DOCSLIB.ORG

Communicating a Dangerous Memory: Soundings in Political Theology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Communicating a Dangerous Memory: Soundings in Political Theology ..=..=. -==== :=-:= ====== - -= == -==- '"="= == =- -== -=-== == -= '= == -= .=..::::=. =--==--=":.:-= =-=== - = ====-.:'- ~ ==-=;: !:-=- =si !~1i)i !Ii!i~= s Ii) :Si!lllli-f:l li;tEi!10filj ~§~~ii~§~i ~~~! i-i=~§~~ 1 n~!li=l!ijr~§ COMMUNICATING A DANGEROUS MEMORY COMMUNICATING A DANGEROUS MEMORY Soundings in Political Theology edited by Fred Lawrence Supplementary Issue of the Lonergan Workshop Journal Volume 6 Fred Lawrence, editor Scholars Press Atlanta, Georgia COMMUNICATING A DANGEROUS MEMORY Soundings in Political Theology edited by Fred Lawrence © 1987 Boston College Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Communicating a dangerous memory. 1. Christianity and politics--Congresses. 2. Lonergan, Bernard J. F .--Congresses. I. Lawrence, Fred. II. Lonergan workshop, V. 6 (Supplement) BR115.P7C615 1987 261.7 87-9442 ISBN 1-55540-135-X (alk. paper) Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper EDITOR'S NOTE Our two-day symposium on Communicating Dangerous Memory was inspired by the semester-long presence as Visiting Lecturer at Boston College of Johann Baptist Metz. As he made so abundantly clear in his lecture and seminar courses, narrative and memory, especially the dangerous memory of Jesus Christ crucified and risen, have been central to his attempts to work out a new practical and political paradigm for theology. We thought it would be a good idea to share the excitement and vividness of Metz's teaching time here with participants at one of the Lonergan Workshop's mini-sessions. Baptist Metz indicated that he would prefer to do this in a collaborative way, so that three of the articles in this volume come from that occasion. We at Boston College are fortunate to have as part of our perma­ nent staff one who has surely devoted decades of productive existence precisely to communicating the dangerous memory of the suffering and risen One, Sebastian Moore. So we thought it fitting that Sebastian contribute a sliver of his prolific and profound meditation upon our dying and rising with Christ to this symposium. The remaining speakers besides Baptist Metz were Matthew Lamb and I. We had agreed to cast our presentations in the mold of reflections upon our own dangerous memories. Matthew Lamb, surely the most well­ known student of Metz here in the United States, gave a talk recalling his own sharing in Metz's envisioning of an integrally interdisciplinary university that included theology as an organ of critical reflection in the Church. Since Metz's withdrawal from practical engagement with establishing a Catholic faculty at the interdisciplinary university at Bielefeld, this dimension of the task of theology in a political para­ digm has vanished from the forefront of his thinking--which Baptist Metz admitted with regret in his response to Matthew. Thus, his talk was a salutory and provacative reminder that the political paradigm's emphasis upon the narrative modes of emanicipatory anamnesis in no way implies a dedifferentiation on the part of the theologian, but quite the contrary. Unfortunately, Matthew Lamb's talk--which Gregory Baum called the v vi Lawrence clearest and most passionate he'd ever heard Matthew deliver--is not contained in this volume. But the tenor and implications of his com- ments may be found both in the immediate documentation of his collabora­ tion with Metz during his German sojourn, History, Method, and Theology, and in his more recent Solidarity with Victims. My own talk is a recollection of my biographical involvement with political theology, and of how several strands of experience have a possibility of integration on the basis of what turn out to be the quite practical and political implications of Lonergan's work. Johann Baptist Metz's talk, so kindly transcribed for us by his graduate assistant for that semester, J. Michael Stebbins, begins with a moving narrative of Baptist's own biographical way to the breakthrough from Rahner's paradigm to his political one. It then elaborates the specifically apocalyptic orientation that Metz sees as characteristic of the new paradigm. This volume opens with the first annual George Link Jr. Lecture, delivered in October 1986 to mark the opening of our Boston College Lonergan Center. The lecturer, most appropriately, was Frederick Crowe, long friend and mentor to students of Lonergan's thought. We are grate­ ful both to the Link Foundation for sponsoring this lecture, and to Fred Crowe for sharing his observsations on a very timely topic. The other articles in this volume come not directly from the symposium with Johann Baptist Metz, but from other Lonergan Workshops. I have decided to include them here because they demonstrate the relevance of Lonergan's orientation to political and liberation theol­ ogy/philosophy in a way that is not just theoretical and programmatic, but altogether concrete. The piece by Patrick Byrne of Boston College's Philosohy Depart­ ment and Richard Carroll Keeley, Director