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A Theology of Neighbor and Pedagogy for Neighbor-Formation

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A Theology of Neighbor and Pedagogy for Neighbor-Formation Doing Likewise: A Theology of Neighbor and Pedagogy for Neighbor-Formation Author: Marcus Mescher Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104081 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2013 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry DOING LIKEWISE: A THEOLOGY OF NEIGHBOR AND PEDAGOGY FOR NEIGHBOR-FORMATION a dissertation by MARCUS MESCHER submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2013 © copyright by MARCUS MESCHER 2013 Doing Likewise: A Theology of Neighbor and Pedagogy for Neighbor-Formation Author: Marcus Mescher Director: Thomas H. Groome The story of the Good Samaritan in Luke’s Gospel (10:25-37) may be Jesus’ most well-known teaching. Though it epitomizes the heart of Christian faith and the Great Commandment to love God and one’s neighbors as oneself, the depth of the challenge to “Go and do likewise” like the Samaritan is not well understood and less often put into practice. The Samaritan’s example sets a standard that is not met by random acts of kindness; Samaritan-like neighbor love means acting with courage, compassion, and generosity in boundary-breaking solidarity to care for those most in need. According to Gustavo Gutiérrez, by going out of his way and into the ditch to draw near to the robbers’ victim, the Samaritan’s actions depict the preferential option for the poor. This reverence for the other, especially one in such a vulnerable condition, depicts what Gutiérrez calls a “theology of the neighbor,” which he claims has not yet been developed. This dissertation proposes a “theology of neighbor” motivated and oriented by the details of this paradigmatic standard for Christian discipleship to more fully capture how the principles of solidarity and preferential option for the poor may be put into practice. Before working out the theological, moral, and pedagogical implications for this framework, this project focuses on three key features of the present praxis that influence how “neighbor” might be understood today: the complex and compressed systems of globalization, the social disengagement of the “buffered self” as described by Charles Taylor, and the “networked self” that enjoys unprecedented rates of connectivity via digital technologies and social media. In response to the challenges posed by this socio-cultural context, this dissertation articulates a moral vision for being neighbors today. This is given shape by a matrix of virtues that include compassion, courage, fidelity, and prudence. When put into practice, these dispositions and habits are meant to inspire and sustain an integral life-pattern committed to solidarity and preferential option for the poor held in balance with the moral obligations to one’s family and friends. Narrowing the focus to students at U.S. Catholic colleges and informed by the current conditions for their personal, social, religious, and moral formation, this dissertation proposes a pedagogical approach to theological education as neighbor-formation. This involves establishing communities of practice that follow the Samaritan’s example to draw near – physically and virtually – to neighbors in need in steadfast commitment to right-relationship in solidarity. In doing so, this dissertation develops a framework of principles and practices to effectively engage today’s emerging adults to “Go and do likewise” in an increasingly globalized, digital world. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the gift of faith, the call to discipleship, and for the grace to share in the life of Jesus Christ through my work, praise be to God. To Thomas Groome, Stephen Pope, and Ana Martínez Alemán, whose steadfast encouragement, wise counsel, and bountiful gifts of time and insight throughout my time at Boston College have been more generous and formative than I could have hoped. To all my friends, mentors, and teachers near and far, especially those in the past fourteen years of my Jesuit education at Marquette High, Marquette University, Weston Jesuit, and Boston College, and ministry at St. Patrick Parish, St. Joseph Congregation, and St. Mary’s Visitation, for all you have done to nurture, inspire, and challenge me to make me who I am. Heartfelt thanks to my colleagues in the Theology and Education and Theological Ethics doctoral programs, for your hospitality, illuminating conversations, and commitment to grow in theory and practice in service to our church and world. And to the BC Campus Ministry staff – supremely Ellen Modica and Kelly Sardon Garrity – and the students in 4Boston and the Arrupe International Immersion Program, for your witness to living a faith in love for justice as women and men for others. To the people I have met and the friends I have made who have welcomed me to share in their vantage point on the margins, on the streets and in their homes, in schools and shelters, especially those in Milwaukee and