Böckenförde on the Relationship Between Theology, Law, and Political Theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 238-247
Author(s):  
Mirjam Künkler ◽  
Tine Stein
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
State Law ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Constitutional State ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Legal Concepts

Part III comprises four articles dealing with the relation between theology, law, and political theory. Throughout all of these, Böckenförde clearly distinguishes between the demands on the individual that arise from religion, positive state law, and politics respectively. He also points out that religious legal concepts and state law need not be irreconcilably opposed to each other—there is the possibility of reconciliation between the truth-claims of revealed religion and the positivity of modern state law, as long as religious claims do not claim to be universally binding. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church and the democratic constitutional state share common ground in the recognition of the freedom of the individual. The chapters reflect Böckenförde’s personal belief and attitude, expressed in the motto ...

scholarly journals THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN DIGNITY AS A BASIS FOR COOPERATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WITH STATE AND PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS

Skhid ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-72
Author(s):  
Anna Laputko
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Catholic Church

The article investigates the understanding of the concept of human dignity in the Catholic social doctrine and secular legal declarations aimed at the protection of personality rights. It is shown that notwithstanding the essential basic prerequisites, the concept of human dignity is foundational for the solution of new social problems. Consequently, human dignity is a basis for a fruitful dialog between the Catholic Church and world in order to create the society of peace, respect and well-being. It is proved that the turn to the systematic use of human right language and the strategies of the protection of human dignity occurred during the Second Vatican Council. This process is a part of the anthropological turn of the Christian religion within the global transformations of religious worldview in the age of late modern and postmodernism. Refreshment of the social teaching of Catholicism occurs within the last encyclical “Fratelli tutti” by the Pope Francis. The principle of the absolute value of human dignity becomes primary for the social teaching of the “Fratelli tutti” encyclical by the Pope Francis. This principle is fully substantiated. The Pope recognize that the absoluteness of human dignity is not obvious for the contemporary social discourse, the personality is more and more reduced to the individual who can be manipulated destroying the natural context of life which for the individual have always been communities. The Pope provides arguments about the dignity of the individual, which are revealed through faith, love, reflection and social dialogue.

scholarly journals The ‘enemy within’ the post-Vatican II Roman Catholic Church

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham A. Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Church History ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
History Of

The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) is regarded as one of the most significant processes in the ecumenical church history of the 20th century. At that time, a younger generation of Roman Catholic theologians began to make their mark in the church and within the ecumenical theological scene. Their work provided an ecumenical bridge between the Reforming and the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical traditions, notwithstanding the subsequent negative response of the Roman church hierarchy. Despite important advances, recent pontificates significantly altered the theological landscape and undermined much of the enthusiasm and commitment to unity. Roman Catholic theological dissent provided common ground for theological reflection. Those regarded as the ‘enemy within’ have become respected colleagues in the search for truth in global ecclesiastical perspective. This article will use the distinction between the history and the narratives of Vatican II.

scholarly journals Wolność sumienia i religii w Konstytucji Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej - postulaty Kościoła katolickiego

2008 ◽  
Vol 51 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 371-383
Author(s):  
Paweł Sobczyk
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Systemic Transformation ◽  
Liberal Ideology ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Dimension

The systemic transformation initiated by the Roundtable talks of 1989 made it necessary for Poland to amend its constitution, including the regulations concerning the freedom of conscience and religion. It was natural for churches and religious organisations, including the Catholic Church, to participate in the constitutional debate. The study, reflecting only the Catholic Church’s official positions, presents issues concerning the Catholic Church’s position on religious freedom in the individual dimension, that is, the freedom of conscience and religion. The Conference of the Polish Episcopate’s 1990-1997 positions on religious freedom in the individual dimensions contained some of the most important aspects of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. These represented the basis of the Episcopate’s position in the several-year-long debate on the desired model of the state. The constitutional guarantees of religious freedom contained in the article 53 (freedom of conscience and religion) should be seen as a compromise between the principles of liberal ideology and the teachings of the Vaticanum II.

scholarly journals Konkordat jako instrument prawny regulujący stosunki między państwem a Kościołem

Politeja ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 14 (1(46)) ◽  
pp. 85-102
Author(s):  
Irena Głuszyńska
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Holy See ◽  
Legal Instrument ◽  
European Culture ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
The Individual

Concordat – legal instrument regulating relations between state and the Catholic Church As a legal instrument the concordat is closely related to the European culture and tradition. It has its origins in the idea of dualism of politics and religion which accompanied the onset of Christianity in the Roman Empire. As an institution it came into existence in the Middle Ages and evolved considerably over the centuries. The international codification of human rights as well as the doctrinal output of the Vatican Council II exerted considerable influence on the present shape of the concordat. Today it serves as a tool for regulating the relations between the state and the Roman Catholic Church which is represented by the Holy See. The concordat aims to define more precisely the guarantee of religious freedom in both the individual and the community dimension in the way adapted to the needs of a particular country.

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.

Dialogue and Conversion

Horizons ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-83
Author(s):  
Maurice Schepers
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
The United States ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The U.S ◽  
The Catholic Church

On August 12, 1996, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Archbishop of Chicago († November 14, 1996), released a statement entitled “Called to Be Catholic Church in a Time of Peril,” which concretized an initiative called the Catholic Common Ground Project. This project is to be staffed by the thirteen-year-old, New York-based, National Pastoral Life Center, which was originally established under the auspices of the Administrative Committee of the U.S. Bishops' Conference. The peril which is the project's concern is the polarization that has developed in the Catholic Church in the United States in the course of the thirtyodd years elapsed since the close of the Second Vatican Council.

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.

Pathways to Religious Life

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Young Person ◽  
New Members ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Religious Institutes ◽  
Volunteer Programs ◽  
Lay Associates ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

The history of religious life in the Catholic Church of the U.S. is filled with change: periods of growth and decline, changes of ministries, and differences in the ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds of those who joined them. Yet as the numbers of new members diminish, some say that the future of religious life is in jeopardy. What is the state of religious life in the U.S. today? Which institutes are increasing in number and which are decreasing or ceasing to exist? From what ethnic and socioeconomic populations are they drawing their members? What new religious institutes are being founded and how successful are they? What influences a young person to consider religious life today? How are religious from other countries shaping religious life as they come to the U.S. to minister? Many of these questions are addressed by data from CARA studies of religious life conducted over the last ten years. The impact of an individual’s family dynamics and educational experience before entering religious life is examined, as well as the influence of an increasing number of Catholic volunteer programs. The emergence of lay associates and the birth of new religious institutes since Vatican Council II is investigated as new ways of living religious life. The increase in the number of sisters and priests studying and ministering in the U.S. from other countries is examined for its impact on religious life. In conclusion, recommendations are made for religious institutes and vocation directors who wish to attract new members.

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