Pub Date : 2023-07-21DOI: 10.1177/00211400231182278b
Luke Macnamara
{"title":"Book Review: Called Into Light: Meditations with Bishop Richard Challoner for the Christian Year","authors":"Luke Macnamara","doi":"10.1177/00211400231182278b","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00211400231182278b","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55939,"journal":{"name":"Irish Theological Quarterly","volume":"88 1","pages":"294 - 295"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48578074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-22DOI: 10.1177/00211400231179374
Thomas V. Gourlay
Since at least the 1960s, responding to changes both in the world and in the Church the project of Catholic university education in the United States and elsewhere has undergone a significant alteration in structure, and subsequently of its own sense of identity, purpose, and mission. Concerns about the integrity of Catholic universities both as Catholic and as university abound and have done for some time. Providing a brief review of some of the existing literature, this paper argues that the contemporary discussion regarding identity and mission for Catholic colleges and universities suffers from a decidedly modern inability to the address first order questions. This failure to properly treat questions pertaining to metaphysics render Catholic institutions of higher learning locked within the superficial plane in terms of how they address their own sense of identity and mission. In response to this, this paper argues that there exists within the Catholic tradition adequate metaphysical richness that can and should more faithfully ground the essence of the Catholic college or university. Drawing on the metaphysical work of such figures as David L. Schindler and others, the author argues that a relational ontology, characterized by an understanding of the metaphysics of gift can not only save the project of Catholic university education but is in fact central to its mission.
{"title":"Grounding Identity and Mission in Catholic Universities: A Relational Approach","authors":"Thomas V. Gourlay","doi":"10.1177/00211400231179374","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00211400231179374","url":null,"abstract":"Since at least the 1960s, responding to changes both in the world and in the Church the project of Catholic university education in the United States and elsewhere has undergone a significant alteration in structure, and subsequently of its own sense of identity, purpose, and mission. Concerns about the integrity of Catholic universities both as Catholic and as university abound and have done for some time. Providing a brief review of some of the existing literature, this paper argues that the contemporary discussion regarding identity and mission for Catholic colleges and universities suffers from a decidedly modern inability to the address first order questions. This failure to properly treat questions pertaining to metaphysics render Catholic institutions of higher learning locked within the superficial plane in terms of how they address their own sense of identity and mission. In response to this, this paper argues that there exists within the Catholic tradition adequate metaphysical richness that can and should more faithfully ground the essence of the Catholic college or university. Drawing on the metaphysical work of such figures as David L. Schindler and others, the author argues that a relational ontology, characterized by an understanding of the metaphysics of gift can not only save the project of Catholic university education but is in fact central to its mission.","PeriodicalId":55939,"journal":{"name":"Irish Theological Quarterly","volume":"88 1","pages":"248 - 269"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41857865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-22DOI: 10.1177/00211400231182278
S. Ryan
In this ambitious and illuminating study, Travis E. Ables examines the evolution of the idea of penal substitutionary atonement, which he points out is a relatively recent phenomenon, by way of a more general discussion of the development of atonement theology from the earliest centuries of the Christian movement to the 17th century (with the book’s Conclusion offering a reflection on substitutionary atonement as treated in The Fundamentals, foundational tracts for Christian fundamentalism, in the early 20th century, alongside imagery of the cross employed by African Americans opposed to lynching in Jim-Crow-era America). In the period of the early Christian martyrs, which would give rise to the development of the cult of the saints, what Ables terms the ‘logic of vicarity’ saw the violence of the cross sublimated into both saints and sinners. While holy victims were considered to have suffered within their own bodies, and thereby to have transferred excess merit to the whole Church, by the same token the sufferings imposed on heretics maintained the sanctity of the Church, and preserved it free from corruption. For Ables, throughout Western Christian history the cross ‘forms a boundary marker, a means of social differentiation, carrying with it the tension of inclusion and exclusion’ (p. 16); as he pithily puts it, ‘We need the reprobates to tell us who we are, as the elect’ (p. 4). What happens in the period of the Reformations, Ables continues, is that penal substitution merged the concepts of merit transfer and vicarious suffering in the crucified flesh of Christ. The book is divided into seven chapters, the first three dealing with the early centuries of Christianity, up to the period of Augustine. There is a leap forward in chapter four to the Central Middle Ages and the period of Anselm and Abelard and Heloise, while chapter five examines in turn the mysticism of Mechthild of Magdeburg and Franciscan spirituality surrounding the cross. The final two chapters take us into the period of the Reformations, the sixth chapter focusing predominantly on the theology of Luther and the magisterial Reformation, while chapter seven examines the Reformed tradition, transitioning from Martin Bucer and John Calvin to William Perkins and Puritanism. 1182278 ITQ0010.1177/00211400231182278Irish Theological QuarterlyBook Reviews book-review2023
