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The following essay is a tentative interpretation of Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Fathers, Scholastics and Ourselves. It proposes that analogy can be used to understand the similarities and differences between theological styles in different epochs. The analogy can be a heuristic tool to recognize the structural form that remains consistent throughout the ages, despite the unique expressions of this form according to the concrete and historical situation of the people being addressed by the message of the Gospel. This essay draws a comparison between the way Catholic theology and doctrine develop. In both cases, we find a paradigm of substantial homogeneity within a propositional or stylistic difference. The difference does not rule out a unity in a higher order. Different styles in theology are analogically united in an overarching and unchanging form of the truth revealed in Christ., Il seguente saggio è un'interpretazione speculativa di Padri, scolastici e noi stessi di Hans Urs von Balthasar. L'articolo propone che l'analogia possa essere usata per comprendere le somiglianze e le differenze tra stili teologici in epoche diverse. L'analogia può essere uno strumento euristico per riconoscere la forma strutturale che rimane coerente attraverso i secoli, nonostante le espressioni singole di questa forma secondo la situazione concreta e storica delle persone a cui si rivolge il messaggio del Vangelo. Per affermare ciò, questo saggio traccia un confronto tra il modo in cui si sviluppano la teologia e la dottrina Cattolica. In entrambi i casi, troviamo un paradigma di omogeneità sostanziale all'interno di una differenza proposizionale o stilistica. La differenza non esclude l'unità in un ordine superiore. Diversi stili in teologia sono analogicamente uniti nella forma strutturale generale e immutabile della verità rivelata in Cristo. The following essay is a tentative interpretation of Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Fathers, Scholastics and Ourselves. It proposes that analogy can be used to understand the similarities and differences between theological styles in different epochs. It can be a heuristic tool to recognize the structural form that remains consistent throughout the ages, despite the unique expressions of this form according to the concrete and historical situation of the people being addressed by the message of the Gospel. This essay draws a comparison between the way Catholic theology and doctrine develop. In both cases, we find a paradigm of substantial homogeneity within a propositional or stylistic difference. The difference does not rule out a unity in a higher order. Different styles in theology are analogically united in an overarching and unchanging form of the truth revealed in Christ.

Problemem podjętym w artykule jest kwestia relacji Kościoła do Pisma Świętego w twórczości Johna Webstera. W pierwszej części zaprezentowano poglądy anglikańskiego teologa ukazujące ontologię Pisma Świętego w jej związku z eklezjologią, a w drugiej – poddano je krytycznej ocenie z perspektywy teologii katolickiej; w tym celu wykorzystano zwłaszcza teologię Josepha Ratzingera. Webster prezentuje Kościół jako creatura verbi divini, którego stałą cechą jest bycie słuchaczem viva vox Dei. W związku z tym proponuje ujmować Kościół w kategorii „duchowej widzialności”. Przyjmowana przez niego koncepcja Kościoła wiąże się z autorytetem Pisma Świętego jako narzędzia służącego Zmartwychwstałemu do wypowiadania teraźniejszego słowa za pośrednictwem natchnionych słów „proroków i apostołów”. Ten sam Duch Święty, który oświecał autorów natchnionych oraz dawał im natchnienie, odegrał również główną rolę w procesie formowania się kanonu. Uznanie kanoniczności było zdaniem Webstera przede wszystkim aktem recepcji oraz posłusznego przyjęcia daru Bożego. Wiele cennych spostrzeżeń uczonego może zostać zasymilowanych w teologii katolickiej, ale jedynie pod warunkiem „kontrreformacyjnego” odczytania poglądów myśliciela, którego refleksje są silnie znaczone teologią reformowaną. Ewentualne zużytkowanie myśli Webstera wiązałoby się z poszerzeniem rozumienia słowa Bożego, dowartościowaniem misterium Eklezji oraz postawieniem mocniejszego akcentu na przeszły wymiar tekstów biblijnych. The problem discussed in the article is the question of the relation of the Church to the Holy Scriptures in the works of John Webster. The first part presents the views of an Anglican theologian showing the ontology of the Scriptures in relation to ecclesiology. The second part critically evaluates them from the perspective of Catholic theology; for this purpose, in particular, Joseph Ratzinger’s theology was used. Webster presents the Church as a creatura verbi divini, whose constant feature is to be a listener of viva vox Dei. Therefore, he proposes to classify the Church in the category of “spiritual visibility.” The concept of the Church he adopted involves the authority of the Holy Scriptures as an instrument for the Risen Christ to express the present word through the inspired words of the “prophets and apostles”. The same Holy Spirit who enlightened the biblical authors and inspired them, also played a prime role in the formation of the canon. In Webster’s opinion, recognition of canonicity was, above all, an act of reception and an obedient acceptance of God’s gift. Many valuable insights of the scholar can be assimilated into Catholic theology, but only on the condition of a “counter-reformation” reading of the views of a thinker whose reflections are strongly marked by Reform theology. Possible use of Webster’s thoughts would involve broadening the understanding of the word of God, appreciating the mystery of the Ecclesia, and placing a stronger emphasis on the past dimension of biblical texts.

