Religious Freedom between the Conflicting Demands of Church and State [1964–79]

2020 ◽  
pp. 115-136
Author(s):  
Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde ◽  
Mirjam Künkler ◽  
Tine Stein
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Individual Liberty ◽  
Conflicting Demands ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Church

Böckenförde regards ‘De Libertate Religiosa’, the declaration of the Second Vatican Council on religious freedom, as the belated triumph of liberalism in Church dogma, finally reconciling the truth claims of Catholic teachings with the demands of individual liberty. This was achieved by separating the hitherto unified spheres of law and morality: Whereas all pre-Council declarations (as well as prominent early Protestant thinkers) reduced man to an object of truth as administered by the Church, more or less continuing the polis cult of antiquity and plunging Europe into confessional wars, the encyclical of 1965 for the first time accepted the legal liberty of every individual, theologically justified in the concept of man’s likeness to God. Law, in this entirely new understanding (that is, new to the Church), does not deal with salvation and eternal truths, but rather is seen as a necessary system to guarantee liberty and societal peace. Consequently, the Catholic Church, while morally upholding its understanding of truth, signalled its readiness to relinquish the privileges it had traditionally enjoyed in Catholic countries. Though Böckenförde makes clear that the impulses for such a radical change in dogma must be found outside the Church, namely in the gradual adoption of religious neutrality on behalf of the secular state, he credits the Church with providing the modern state with an unprecedented quality of legitimacy. In his view, religious freedom thus is no longer a field of contestation, but rather a field of possible cooperation between church and state.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TESTED FOR CONFESSIONALISM: THE VATICAN II DOCTRINAL PRINCIPLES

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-171
Author(s):  
Matteo Visioli
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Liberty ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Concept Of Truth ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

AbstractIn Catholic doctrine, church and state are two different and autonomous institutional subjects, but they are mutually linked. Therefore, a believer, as a citizen, is a subject simultaneously of two legal systems; the state is bound to recognize the confessional dimension of its own members, and the church is called to realize its proper ends within a precise political-social context. The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) constitutes for the Catholic Church a point of change and renewal. It did not limit itself to affirming the coexistence of the two systems in their independence, but it declared the necessity of a mutual alliance for the good of citizens and believers.Therefore, the church offers its own contribution to the state, favoring in this way the right to religious liberty; and the state allows the church to establish itself and carry out its proper mission in an institutional form, guaranteeing the protection of the rights of citizens as believers for the free expression of their faith, whether in a private dimension or in an organized form. Vatican II abandons, therefore, the concept of “state religion” in the classic sense of the term, and thus the privilege reserved to one among numerous religious expressions, and opens an authentic collaboration between parties as a prerequisite for the good not only for individual believers and religious organizations, but also for society itself. In particular, religious liberty finds its foundation no longer in the concept of truth (that legitimized the exclusion of other confessions in that they were “not true”), but in the concept of the dignity of the person, which must be protected as such.

A Holy Alliance between the Catholic Church and Constitution-Makers? The Diffusion of the Clause of Cooperation in Third Wave Democracies

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-78
Author(s):  
Madalena Meyer Resende
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The United States ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
French Tradition ◽  
Cosmopolitan Law ◽  
Constitutional Regime ◽  
The Church

AbstractWhat explains the adoption of the regime of cooperation between church and the state in the democratic constitutions of Spain and Poland, while Portugal maintained a regime of strict separation in the United States and French tradition? The explanation could be that a consensual constitution-making process resulted in a constitutional formula accommodating religion and guaranteeing religious freedoms. Alternatively, the constitutional regime of cooperation could result from the diffusion of international norms to national constitutions, in this case, the cosmopolitan law of the church. The article process-traces the constitution drafting processes and finds that the emergence of a constitutional consensus among secularist and constitutional drafters in Spain and Poland was based on the Vatican Council II doctrine and facilitated by the intervention of the Catholic hierarchies. In Portugal, the violent context of the revolution excluded the church, and the constitutional regime of strict separation between church and state was adopted.

