Catholic Studies Commons^™

Useful?, Fr. Randy Roche

Spiritual Essays

No abstract provided.

That's The Spirit, Fr. Randy Roche

Spiritual Essays

No abstract provided.

Savoring, Fr. Randy Roche

Spiritual Essays

No abstract provided.

Peter Abelard’S Theology Of Atonement: A Multifaceted Approach And Reevaluation, Denis Kaiser

Faculty Publications

As a person trained primarily in philosophy, Peter Abelard employed an intense questioning mentality in fleshing out his theological ideas.  His extreme debating style of totally deconstructing theological positions and then afterward including some of those same aspects into his own views made it easy for his religio-political enemies to take apparently heterodox statements and declare these as representative of Abelard’s entire atonement theology.  However, many of his theological beliefs are supported in the New Testament and were already held by the church fathers.  He frequently affirmed Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice as the ransom to redeem man.  He rejected various contemporary …

[Book Review Of] American Protestant Theology: A Historical Sketch, By Luigi Giussani, Denis Kaiser

Faculty Publications

Many scholars in the field of American religious and theological history may never have heard the name of Luigi Giussani (1922-2005) because he spent most of his life in his home country Italy, his proficiency in English was limited to reading literacy, and the majority of his writings were not concerned with American religious history anyway. Giussani was a Catholic priest, theologian, high school teacher, professor, and founder of the international movement Comunione e Liberazione. He was closely acquainted with Pope John Paul II and the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. His influence on Italian and European religious life and culture …

A Member Of No Community? Theology After Wittgenstein, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

The study of Wittgenstein has spawned a new sort of Christian theology. A growing list of theologians have discovered in Wittgenstein a therapy for conceptual confusion and tips for how to go on, not only in religious faith and practice, but also in the practice of theology as an academic discipline. This is not to say that such thinkers have succeeded in turning Wittgenstein into an instrument of apologetics or that Wittgenstein has “delivered” them from the grip of their own religious particularity. No; they have learned from Wittgenstein the skill of silence. Their theology, like Wittgenstein’s philosophy, comes to …

Ecclesial Practices, Colin M. Mcguigan, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we first provide an overview of the place of practice in some of the most prominent recent epistemologists of religion; second, we give an account of an ordinary practice (engineering) to flesh out a general conception of the importance of practice in training cognizers for skilled perception; third, and last, we connect the results of this inquiry with renewed theological and philosophical interest in the ‘spiritual senses’ tradition. The upshot of these reflections is the conclusion that an adequate account of social practices already anticipates the possibility that ecclesial practice might contribute to an epistemic transformation capable …

Practicing To Aim At Truth: Theological Engagements In Honor Of Nancey Murphy, Ryan Newson, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Well-meaning evangelicals unfamiliar with Nancey Murphy’s philosophical theology frequently worry that her work in philosophy of mind has the effect of depriving us of our souls. When such an objection is voiced after a speaking engagement, Murphy’s “reassurance” is predictable: “Don’t worry! There is nothing to be lost; we never had souls to begin with!”

Underneath her wry reply is a deep concern that philosophical confusion about “having a soul” is seriously undermining Christian discipleship. For example, it has become second nature for many Christians to hold that the soul is more important than the body; regardless of the state …

Extraordinary Love In The Lives Of Lay People, Dennis M. Doyle

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

The College Theology Society (CTS), initially called the Society of Catholic College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine, was founded mainly by religious and clergy in the early 1950s to support those who taught college-level theology to Catholics in non-seminary settings. Sometimes CTS, in comparison with another group, is said to be relatively more lay-oriented. What this actually means, I think, is that for the CTS, the college classroom, populated mainly by lay people, was the primary locus for carrying out the task of teaching theology.

The main goal was to promote the religious formation of Catholic lay people. Given some of …

Otto Semmelroth, Sj, And The Ecclesiology Of The ‘Church As Sacrament’ At Vatican Ii, Dennis M. (Dennis Michael) Doyle

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

This essay will demonstrate how Otto Semmelroth’s preconciliar work on the Church as sacrament connects with several ecclesiological themes that would later be developed in Lumen Gentium. These themes include the importance of a lay-inclusive Church, the universal call to holiness, the relationship between Mary and the Church, a Trinitarian ecclesial spirituality, and the use of sacrament as a fundamental category for organizing and interpreting a variety of images and concepts of the Church.'