Boston, elsewhere in the United States, and the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guatemala, México, and Ecuador. My scholarship is accountable to you. To my family, a most blessed, loving, and loyal community of practice: To Tom and Mollie Mescher, who have loved me through life, first cultivated the gift of my faith, and dedicate their lives to the Gospel in their daily actions and relationships. To Katie, Adam, and Leah, for filling my life with so much kindness and consolation. To Dave and Jane Blake, for your limitless love, support, and generosity, for which I can never thank you enough. To Noah David and Benjamin Francis, for the unequaled joy I find in you helps me better understand how God delights in each and every one of us, and in all creation. To Anne, for more than I can say. At least let me express my thankfulness for all you have given and given up to make this dream possible. And for the way you show me what it means to incarnate agape in the world every day through your humble and magnanimous self-gift as a spouse, mother, and nurse. For all that has been, is, and will be, I offer my deepest appreciation and gratitude and I will strive to be as generous with others as you have been with me. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Need for Samaritan-Like Neighborliness 9 Growing Up Digital 20 Forming Responsible Neighbors Today 28 Chapter 2: To Do Likewise 33 Biblical Context 35 Who Is My Neighbor? 44 Conversion to a Theology of Neighbor 57 From Charity to Solidarity? 64 Chapter 3: A Moral Vision for Neighbors Committed to Solidarity 69 Solidarity in an Age of the “Buffered Self” 71 Catholic Social Imagination: Correcting Moral Perception 85 Love in Solidarity When Claims Conflict 93 Cultivating a Matrix of Virtues 107 Chapter 4: A Turn to the Socio-Cultural Context 117 The Socio-Cultural Features of Moral Formation 118 Three Contextual Forces 133 Neighbor 2.0: Being Neighbor in a Digital Landscape 143 Chapter 5: Toward an Appropriate Pedagogy for Teaching Theology Today 169 A Deweyan Foundation 171 Education for Conscientização 177 Religious Education as Shared Christian Praxis 184 Analyzing and Applying SCPA 193 An Appropriate Pedagogy for the Present Praxis 198 Chapter 6: A Pedagogy for Neighbor-Formation: Teaching to ‘Do Likewise’ 219 Ten Pedagogical Principles and Practices for Doing Likewise Today 224 Bibliography 241 ii INTRODUCTION The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) may be Jesus’ most well-known story. Though it epitomizes the heart of Christian faith and the Great Commandment to love God and one’s neighbors as oneself, the depth of the challenge to “Go and do likewise” like the Samaritan is not as well understood and less often put into practice. Perhaps because it is such a familiar story, it is easy to gloss over the passage’s details and reduce the message to an endorsement of voluntary acts of benevolence. However, the depth of Luke’s challenge to follow the Samaritan’s example is hardly captured by episodes of charity. As a result, most disciples fail to live up to Jesus’ parting words to “Go and do likewise” (v. 37). A further challenge is issued by Peruvian priest and one of the founding voices in liberation theology, Gustavo Gutiérrez. Responding to the theological problem of human suffering in impoverished conditions, Gutiérrez presents ample biblical evidence that God desires people to be freed from dehumanizing conditions, mentalities, and practices. Faithful disciples are called to cooperate with God’s will for human liberation from sin and oppressive behaviors and social systems. This call to liberation, according to Gutiérrez, is an invitation to a spirituality that seeks right-relationship with God through accompaniment with poor, marginalized, and vulnerable peoples. The Incarnation transforms and universalizes the bond between God and humanity, making liberation a call to conversion and fidelity not only to Christ, but to Christ in the neighbor, the Christ who identifies himself with the “least” among us.1 Gutiérrez cites the Good Samaritan as 1 See Matthew 25:31-46; Gustavo Gutiérrez, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation tr. Caridad Inda and John Eagleson (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1988), 112-116. 1 depicting this conversion and commitment in conformity with God’s will for vertical and horizontal right-relationship. According to Gutiérrez, the Samaritan exemplifies a “theology of the neighbor,” which he acknowledges “has yet to be worked out.”2 In his more recent writings, Gutiérrez has developed this further to propose that the Samaritan’s actions depict the preferential option for the poor. By leaving the road to Jericho and descending into the ditch to care for the robbers’ victim, the Samaritan enters “the world of the other, of the ‘insignificant’ person, of the one excluded from dominant social sectors, communities, viewpoints, and ideas.”3 To be a neighbor together with another neighbor means this act should not be one of paternalistic pity.
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