The Church and the Power of Prayer for “the Others”

Horizons ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-229
Author(s):  
Gerald O'Collins
Keyword(s):  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Theology Of Religions ◽  
Efficacy Of Prayer ◽  
Priestly Ministry ◽  
The Church

This article critically examines the views of Jacques Dupuis, Gavin D'Costa, and Francis Sullivan on the church's intercession for those of other living faiths or of no faith at all. After clarifying what the Scholastic terminology of “final” and “moral” causality means, it shows how 1 Timothy and Vatican II's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy elucidate intercession for “others.” Here a rich tradition of philosophical-theological reflection on the efficacy of prayer can no longer be ignored. Finally, intercession for “others” is inspired by love for them, and brings the faithful to share in Christ's priestly ministry for the whole world. In these ways, the article aspires to open up new themes for the theology of religions.

scholarly journals Onherhaalbaar, onontdoenbaar: Die doop as simbool van eenheid in die kerk

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Van Oudtshoorn
Keyword(s):  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Spiritual Journey ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
The One ◽  
Expanded Concept ◽  
The Church ◽  
Significant Milestone

Irrevocably singular: Baptism as a symbol of unity in the church. In this article I conduct a phenomenological analysis of the concept ‘one baptism’ in Ephesians 4:4−6. Such an analysis seeks to reveal the essence of a particular concept by bracketing out the theological and ideological presuppositions usually associated with it. The essential concept is then expanded by linking it to the terms most closely surrounding it in the text. A critical theological reflection on the expanded concept shows that ‘one baptism’ refers to an event by which believers are inducted, once and for all, into the church as the one body of the one Lord, Jesus Christ. The church exists through the presence of the one Spirit who binds believers in an unbreakable bond of love to God and to each other. Because baptism can never be undone or repeated, any liturgical act depicted as a ‘re-baptism’ is, by definition, impossible. This means that churches that baptise the children of believing parents are able to accommodate requests from people who, having been baptised as an infant, in later life wish to celebrate and testify to some significant milestone in their spiritual journey by means of an official church ritual. Such ritualised testimonies, however, refer to the existential lifeworld of believers (their repentance, confession of faith etc.) and are distinct from baptism that refers to the singular eschatological work of Christ and thus cannot be repeated. The church should, however, take pastoral care to ensure that people do not substitute their own spiritual experiences for the reality of salvation that is founded on the singular act of God, for us once and for all in Christ, to which baptism irrevocably refers.

The 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church and the Liturgy: New Wine in Old Wineskins?

2016 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 681-701
Author(s):  
Bryan Cones
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Center Of Gravity ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Episcopal Church ◽  
Book Of Common Prayer ◽  
Liturgical Reform ◽  
Common Prayer ◽  
The Church

The 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church generated a significant number of resolutions related to the church's liturgy, most of which passed both Houses, including resolutions authorizing preparation of the revision of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and The Hymnal 1982. A review of the resolutions related to liturgy and music, however, raises fundamental questions about the kind of liturgical reform the church may undertake and how it may integrate growing appreciation for linguistic and cultural diversity in the church, including the insights of feminist, postcolonial, and LGBTQ theological reflection and those produced by theologians of color. This essay argues that serious engagement with these questions suggests a completely reimagined liturgical “center of gravity” that integrates the insights of liturgical scholarship and practice since the authorization of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and The Hymnal 1982, while providing the flexibility to respond to the church's current diverse contexts.

scholarly journals Curriculum design in theology and development: Human agency and the prophetic role of the church

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverley Haddad
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
The Social ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church

The field of theology and development is a relatively new sub-discipline within theological studies in Africa. The first formal post-graduate programme was introduced at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa during the mid-1990s. In the early years it was known as the Leadership and Development programme and since 2000, as the Theology and Development programme. Over the past twenty years, this programme has graduated over 160 BTh Honours, 100 MTh, and 15 PhD students. This article outlines the history of the programme, addresses its ideological orientation, its pedagogical commitments and preferences in curriculum design. It further argues that theological reflection on “development” must seek to understand the prophetic role of the church in responding to the complexities of the social issues facing the African continent.  Key to this discussion is the contested nature of “development” and the need for theological perspectives to engage this contestation through a social analysis of the global structures of injustice. This requires an engagement with the social sciences. It is this engagement of the social sciences with theological reflection, the essay argues, that has enabled the students who have graduated from the Theology and Development Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal to assist the church and faith-based organisations to become effective agents of social transformation.

scholarly journals Posługa kapłanów w postanowieniach duszpasterskiego Synodu Archidiecezji Lwowskiej i Diecezji Łuckiej 1995-1997

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 43-58
Author(s):  
Jan Dyduch
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Church Life ◽  
God's People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Priestly Ministry ◽  
The Church

