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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church > General
Science has now demonstrated without a doubt that we live in an
"unfinished universe." Discoveries in geology, biology, cosmology
and other fields of scientific inquiry have shown that the cosmos
has a narrative character and that the story is far from over. The
sense of a universe that is still coming into being provides a
fertile new framework for thinking about the relationship of faith
to science. John F. Haught argues that if we take seriously the
fact that the universe is a drama still unfolding, we can think new
thoughts about God, and indeed about all the perennial themes of
theology. Science's recent realization that the universe is
dramatic, however, has yet to penetrate deeply into either
spiritual or intellectual life. Most Christian thought and
spirituality still presuppose an essentially static universe while
influential academic and intellectual culture remains stuck in a
stagnant materialist naturalism and cosmic pessimism. Resting on
the Future asks about the meaning of an unfinished universe from
the point of view of both Christian theology and contemporary
intellectual life. Each chapter covers a distinct aspect of what
Haught takes to be an essential transition to a new age in Catholic
life and thought. Biology, cosmology, and other fields of science
now provide the setting for a wholesome transformation of Catholic
thought from a still predominantly pre-scientific to a more hopeful
and scientifically informed vision of God, humanity and the natural
world.
"Benedict's Rule: A Translation and Commentary" is the first
line-by-line exegesis of the entire Rule of Benedict written
originally in English. This full commentary - predominately a
literary and historical criticism - is based on and includes a new
translation, and is accompanied by essays on Benedict's spiritual
doctrine.
A monk who has striven to live according to the Rule of Benedict
for thirty-five years, Father Kardong relates it to modern monastic
life while examining the sources (Cassian, Augustine, and Basil)
Benedict used to establish his Rule. Overviews - summaries of
notes, source criticism, or structural criticism - follow some
chapters, and a large bibliography of the current scholarship and
source references are also included. "Benedict's Rule: A
Translation and Commentary" also includes the Latin text of the
"Regula Benedicti."This reference work is invaluable to libraries
and to those who are called to interpret the Rule. It will be
opened again and again. Indexed.
What role do novels, drama, and tragedy play within Christian
thought and living? The twentieth century Catholic theologian Hans
Urs von Balthasar addressed these questions using tragic drama. For
him, Christ was the true tragic hero of the world who exceeded all
tragic literature and experience. Balthasar demonstrated how
ancient, pre-Christian tragedy and Renaissance works contained
important Christian concepts, but he critiqued modern novels as
failing to be either truly tragic or Christian. By examining the
tragic novels of Thomas Hardy on their own terms, we have an
important counterpoint to Balthasar's argument that the novel is
too prosaic for theological reflection. Hardy's novels are an apt
pairing for examination and critique, as they are both classically
and biblically influenced, as well as contemporary.The larger
implication for Balthasar's theology is that his innovations in
theological aesthetics and tragedy must be expanded in the light of
modernity and the tragic novel.
John Henry Newman is often described as 'the Father of the Second
Vatican Council'. He anticipated most of the Council's major
documents, as well as being an inspiration to the theologians who
were behind them. His writings offer an illuminating commentary
both on the teachings of the Council and the way these have been
implemented and interpreted in the post-conciliar period. This book
is the first sustained attempt to consider what Newman's reaction
to Vatican II would have been. As a theologian who on his own
admission fought throughout his life against theological
liberalism, yet who pioneered many of the themes of the Council in
his own day, Newman is best described as a conservative radical who
cannot be classed simply as either a conservative or liberal
Catholic. At the time of the First Vatican Council, Newman
adumbrated in his private letters a mini-theology of Councils,
which casts much light on Vatican II and its aftermath. Noted
Newman scholar, Ian Ker, argues that Newman would have greatly
welcomed the reforms of the Council, but would have seen them in
the light of his theory of doctrinal development, insisting that
they must certainly be understood as changes but changes in
continuity rather than discontinuity with the Church's tradition
and past teachings. He would therefore have endorsed the so-called
'hermeneutic of reform in continuity' in regard to Vatican II, a
hermeneutic first formulated by Pope Benedict XVI and subsequently
confirmed by his successor, Pope Francis, and rejected both
'progressive' and ultra-conservative interpretations of the Council
as a revolutionary event. Newman believed that what Councils fail
to speak of is of great importance, and so a final chapter
considers the kind of evangelization - a topic notably absent from
the documents of Vatican II - Newman thought appropriate in the
face of secularization.
The Gouda Windows (1552-1572): Art and Catholic Renewal on the Eve
of the Dutch Revolt offers the first complete analysis of the cycle
of monumental Renaissance stained-glass windows donated to the Sint
Janskerk in Gouda, after a fire gutted it in 1552. Central among
the donors were King Philip II of Spain and Joris van Egmond,
Bishop of Utrecht, who worked together to reform the Church. The
inventor of the iconographic program, a close associate to the
bishop as well as the king, strove to renew Catholic art by taking
the words of Jesus as a starting point. Defining Catholic religion
based on widely accepted biblical truths, the ensemble shows that
the Mother Church can accommodate all true Christians.
