Digital Commons Network^™

A Modus Vivendi? Sex, Marriage & The Church, William L. Portier, Nancy Dallavalle, Christopher C. Roberts, Tina Beattie, R. R. Reno, Patricia Hampl, Luke Timothy Johnson, Leslie Woodcock Tentler, Paul Baumann

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

During the 1960s, nearly 80 percent of adult Americans were married. A recent analysis of U.S. census data reported that only 52 percent of adult Americans were married in 2009. That is the lowest percentage reported in the 100 years the Census Bureau has collected such information. The reasons for this dramatic cultural shift are well known: high rates of divorce; changing attitudes toward premarital sex; social acceptability of cohabitation; the weakening of the stigma surrounding out-of-wedlock births and single parenting; the postponement of marriage and children for academic or professional reasons.

Among those with only a high-school education or …

Stanley Hauerwas’S Influence On Catholic Moral Theology, Jana Marguerite Bennett

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

One might begin considering the reception of Stanley Hauerwas’s work in Catholic moral theology by asking: why did both Commonweal and First Things opt to publish reviews of Hauerwas’s memoir Hannah’s Child? What is it about Hauerwas’s theological discussion of his own work that engages an educated Catholic audience of magazines putatively representing both ends of the spectrum? It is not only that both journals actively seek engagement with Protestant voices; nor is it only that Hauerwas has a degree of renown, thanks to Time magazine. It is also exactly what Peter Steinfels alludes to in his review, that Hauerwas …

Critical Thinking, Center For Catholic Studies, Seton Hall University

Center for Catholic Studies Faculty Seminars and Core Curriculum Seminars

No abstract provided.

Beyond Ecumenical Dialogue, Thomas Hughson

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

A Parallel That Limps: The Rhetoric Of Slavery In The Pro-Life Discourse Of U.S. Bishops, Bryan Massingale

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Virtue, Friendship, And Polis: A Reading Of Paul's Letter To The Philippians, Le Chih Hsieh

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Penitence [Dictionary Entry], M. Therese Lysaught

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Lawyering In The Christian Colony: Some Hauerwasian Themes, Reflections, And Questions, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

One who shared Hauerwas's theological commitments might find it difficult to serve as a lawyer, given that the principles of legal ethics are grounded in the kind of political liberalism that Hauerwas finds repellent. For example, Stephen Pepper's well known liberal defense of the standard conception of legal ethics pretty much pushes all of the buttons that set off Hauerwas. Pepper argues that while the law necessarily imposes restrictions on what we may do, but no one else is empowered to place restrictions on our autonomy. In a complex, highly legalistic society, however, citizens are necessarily required in some cases …

Missional Churches In Secular Societies: Theology Consults Sociology, Thomas Hughson

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

The church is missionary by nature. But what about public church mission in secular societies? Furious religion mobilizing against rebarbative secularity? Withdrawal to seek exemplary perfection? To the contrary, theologically principled consultation with the sociology of J. Casanova on deprivatized religion leads to public witness in modern societies. Public theology can interpret deprivatized religion as an expression of prophetic and kingly elements in church mission. However, sociology leaves the priestly element as if private. What might ecclesiology, missiology, and public theology say about a public aspect of the priestly element in the church’s witness in modern societies?

Ethics Brewed In An African Pot, Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

Doing ethics in African Christianity raises the challenge of over-generalization in the midst of diversity and variety. This essay surveys the wide ethical landscape of Africa, explores key ethical issues on the continent within the context of the world church, and proposes priorities for action in view of a global ethical partnership.

Moral Analysis Of A Procedure At Phoenix Hospital, M. Therese Lysaught

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Difference Creation Makes: Relative Timelessness Reconsidered, Alan G. Padgett

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

"Putting On The Neighbor": The Ciceronian Impulse In Luther's Christian Approach To Practical Reason, Gary M. Simpson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Autonomy And Care In Medicine, Hille Haker

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper argues that the core principle of bioethics, autonomy, is rooted both in the 20th century history of the development of new medical technologies as in political liberalism transferred to medical practices, rendering the medical decision-making of patients a centerpiece of medical interventions. The paper shows how the ambiguity in the interpretation of autonomy reflects the ambivalence of bioethics towards making normative claims on the moral agents insofar as these go beyond the respect for a patient’s autonomy. In the second part, the paper analyzes the alternative approach of care ethics, which intends to emphasize both the vulnerability and …

The Systemic Erasure Of The Black/Dark-Skinned Body In Catholic Ethics, Bryan Massingale

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

One of the questions I address in my scholarly work is this: What would Catholic theological ethics look like if it took the "Black Experience" seriously as a dialogue partner? To raise the question, however, is to signal the reality of absence, erasure, and "missing" voices. The question is necessary only because the "Black Experience"--the collective story of African American survival and achievement in a hostile, exploitative, and racist environment--and the bodies who are the subjects of this experience have been all too often rendered invisible and therefore "missing" in U.S. Catholic ethical reflection.

