scholarly journals Ratzinger on Evolution and Evil: A Christological and Mariological Answer to the Problem of Suffering and Death in Creation

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 583
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Ramage
Keyword(s):  
Human Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Real Problem ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
The Real ◽  
Pope Benedict Xvi ◽  
Benedict Xvi ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross

This article argues that a compelling way to address the presence of suffering and death across evolutionary history lies in the thought of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. By situating human evolution within the broader divine plan for man’s salvation through the cross of Jesus, Ratzinger is able to show that the presence of natural evils in this world is not incompatible with God’s goodness but on the contrary is an eminent means by which the love of God is made manifest. Exploring Christ’s kenosis and the sinless suffering of the Blessed Virgin, it is argued that suffering properly embraced is the raw material for love and thus essential for true human flourishing in this life. The real problem for man, it is contended, is not having to suffer and die, but how to suffer and die well. Finally, it is suggested that the full Christian answer to the problem of suffering connected with evolution nevertheless lies in the eschatogical hope for a new heaven and new earth, where man—and all creation with him—will undergo a definitive “evolutionary leap” of “transubstantiation” in Christ.

Discounting and the Paradox of the Indefinitely Postponed Splurge

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Rendall
Keyword(s):  
Real Problem ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
The Real ◽  
Reductio Ad Absurdum ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
End Of The World

It is sometimes argued in support of discounting future costs and benefits that if we gave the same weight to the future as to the present, we would invest nearly all our income, but never spend it. Rather than enjoying the fruits of our investments, we would always do better to reinvest them. Undiscounted utilitarianism (UU), so the argument goes, is collectively self-defeating. This attempted reductio ad absurdum fails. Regardless of whether each generation successfully followed UU, or merely attempted to follow it, we could never get trapped in endless saving. The real problem is different: without the ability to foresee the end of the world, UU cannot tell us how much to save. Discounting is a defensible response, but only when coupled with a rule against risking catastrophe.

scholarly journals The Clash of Cultures of Radical Enlightenment and Humanism Open to Transcendence. The Perspective of Pope Benedict XVI

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 460
Author(s):  
Janusz Węgrzecki
Keyword(s):  
Positive Answer ◽  
Political Anthropology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Pope Benedict Xvi ◽  
Benedict Xvi ◽  
Radical Enlightenment ◽  
Clash Of Cultures ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Role Of Religion

The article analyzes the content of the Pope’s speeches discussing, reconstructing and interpreting the concept of two dominant western cultures and their mutual relationships to the perspective of Pope Benedict XVI, who calls them the culture of radical enlightenment and the culture of humanism that is open to transcendence. The article identifies fundamental contentious issues including: anthropological issues, human dignity, political anthropology, freedom, reason, its rationality, and the role of religion in the public sphere. Thus, the article provides a positive answer to the question of whether the perspective of the clash of cultures outlined by Samuel Huntington can be cognitively used in interpreting the contrast of cultures presented from the perspective of Pope Benedict XVI. However, contrary to Huntington, who describes the clash of western cultures with other, non-western cultures, Pope Benedict XVI claims that there is a clash between two dominant western cultures.

Giving up privilege: A sermon on Philippians 2:5–11

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-123
Author(s):  
F. Timothy Moore
Keyword(s):  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Christian Discipleship

The hymn in Phil 2:5–11, which may be the earliest statement about Jesus’s death on the cross, omits typical concepts of substitutionary atonement. This hymn sees the cross within the story that Jesus gave up the privilege of divinity to become human and offers a fresh way to see the intersection of Jesus’s death and Christian discipleship. Feminist and womanist theologians have rightly criticized substitutionary atonement, because the powerful inevitably place the message of sacrifice and suffering upon women and the marginalized. The hymn, however, speaks not of sacrifice and suffering, but of God’s willingness to give up privilege to create solidarity. For those with privilege to be of the same mind that was in Christ Jesus (v. 5), they must choose not to exploit that advantage, but to empty themselves of it and collectively create atonement through solidarity with one another.

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