of the PULSE Program at BC, arises from their collaborative efforts to help students reflect con­ cretely on values in relation to the good of order in cities like Boston. Perhaps no one shares Lonergan's nose for the concrete as much as Jane Jacobs, an author he esteemed most highly; and Byrne and Keeley avail themselves of her insights into the concrete in reflecting on the Editor's Note vii relationship between horizon and orientation and the architectural con­ ditioning of human spaces and times. The bulk of this volume is taken up by the report of John Boyd Turner on the development project with which he was involved in the Philippines. It is an unusual gift to have on hand a person who is not an academic, who has been practically engaged in social transformation, and whose outlook has been profoundly affected by method in Lonergan's sense. As you will see, John's reflections take more the shape of soudings than of final and summary conclusions. We have accomodated ourselves to the extraordinary length of John's article both because their value lies in the interplay between theoretical and the concrete; and because, as Abby Warburg said of works of art, "The love of God resides in the details." Our thanks go out to Michael Stebbins and Matthew Mullane for transcribing and reading proof, to Nancy Woodhouse and Sheila Kilcullen for wordprocessing, and to our manuscript and layout editor, Charles Refling. January, 1987 FRED LAWRENCE CON TEN T S Editor's Notes v "'I'he Role of a Catholic University in the Modern World" - An Update Frederick E. Crowe, S.J. Dangerous Memory and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed Fred Lawrence 17 Communicating a Dangerous Memory J. B. Metz 37 The Communication of a Dangerous Memory Sebastian Moore 55 LeCorbusier's Finger and Jacobs's Thought: The Loss and Recovery of the Subject in the City Patrick H. Byrne Richard Carroll Keeley 63 Lonergan's Practical Political Transformative Understanding: The Example of Development in the Philippine Province of Northern Samar John Boyd Turner 109 ix -THE ROLE OF A CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY IN THE MODERN WORLD--- AN UPDATE Frederick E. Crowe, S.J. Lonergan Research Institute of Regis College A lecture series instituted in honor of Bernard Lonergan need hardly justify the choice of Catholic universities as the first topic to be treated, for Lonergan's whole career was dedicated to the university ideal in Catholic studies. Even when his work was carried on in a semi­ nary milieu, it was designed to meet rigorous university standards and to raise seminary studies to the highest academic level. Some explanation is needed, however, for the particular form of the title I chose. The main phrase is in quotation marks, the reference here being to an article Lonergan wrote many years ago in the Montreal Relations on "The Role of a Catholic University in the Modern World" (Lonergan, 1951). If I take the present occasion to try to update that article, I can claim a measure of justification in a simple accident of history. We are approaching the thirtieth anniversary of Lonergan's great work, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (Lonergan, 1957a) and Boston College is already laying plans to celebrate the event in its annual workshop next June. Now it was during his work on Insight that Lonergan wrote "The Role of a Catholic University." The article was in many ways an epitome of the book and an index of its long-range purpose. It seemed to me therefore that, as Lonergan's article anticipated his book, I might use this lecture to update the thesis of the article and thus anticipate the anniversary that Boston College proposes to cele­ brate. Naturally I look to Lonergan himself for help in this ambitious enterprise: the updating will be more his than mine. And I find help in a second monumental work he wrote: Method in Theology (Lonergan, 1972), which followed Insight fifteen years later. I would say, in a single- 2 Crowe sentence summary of those two works that, where Insight set forth the dynamism of human spirit in a structured set of operations, Method used that operational structure to create an organon for human development-­ human development in its broadest scope: not just in theology, but in the whole range of the human enterprise, including therefore the enter­ prise of academe and in particular of the Catholic university. So much for an introduction to my topic: now to the topic itself. It is a large one, a very large one indeed. I shall have to resort to various limitations as I proceed, but at least I can get quickly to the nub of my argument by putting it in the form of a thesis. The thesis is twofold: first, the Catholic university is a specialized learning arm of a learning church set in the midst of a learning human race; and, sec­ ondly, it is just in this sadly neglected learning function of the race, of the church, of the university, that Lonergan's work can make a momen­ tous contribution.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Spring Newsletter