El escritor ruso Fiodor Mijaílovich Dostoyevski es uno de los exponentes clásicos más importantes de la literatura universal. En sus obras abordó las preguntas existenciales más profundas y las cuestiones humanas que han inquietado, con igual urgencia y pasión, al hombre de ayer y al hombre de hoy. Estas mismas preguntas han sido abordadas de distintas formas por la teología cristiana. El presente trabajo busca examinar el desarrollo teológico que se ha suscitado a partir de la reflexión que varios autores y teólogos católicos de la primera mitad del siglo XX han realizado sobre las obras de Dostoyevski. The Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is one of the most important exponents of classical world literature. In his writings he addressed the deepest existential questions and human issues that have troubled, with equal urgency and passion, the man of yesterday and the man of today. These same human questions have been addressed in different manners by Christian theology. The present thesis seeks to examine the theological development that Dostoyevsky’s thought has provoked, through a study of the reflection carried out by selected Catholic authors and theologians of the first half of the twentieth century on Dosteyevsky’s works.

The elaboration of the theme done by the author aims at introducing the philosophical stream of Neo-Kantianism based on Kant’s epistemology and at pointing out the implication of Neo-Kantianism on the scientific research about religion. This purpose should be realized by describing the main philosophical concept of Neo-Kantianism within its two wellknown schools. Its implication on the religion can be explained. The critique on religion can be pointed out, the theology of pluralism can be compared with the catholic theology, and the divine revelation provided by Neo-Kantianism can be enlighted under the scrutiny of rationality. The outcome of the research is lying on the recognition and the acceptance of the adherents’ Neo Kantianism to the theology as a scientific discipline based on the divine revelation under the authority of the human rationality. The conclusion taken out from the research is that the philosophy of Neo-Kantianism has given strong impact on the scientific research about religion. The divine revelation should be enlightened by the various scientific approaches before it is reflected theologically.

According to Catholic theology, God offers a gift of love, known as divine grace, to all of humanity. This gift of divine grace is the gift of redemption and forgiveness of sins from God that is offered to everyone who decides to acknowledge and accept it. Grace is central to the lived experience of many Christians. This qualitative study examined how Catholics perceive and experience divine grace using interviews that assessed perceptions of divine grace in 29 practicing adult Catholics. A grounded theory analysis resulted in themes indicating that these Catholics view God’s divine grace as a tangible gift that is undeserved though continuously offered. The participants’ experience of God’s grace is not just an abstract theological concept but an embodied aspect of religious life with which believers can interact in many powerful ways. Three characteristics of God’s divine grace (i.e., salvific grace, cooperation through free will, primacy of conscience and the afterlife) and three mechanisms to experiencing God’s grace (i.e., sacraments, prayer and meditation, saints) are presented.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagination is invariably abundant in all sorts of peoples, races, and other forms of intelligent life, including those whose prototypes could be encountered in the natural world and which found their way into Tolkien’s fiction with little alteration to their physical properties and only some modification of their often deep-rooted framework of cultural associations in Indo-European lore. This last group includes, amongst others, the Great Eagles of the Misty Mountains, Tolkien’s ‘dangerous machine’, whose two principal affiliations appear to be with, on the one hand, the pre-Christian beliefs of the Germanic peoples (via the so-called beasts of battle) and, on the other, the pneumatological soteriology of the Roman Catholic Church (via the eagle as a creative recasting of the evangelical ‘dove’). The present article is an attempt to demonstrate that these seemingly incompatible ingredients in fact came to be quite seamlessly unified in The Hobbit and, in particular, The Lord of the Rings, providing even more depth to the powerful Christian substratum of Tolkien’s fiction.