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.

Lamennais

1947 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waldemar Gurian
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Third ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Papal Infallibility ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The history of the Catholic Church includes men who, after brilliant services to the Church, died outside her fold. Best known among them is Tertullian, the apologetic writer of the Early Church; less known is Ochino, the third vicar-general of the Capuchins, whose flight to Calvin's Geneva almost destroyed his order. In the nineteenth century there were two famous representatives of this group. Johann von Doellinger refused, when more than seventy years old, to accept the decision of the Vatican Council about papal infallibility. He passed away in 1890 unreconciled, though he had been distinguished for years as the outstanding German Catholic theologian. Félicité de la Mennais was celebrated as the new Pascal and Bossuet of his time before he became the modern Tertullian by breaking with the Church because Pope Gregory XVI rejected his views on the relations between the Church and die world. As he lay deathly ill, his niece, “Madame de Kertanguy asked him: ‘Féli, do you want a priest? Surely, you want a priest?’ Lamennais answered: ‘No.’ The niece repeated: ‘I beg of you.’ But he said with a stronger voice: ‘No, no, no.

Exploring the Possible Contributions of the African Palaver towards a Participatory Synodal Church

Exchange ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 209-237
Author(s):  
Stan Chu Ilo
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Consensus Building ◽  
Traditional Society ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Church

Abstract This essay argues for a participatory synodal Church and the possible contributions of the African palaver as a model for participatory dialogue in the Roman Catholic Church. The African palaver is the art of conversation, dialogue, and consensus-building in traditional society that can be appropriated in the current search for a more inclusive and expansive participatory dialogue at all levels of the life of the Church. I will develop this essay first by briefly exploring some theological developments on synodality between the Second Vatican Council and Pope Francis and some of the contributions of the reforms of Pope Francis to synodality in the Church. Secondly, I will identify how the African palaver functions through examples taken from two African ethnic groups. I will proceed to show how the African palaver could enter into dialogue with other new approaches to participatory dialogue for a synodal Church.

Sacred Sounds, Secular Spaces

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Walker
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Reception Studies ◽  
Liturgical Music ◽  
International Exhibitions ◽  
Republican Government ◽  
Epistemological Position ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Opera Houses ◽  
The Church

This book is the first comprehensive study that reevaluates music’s role in the relationship between the French state and the Catholic Church at the end of the nineteenth century. As the divide between Church and State widened on the political stage, more and more composers began writing religious—even liturgical—music for performance in decidedly secular venues, including popular cabaret theaters, prestigious opera houses, and international exhibitions: a trend that coincided with Pope Leo XIII’s Ralliement politics that encouraged conservative Catholics to “rally” with the Republican government. But the idea of a musical Ralliement has largely gone unquestioned by historians and musicologists alike who have long accepted a somewhat simplistic epistemological position that emphasizes a sharp division between the Church and the “secular” Republic during this period. Drawing on extensive archival research, critical reception studies, and musical analysis, this book reveals how composers and critics from often opposing ideological factions undermined the secular/sacred binary. From the opera house and niche puppet theaters to Parisian parish churches and Montmartre’s famed cabarets, composers and critics from opposing ideological factions used music in their effort to craft a brand of Frenchness that was built on the dual foundations of secular Republicanism and the heritage of the French Catholic Church.

scholarly journals O krok dalej w przybliżeniu słowa Bożego. Poznańscy bibliści w służbie orędziu Starego i Nowego Testamentu.

