectae, claiming exemption from its jurisdiction even when, as often enough, they traverse the field over which it ploughs? Is the state but one of many, or are those many but parts of itself, the one?


2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
EMILIA MARÍA DURÁN-ALMARZA

The Dominican American community in New York is perhaps one of the best examples of how processes of transculturation are affecting traditional definitions of ethnic identification. Given the intense economic, social and cultural transnational exchanges between the island and the USA from the 1960s, Dominicanyorks have been challenging the illusion of homogeneity in the definition of Americanness for decades, creating transnational social networks that transcend traditional national and ethnographic boundaries. The theatrical works of Josefina Báez, a Dominican American performer living in New York, and Sherezada (Chiqui) Vicioso, a Dominican poet and playwright who lived and worked in the US metropolis for decades before moving back to the Dominican Republic, lyrically explore issues of diaspora, identity and migration and the impact these phenomena might have in the lives of migrant Dominican women. Presenting diasporic experiences from two differing but interconnected locales – New York and the Dominican Republic – these plays offer two complementary views on the ways in which ethnicity, race, social class, age and geopolitical location interact in the formation of transcultural identities, thus contributing to develop a hemispheric approach to the study of identity formation in the Americas.


1989 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale Goldsmith

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: We have attempted to indicate that the ask-logion of Matthew 7. 7a, 8a is an independent saying (probably of Jesus himself) which originally called for or described a response within the context of the earliest, eschatological preaching of the Kingdom of God. The uncontrolled and volatile possibilities inherent in this independent saying led the church to begin a process of ‘definition’ of the saying. In this process the context in which the saying is found changes and often its form undergoes changes in order to bring the saying within the church's understanding of what was possible and permissible. The pressures of the ecclesiastical and the eschatological ethical traditions are both present in the Matthean version. A very sketchy suggestion (arising from our study) for the plotting of this development is offered in the accompanying diagram.


2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-316
Author(s):  
Anne M. Blankenship

During the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, visions of a peaceful new world order led mainline Protestants to manipulate the worship practices of incarcerated Japanese Americans ( Nikkei) to strengthen unity of the church and nation. Ecumenical leaders saw possibilities within the chaos of incarceration and war to improve themselves, their church, and the world through these experiments based on ideals of Protestant ecumenism and desires for racial equality and integration. This essay explores why agendas that restricted the autonomy of racial minorities were doomed to fail and how Protestants can learn from this experience to expand their definition of unity to include pluralist representations of Christianity and America as imagined by different sects and ethnic groups.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andre Van Oudtshoorn

Jesus� imperatives in the Sermon on the Mount continue to play a significant role in Christian ethical discussions. The tension between the radical demands of Jesus and the impossibility of living this out within the everyday world has been noted by many scholars. In this article, an eschatological-ontological model, based on the social construction of reality, is developed to show that this dialectic is not necessarily an embarrassment to the church but, instead, belongs to the essence of the church as the recipient of the Spirit of Christ and as called by him to exist now in terms of the coming new age that has already been realised in Christ. The absolute demands of Jesus� imperatives, it is argued, must relativise all other interpretations of reality whilst the world, in turn, relativises Jesus� own definition of what �is� and therefore also the injunctions to his disciples on how to live within this world. This process of radical relativisation provides a critical framework for Christian living. The church must expect, and do, the impossible within this world through her faith in Christ who recreates and redefines reality. The church�s ethical task, it is further argued, is to participate with the Spirit in the construction of signs of this new reality in Christ in this world through her actions marked by faith, hope and love.


2019 ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
Anna M. Yakovleva ◽  
◽  
Alexey V. Volobuev ◽  

. The review deals with the problem of Orthodox fundamentalism in the discussion of Englishspeaking authors of different denominations, representatives of canonical and non-canonical Orthodox churches, which took place in theological discussions, in journalism and at scientific conferences mainly in recent years. The main materials are first introduced into the scientific circulation in Russian. The concepts of fundamentalism in Orthodoxy in the foreign press are presented; the definitions of Orthodox fundamentalism, the main theses of opponents and their argumentation are given. Frequently, the word “fundamentalism” in relation to Orthodoxy is used as a banal nickname for those opponents who have traditional or conservative beliefs, are prone to “ritualism”, shows intolerance and lack of readiness for dialogue, including ecumenical. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, theologians, priests and scholars have been trying to give a stricter definition of such fundamentalism as a phenomenon of the modern era, especially in its demise. It is primarily about the attitude to the works of the holy fathers of the Church. It is expressed, in particular, the opinion that the veneration of patristic writings, along with the resolutions of the Councils (which constitutes the Holy Tradition) should be revised. However, the concept of “Orthodox fundamentalism”, as follows from the given review, has not yet been formed. But one can speak of such signs of it, connected, in particular, with a wide exit to the public sphere of mass consciousness, as the striving to minimize theological provisions, absolutization of some provisions of dogma to the detriment of others, and the logos (modern) reading of the myth.


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