This article contrasts natural theology’s vicissitudes in recent centuries with its more promising prospects in contemporary philosophy and theology. It interrogates certain genres of theology regarding their relation to natural theology, focusing on feminist theology, eco-theology, apologetics and the theology of natural law. It concludes with a reflection on the aspects of natural theology that are particularly prominent at present, and asks if the degree of revival currently enjoyed by natural theology may even be the precursor of a greater role in the academy.

This paper presents the “method” of Catholic dogmatic theology and “Historical Jesus” in comparison with the methodological procedure of no-confessional historical-critical research on Jesus and making a critique (limits and scopes) from epistemology. Este artículo presenta el “método” de la teología dogmática católica y del “Jesús histórico” en comparación con el proceder metodológico de la investigaciónhistórico-crítica no confesional sobre Jesús y efectuando una crítica (límites y alcances) desde la epistemología.

These seven theses suggest the centrality of reflection on Patristic theology for the enterprise of dogmatic theology in a Catholic context. Dogmatic theology itself is used here as an alternative to the modern use of “systematic” theology. In order to see why and how Patristic theology should occupy this place, reflection is necessary on the theology of tradition—and the continual authority of Patristic texts for Catholic theologians—and then on the importance of post-Renaissance modes of historiography. These discussions constitute part of a theological reflection on the nature of theology itself. Although the aim of this piece is to discuss the configuration of (Latin) Catholic theology, the questions raised should be of interest to theologians across a broad ecumenical range.

This invited symposium piece on David Ruccio’s blog, Occasional Links & Commentary on Economics, Culture and Society, briefly addresses Ruccio’s treatment of Catholic theology and social thought an...

The study focuses on scientific and methodological questions related to Catholic theology. It demonstrates that theology can be considered “science” only when it meets certain conditions. But it is precisely from its specific epistemological characteristics, that theology derives its own power to provoke and challenge other sciences and to organize the universitas studiorum in an increasingly secularized Europe. The indications of the most recent pontifical magisterium related to theological renewal are decisive in achieving this goal.

Due to inherent paradoxy and limited sample size, fin-de-siècle English Catholic aesthetics are difficult to define, especially in the case of music. At the turn of the nineteenth century, English music and Catholic theology underwent a period of intense development and reconstruction, yet the intersection of theology and musical aesthetics in this era is largely under-researched. This paper identifies one such intersection using two monumental figures in theology and music: John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) and composer Edward Elgar (1857-1934). Newman’s theology provided a basis on which fin-de-siècle artists and poets could express their faith; such figures are associated with decadence. For both Newman and Elgar, decadent Catholicism combined with the traditionally Protestant English environment resulted in a complex relationship with their country and the continent. This paper examines this complex and paradoxical relationship between faith and nationality, and thus defines English Catholic aesthetics as they are expressed by Newman and Elgar.

The article examines the theological concepts of Semyon Frank that derive from the system of Nicholas of Cusa’s Neoplatonism. The ideas of Frank are problematic in origin, as they are attributed to different religious traditions. The paper disputes the compliance of the Frank’s Cusa-like Neoplatonism with the provisions of Catholic theology. The methodological foundation underlying the research is based on method of content reconstruction and historical and comparative method. With the view to scrutinizing the ideas of theologians, the content of Frank’s concept was reconstructed. It presents God as a spiritual Absolute and focuses on the problem of the balance stroked between God and the world, human beings and society as a whole. The leading methodological idea applied by Frank is the principle of antinomic monodualism as the coincidence of opposites in the formula unity of two or duality is one. Theological steps of argumentation in favour of the religious philosopher’s keeping aside of the Catholic path are as follows. Firstly, the critical attitude the philosophy of Nicholas of Cusa takes when facing the Catholic philosophy of those times serves as the evidence base and the obstacle for Frank to become a close ally of the Catholic thought. Secondly, the article notes the criticism Semyon Frank has of the Augustinian proposition about the insignificance of human being before God, which is foundational for Catholicism. Third, the article substantiates the compatibility of Frank’s ideas with the Orthodox ideal of sobriety and the system of external change of human being as the foundation of the system of Orthodox education and selfimprovement, thus obscuring the thoughts of his ties with Roman Latinism. Another research line treats the common features philosopher has with the third Christian confession. When comparing Frank with the Protestant theology, parallels occur (i.e. the Frank–Niebuhr Christian realism), but they are insufficient to claim the Protestant turn of Semyon Frank. As a result, it is concluded that Frank’s religious and philosophical conception is a theology of philosophical theism developed by a bearer of the Orthodox faith, not Catholicism. In relation to Orthodox theology, it is a soft, non-radical version of Orthodox modernism, in which solutions of problems that were contemporary to Frank are combined with maximum possible preservation of the provisions of the Orthodox theology.