    New Camaldoli Hermitage SPRING 2017 CONTEMPLATION IN ACTION “The mysticism of compassion does not aim at a blind experience of God that is devoted exclusively to one’s own interiority, but to the disruptive experience that occurs when dealing with others, in the dynamics of interpersonal encounters, face to face. This is an experience that is mystical and political at the same time.” ~ Johann Baptist Metz pages 2–7 IN THIS ISSUE 2 Message from the Prior: A Time of Need and Gratitude 2 In Memoriam: Br. Emmanuel Wassinger, OSB Cam 3 Br. Emmanuel: Stories Gathered Along the Way 4 Contemplation in Action 5–6 Subversive Orthodoxy—Robert Inchausti 7–9 Reflections ­­ on a Comtemplative Life in Action 10 Becoming Shelter—Deborah Smith Douglas 11 Spirituality with Open Eyes—Prior General Alessandro Barban quoting Johann Baptist Metz 12 World Day of Peace—Fr. Cyprian Consiglio 13 Oblates and Contemplation in Action— Fr. Robert Hale 13 Vita Monastica 14 Monastery of the Risen Christ 14 Development 15 Activities and Visitors 62475 Highway 1, Big Sur, CA 93920 • 831 667 2456 • www.contemplation.com 62475 Highway 1, Big Sur, CA 93920 • 831 667 2456 • www.contemplation.com Message From the Prior In Memoriam: Br. Emmanuel A Time of Need and Gratitude Wasinger, OSB Cam As many of you know by now, the central coast of California was walloped by an atmospheric river of rain this winter, which destroyed sections of Highway 1 and badly damaged our own entrance road. Our property is right in the middle of the most fragile part of the coast, and the worst damage to Highway 1, called Paul’s Slide, was just south of our own entry road.
    [Show full text]
  • Do This in Memory of Me‖: the Genealogy and Theological
    ―DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME‖: THE GENEALOGY AND THEOLOGICAL APPROPRIATIONS OF MEMORY IN THE WORK OF JOHANN BAPTIST METZ A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Candace Kristina McLean J Matthew Ashley, Director Graduate Program in Theology Notre Dame, Indiana April 2012 © Copyright 2012 Candace Kristina McLean ―DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME‖: THE GENEALOGY AND THEOLOGICAL APPROPRIATIONS OF MEMORY IN THE WORK OF JOHANN BAPTIST METZ Abstract by Candace Kristina McLean Many theologians have been influenced by Johann Metz‘s theology of memory. To examine Metz‘s sources and how others expand upon his work, I propose a two-part thesis. Part one arises from critical appraisal of sources upon which Metz relies in formulating his idea of memory. While the thinkers Metz draws upon are secular Jewish philosophers, Metz appropriates key notions in specifically theological ways by linking them with the memoria passionis of Jesus Christ and the Jewish religious roots of memory. Furthermore, Metz‘s apocalyptic/eschatological hope for the future differs from secular and postmodern hopes for something surprising, new, and redemptive because Metz advocates real, faith-filled content for these ideas. Part two of the thesis is critical-constructive. Metz‘s idea of memory has the potential to be more than an anthropological category. While reticent to speak of God‘s memory, anamnestic reason becomes a way of speaking about God‘s work of salvation for and with humanity. This becomes clearer when his idea of memory is considered in conjunction with the theology of God‘s memory in the writings of Latin American Candace Kristina McLean liberation theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez.
    [Show full text]
  • Passionate Theology
    Passionate Theology. Desire, Passion and Politics in the Theology of J B Metz∗ - Part II H Murray Hofmeyr (University of Pretoria) ABSTRACT Passionate Theology. Desire, Passion and Politics in the Theology of J B Metz - Part II The author argues that a theory of concupiscence (desire), the subject of much of Metz’s early work (during his “transcendental phase”) implicitly plays a decisive role in his Political Theology. The implied concept of concupiscence is explicated with the aid of the major categories of a theory of reification as developed by Lukács, Benjamin and Adorno. The main categories of Metz’s Political Theology (notably asceticism, theodicy, negative theology and praxis) are linked to the (implied) central concept of concupiscence, eventually described as the might of what is. As this might seems to be absolute, the problem of the praxis of the believer becomes acute. Metz calls for a theology that integrates into its concepts, societal, historical and cultural contexts. His notion of praxis as privation is interpreted in terms of longing and resistance. 1 ASCETICISM AS POLITICAL-THEOLOGICAL CATEGORY 1.1 The three aspects of non-identity According to Metz the concept of God is practical. This means that theology is situated. For Metz, as a European theologian, his context is characterised by the experience of non-identity. He resolutely proposes correctives to theological designs that he suspects of too much identity. The non-identity in terms of which Metz describes his context has three aspects: the unresolved project of Enlightenment; the catastrophe of Auschwitz; and the problem of the relationship of the First and Third Worlds (Metz 1992b:10).