2020 ◽  
pp. 35-58
Author(s):  
Janusz Nawrot
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Social Community ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Present Generation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Church

On the occasion of 100 years of existence and activity of Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna, one may sum up the contribution of the Faculty of Theology which has existed as part of the uni- versity for 20 years. This contribution has concerned the research and teaching arenas combined with a commitment for the social community of the Wielkopolska province. What is specific of the faculty is its ability to work both on the scientific and didactic levels as well as on the church level, which requires considerable knowledge and time in order to competently combine the requirements of working at university with demands of the Catholic Church managed by the Second Vatican Council. The scientific and popular scientific initiatives in the widely understood biblical studies represent a valuable contribution to the celebration of 100 years of the Pozna university. Like other scientific disciplines, they can proudly make their own contribution to the development of sci- ence in our city, as well as the entire country. One can only hope that the present generation of sci- entists will take the baton passed to them in the relay race of generations, and will make their own contribution to the science thereby honouring Pozna as an important scientific centre in Poland.

scholarly journals Catholic Church and the Italian public television. An enduring relation with an interlude: the Council

2015 ◽  
pp. 179-199
Author(s):  
Federico Ruozzi
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Public Television ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Media Attention ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The article presents the entanglement of the Catholic Church and the media by focusing on the case of the Second Vatican Council and the television broadcast of its events. The mass media attention of the council stimulated, according to the author, a double level: the media conveyed more information about the church event than it had ever done before, but at the same time, the mass media influenced the discussion of the council fathers. The article also analyzes, through the lens of the Council, the recent relationship between the Catholic Church and the Italian television.  

scholarly journals The Teaching of the Church on Religious Freedom: A Break or Continuity of Tradition?

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 (5) ◽  
pp. 553-584
Author(s):  
Michał Chaberek
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Pope Benedict Xvi ◽  
Benedict Xvi ◽  
The Past ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Final Acceptance ◽  
The Church ◽  
The French Revolution

This paper elaborates upon the Catholic Church’s teaching on religious freedom in the period from The French Revolution to The Second Vatican Council. Based on quotations from the original documents, the author presents the evolution of the Church’s position that switched from the initial rejection to the final acceptance of the religious freedom over past two centuries. The fact of this dramatic change begs the question about the continuity of tradition and credibility of the contemporary position of the Church. Based on the document by the International Theological Commission, “Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past,” as well as the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI, the author demonstrates that – in contrast to some contemporary interpretations – the hermeneutics of continuity is possible regarding Church’s teaching on religious freedom.

scholarly journals Shaftesbury, Locke, and Their Revolutionary Letter? [Corrigendum]

Locke Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
D. N. DeLuna
Keyword(s):  
John Locke ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
The Public ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
Henry Vi ◽  
Charles Ii ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Church

A correction of an article originally published in vol 17 (2017). In 1675, the anonymous Letter to a Person of Quality was condemned in the House of Lords and ordered to be burned by the public hangman.  A propagandistic work that has long been attributed to Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, and less certainly to his secretary John Locke, it traduced hard-line Anglican legislation considered in Parliament that year—namely the Test Bill, proposing that office-holders and MPs swear off political militancy and indeed any efforts to reform the Church and State.  Careful examination of the text of the Letter, and that of one of its sources in the Reasons against the Bill for the Test, also circulated in 1675, reveals the presence of highly seditious passages of covert historical allegory.  Hitherto un-noted by modern scholars, this allegory compared King Charles II to the weak and intermittently mad Henry VI, while agitating for armed revolt against a government made prey to popish and French captors.  The discovery compels modification, through chronological revision and also re-assessment of the probability of Locke’s authorship of the Letter, of Richard Ashcraft’s picture of Shaftesbury and Locke as first-time revolutionaries for the cause of religious tolerance in the early 1680s.  Even more significantly, it lends support to Ashcraft’s view of the nature and intent of duplicitous published writings from the Shaftesbury circle, whose members included Robert Ferguson, ‘the Plotter’ and pamphleteer at home in the world of skilled biblical hermeneutics.  Cultivated for stealthy revolutionary purposes, these writings came with designs of engaging discrete reading networks within England’s culture of Protestant dissent.

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