scholarly journals Notes from the Road More Traveled: Doing Theology in a US Cultural Context

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
John J. Markey, OP

One of the most significant consequences of Vatican II has been the worldwide effort at inculturation and contextualization of the Christian tradition, particularly at the level of foundational theology and method.This process implies drawing on the unique patterns of thought, social structures, cultural narratives, and rituals to develop new theological and pastoral sensibilities.This process, termed “prophetic dialogue” by Steve Bevans and Roger Schroeder,[1] seems to be dramatically underway practically everywhere in the Roman Catholic world except, most notably, in the United States.While Hispanics/Latin@s, African Americans, Asian Americans, feminists, etc., have continuously served with an awareness of the need for contextualization, Euro-American academic and ecclesial theology has largely failed to analyze, articulate, and critique its own US cultural context and to engage it in a serious evangelical and theological dialogue. In this article, I propose to offer what I believe are four significant insights about to the task of inculturation/contextualization as it relates particularly to Euro-American theology in the church and academy in the coming decade.[1] Stephen B. Bevans And Roger P. Schroeder, Constant in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004, 385-95.See also Bevans and Schroeder, Prophetic Dialogue: Reflections on Christian Mission Today, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011.

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-212
Author(s):  
Margaret Schabas

AbstractDavid Hume wrote prolifically and influentially on economics and was an enthusiast for the modern commercial era of manufacturing and global trade. As a vocal critic of the Church, and possibly a nonbeliever, Hume positioned commerce at the vanguard of secularism. I here argue that Hume broached ideas that gesture toward those offered by Max Weber in his famous Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904-5). Hume discerned a strong correlation between economic flourishing and Protestantism, and he pointed to a “spirit of the age” that was built on modern commerce and fueled by religious tolerance. The Roman Catholic Church, by contrast, came under considerable attack by Hume, for fostering intolerance and draining and diverting funds. Hume recognized several of the dispositions that later appealed to Weber: an increased work ethic and tendency to frugality, enterprise, and investment in Protestant regions. A neo-Weberian literature now points to additional factors, the spread of literacy and the fostering of a network of trust among strangers, both of which Hume noted. Insofar as modern commerce both feeds upon and fosters more liberties and representative government, Hume also linked these with the advent and spread of Protestantism. My aim is not to suggest that these arguments have merit—there is good reason to question each and every assertion under the historical microscope—but rather to highlight the broader religious and cultural context in which Hume’s economics was broached.


Author(s):  
Ruth Reardon

In interchurch families, both partners are practising members of their respective churches but wish also to participate in their spouse’s church as far as possible. Can such families really be ecumenical instruments, when they are so different from the organs of dialogue generally established by the churches? Interchurch couples themselves, united in an international network of groups and associations, believe that they can contribute to the growing unity between their churches. The Roman Catholic Church in particular has developed a more positive attitude towards the ecumenical potential of such families since Vatican II. Interchurch families contribute to Christian unity by their very existence as ‘domestic churches’, embodying and signifying the growing unity of the Church. The chapter concludes by suggesting how, with greater pastoral understanding and a deeper appreciation of the relationship between marital spirituality and spiritual ecumenism, they can become more effective ecumenical instruments by their characteristic ‘double belonging’.


Author(s):  
Bryan D. Spinks

What exactly is meant by the term “Modern Christian Liturgy”? At one level it could mean any recent worship service in any church, for example, the Divine Liturgy of the Ethiopian-Eritrean Orthodox churches celebrated last week. Although a modern celebration, with adaptations made to the rite amongst the diaspora, the rite itself was formulated in the late medieval era and has much older roots in Egypt. Sometimes the term applies to the most recent official liturgical services of a particular main line denomination growing out of the Liturgical Movement, such as the post-Vatican II Roman Catholic rites compared to the so-called “Tridentine” rite represented by the missal of John XXIII, or the Church of England’s Common Worship 2000 rites compared to those of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Here, the term is reserved for those newer forms of service that have appeared officially or unofficially in contemporary Euro-Atlantic protestant, evangelical, and charismatic churches in the 20th century, frequently adopting the current fashions of popular music for worship songs, and incorporating modern technology.


Author(s):  
Ormond Rush

For 400 years after the Council of Trent, a juridical model of the church dominated Roman Catholicism. Shifts towards a broader ecclesiology began to emerge in the nineteenth century. Despite the attempts to repress any deviations from the official theology after the crisis of Roman Catholic Modernism in the early twentieth century, various renewal movements, known as ressourcement, in the decades between the world wars brought forth a period of rich ecclesiological research, with emphasis given to notions such as the Mystical Body, the People of God, the church as mystery, as sacrament, and as communio. The Second Vatican Council incorporated many of these developments into its vision for renewal and reform of the Roman Catholic Church. Over half a century after Vatican II, a new phase in its reception is emerging with the pontificate of Pope Francis.