I argue that there is contingency in the universe. Events do not occur necessarily, and the cosmos does not follow a predetermined path. The world could have been otherwise. Theologically, this means that at least some events fall outside of God’s causal purview. This view challenges what I call “strong views of divine sovereignty,” the focus of Chapter One. These views, dominant in departments of theology and religion, either do not cede any dimension of the created order to contingent causes, or else attempt to place these “contingent” causes within God’s overarching providence. The former I associate with theological determinism, and the latter with theological compatibilism, although I argue that there is not a meaningful difference between these positions, and both entail the same unacceptable conclusion, namely, that God is responsible for evil. We therefore must posit the reality of contingent events and trace the theological implications of doing so, the task of Chapter Two. Contingency shapes the causal architecture of the cosmos, and springs from two sources: indeterministic acts of free will, which issue from the wills of creatures themselves, and chance occurrences, which result from natural processes that are not driven by divine intentionality. Spacetime consists of an exceedingly complex and ever-changing matrix of causes and effects over which God does not exercise exhaustive control. Much that occurs in the world, both good and bad, happens for no reason at all. The view I advance has important normative implications, which I discuss in Chapter Three. Most notably, a world with contingency gives rise to moral dilemmas, or situations that cannot be resolved in a way that avoids wrongdoing. This phenomenon is captured by the “problem of dirty hands,” and is felt most acutely when we face “supreme emergencies,” which are catastrophes that can only be prevented through immoral means. When a failure to act leads to sufficiently terrible consequences, we must be prepared to violate principles that are generally (and rightly) regarded as inviolable. I argue, in short, that actions can be “necessary but immoral.” Each chapter of the dissertation corresponds to the three key themes named by the dissertation’s title. The first chapter discusses evil, and how the strong view of divine sovereignty struggles to account for its emergence. The second chapter analyzes contingency—what this means, and how it manifests in the world. And the third chapter examines morality, and how the contingent turns of history limit our normative aspirations. We live in a devastated world, disfigured by evil and suffering, and clouded by moral confusion. These problems collectively confirm that the world is not exhaustively controlled by God, but is instead subject to contingency. The world is, in a word, fallen, and ultimately a fallen world is best understood as a world riddled with contingency.

The fields of sexuality and Catholic theology are often seen in the public eye as polar opposites—and not from an unfounded base. While there are many topics the Catholic church and the field of se...

The COVID-19 pandemic that struck the world and forced Catholics to go online to celebrate the Eucharist has been the greatest logistical challenge to Catholic sacramental theology in recent times. This article aims to clarify whether technology-mediated presence or telepresence in online Masses is real and acceptable to the Roman Catholic Church especially during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that due to the lack of updating of its sacramental theology, which is still based on scholastic philosophy, Catholic theology continues to view physical presence as the only valid way of fulfilling religious obligation despite the growing influence of telepresence in religious life. If seen from a more sociological and holistic perspective, this article contends that telepresence in digital Eucharistic celebrations is real and not “artificial,” as participants lose awareness of their immediate surroundings and become one with Christ in the virtual celebration. It further argues that the validity of telepresence in the reception of the Eucharist should not be judged solely on a theological framework that was appropriate only during the medieval and Tridentine eras. Applying the actor-network theory, it ultimately claims that technological and human networks are inseparable in today's digital culture. Thus, the digital Eucharist is as real as participating in a physical Eucharist. The Catholic Church must therefore update and redefine its sacramental theology to better respond to the needs of the times. © Common Ground Research Networks, Vivencio O. Ballano, Some Rights Reserved, (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

This study offers theoretical explanations and distinctions associated with the phenomenon of conscience in social work. It uses the perspective of Roman-Catholic theology, or more precisely of the Roman-Catholic Church. It briefly reflects on an anthropology of conscience and then contemplates the essence of conscience and its relationship to the truth. In the reflection on the contradiction between Christian and secularized morality (given by the renowned Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar 1905-1988), it shows the importance of conscience in the value inconsistencies of the attitudes of today’s world. Finally, based on the impulses of the apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis Amoris laetitia (2016), it reflects on practical impulses concerning the place and importance of conscience in social work.