    [Show full text]
  • Father Matthew L. Lamb
    Fr. Matthew L. Lamb’s C.V. December 31, 2017 Father Matthew L. Lamb Priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Professor of Theology Ave Maria University 5068 Annunciation Circle #203 Ave Maria, Florida 34142-9670 Tel. 239-216-1024 [email protected] [email protected] I. EDUCATION: 1974 Doktor der Theologie summa cum laude, Catholic Faculty of Theology, Westfälsche Wilhelms University, Münster, Germany. 1967-71 Doctoral studies, University of Tübingen (one semester) and Münster (six semesters). 1966 S.T.L. cum laude [9 out of 10], the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy. 1964-67 Graduate studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. August 14, 1962 ordained to the Roman Catholic Priesthood, Trappist Monastery of the Holy Spirit, Conyers, Georgia; now a Roman Catholic priest incardinated in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. 1960-64 Theological studies at the Trappist Monastic Scholasticate, Monastery of the Holy Spirit, Conyers, Georgia. 1957-60 Philosophical studies at the Trappist Monastic Scholasticate, Conyers, Georgia. II. TEACHING: A. Marquette University, College of Arts & Sciences 1973-74 Instructor in Systematic Theology B. Marquette University, Graduate School 1974-79 Assistant Professor of Fundamental Theology 1979-85 Associate Professor of Fundamental Theology C. University of Chicago, Divinity School & Graduate School 1980 Visiting Associate Professor in Philosophical Theology. Page 1 of 46 Fr. Matthew L. Lamb’s C.V. December 31, 2017 D. Boston College, College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School 1985-88 Associate Professor of Theology 1989 - 2004 Professor of Theology E. Ave Maria University, Department of Theology 2004 - 2014 Professor of Theology and Chairman 2015 - Professor of Theology III.
    [Show full text]
  • Solidarity and the Reshaping of Spirituality
    Solidarity and the Reshaping of Spirituality William Reiser, SJ The word 'solidarity' has become as firmly a part of our contempo­ rary theological and spiritual vocabularies as the expressions 'faith and justice' and 'the preferential option for the poor'. Not only has solidarity been a favorite expression in the homilies, addresses, allo­ cutions and encyclicals of John Paul II, who knew its sociological real­ ity very well from the labor movements in his native Poland, but it also appears with remarkable frequency in a wide range of religious as well as non-religious writing.1 Indeed, we might not be far from the mark in suggesting that the term 'solidarity', more aptly and more adequately than 'spirituality', summarizes for today's believer what living in Christ is all about. As a religious term, solidarity enjoys an important advantage over 1. See for instance, On Socinl Co11cern (Sol/icitudo Rei Socia /is), Nos. 38-40. The Pope interprets the term religiously: 'Solidarihj is undoubtedly a Clrristinn virtue' (David O'Brien and Thomas Shannon [eds.], Catholic Social Thought: The Docu111e11- tnry Heritage [Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1992), p. 423). Also, see the Index entries under 'solidarity' in J. Michael Miller (ed.), The Encyclicals of john Pnu/ II (Huntington, IN; Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 1996), as well as the entries in Giorgio Filibeck (ed.), Human Rights in the Teaching of tire Church: From john XXllI to John Paul JI (Va tican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994). The term had been used by Pius XII (On the Unity of H11111n11 Society [Summi Po11tificat11s], Nos.