{"title":"Book Review: The Body of the Cross: Holy Victims and the Invention of the Atonement","authors":"S. Ryan","doi":"10.1177/00211400231182278","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00211400231182278","url":null,"abstract":"In this ambitious and illuminating study, Travis E. Ables examines the evolution of the idea of penal substitutionary atonement, which he points out is a relatively recent phenomenon, by way of a more general discussion of the development of atonement theology from the earliest centuries of the Christian movement to the 17th century (with the book’s Conclusion offering a reflection on substitutionary atonement as treated in The Fundamentals, foundational tracts for Christian fundamentalism, in the early 20th century, alongside imagery of the cross employed by African Americans opposed to lynching in Jim-Crow-era America). In the period of the early Christian martyrs, which would give rise to the development of the cult of the saints, what Ables terms the ‘logic of vicarity’ saw the violence of the cross sublimated into both saints and sinners. While holy victims were considered to have suffered within their own bodies, and thereby to have transferred excess merit to the whole Church, by the same token the sufferings imposed on heretics maintained the sanctity of the Church, and preserved it free from corruption. For Ables, throughout Western Christian history the cross ‘forms a boundary marker, a means of social differentiation, carrying with it the tension of inclusion and exclusion’ (p. 16); as he pithily puts it, ‘We need the reprobates to tell us who we are, as the elect’ (p. 4). What happens in the period of the Reformations, Ables continues, is that penal substitution merged the concepts of merit transfer and vicarious suffering in the crucified flesh of Christ. The book is divided into seven chapters, the first three dealing with the early centuries of Christianity, up to the period of Augustine. There is a leap forward in chapter four to the Central Middle Ages and the period of Anselm and Abelard and Heloise, while chapter five examines in turn the mysticism of Mechthild of Magdeburg and Franciscan spirituality surrounding the cross. The final two chapters take us into the period of the Reformations, the sixth chapter focusing predominantly on the theology of Luther and the magisterial Reformation, while chapter seven examines the Reformed tradition, transitioning from Martin Bucer and John Calvin to William Perkins and Puritanism. 1182278 ITQ0010.1177/00211400231182278Irish Theological QuarterlyBook Reviews book-review2023","PeriodicalId":55939,"journal":{"name":"Irish Theological Quarterly","volume":"88 1","pages":"287 - 290"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47242360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-15DOI: 10.1177/00211400231179385
Eric M. Johnston
Paul VI is a forgotten, sometimes maligned pope, but his insight and influence are greater than often realized. This article explains his insight and influence by dividing his pontificate into three five-year periods: the first optimistic and prolific, the second pessimistic and uncommunicative, but the third newly hopeful. The first period ends with dissent over the natural-law teaching of Humanae Vitae. The third blooms forth with Evangelii Nuntiandi, where he discovers the necessity of proclaiming Jesus Christ. Popes John Paul II, Benedict, and Francis have each embraced this insight.
{"title":"St Paul VI and the Joy of the Gospel: From Humanae Vitae to Pope Francis","authors":"Eric M. Johnston","doi":"10.1177/00211400231179385","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00211400231179385","url":null,"abstract":"Paul VI is a forgotten, sometimes maligned pope, but his insight and influence are greater than often realized. This article explains his insight and influence by dividing his pontificate into three five-year periods: the first optimistic and prolific, the second pessimistic and uncommunicative, but the third newly hopeful. The first period ends with dissent over the natural-law teaching of Humanae Vitae. The third blooms forth with Evangelii Nuntiandi, where he discovers the necessity of proclaiming Jesus Christ. Popes John Paul II, Benedict, and Francis have each embraced this insight.","PeriodicalId":55939,"journal":{"name":"Irish Theological Quarterly","volume":"88 1","pages":"227 - 247"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42557007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-15DOI: 10.1177/00211400231179386
Ethan C. Jones
The ‘redress of poetry as poetry,’ means, according to the Irish poet and Noble Prize winner Seamus Heaney, an awareness of ‘an eminence established and a pressure exercised by distinctly linguistic means.’ Poetry, he asserts, ‘is the imagination pressing back against the pressure of reality.’ The imagination of Psalms poetry needs to be rediscovered. This has begun with the monumental book by Dobbs-Allsopp (2015). Yet, more work is needed. This article explores how the Psalter, being poetry, makes claims to and on the imagination, reality, and the confluence thereof. It is an attempt to see how the redress of Psalms poetry might refine our reading of the biblical book. Psalm 98 serves as key illustration.