In this paper, discussing the way metaphysics and Christology relate to each other, we will attempt to shed the light on the problem of the ontological mediation of the "whole truth" of Jesus Christ. Our argument will be developed in dialogue with selected Christological proposals of German­-speaking Catholic theology of the second half of the twentieth century (Rahner, Balthasar, Kasper, Hunermann) and, above all, with Trinitarian­-ontological and Trinitarian­-Christological approach of Klaus Hemmerle (1929–1994). Hemmerle’s most well-known essay "Theses for a Trinitarian Ontology" (Thesen zu einer trinitarischen Ontologie) deals with the problem of new genuinely Christian Trinitarian ontology. This simultaneously theological and philosophical approach could help us articulate the "whole truth" of Jesus Christ in a new, convincing manner. In conclusion, following Hemmerle, we will suggest where Christology becomes absolutely indispensable in relation to ontology.

The late great James Hal Cone (1938–2018) challenged white Christians to confront the sin of white supremacy. This article contends that white Catholic theologians collectively have yet to accept Cone’s righteous challenge. A scrutiny of the programming of the annual meetings of the Catholic Theological Society of America and publications in Theological Studies provides the evidence. Having made the case that white US Catholic theologians have not adequately processed Cone’s challenge, the article argues that an important reason for this failure is fear and proposes specific, concrete action steps for professional societies and scholars.

This theme is processed by Catholic theologian because the question of Free Masons is connected in the Catholic world frequently with a false presumption, a superstition, that Regular Free Masons are Satanists. Combating superstition is indeed the task of a theologian. In the first and preparative part of this study, the author presents the most important facts from the history of Regular Free Masons in the world and in Czech history. In the second and scientific contributive part, the author analyses the Masaryk’s texts which are dedicated to the issue of Free Masons in their chronological succession. In the conclusion, the author states, that T. G. Masaryk was never a Free Mason, and clarifies his relationship to this organization as diplomatic respect connected with combat for the liberty of conscience and democracy. The relationship between Catholics and Regular Free Masons should take the form of interreligious or ecumenical dialogues.

Anna Bonta Moreland’s Muhammad Reconsidered is an exceptional contribution to the fields of Catholic–Islamic studies, Christian theology of religions, and Catholic theology of post-canonical revela...

This article deals with the infl uence of F. Schleiermacher’s ideas on Möhler’s ecclesiology (of the time when he was writing the Unity in the Church). In this comparison, most interesting is Christian Faith, the main work on dogmatics by F. Schleiermacher (first edition 1821‒1822). Unfortunately, this work is not translated into Russian and has not been studied in Russia. The bulk of literature and mentions of F. Schleiermacher draw on his earlier work, On religion: Speeches to its cultured despisers (1799). However, Schleiermacher’s views underwent considerable change during the twenty-year period between these works. Despite the fact that the mentions of Schleiermacher are very few in the Unity, it was already Möhler’s contemporaries who criticised him for violating the purity of the Catholic doctrine under the infl uence of Schleiermacher’s philosophy. Certain parallels in their reasong are pointed to by the present-day scholars of Möhler as well. Both theologians belonged to the period of Romanticism, and its ideological content and principles of thinking refl ect in their texts. Beside the shared cultural and historical horizon, they are also brought close to each other by the situation having developed in the Catholic and Protestant theologies of that time, i.e. a certain stance against the receding theology of Enlightenment, appeal to the internal religious experience and necessity to combine it with Christian ecclesiology. The issue of Church comes to be a challenge of that time. Against the background of this context, shared and valued by both of them, the diff erences between them conditioned by their diff erent confessions become more prominent. Virtually all meaningful statements made by Möhler about the Holy Spirit repeat what Schleiermacher said about the Christian common spirit (Gemeingeist). This determines his understanding of Tradition, of the unity of Church and of the Christian faith as a “new life”. This being said, A. Möhler rejects and fi ercely criticises Schleiermacher’s identifi cation of the Holy Spirit with the Christian “common spirit” as pantheism, and also the idea of the invisible Church which allowed Schleiermacher to reject the institutional unity of the historical Church and the defi niteness of Tradition.

