scholarly journals Encyclical Laudato si’ on the Question of Progress

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-42
Author(s):  
Witold Kania
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Holy Trinity ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Fundamental Significance ◽  
History Of ◽  
Material Progress ◽  
Political Decisions

Progress is one of the most recognizable characteristics of modern times. The present paper addresses the question of progress as the underlying theme of the encyclical Laudato si'. Progress has both good and bad sides. The latter are expressed in terms that have a fundamental significance to the encyclical, such as, “irrational faith in progress” and “the myth of unlimited material progress”. In order to gain a clearer understanding of those terms, the author begins with outlining the history of the idea of progress and the philosophical criterion for its assessment. Then, he provides a critical analysis of the technocratic paradigm embodying the false face of progress. Within this framework, progress is presented as imperative and unlimited. However, by placing man in the centre and reducing his purpose in life to a relativistic principle “use and throw away”, it leads to a global ecological, spiritual and cultural crisis. The following part of the paper is devoted to a new model of progress proposed by Pope Francis. This type of progress has both a vertical and horizontal dimension. Embedded in the Holy Trinity, it reaches its peak in Jesus Christ and it promotes human life and protects the work of creation. Its fruit is to be individual concern for the poor and greater justice between nations. It cannot be achieved without changing the mentality (conversion) and specific individual and political decisions. The last part of the article answers the question about the novelty of the model of progress proposed by Pope Francis.

Resistance to Tithes in the Middle Ages

1962 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giles Constable
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Middle Ages

The system of compulsory tithes in the Middle Ages has long been used by protestant and liberal historians as a stick with which to beat the medieval Church. ‘This most harassing and oppressive form of taxation’, wrote H. C. Lea in his well-known History of the Inquisition, ‘had long been the cause of incurable trouble, aggravated by the rapacity with which it was enforced, even to the pitiful collections of the gleaner’. Von Inama-Sternegg remarked on the growing hatred of tithes in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, especially among the small free landholders, ‘upon whom the burden of tithes must have fallen most heavily’. Gioacchino Volpe said that tithes were ‘the more hated because they oppressed the rich less than the poor, the dependents on seigneurial estates less than the small free proprietors to whose ruin they contributed…. At that time tithes were both an ecclesiastical and secular oppression, a double offence against religious sentiment and popular misery’. G. G. Coulton, writing before the introduction in England of an income tax at a rate of over ten per cent., proclaimed that before the Reformation tithes ‘constituted a land tax, income tax and death duty far more onerous than any known to modern times, and proportionately unpopular’.

scholarly journals Transfer of the "social hygiene" idea from Germany to Soviet Russia in the compilation of the curriculum on social hygiene in 1922

2020 ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Yulia RATMANOV ◽  
Pavel Ratmanov
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Social Hygiene ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Teaching Programs

This article is devoted to the history of the development and critical analysis of the curriculum on social hygiene adopted in Soviet Russia in 1922. An analysis of Russian and translated foreign literature of the first two decades of the 20th century, systematization and generalization of knowledge on the compilation and disclosure of the contents of the Soviet social hygiene program 1922 shows that this program was compiled with a fundamental foundation. The building materials in its compilation ware the knowledge and practical experience of Russian public medicine, knowledge on the compilation of social hygiene and teaching programs in Western countries, the difficult socio economic situation of the post revolutionary country and the poor health of the population

scholarly journals Orientalism: Have Recent Developments in the Study of Islam Gone Beyond Said’s Seminal Critique of ‘Orientalism’?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Rajina
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Islamic Fundamentalism ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Form

This paper undertakes a critical analysis and evaluates the recent developments in the study of Islam and how it has gone beyond Orientalism; as Martin and Ernst remark in the preface and acknowledgements of Rethinking Islamic Studies: from Orientalism to Cosmopolitanism that the last three decades—after the publication of Orientalism in 1978—“has been a liberating experience for us as scholars initially trained in narrowly textual ‘Orientalist’ approaches, as we have been forced by circumstance to address many issues of contemporary political and social relevance.” However, I will also acknowledge the alternate perspective that these developments may not have gone beyond Said’s Orientalism, but have rather reinforced and maintained - and have “decidedly worsened”—the very ideas Said introduced in Orientalism because of issues such as: Islamic fundamentalism and the aftermath of 9/11, and how the study of Islam has been influenced by these issues in modern times thus returning to the Orientalist approach. I will look at the history of Orientalism in the study of Islam, then the emergence of space for self-representation, and then I will look at the current study of Islam. Esposito argues that Orientalism has taken a new form, and no longer romanticizes the Middle East as having sandy deserts where genies, thieves and evil sorcerers vied after scantily clad princesses amid a backdrop of white palaces and peasant-ridden streets, as presented in the film ‘Aladdin’.

scholarly journals Medellín 1968 não caiu do céu

2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (309) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Eduardo Hoornaert
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Previous History ◽  
Human Society ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
History Of