Ecclesiology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-312
Author(s):  
Donald W. Norwood

Not all accounts of Vatican II, 1962–65, recognize that the 200 carefully selected non-Roman Catholic Observers had a considerable influence on the Council and on its major documents about the Church, Church unity, liturgy, the Jews and religious freedom. Their impact is assessed both by Roman Catholic theologians like Congar and Willebrands and Observers such as Bishop Moorman and Robert McAfee Brown together with comments Karl Barth later made on some of the documents in his discussions with Pope Paul VI and others, including Ratzinger and Rahner in Rome. An attempt is made to explain how the Observers had the influence they did. One conclusion is that they helped the Council evolve from what could have been a purely domestic affair and a rubber-stamping exercise dealing with 70 documents, already prepared by the Curia, and Commissioners appointed by the Pope, into a genuinely ecumenical, deliberative, debating and decision-making council of the worldwide Church.


Ecclesiology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Fahey

AbstractDrawing upon his thirty years experience of teaching ecclesiology, the author tries to identify some developments and paradigm shifts he recognizes as having influenced theological reflection on the Church in Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant contexts. He contrasts the present-day situation of Catholics to the isolationist doldrums that characterized the post-Modernist and pre-Vatican II eras. The impact of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches was already notable when Catholics belatedly began to participate in ecumenical dialogue. Various advances in ecclesiology can be identified, especially the use of 'communion' ecclesiology. Negatively, the achievements of ecumenical exchanges are little known by the faithful and rarely cited by church leaders. Canonical regulations especially affecting eucharistic hospitality do not take into consideration the doctrinal consensuses that have emerged. A select bibliography is appended.


2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 308-319
Author(s):  
M E Brinkman

One of the most promising aspects of the text of the third phase of the International Roman-Catholic-Reformed Dialogue might be the suggestion to reflect upon the idea of the church as “sacrament of the kingdom”.In this contribution, written in honour of the ecclesiological work of Conrad Wethmar, I shall take up that suggestion and develop a fourfold approach of the sacraments in which the interconnectedness of church and kingdom plays a crucial role. I shall deal with the soteriological, the ecclesiological, the eschatological and the symbolic aspect respectively. Deliberately, I begin with the soteriological aspect because the first and main thing sacraments are doing, is pointing to our salvation. Salvation implies, however, a mediation of salvation and hence the ecclesiological aspect follows the soteriological aspect. The mediation of the church always points beyond itself to the kingdom of God. That is the eschatological aspect. And every reference to the eschaton always has the form of the symbol as the focal point of the “already” and “not yet” character of the kingdom of God. We label that as the symbolic aspect.My conclusion will be that the fruitfulness of the suggestion to speak about the church as “sacrament of the kingdom” depends on the preparedness to reap the results of the ecumenical discussions since Vatican II.


2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (101) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Juan A. Ruiz de Gopegui

O artigo evoca o que significou, não só para a Igreja católica romana, mas para a Igreja de Jesus Cristo, presente também em outras Igrejas cristãs, a iniciativa inspirada de João XXIII de convocar o Concílio Vaticano II. Estuda-se o complexo problema da recepção do Concílio e mostra-se que a crise atual do aggiornamento Conciliar é resultado, paradoxalmente, do seu sucesso, analisado a partir de três temas conciliares: a soberania da Palavra divina e sua tradição, a eclesiologia de comunhão e as aberturas ecumênicas desta eclesiologia. Conclui-se mostrando a obrigatoriedade para a Igreja do aggiornamento conciliar e o seu futuro.ABSTRACT: The article evokes what John XXIII’s initiative of convoking the Vatican II council meant not only for the Roman Catholic Church , but also for the church of Jesus Christ, present in ther Christian churches. It studies the complex issue of the council reception and shows that the current crisis of conciliar aggiornamento is paradoxically the result of its success by analyzing three conciliar themes: the sovereignty of divine Word and its tradition, the ecclesiology of communion, and the ecumenical openness of this ecclesiology. It concludes by showing the mandatory character of the conciliar aggiornamento for the church and its future.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Isaac Boaheng

This paper explores the theological message embedded in the hymns: “The incarnate God appeared” and “Come Holy Spirit, come now”. Theological findings from these hymns are used to formulate an African Christian theology of mission based on thematic areas such as the trinitarian dimension of mission, the centrality of the cross in mission, mission as the core mandate of the Church and mission as incarnational agapaō. By this, the paper makes the message of the selected hymns accessible to the global Christian community, promotes the development of hymnody in the African church and at the same time provides a paradigm for Christian mission in the 21st century African society. This is a literature research that uses data from books, theses, journal articles, among others. The findings indicate that hymns constitute a great tool for the missionary enterprise of the church, therefore Christian hymns should be developed and promoted. It is recommended that, for Christian mission in Africa to be meaningful and relevant to Africans, it must endeavor to address the existential issue in African societies. Key Words: Africa, Hymns, Christology, Mission, Pneumatology, Theology


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