Though the Catholic Church has become more mindful of the role that mental illness, especially depression, often plays in suicide, this greater awareness needs development so that Catholic theology can de-stigmatize suicidal people without normalizing suicide. To this end, the article draws upon recent psychological work on suicide to highlight the deep suffering of suicidal people and to indicate that they are, generally, victims of severe mental illness. Furthermore, attention is drawn to a group who is especially stigmatized: those who have already died by suicide. In response, Johann Baptist Metz’s emphasis on anamnestic solidarity with the dead provides an important corrective to this forgetting. Lastly, this revised understanding of suicide decedents helps Catholics develop the doctrine of the communion of saints for today.

The Catholic theology of purgatory and its refutation in the works of the ideologists of Protestantism in the first third of the XVI century is analyzed in the article. The works of the little-known in the domestic historiography of the English reformer John Frith (1503-1533) are investigated. Frith’s commitment to Protestant dogmas on justification by faith and the exceptional authority of Holy Scripture is shown. It is noted that Frith, following them, denied the existence of purgatory, since it cannot be confirmed by the Holy Scriptures, and he interpreted the “cleansing fire” mentioned in the New Testament texts symbolically as torment of conscience and repentance. It is claimed that the theologian considered faith to be the atoning sacrifice of Christ the only means of salvation. It is concluded that the denial of purgatory naturally led Frith to a refutation of the Catholic practice of papal acts of grace and their theological justification, for which he was arrested and sentenced to be burned. It is emphasized that J. Frith called purgatory "creation" of the Roman pontiff and saw purely material reasons for the emergence and existence of faith in purgatory. It is noted that criticism by the English reformer of the Catholic faith in purgatory was subsequently reflected in the Anglican creed.

In this contribution, it is argued that Joseph Ratzinger had a profound influence on the Christology and specifically resurrection belief of the Catholic Church. This is evident in the way Ratzinger approached the challenge and relevance of Jesus' question, 'But who do you say that I am?' For Ratzinger, the reality of the incarnatory event means that the Christian faith is about a person, and thus, it is historical as well. In this sense, history for Ratzinger becomes more than just a succession of human events. It also includes God's act in history. Jesus Christ manifested God concretely. In the same light, for Ratzinger, the Church concretely manifested Jesus Christ. Hence, for Ratzinger, thinking with the Church is essential for a proper exegesis or hermeneutics. Because of that, tradition and Scripture are essential to Ratzinger's Christological thought. In the teachings of the Church fathers and the lives of the saints, he finds a concrete manifestation of Jesus' teaching as contained in the New Testament. Thus, his spiritual Christology results from his meditation on the fathers, saints and some contemporary theologians that makes Ratzinger's Christological thought to be both ancient and new. This contribution highlights a Christological approach that values the historical and brings it into conversation with the theological. INTRADISCIPLINARY AND/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS: This research represents intradisciplinary work within the field of Christian Theology, connecting aspects of Catholic Theology to hermeneutical methodology and what is known as a Christology 'from above'. It connects a historical and theological perspective within systematic theology to highlight the ways in which the Pope and theologian Joseph Ratzinger influenced resurrection belief within the Catholic Church.

Książka stanowi zbiór 41 recenzji różnych publikacji z zakresu historii, filozofii i teologii. The book is a collection of 41 reviews of various publications in the field of history, philosophy and theology.

Artykuł omawia znaczenie filozofii tomistycznej w dokumentach doktrynalnych i nauczaniu Kościoła katolickiego od XIII wieku do współczesności. The article discusses the importance of thomistic philosophy in the doctrinal documents and teaching of the catholic church from the 13th century to the present day.

In light of the fecundity and diversity of Catholic theology since Vatican II, a 2012 report of the International Theological Commission (ITC) identified perspectives, principles, and criteria—distinctive family traits—of Catholic theology, what Pope Benedict XVI called its “genetic code”: primacy of the Word of God; the faith of the Church as its source, context, and norm; the science of faith; drawing constantly on the canonical witness of Scripture; fidelity to the Apostolic Tradition; attention to the sensus fidelium; responsible adherence to the ecclesiastical magisterium; practiced in collaboration with the whole company of theologians; in dialogue with the world; giving a scientifically and rationally argued presentation of the Christian faith; integration of plurality in the intellectus fidei; and sapiential. This article marks the 10th anniversary of the ITC report by offering a critical commentary on the criteria, examining the possibilities, limitations, and tensions inherent in each, and the ongoing relevance of these criteria for contemporary Catholic theology. It argues that although the aim of the ITC report is not to promote uniformity but to avoid fragmentation, and its framework is an ecclesiology of communion, when the interpretative possibilities of theology are discussed, the report tends to retreat from these possibilities and adopt a restrictive emphasis on conformity. The article then examines what Pope Francis (2013–) says about the characteristics of Catholic theology and the role of theologians in his major documents and his addresses to faculties of theology. It argues that Francis makes a distinctive contribution to consideration of what is “authentically” Catholic theology, and may offer a less restrictive understanding of such theology for the diverse academic, cultural, and ecclesial contexts in which Catholic theologians find themselves.