Synod of the Archdiocese of Lvov, inaugurated 16th January 1995, concluded 21st January 1997, became the brilliant event in the Archdiocese’s dramatic history of the last decades. The Synod assumed the renewal of the Church of Lvov and Luck on a basis of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the provisions of Canon Law. The renewal of the Church life requires the renewal of priestly ministry. The Synod of Lvov turns priests’ attention to their participation in the triple mission of the Church. They take part in the teaching mission when they preach the Gospel, teach catechism and evangelize by means of mass media. They fulfil their mission of sanctification when they administer sacraments and take care ofreligious practices and piety of the faithful. While guiding God’s people and performing manifold cure of souls, they carry out their pastoral mission.

scholarly journals Manifesting the Sacred: John La Farge’s The Lampbearer as a Model for Catholic Presence in the World

Lumen et Vita ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin LaBadie
Keyword(s):  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Present Patient ◽  
American Artist ◽  
God's Love ◽  
The World ◽  
Union With God ◽  
The Church

What does it mean for the Church to be in the world? In this paper, I propose that it means for the Church to be sacred, i.e., all Catholics are called to live sacredly. How is the sacred defined? To answer this question, I look to the American artist, John La Farge (1835-1910), whose works are currently being displayed at Boston College's McMullen Museum. The exhibition examines La Farge's "lifelong efforts to visualize the sacred." Given this, I offer a theological reflection on La Farge's painting of the Wise Virgin in order to elucidate what it means to live sacredly: being in tension between the transcendent and the imminent. In other words, to live sacredly means to be attentive, patient, and faithful to the ultimate coming of God's kingdom, yet also to be present, patient, and concerned with the practical worldly challenges of today. This sacredness begins to manifest God's love and kingdom on Earth even if there is still a longing for God’s full glory which is not yet present. This is how the Church is to be in the world. The Church should be attentive to the numerous challenges on Earth while remembering her ultimate end is union with God in Heaven. To forget this latter point would make the Church a mere NGO detached from God while to forget the former would make the Church an arthritic institution detached from those who suffer. Therefore, all Catholics are called to live in the tension between the transcendent and the imminent.

Faith, Praxis, and Practical Theology: At the Interface of Sociology and Theology

Horizons ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Lawler
Keyword(s):  
Practical Theology ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Actual Situation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

ABSTRACTThis essay is an exercise in practical theology, the theological reflection arising out of and in response to the church's actual situation. Practical theology insists that it is not enough to analyze the church's actual situation with deductive, ahistorical theological principles, but that it is necessary, first, to uncover and, then, reflect critically on the actual situation to test it for the presence of the Spirit, relevance, and significance in light of the gospel. Practical theology grows out of the relationship between theoria and praxis which, for the church, is the relationship between faith and praxis. The essay argues that to recognize scientifically the church's actual situation and to perform the required theological reflection practical theology requires sociology.The essay explores, therefore, the relationship between practical theology and the data of sociological research. It also examines the theological realities, sensus fidei and reception, and explores their relationship to that data. The exploration is concretized theologically by a consideration of the sociological data and theology about two Catholic moral doctrines, divorce and remarriage without prior annulment and artificial contraception. A theological reflection on the actual situation of both doctrines and a sociological consideration of the data suggest the conclusion that a dramatic development and re-reception of both doctrines, in line with previous dramatic developments of doctrine in the church, is under way.

scholarly journals Priest in the Inner City

Ecclesiology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-31
Author(s):  
Martin Gainsborough
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Human Community ◽  
Priestly Ministry ◽  
The Church ◽  
Day By Day

The article considers the strengths and weaknesses of John Milbank’s ecclesiology by examining encounters the author has had as a Church of England priest working in the inner city. The analysis is further sharped by setting Milbank’s ecclesiology alongside Rowan Williams’s ideas about the Church and priestly ministry. The article argues that, while there is more to Milbank’s ecclesiology than some critics have allowed, his account can be usefully supplemented by close attention to the lived experience of the Church day by day. For a more rounded characterization of the Church as a distinctive human community, we need to look at the Church taken to its limits, sticking with situations of ‘dis-ease and conflict’, and not looking for ‘quick and false solutions’. These points can all be found in Williams’s ecclesiology.

Confessional Theology in Public Places

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason S. Sexton
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Public Places ◽  
The World ◽  
Christian Missionary ◽  
The Church

This article considers the nature of public theology by assessing essential features of western public space and precisely how Christian confession takes shape in those contexts. In doing so the article argues that instead of understanding theology as something done primarily from the church to the world, perhaps it is best acknowledged that theology is done within the setting of common societal structures, in particular locations and in situations where believers are enabled to confess the hope within them. An understanding of this dynamic nature of Christian confession and the variegated expositions of theological reflection corresponds to the dynamic expressions of faith, in word and deed, which correspond to the Christian missionary impulse.

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