{"title":"Where the Centaur Walks: Psalms and the Poetic Imagination","authors":"Ethan C. Jones","doi":"10.1177/00211400231179386","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00211400231179386","url":null,"abstract":"The ‘redress of poetry as poetry,’ means, according to the Irish poet and Noble Prize winner Seamus Heaney, an awareness of ‘an eminence established and a pressure exercised by distinctly linguistic means.’ Poetry, he asserts, ‘is the imagination pressing back against the pressure of reality.’ The imagination of Psalms poetry needs to be rediscovered. This has begun with the monumental book by Dobbs-Allsopp (2015). Yet, more work is needed. This article explores how the Psalter, being poetry, makes claims to and on the imagination, reality, and the confluence thereof. It is an attempt to see how the redress of Psalms poetry might refine our reading of the biblical book. Psalm 98 serves as key illustration.","PeriodicalId":55939,"journal":{"name":"Irish Theological Quarterly","volume":"88 1","pages":"270 - 286"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48383865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-12DOI: 10.1177/00211400231179388
Walter N. Sisto
Although Bulgakov did not write about cyborg ethics, his thesis that humankind is the hypostasis of the creaturely Sophia provides a dynamic framework to assess the morality of technological alterations to the human body. As the hypostasis of the creaturely Sophia, the human person has limitless possibilities, including miracle-working. And thus, Jesus Christ’s miracles reflect capacities that God intends for all human persons, with the greatest miracle being the resurrection of the body. Bulgakov’s thought on miracles offers both a defense of cybernetic modifications and a norm for their limits. This article resources Bulgakov’s sophiology to provide an Eastern Christian perspective on cybernetic enhancement technologies. It also engages Bulgakov’s sophiology with current scholarship on cybernetic enhancement technologies.
{"title":"Cyborg Enhancements: Sergius Bulgakov and His Sophiological Perspective","authors":"Walter N. Sisto","doi":"10.1177/00211400231179388","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00211400231179388","url":null,"abstract":"Although Bulgakov did not write about cyborg ethics, his thesis that humankind is the hypostasis of the creaturely Sophia provides a dynamic framework to assess the morality of technological alterations to the human body. As the hypostasis of the creaturely Sophia, the human person has limitless possibilities, including miracle-working. And thus, Jesus Christ’s miracles reflect capacities that God intends for all human persons, with the greatest miracle being the resurrection of the body. Bulgakov’s thought on miracles offers both a defense of cybernetic modifications and a norm for their limits. This article resources Bulgakov’s sophiology to provide an Eastern Christian perspective on cybernetic enhancement technologies. It also engages Bulgakov’s sophiology with current scholarship on cybernetic enhancement technologies.","PeriodicalId":55939,"journal":{"name":"Irish Theological Quarterly","volume":"88 1","pages":"201 - 226"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42443622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-15DOI: 10.1177/00211400231166049
A. Codd
{"title":"Book Review: The Heavens Are Telling the Glory of God: An Emerging Chapter for Religious Life; Science, Theology and Mission","authors":"A. Codd","doi":"10.1177/00211400231166049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00211400231166049","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55939,"journal":{"name":"Irish Theological Quarterly","volume":"88 1","pages":"191 - 193"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47024893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-15DOI: 10.1177/00211400231166049c
Michael Mawson
Chapter Nine is on communion, both sacramental and ecclesial. Addressing ecumenical issues after the eucharist is most fitting. But while Boland rightly affirms that Dominus Iesus was essentially affirming conciliar teaching, he eludes the difficult and sensitive topic of what distinguishes an ‘ecclesial community’ from a ‘church.’ (Here, the immediately preceding section on the Eucharist was waiting to be brought into the discussion.) Chapters 10, 11, and 12 are devoted to a variety of topics through a Trinitarian structure. In Chapter Ten, the discussion on salvation extra ecclesiam is fittingly preceded by an exposition of Christ’s capital grace (STh III, 7–8), a set of texts which are crucial for understanding Lumen Gentium 13–16. Chapter 11 gives the reader a theology of dialogue rooted in the prior dialogue initiated by God whose Love is breathed with his spoken Word. Chapter 12 considers the Church’s journey home to the Father with reference to the Israelites’ own journey, not only through the desert and settling the promised land, but also into exile and their ultimate homecoming. Some readers will thank Boland for not overburdening the text with notes; the presentation is clean and the argument moves. But there’s a lot more knowledge and reading that went into this book than what the notes indicate. Many readers would desire to follow more closely the intellectual path trod by an author as mature and experienced as Boland. There are also simple points of detail that many a reader would want to follow up on: e.g., where does Aquinas interpret Jn 19:26 as referring to Christ himself? Presentations of the Catholic faith vary. This reader, sensitive to the Christological deficit in so much theological writing, would have followed a number of theologians in prioritizing revelation (Dei Verbum) over the Church (Lumen Gentium), and therefore, would have started with a chapter on Christ. That said, Boland maintains a clear Christocentric focus throughout. The Spirit of Catholicism presents holistically the faith that is Catholicism: a range of topics are treated with a range of sources (though Aquinas is obviously privileged) so as to embrace the whole. Though not an apology, the writer clearly senses a need to respond to contemporary distortions of Catholicism. The writing is accessible, and both the scholar and the beginner will learn something from it. In addition to its being imbued with Scripture from start to finish, the power of the book is that, while it acknowledges with sensitivity all of the issues and difficulties people might have with Catholic Christianity today, it does not concede what cannot be conceded. The tone is honest, but not defeatist.