From the late thirteenth through late seventeenth centuries, a single three-word Latin phrase—sapiens dominabitur astris, or “the wise man will be master of the stars”—proliferated in astrological, theological, philosophical, and literary texts. It became a convenient marker denoting orthodox positions on free will and defining the boundaries of the scientifically and morally legitimate practice of astrology. By combining the methodology of a diachronic historical survey with a microhistorical focus on evolving phraseology, this study argues that closely examining the use of this phrase reveals how debates about the meanings of wisdom, free will, determinism, and the interpretation of stellar influence on human events changed radically across four centuries of Western European cultural and intellectual history. The first half of this article charts the scholastic response to theological criticisms of astrology and the reconciliation of Aristotelian-Ptolemaic cosmology with Catholic theology, paying special attention to its implications for astrology as viewed through scholarly uses of the phrase. The second half of the article shows how the phrase developed a multitude of idiosyncratic meanings in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, fracturing its late medieval scholastic unity, as new forms of philosophical, socio-political, religious, and scientific critiques upended astrological beliefs and practices. Ultimately, this paper argues that examining the theory and praxis of astrology through the changing phraseological meanings of “sapiens dominabitur astris” allows historians and cultural anthropologists to better discern the dialectical (as opposed to binary) relationships between free will and determinism in the West.

The Chalcedonian confession of faith asserts that Christ is one person, the Son of God, subsisting in two natures, divine and human. The doctrine of the communication of idioms is essential to the life and practices of the Church insofar as we affirm there to be properties of deity and humanity present in the one subject, the Word made flesh. Such affirmations are made without a confusion of the two natures or their mutually distinct attributes. The affirmation that there is a divine and human nature in Christ is possible, however, only if it is also possible for human beings to think coherently about the divine nature, analogically, and human nature, univocally. Otherwise it is not feasible to receive understanding of the divine nature of Christ into the human intellect intrinsically and the revelation must remain wholly alien to natural human thought, even under the presumption that such understanding originates in grace. Likewise we can only think coherently of the eternal Son’s solidarity with us in human nature if we can conceive of a common human nature present in all human individuals. Consequently, it is only possible for the Church to confess some form of Chalcedonian doctrine if there is also a perennial metaphysical philosophy capable of thinking coherently about the divine and human natures from within the ambit of natural human reason. This also implies that the Church maintains a “metaphysical apostolate” in her public teaching, in her philosophical traditions, as well as in her scriptural and doctrinal enunciations.

Taking as object the religious education in public schools, the article seeks to make notes in the laws of guidelines and bases of national education, from Law No. 4024 to Law No. 9394, respectively of 1961 and 1996, taking into account that the last was amended in 1997 by Law No. 9475, as well as the clashes between religious and lay people that made up the scenario of drafting these laws. It is observed that the changes in religious education operated in accordance with the laws, but also in the forms of application of discipline in public schools, reflect the changes in catholic theology and thought during the twentieth century, since the Church Catholic was the great force of support of this discipline. It is observed that religious education in public schools results from an eagerness to legislate on matters of faith, of intimate forum, which results in external pressure to the school environment that tends to compromise the true purposes of school education: to guarantee individuals access to knowledge elaborated in a democratic environment and committed to respect for differences and freedoms of choice.

John Barclay offers a capacious and helpful framework for reflection on large swathes of the history of the theology of grace with his notion of the six ways of ‘perfecting the gift’. In this article, I extend his analysis to a consideration of certain typical differences between Catholic and Protestant conceptions of grace. Where Protestant theology tends toward a juxtaposition of grace with sin, Catholic theology often considers grace in relation to nature, and each side, I suggest, has its own characteristic proclivity towards paradox.