    [Show full text]
  • Roman Catholic Liturgical Renewal Forty-Five Years After Sacrosanctum Concilium: an Assessment KEITH F
    Roman Catholic Liturgical Renewal Forty-Five Years after Sacrosanctum Concilium: An Assessment KEITH F. PECKLERS, S.J. Next December 4 will mark the forty-fifth anniversary of the promulgation of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, which the Council bishops approved with an astounding majority: 2,147 in favor and 4 opposed. The Constitution was solemnly approved by Pope Paul VI—the first decree to be promulgated by the Ecumenical Council. Vatican II was well aware of change in the world—probably more so than any of the twenty ecumenical councils that preceded it.1 It had emerged within the complex social context of the Cuban missile crisis, a rise in Communism, and military dictatorships in various corners of the globe. President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated only twelve days prior to the promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium.2 Despite those global crises, however, the Council generally viewed the world positively, and with a certain degree of optimism. The credibility of the Church’s message would necessarily depend on its capacity to reach far beyond the confines of the Catholic ghetto into the marketplace, into non-Christian and, indeed, non-religious spheres.3 It is important that the liturgical reforms be examined within such a framework. The extraordinary unanimity in the final vote on the Constitution on the Liturgy was the fruit of the fifty-year liturgical movement that had preceded the Council. The movement was successful because it did not grow in isolation but rather in tandem with church renewal promoted by the biblical, patristic, and ecumenical movements in that same historical period.
    [Show full text]
  • A Comparative Study of the Hermeneutics of Henri De Lubac and Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Tradition, Community and Faith in Th
    THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA A Comparative Study of the Hermeneutics of Henri de Lubac and Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Tradition, Community and Faith in the Interpretation of Scripture A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Eric Joseph Jenislawski Washington, DC 2016 A Comparative Study of the Hermeneutics of Henri de Lubac and Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Tradition, Community and Faith in the Interpretation of Scripture Eric Joseph Jenislawski Director: John T. Ford, CSC, S.T.D. ABSTRACT This dissertation investigates and compares the hermeneutics of the French Jesuit theologian, Henri de Lubac (1896-1991), and the German philosopher, Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2001). The writings of both Gadamer and de Lubac continue to generate scholarly investigation, including proposals to apply their insights to contemporary biblical interpretation. Although de Lubac and Gadamer were contemporaries, they never directly engaged each other’s writings; this dissertation brings their thought into dialogue. Chapter One provides a biographical overview of the lives of both scholars by situating the texts that will be examined within the broader context of each work. Since de Lubac approached the subject of biblical interpretation chiefly as an historian of exegesis, the first step in this comparative investigation is a formulation of de Lubac’s hermeneutical principles. Chapter Two, which constitutes the major portion of this dissertation, analyzes de Lubac’s works Catholicisme, Histoire et Esprit, Exégèse médiévale, and La Postérité spirituelle de Joachim de Flore in view of understanding his hermeneutics.
    [Show full text]
  • Hope in Action
    Introduction "Always be ready . ." “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15). Within this biblical charge, addressed to early Christian communities suffering religious persecution at the turn of the second century, we find a concentrated expression of a task that has persistently pressed itself upon Christian theology. What is that hope which would sustain Christian communities down through the centuries? How might theologians offer an account of that hope responsive to the distinct demands of their time? Although the history of Christian theology might be read profitably as an effort to respond to these questions through the range of traditional theological topoi, beginning in the 1960s a number of prominent theologians in Europe would move these questions to the center of their theological projects as they attempted to renew the Christian tradition’s reading and appropriation of the doctrine of eschatology. Examined from a new historical vantage point, they identified in this doctrine a potent and compelling resource for offering a defense of the Christian’s hope under the conditions of the modern world. Two Catholic theologians who contributed to this turn to eschatology in the mid-1960s and for whom eschatology has been a 1 HOPE IN ACTION crucial concern ever since are Edward Schillebeeckx (1914–2009) and Johann Baptist Metz (b. 1928).1 In their early writings, each of these theologians worked to uncover the manner in which the Christian’s eschatological expectations for the future radically impinge on the present.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Theology: an Introduction
    School of Continuing Studies Autumn 2015 Georgetown University LSHV 493-01 ______________________________________________________________________ POLITICAL THEOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION Mondays, 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM, White-Gravenor 206B September 2 – December 9 Course Description There is no question that we are witnessing a revival of political theology as an academic disci- pline; a theology that has, through the ages, adapted to exigencies like secularization, moderni- zation, globalization, et al. As an academic discipline, political theology addresses questions such as, the relationship between theology and politics; the relationship between Church and State; the role of religion in public life; and, to what extend religious belief might/should shape our political discourse. Introduction to Political Theology is a graduate course that will explore the historical roots of political theology, while examining the philosophical, theological, and sociological relationship between religious faith and political life in civil society. Class readings will highlight some of the primary sources that influenced religious and secular practices and the ordering of society through the ages. We will look at the first generation of political theologians (Johann Baptist Metz, who started it all) and the second generation of political theologians (Cavanaugh, Hau- erwas, Milbank, O’Donovan, Yoder). Our discussions will focus on the age-old tension between the transcendent and secular, the sacred and the profane, and how this on-going oscillation has shaped and continues to shape public discourse. Through classroom discussion, reading of primary sources and class presentations, the peda- gogy of this course is designed to bring students up to date in the growing field of political the- ology.