The Master Argument Of Macintyre's 'After Virtue', Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

In September of 1995 the Associated Press released a wire photo showing Russian lawmakers of both genders in a punching brawl during a session of the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament.' Is this behavior an ethnic idiosyncrasy? Do only government officials duke it out over matters of great importance? Or have fisticuffs suddenly become politically correct?

No, on all counts. Pick a topic, any topic -- abortion, euthanasia, welfare reform, military intervention in the Balkans -- and initiate discussion with a group of reasonable, well-educated people and observe the outcome. Chaos ensues. Of course the volume of the debate …

Pursuing Dialogue Between Theologians And Engineers, Jame Schaefer, Paul C. Heidebrecht

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Love, Faith, And Reason: On Academic Life As A Vocation, Thomas Hughson

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Catholic Sexual Ethics - A Necessary Revision: Theological Responses To The Sexual Abuse Scandal, Hille Haker

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Christian Realism And Augustinian (?) Liberalism, Peter Iver Kaufman

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Surely there is enough kindling lying about in the Bible and in subsequent moral theology to fire up love for neighbors and compassion for countless “friends” in foreign parts--and in crisis. And, surely, the momentum of love’s labor for the just redistribution of resources, fueled by activists’ appeals for solidarity, should be sustained by stressing that we are creatures made for affection, not for aggression. Yet experience, plus the history of the Christian traditions, taught Reinhold Niebuhr, who memorably reminded Christian realists, how often love was “defeated,” how a “strategy of brotherhood . . . degenerates from mutuality to a …

Second-Grade Children Speak: Artistic Expression Of Sin And Forgiveness In The Sacrament Of Reconciliation, Jennifer Beste

Theology Faculty Publications

Despite a long-standing historical debate in Catholicism about whether second grade is an age-appropriate time to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, there has been a virtual absence of Catholic children's own voices and perspectives about this sacrament and its spiritual and moral effects. Joining a growing number of religious scholars who stress the need to engage in child-centered research, I conducted a qualitative study interviewing Catholic second graders about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The purpose of this article is to analyze their drawings of this religious ritual. According to many psychologists and art therapists, children can best capture how they …

Calvin Theological Seminary Forum: April 2010, John W. Cooper, Scott Hoezee, Calvin Van Reken, Ronald J. Nydam

Calvin Theological Seminary Forum (2002- )

Reflections on Death and Dying
3 - What Happens When We Die? by John W. Cooper
5 - “As in Adam …” by Scott Hoezee
7 - A Hard Waiting for the Lord by Calvin Van Reken
9 - The Fear of Facing Death by Ron Nydam
11 - Growing Through Grief An interview with Robert C. DeVries and Susan J. Zonnebelt-Smeenge

Departments
14 - Formation for Ministry
15 - News

God And Time: Relative Timelessness Reconsidered, Alan G. Padgett

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of Chesterton And Tolkien As Theologians: The Fantasy Of The Real By Alison Milbank, Robert B. Slocum

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Unlocking Catholic Social Doctrine: Narrative Is Key, William J. Wagner

Scholarly Articles

The argument of the present essay is that the pragmatic pressures of contemporary circumstances that lead to Catholic social doctrine – as set out in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church, for example, – to being strongly emphasized in Catholic law schools should not be permitted to create a doctrinal hegemony severing doctrine from the contextualization from which it draws its meaning. Catholic social doctrine depends, for its coherence and truth, as do all of the doctrinal formulations within Catholicism, on its relation to both philosophical and theological understanding and, for the purposes of my present …

Review Of Chesterton And Tolkien As Theologians: The Fantasy Of The Real, By Alison Milbank, Robert B. Slocum

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

In this regard, writers such as G. K. Chesterton and J. R. R. Tolkien can be understood as theologians who "offer a theology of art as practice," a practical theology that takes the reader "into an intuition of being through the enchanted experience of art" (p. 166). In this regard, the writings of Chesterton and Tolkien provide a much-needed renewal as they counter "the loss of sign-making capaciti'" and the "draining of shared meaning from cultural discourse in the twentieth century" (p. 163).

Justice For The Displaced: The Challenge Of Christian Understanding, Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Vox Victimarum Vox Dei: Malcolm X As Neglected "Classic" For Catholic Theological Reflection, Bryan Massingale

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Decalogue Before Mount Sinai, Jo Ann Davidson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Enlightenment And Ecumenism, Ulrich Lehner

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

The contribution of monasticism to Christian theology's framework in almost all periods is undisputed. However, the eighteenth century as a period of monastic theology is still—unjustly—overlooked. That was precisely the time when monks, mostly Benedictines, challenged the traditional ways of theologizing and, along with a number of dedicated individuals, initiated what came to be called the Catholic Enlightenment.1 This movement worked not only for a renewal of ecclesiastical practice and thought, but also for a peaceful dialogue between the Christian churches and even toward an ecumenical theology. One of the most intriguing figures of this enlightened theology is the Swabian …