First will come an attempt to take the measure of Semmelroth’s significant impact on Lumen Gentium within the context of the myriad contributions made by a …

Vatican Ii And Intellectual Conversion: Engaging The Struggle Within, Dennis M. (Dennis Michael) Doyle

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

In 1980 I took a course with Joseph Komonchak entitled “The History and Theology of Vatican II” at the Catholic University of America. True to the title, Komonchak was doing history and theology together at the same time on a class-by-class basis. He would bring in documents from the Council and from the times leading up to it, often in Latin, and he would talk about how his goals as a theologian required him to work in a historical manner. To understand Vatican II, or the Church itself for that matter, required not just understanding theological concepts but also grasping …

Mary Daughter Of God, Michael F. Nartker S.M.

Musical Compositions about the Marianist Charism

In praise of Mary

Leo The Great On The Supremacy Of The Bishop Of Rome, Denis Kaiser

Faculty Publications

Pope Leo the Great built his rationale for the supreme authority of the bishop of Rome on an existing tradition, yet with his additions he developed a theoretical rationale for later papal claims to absolute and supreme power in the ecclesiastical and secular realms. Previous bishops and church leaders had laid increasing stress on the unique role of the Apostle Peter as the founder of the Roman churches and episcopacy, the significance of the Roman bishop as Peter’s successor, and the apostolic significance of the city and episcopacy of Rome. Yet Leo’s rationale for the absolute control and power of …

Justice Without Solidarity? Collective Identity And The Fate Of The "Ethical" In Habermas' Recent Political Theory, Andrew J. Pierce

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

No abstract provided.

Inspiring Piety: The Influence Of Caravaggio’S Paintings In Santa Maria Del Popolo, Cara Coleman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This article looks at the way Italian Baroque painter, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio broke from the artistic conventions of the Renaissance and Mannerist styles in his religious paintings to create an entirely new style that reflected the needs of the post-Tridentine Catholic Church. Caravaggio pushed painting throughout Europe in a new direction, away from the idealization of the Renaissance and the artistic extremes of Mannerism, by popularizing realism in art. Caravaggio’s unique style is examined through comparisons of his paintings, The Conversion of Paul, c.1601 and The Martyrdom of Saint Peter, c.1601 in the Roman basilica, Santa Maria del Popolo …

Americanized Catholicism? A Response To Thomas Schärtl, Dennis M. Doyle

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

I stand in fundamental agreement with what Thomas Schärtl has said in his article describing recent trends in US Catholicism. I am a lifelong Catholic and a lifelong Democrat. I felt personally distressed and discouraged by the support given to Mitt Romney and the Republicans by some leading US Catholic bishops. Most of this support may have technically passed the legal test of being nonpartisan, but undeniably it functioned in a partisan manner, as did the attacks launched on President Obama in the midst of a campaign to defend religious liberty. Schärtl’s analysis of these trends as reflecting marketing strategies …

Cover And Front Matter, Black Catholic Theological Symposium

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

Cover, table of contents, administrative information

Chronology, Black Catholic Theological Symposium

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

Listing of Black Catholic Theological Symposium meetings, 1978 to present

Review — Emerging From The Vineyard: Essays By Lay Ecclesial Ministers, Edited By Maureen R. O’Brien And Susan Yanos, C. Vanessa White

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

No abstract provided.

Immigrants And Cultural Continuance In The Liturgy: Celebrating The Nigerian Igbo Mass In The United States, M. Reginald Anibueze D.D.L.

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

The dynamics of the celebration of the Igbo Mass in the United States reveals a cultural nostalgia inherent among Igbo immigrants, one that aims at preserving the Igbo identity and culture, even in the diaspora. Convinced to maintain their cultural heritage on foreign soil, Nigerian Igbo Catholic immigrants established faith communities where liturgical worship is performed and expressed in ways that are consistent and meaningful to Igbo indigenous ways of worship. This essay studies the liturgical life of Nigerian Igbo Catholics in the United States, and how a people's cultural and religious heritage is preserved, sustained, and promoted in the …

Review — Introducing African American Religion, By Anthony B. Pinn, Lareine-Marie Mosely

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

No abstract provided.