Since 1965 there has been an explosion of fiction about being
Catholic, clearly a result of confusions in the post-Vatican II
church. American Catholic culture has suffered severe dislocations,
and fiction has provided one way of coping with those dislocations.
In Testing the Faith, Anita Gandolfo provides an overview of
fiction about the American Catholic experience. The book considers
emerging novelists such as Mary Gordon and Valerie Sayers and
established writers like Paul Theroux. Among the popular writers
covered are Andrew Greeley and William X. Keinzle. The volume also
considers the emergence of new, young writers, such as Jeanne
Schinto, Sheila O'Connor, and Philip Deaver. By analyzing patterns
in contemporary Catholic fiction, Gandolfo shows both the shared
interest these writers have in the Catholic experience and their
individual perspectives on that experience. The book is the first
to consider post-Vatican II Catholic literature, and will be of
interest to those concerned with both the Catholic experience and
current literature.
This monumental book outlines, clarifies, and defends official
Roman Catholic teaching on the relationship between christianity
and other religious traditions in the light of Catholic belief that
"We must hold that the holy spirit offers to all the possibility of
being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery"
(Gaudium et Spes, 22).
Part I studies the history of these issues. Part II examines
their theological framing. Part III deals with Christianity and the
religions since Vatican II. Part IV deals with Judaism,
Confucianism, Hinduism, and Islam as they see themselves in
relation to Christianity. A final chapter by Michael Fitzgerald is
a theological reflection on the foundations of interreligious
dialogue.
Unlike the traditional terms Counter-Reformation or Catholic
Reform, this book does not see Catholicism from 1450 to 1700
primarily in relationship to the Protestant Reformation but as both
shaped by the revolutionary changes of the early modern period and
actively refashioning itself in response to these changes: the
emergence of the early modern state; economic growth and social
dislocation; the expansion of Europe across the seas; the
Renaissance; and, to be sure, the Protestant Reformation. Bireley
devotes particular attention to new methods of evangelization in
the Old World and the New, education at the elementary, secondary
and university levels, the new active religious orders of women and
men, and the effort to create a spirituality for the Christian
living in the world. A final chapter looks at the issues raised by
Machiavelli, Galileo and Pascal. Robert Bireley is a leading Jesuit
historian and uniquely well placed to reassess this centrally
important subject for understanding the dynamics of early modern
Europe. This book will be of great value to all those studying the
political, social, religious and cultural history of the period.
Writing Catholic Women examines the interplay of gender, race,
ethnicity, nationality, and sexuality through the lens of
Catholicism in a wide range of works by women writers, forging
interdisciplinary connections among women's studies, religion, and
late twentieth-century literature. Discussing a diverse group of
authors, Jeana DelRosso posits that the girlhood narratives of such
writers constitute highly charged sites of their differing gestures
toward Catholicism and argues that an understanding of the ways in
which women write about religion from different cultural and racial
contexts offers a crucial contribution to current discussions in
gender, ethnic, and cultural studies.
Grazia Mangano Ragazzi offers an in-depth examination of the
concept of discretion in the spiritual writings of Saint Catherine
of Siena (1347-1380), who is honored as one of the few female
''Doctors'' of the Catholic Church and who in 2000 was named a
co-patroness of Europe by Pope John Paul II. Despite her
illiteracy, which necessitated that she dictate to a scribe,
Catherine is revered for her writings, which reveal spiritual
reflection of remarkable depth. At the same time she is an
inspiring example of one who remained active in the political and
ecclesiastical life of her time without sacrificing an intense
contemplative life. This book investigates the concept of
"discretion," to which Catherine dedicates chapters IX to XI of her
Dialogue and letter 213. Discretion, Ragazzi argues, is a helpful
tool for interpreting the whole edifice of Catherine's
spirituality. The term evades precise definition but can be
summarized as a form of self-knowledge that leads to an authentic
knowledge of God. Ragazzi first examines the role played by scribes
in the composition of Catherine's writings, and whether it is
possible to consider such writings as authentic representations of
her thought, then provides a detailed analysis of Catherine's works
to determine the meaning and importance of discretion in her
spirituality, and how it relates to the concept of prudence.
Ragazzi finds that the clearest influence on Catherine's thought
was that of Dominican spirituality: her spiritual director, Raymond
of Capua, was a Dominican, as was the majority of those belonging
to her circle. But Franciscan mysticism, which was prevalent in
religious life during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, also
seems to have exerted considerable influence. Ragazzi's meticulous
study shows how Catherine's way of being a theologian exemplifies
the principle that any person authentically striving to live a
Christian life, if gifted with great faith and intellectual
ability, can engage in theology in a creative manner without the
abstract and specialized speculation reserved for academic
theologians.
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