{"title":"Book Review: You Shall Not Condemn: A Story of Faith and Advocacy on Death Row","authors":"Michael Mawson","doi":"10.1177/00211400231166049c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00211400231166049c","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter Nine is on communion, both sacramental and ecclesial. Addressing ecumenical issues after the eucharist is most fitting. But while Boland rightly affirms that Dominus Iesus was essentially affirming conciliar teaching, he eludes the difficult and sensitive topic of what distinguishes an ‘ecclesial community’ from a ‘church.’ (Here, the immediately preceding section on the Eucharist was waiting to be brought into the discussion.) Chapters 10, 11, and 12 are devoted to a variety of topics through a Trinitarian structure. In Chapter Ten, the discussion on salvation extra ecclesiam is fittingly preceded by an exposition of Christ’s capital grace (STh III, 7–8), a set of texts which are crucial for understanding Lumen Gentium 13–16. Chapter 11 gives the reader a theology of dialogue rooted in the prior dialogue initiated by God whose Love is breathed with his spoken Word. Chapter 12 considers the Church’s journey home to the Father with reference to the Israelites’ own journey, not only through the desert and settling the promised land, but also into exile and their ultimate homecoming. Some readers will thank Boland for not overburdening the text with notes; the presentation is clean and the argument moves. But there’s a lot more knowledge and reading that went into this book than what the notes indicate. Many readers would desire to follow more closely the intellectual path trod by an author as mature and experienced as Boland. There are also simple points of detail that many a reader would want to follow up on: e.g., where does Aquinas interpret Jn 19:26 as referring to Christ himself? Presentations of the Catholic faith vary. This reader, sensitive to the Christological deficit in so much theological writing, would have followed a number of theologians in prioritizing revelation (Dei Verbum) over the Church (Lumen Gentium), and therefore, would have started with a chapter on Christ. That said, Boland maintains a clear Christocentric focus throughout. The Spirit of Catholicism presents holistically the faith that is Catholicism: a range of topics are treated with a range of sources (though Aquinas is obviously privileged) so as to embrace the whole. Though not an apology, the writer clearly senses a need to respond to contemporary distortions of Catholicism. The writing is accessible, and both the scholar and the beginner will learn something from it. In addition to its being imbued with Scripture from start to finish, the power of the book is that, while it acknowledges with sensitivity all of the issues and difficulties people might have with Catholic Christianity today, it does not concede what cannot be conceded. The tone is honest, but not defeatist.","PeriodicalId":55939,"journal":{"name":"Irish Theological Quarterly","volume":"88 1","pages":"196 - 197"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43135056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-15DOI: 10.1177/00211400231166049b
Andrew Meszaros
The heterogeneity of this collection demonstrates not only the abundance of the riches available in Newman’s life, thought, and spirituality, but the breadth of the friendships inspired by Ian Ker. Such variety in the fellowship of homage to Ker is particularly appropriate for Newman studies, considering the saint’s genius for friendship. But the work is not only for those who knew and loved Ian Ker personally; its scholarship commends it to every serious collection of Newman studies.
{"title":"Book Review: The Spirit of Catholicism","authors":"Andrew Meszaros","doi":"10.1177/00211400231166049b","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00211400231166049b","url":null,"abstract":"The heterogeneity of this collection demonstrates not only the abundance of the riches available in Newman’s life, thought, and spirituality, but the breadth of the friendships inspired by Ian Ker. Such variety in the fellowship of homage to Ker is particularly appropriate for Newman studies, considering the saint’s genius for friendship. But the work is not only for those who knew and loved Ian Ker personally; its scholarship commends it to every serious collection of Newman studies.","PeriodicalId":55939,"journal":{"name":"Irish Theological Quarterly","volume":"88 1","pages":"195 - 196"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47219122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}