Edited by Christopher P. Vogt
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Volume 2, Number 2 June 2013 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD Edited by Christopher P. Vogt Westphalia and Back: Complexifying the Church-World Duality in Catholic Thought ................ 1 William T. Cavanaugh The “Signs of the Times” and their Readers in Wartime and in Peace ......... 21 Laurie Johnston Time Poverty, Women’s Labor, and Catholic Social Teaching: A Practical Theological Exploration .............................................................. 40 Claire E. Wolfteich Between Inculturation and Natural Law: Comparative Method in Catholic Moral Theology ..................................... 60 David M. Lantigua and David A. Clairmont Syncretism: Why Latin American and Caribbean Theologians Want to Replace a “Fighting Word” in Theology ........................................ 89 Ramón Luzárraga The World in the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI .................. 109 Tracey Rowland Mapping a Method for Dialogue: Exploring the Tensions between Razian Autonomy and Catholic Solidarity as Applied to Euthanasia ..... 133 Amelia J. Uelmen Review Essay Locating the Church in the World: Ethnography, Christian Ethics, and the Global Church ........................... 158 Christopher P. Vogt EDITOR David M. McCarthy, Mount St. Mary’s University EDITORIAL BOARD Melanie Barrett, University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary Jana M. Bennett, University of Dayton Joseph Capizzi, The Catholic University of America David Cloutier, Mount St. Mary’s University Kelly Johnson, University of Dayton Jason King, St. Vincent College M. Therese Lysaught, Marquette University Ramón Luzárraga, University of Dayton Rev. Bryan Massingale, Marquette University William C. Mattison III, The Catholic University of America Jeanne Heffernan Schindler, Villanova University Msgr. Stuart W. Swetland, Mount St. Mary’s University Christopher P. Vogt, St. John’s University Brian Volck, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Journal of Moral Theology is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal focusing on Catholic moral theology. It is concerned with contemporary issues as well as our deeply rooted tradition of inquiry about the moral life. Our mission is to publish scholarly articles in the field of moral theology, as well as theological treatments of related topics in philosophy, economics, political philosophy, and psychology. Journal of Moral Theology is published semiannually, with January and July issues. The journal’s articles are open-access, available at www.msmary.edu/jmt. Bound print issues are available by request through our website. Articles published in the Journal of Moral Theology will undergo at least two peer reviews. Authors are asked to submit articles electronically to [email protected] and will be informed about the review process by e-mail. Submissions should be prepared for blind review and con- form to Chicago Manual of Style. Microsoft Word format preferred. Editors assume that sub- missions are not being simultaneously considered for publication in another venue. ISSN 2166-2851 (print), ISSN 2166-2118 (online). Journal of Moral Theology is published by Mount St. Mary’s University, 16300 Old Emmitsburg Road, Emmitsburg, MD 21727. Copyright © 2013 individual authors and Mount St. Mary’s University. All rights reserved. A NOTE FROM THE ISSUE EDITOR I am very grateful to all of the contributors to this issue who re- sponded so generously to my invitation to share their particular ex- pertise and theological perspective on the church and the world. Their good work has made this a rich collection of essays that ad- dress this fundamental theological question from a wide variety of interesting angles. This issue begins with an essay by William Cavanaugh who asks us to reconsider the conventional wisdom that the Second Vatican Council led the Roman Catholic Church in the United States to grow from a world-fearing, ghettoized sect into a church very much at home in American society. Using the town of Westphalia, Iowa (a utopian Catholic community established before Vatican II) as a focal point for examining the church/world relationship in the concrete, he argues for a more complex understanding than the conventional narrative of historical progress or Ernst Troeltsch’s categories of sect and church will allow. Laurie Johnston’s essay takes up the pressing question of how contemporary Christians should go about reading the signs of the times. She observes that since the Second Vatican Council, what the signs of the times are has been a matter of constant dispute as have the questions of how, by whom, and according to what criteria they should be discerned. Johnston illuminates both the difficulty and the necessity of reading the signs of the times, expanding upon Yves Congar’s wisdom that Christians must strive to live as pilgrims not tourists in the world. Drawing from historical and contemporary examples, she points to solidarity, experience in humanity, and hu- mility as keys to discernment. Moral theology and practical theology share much in common. Each of these specialties seeks (among other things) to explain how spirituality and the demands of discipleship should shape the way that Christians live in the world. Claire Wolfteich employs a practical theological method to provide a rich description of the reality of time-poverty that many women (and men) face today. She goes on to develop a compelling theology of time, teasing out the critical, coun- tercultural, and justice implications of Catholic teaching on labor, the Sabbath, and the domestic church. Two essays in this issue address the challenges of inculturation. First, David Clairmont and David Lantigua bring Catholic moral theology into dialogue with the comparative study of religion as they consider two specific contexts in which Catholics have grappled with questions about the status of indigenous people and their religious beliefs: Colonial Latin America and Post-colonial Africa. Their study illuminates new ways of thinking about the relationship between the gospel, natural law, and culture. Second, Ramon Luzárraga explores ii how the Christian faith inculturates itself with popular religious practices in Latin America and the Caribbean. He describes the com- plex process of discernment behind efforts to name and support ap- propriate forms of inculturated worship and practice. Tracey Rowland debunks superficial characterizations of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI’s theology of the church and the world. By offering a careful examination of the influences that shaped Ratzinger's thought, and by providing an attentive analysis of his work as a theologian, Rowland sketches a nuanced church/world theology that is neither neo-Manichean nor hostile toward the world. Rowland illustrates the consistency between Benedict XVI’s recent writings about the church and the world and Ratzinger’s earlier theo- logical work. Dialogue is an important dimension of theological work on the church and the world. Amelia Uelmen explores the possibilities and limits of dialogue between Catholics and people of good will who have profoundly different cultural assumptions. Uelmen’s essay cen- ters on a careful analysis of Cathleen Kaveny’s efforts to engage the thought of philosopher and legal scholar Joseph Raz. Uelmen sketch- es some of the methodological implications that emerge from her analysis of Kaveny’s work, focusing in particular on the limits of ab- stract concepts as a basis for building bridges across difference and the promise of personal narrative for dialogue. Finally, my own essay offers a review of two significant develop- ments in the field. First, I survey some recent work by ecclesiologists and moral theologians who integrate ethnographic research into their writing, and I assess their claims about the indispensability of field research. Second, I survey the work of theologians associated with the “Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church” organi- zation, and I analyze some of the methodological claims being put forward by this movement. When I agreed to serve as editor for this issue of the Journal of Moral Theology, I must confess that I did not fully realize the magni- tude of the task. I would like to offer my thanks to everyone who contributed time and talent to this issue. I am particularly grateful to Samantha Deliso, who served as my graduate assistant at St. John’s University this year. She provided considerable help with the initial review of the first draft of each article and assisted me again later with the difficult task of proof-reading. I am grateful to the members of the editorial board of the Journal of Moral Theology for their work in reviewing all of articles in this issue. I would like to offer special thanks to Jana Bennett who provided extremely helpful comments and feedback. Very special thanks go to David Matzko McCarthy for the sup- port and assistance he provided to me at all stages of the develop- ment and production of this issue. He consistently gave very helpful iii editorial advice while always allowing me the freedom to shape the issue. He was very patient in all of his dealings with me as I struggled through some of the difficulties that went along with being a first- time editor. David and his colleagues at Mount Saint Mary’s Univer- sity handled the work of formatting the issue, providing proof- reading assistance, and dealing with other details of production. I would like to extend my gratitude to Ericka Dixon, Mackenzie Sulli- van, Hannah Clinton, Gloria Balsley, and the members