Memorial For Father Paul M. Marshall, S.M., Cecilia Moore

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

Father Paul Marshall, S.M. was born at the right time – the right time for a black man in the Catholic Church to pursue his priestly vocation. As a baby boomer, he came of age during the civil rights movement and Vatican II. These two factors uniquely positioned him to pursue his passion for freedom and faith in the black community. From childhood his vocation was evident to family and friends. His sister, Iris Marshall Brown, recalls among Father Marshall’s favorite things to do was to play Mass. Even though Paul was one of the youngest of the siblings (there …

The Black Community And The Call For Vatican Council Ii (1962-1965), Kathleen Dorsey Bellow

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

Even as the Church celebrates the 50th anniversary of Vatican Council II (1962-65), the people of God have not unfolded much of its meaning for Catholic pastoral practice and teaching. In the excitement of Council developments, many updates were implemented in the life of the church without proper catechesis, leaving many of the faithful – proponents and opponents of the Council - wholly uninformed about the continuity of Council reforms with Catholic tradition. The dialogue between the Church and contemporary society formally endorsed in Vatican II is ongoing. A review of the world’s situation in the 1950s and 60s provides …

Review — Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections Of Race And Class For Women In Academia, Edited By Yolanda Flores, Angela Harris, Gabriela Gutierrez Y Muhs And Carmen Gonzales, Roy Lee

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

No abstract provided.

From The Editor’S Desk: A Year Of Many Emotions, Kimberly Flint-Hamilton

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

No abstract provided.

Building A Story Together: The Challenge Of Conversion In A Plural Age; A Narrative Interpretation, Nathaniel Samuel

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

If Christian conversion is understood as conversion-in-history, then how does our present culture of fear, distrust and indifference to the ‘other’ animate discipleship as an ongoing process of conversion? This essay develops a narrative hermeneutic as a viable conceptual and theological framework for engaging this question. Describing the conversion process as an unfolding story of our lived “yes” to God’s self-gift, it argues that saying “yes” to God today means, among other things, welcoming the (often demanding) story of the other. The “yes” of conversion entails nurturing a narrative hospitality. The essay offers two ways to practice a spatially and …

“To See What The End Will Be”, Joseph Brown S.J.

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

A poem in honor of Sr. Eva Regina Martin, S.S.F., 1939-2014

Justice Not Benevolence: Catholic Social Thought, Migration Theory, And The Rights Of Migrants, Tisha Rajendra

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Although there are many migration theories that purport to explain why people migrate, many theologies and ethics of migration rely on neoclassical migration theory, which views migration solely as the result of poverty and unemployment in sending countries. This paper reviews various migration theories in order to argue that Catholic social teaching on migration has primarily relied on neoclassical theories of migration. This over-reliance on neoclassical migration theory has led to flawed policy recommendations and ethical analyses.

Christian ethics must respond to the reality of migration as described by migration systems theory, which suggests that migration systems are actually initiated …

Consideration Of The Church's Identity And Mission, Predicated On The Church Be-Ing 'Ligamen' (Bond), C. A. Chase

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

In 1965, the Roman Catholic Church, in Gaudium et spes, declared to the world: this community realizes that it is truly linked with mankind and its history by the deepest of bonds (GS 1). Shifting her identity from being one in opposition to the modern world, she announced the possibility of becoming the very bond (ligamen) binding diverse human communities and nations of the world, whilst existing as a function, a light, an energy (GS 42). Framed against the classical understanding of ecclesia as a perfect society, and the fact that this was no longer realistic in …

Servant Of God Patrick Peyton, Csc: Renewal Of Marian Devotion In Light Of Vatican Ii And 'Marialis Cultus', Laetitia Rhatigan

Marian Studies

Article details the efforts of Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, to have the family and family prayer included in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and to bring the Family Rosary to homes in America.