Não se compreende Medellín 1968 sem o Concílio Vaticano II 1962-1965, nem esse último sem se referir à história precedente do cristianismo. Medellín 1968 tem, por conseguinte, uma dimensão de séculos. Quando regressamos para tempos muito remotos e contemplamos a tradição cristã em termos de milênios, percebemos que há, desde os inícios, um movimento em direção à constituição de uma Igreja “autocentrada” (como diria o Papa Francisco), ou seja, ao abandono de temas sociais. Isso já se percebe no primeiro grande conflito do emergente movimento de Jesus, em torno da figura de Marcião, na Roma do século II. Ao longo dos séculos, a questão social inquieta os cristãos, mas, mesmo assim, uma Igreja resolutamente “em saída” encontra sempre resistências, principalmente por parte de uma espiritualidade desligada de questões que agitam a vida humana fora dos recintos sagrados. É nesse ponto preciso que Medellín 1968 constitui uma resoluta tomada de posição quando faz uma “opção pelo pobre”. Configura um momento que não só é fundamental para as Igrejas cristãs no continente latino-americano, mas, também e talvez principalmente, para a sociedade humana em geral, acima de clausuras religiosas, confessionais, culturais e políticas.Abstract: Medellin 1968 cannot be understood without the 19621965 Vatican Council II. Neither can the latter be understood without referring to the previous history of Christianity. Medellin 1968 has, therefore, a dimension of centuries. When we look back at very remote periods and contemplate the Christian tradition in terms of millennia, we realize that there is, from the very beginning, a movement towards the constitution of a “self-centred” Church (as Pope Francisco would say), that is to say, a disregard for social themes. This is already noticeable in the first great conflict of Jesus’ emerging movement, around the figure of Marcion, in the Rome of the second century. Throughout the centuries, the social issue worries the Christians, but, in spite of this, a Church decidedly “on the way out” always finds opposition, particularly from a spirituality disconnected from the issues that stir human life outside the sacred precincts. It is at this precise point that Medellin 1968 constitutes a resolute taking of a stand when it makes an “option for the poor”. It becomes a moment that it is not only fundamental for the Christian Churches in the Latin-American continent, but also, and maybe mostly, for human society as a whole, above the religious, confessional, cultural and political enclosures.Keywords: Church and society; Conference of Medellín; Option for the poor.

Janusz Kuczyński’s Philosophy of Universalism

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-57
Author(s):  
Michael H. Mitias ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Human Life ◽  
World Order ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
The Third ◽  
Short Overview ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

This paper is a critical analysis of the conditions under which a decent world order is possible, an order in which the different peoples of the world can thrive under the conditions of peace, cooperation, freedom, justice, and prosperity. This analysis is done from the standpoint of Janusz Kuczyński’s philosophy of universalism as a metaphilosophy. More than any other in the contemporary period, this philosophy has advanced a focused, systematic, and comprehensive analysis of these conditions on the basis of a universal vision of nature, human nature, and the meaning of human life and destiny. The paper is composed of three parts. The first part is devoted to a short overview of activism in the history of philosophy. The second part is devoted to an analysis of the main elements of universalism as a metaphilosophy, especially the theoretical conditions of establishing a decent world order. The third part is devoted to a discussion of the practical steps that should be taken to establish a decent world order.

Apocrypha from the History of the Jewish Military Union and its Authors

2008 ◽  
pp. 147-176
Author(s):  
Dariusz Libionka
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Warsaw Ghetto ◽  
History Of

This article is an attempt at a critical analysis of the history of the Jewish Fighting Union (JFU) and a presentation of their authors based on documents kept in the archives of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw. The author believes that an uncritical approach and such a treatment of these materials, which were generated under the communist regime and used for political purposes resulted in a perverted and lasting picture of the history of this fighting organisation of Zionists-revisionists both in Poland and Israel. The author has focused on a deconsturction of the most important and best known “testimonies regarding the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”, the development and JFU participation in this struggle, given by Henryk Iwaƒski, WΠadysΠaw Zajdler, Tadeusz Bednarczyk and Janusz Ketling–Szemley.A comparative analysis of these materials, supplemented by important details of their war-time and postwar biographies, leaves no doubt as to the fact that they should not be analysed in terms of their historical credibility and leads one to conclude that a profound revision of research approach to JFU history is necessary.

Les héritages chrétiens: quel avenir?

Moreana ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (Number 176) (1) ◽  
pp. 175-190
Author(s):  
Bernard Bourdin
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Past ◽  
Religious Significance ◽  
Politics And Religion

The legacy from Christianity unquestionably lies at the root of Europe, even if not exclusively. It has taken many aspects from the Middle Ages to modern times. If the Christian heritage is diversely understood and accepted within the European Union, the reason is essentially due to its political and religious significance. However, its impact in politics and religion has often been far from negative, if we will consider what secular societies have derived from Christianity: human rights, for example, and a religious affiliation which has been part and parcel of national identity. The Christian legacy has to be acknowledged through a critical analysis which does not deny the truth of the past but should support a European project built around common values.

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