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A profound inquiry into what prompts human beings to act morally Most foundational texts on theological ethics address either the person or society. In The Moral Life, James F. Keenan, SJ, posits that these two are inextricably linked. He presents eight stages of preparing for the moral life, describing vulnerability as the foundation for contemporary ethics. He understands vulnerability to be what establishes the human capacity for recognizing and responding to others rather than a compromised state of being. Mutual recognition emerges as the first moral act of the vulnerable human. He shows how conscience guides the activity of one who has first vulnerably recognized others. The Moral Life offers scholars and students of Christian ethics a novel perspective on what we need to know not only to be and live morally but also to teach and share with others what they need to know.
For Massimo Faggioli, the debate about the meaning of Vatican II too often misses the profound significance of that council's first and perhaps most consequential document, Sacrosanctum Concilium. The result is a misunderstanding of both the council as a whole and the liturgical reform that followed from it. In True Reform, Faggioli takes Sacrosanctum Concilium as a hermeneutical key to the council. He offers a thorough reflection on the relationship between the liturgical constitution and the whole achievement of Vatican II and argues that the interconnections between the two must emerge if we want to understand the impact of the council on global Catholicism.
How has Pope Francis’s groundbreaking document on marriage and family, Amoris Laetitia, been implemented in Africa? In Asia? In Latin America? In this volume, scholars from across these regions reflect on their experiences, correcting the overly western focus of most reactions to AL. The contributions look at local issues like polygamy in Africa, as well as more global issues in a local context, like feminism in Indonesia and synodality in Colombia. The reader will find that concerns about marriage and family can be similar throughout the world or specific to different contexts. As a whole, the book contributes to a more diverse and revisited catholic understanding of marriage and family.
The beginning of the twenty-first century has provided abundant evidence of the necessity to reexamine the relationship between Catholicism and the modern, global world. This book tries to proceed on this path with a focus on the meaning, legacy, and reception in today’s world of the ecclesiology of Vatican II, starting with Gaudium et Spes: “This council exhorts Christians, as citizens of two cities, to strive to discharge their earthly duties conscientiously and in response to the Gospel spirit.” Catholicism and Citizenship is a call for a rediscovery of the moral and political imagination of Vatican II for the Church and the world of our time.
Arguing that our attachment to Aristotelian modes of discourse makes a revision of their conceptual foundations long overdue, the author proposes the consideration of unacknowledged factors that play a central role in argument itself. These are in particular the subjective imprint and the dynamics of argumentation. Their inclusion in a four-dimensional framework (subjective-objective, structural-procedural) and the focus on thesis validity allow for a more realistic view of our discourse practice. Exhaustive analyses of fascinating historical and contemporary arguments are provided. These range from Columbus’s advocacy of the Western Passage to India, over the trial of King Louis XVI durin...
Sex, Media and theology – a provocative mix. Reactions can vary from rejection to openness and curiosity. This volume follows the latter path: on the background of changes in contemporary sexual culture and theological developments in the reflection on sexuality, three media – internet, advertising and film – are analysed with respect of their representation of sexuality and their contribution to theological reflections on sex. This shows: sex in media is more than a provocation; it provides an inspiration for theological thinking about human beings, their relationships with others, and also with God.
Over the last 30 years, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become increasingly present in international discourses and active in international decision-making. Among the estimated several million NGOs in existence today, an increasingly visible number of organizations are defining themselves in religious terms – referring to themselves as "religious", "spiritual", or "faith-based" NGOs. This book documents the initial encounters between the particularly international segment of those organizations and the UN while at the same time covering the Protestant and Catholic spectrum that dominated the early years of their activities in the UN-context. This book focuses on the construct...
The Catholic Church still takes an ambivalent stance toward homosexuality, declaring that homosexuals should be respected and not discriminated against while morally condemning their intimate relationships. This volume presents exegetical, theological, and ethical arguments as well as evidence from the human sciences to advocate for the recognition of homosexuality as a natural variant of the human capacities to love and to form relationships.
The death of John Paul II and the election of Benedict XVI constituted two important elements in the broad theological and cultural landscape of Catholicism. This change of pontificate has also nourished the journalistic and political dispute about Vatican II, its history and its legacy, and not only the historiographical and theological debate. But the research on Vatican II is already proceeding forward and beyond the state of knowledge about the Council reached at the end of the 90s. For 21st century Catholics and theologians interested in understanding contemporary Catholicism in the light of Vatican II the intellectual undertaking is far from accomplished yet. The book offers comprehens...
2023 Catholic Media Association Second Place Award, Theology – History of Theology, Church Fathers and Mothers While taught by Vatican II, the “sense of the faith” (sensus fidei) has had little official impact in the Catholic Church. What would the church look like if it took this conciliar teaching to heart? To address this neglect, John Burkhard locates the historical roots of the teaching and its emergence at Vatican II. It attempts to better understand the “sense of the faith” in the light of other fundamental teachings of the council and challenges the hierarchical church to invite all the faithful to rightfully participate in the prophetic ministry of the whole church, closely allied with Pope Francis’s call for a more synodal church.