    [Show full text]
  • Suffering and the Search for Wholeness: Beauty and the Cross in Hans Urs Von Balthasar and Contemporary Feminist Theologies
    Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2009 Suffering and the Search for Wholeness: Beauty and the Cross in Hans Urs Von Balthasar and Contemporary Feminist Theologies Elisabeth T. Vasko Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Vasko, Elisabeth T., "Suffering and the Search for Wholeness: Beauty and the Cross in Hans Urs Von Balthasar and Contemporary Feminist Theologies" (2009). Dissertations. 282. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/282 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2009 Elisabeth T. Vasko LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO SUFFERING AND THE SEARCH FOR WHOLENESS: BEAUTY AND THE CROSS IN HANS URS VON BALTHASAR AND CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST THEOLOGIES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN THEOLOGY BY ELISABETH T. VASKO DECEMBER 2009 Copyright by Elisabeth T. Vasko, 2009 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I want thank my doctoral committee at Loyola University of Chicago. I am grateful to all three for their time, commitment, and investment in my development as a scholar and as a person. As my director, Susan Ross saw me through the best and worst parts of this process.
    [Show full text]
  • Presidential Address 1904-1984, Karl Rahner, Theologian
    PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1904-1984, KARL RAHNER, THEOLOGIAN During this past winter as I began remote preparations for my talk I read all the presidential addresses since the first. Although our society was conceived in Washington in 1945 and came to birth in New York in 1946, the first formal presidential address did not occur until 1953 at the eighth meeting when Monsignor John Fearns of Dunwoodie spoke of the theological productivity of Pope Pius XII. A presidential address does not then pertain to the esse of our Society, some might say not even to its bene esse. The addresses differed notably in length from seven pages to thirty-five, the longest that of Lawrence J. Riley prepared for 1960, a text that would have taken him two hours to deliver. Their literary genres varied considerably: a position paper on a subject dear to the president's heart; a report on the progress and future of the Society; or a comment on the state of theology. At least three of the presidents went on to become bishops, though I doubt that their addresses contributed much to that honor. At first my plan was to compare Catholic theology in the years 1904 and 1984, since 1904 was the year of birth for John Courtney Murray, Yves Congar, Bernard Lonergan, and Karl Rahner. I began reading what various theological journals were publishing that year. As the weeks advanced and my research progressed, I paused on March 5 to commemorate the eightieth birthday of Karl Rahner. When I heard the news from Innsbruck that Rahner had passed into eternal life on March 30, I decided then to devote this address to his life and work.
    [Show full text]
  • Konturen 1 (2008) 1 Political Theology Revisited: Carl Schmitt's Postwar
    Konturen 1 (2008) 1 Political Theology Revisited: Carl Schmitt’s Postwar Reassessment Peter Hohendahl Cornell University The essay examines the pronounced theological turn of the late Carl Schmitt, especially in his Politische Theologie II (1970). He aim is to understand what Schmitt meant by a “Catholic intensification” in the relationship between theology and political theory. The essay gives equal attention to Schmitt’s polemic against the theologian Peterson, who denied the possibility of political theology, and the dialogue with the philosopher Hans Blumenberg, who had severely criticized Schmitt’s conception of secularization. The essay shows that in both instances the opposition merely encouraged Schmitt to sharpen and clarify his own theological position, which includes heretical Gnostic elements. In the present discourse on Carl Schmitt the importance of the theological aspect of his work is still controversial (Hollerich 2007, Müller 2003). One could even speak of a divide. While Continental critics have, by and large, acknowledged the significance of Schmitt's theological thought, especially German scholars, the Anglo-American discourse has mostly deemphasized this aspect as a minor part of his political theory. After all, in Politische Theologie (1922) Schmitt speaks of analogies between theological and political concepts and reminds his readers of a historical dimension of modern political theory that is ultimately rooted in theological thought. Moreover, Schmitt himself later informed his readers that he always understood himself as a legal theorist without any ambition to intrude into the discipline of the theologians. In short, one could treat the theological aspect of Schmitt's early theory as an interesting extension of his legal and political theory without paying too much attention to it.
    [Show full text]