Search

Many studies on religious coping have explored the relationship between religious resources and health outcomes, particularly the mitigation or management of pain and suffering. However, Catholics hold certain positive beliefs about suffering that are largely incompatible with attitudes prevailing today. The doctrine of redemptive suffering holds that human suffering, when accepted and offered to God through prayer, can lead to redemption in the supernatural realm. This article draws on qualitative research involving 27 Catholic patients and examines their responses to pain and suffering with reference to the concept of otherworldly rewards proposed by the rational choice theory (RCT) of religion. We focus on Catholic patients' modes of thinking. The primary findings are as follows: First, when Catholic patients use religious resources to reduce pain and suffering, most of them demonstrate what RCT calls calculative reasoning. Second, regarding the belief in redemptive suffering, many Catholic patients do not take supernatural meanings seriously; in particular, they are not quite able to accept that "God's care and plan" can include serious illnesses. Those who finally accept the doctrine initially exhibit calculative reasoning and then gradually transform their negative thinking about suffering through the exercise of virtue. We conclude that otherworldly rewards and religious virtue both play roles in Catholics' responses to suffering, with the latter being particularly significant as it complements RCT in the study of religious action at the micro-individual level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses reimagined conception of Christian suffering with Julian of Norwich. It mentions that inadequate theologies of suffering exploit oppressed people's desire for justice by offering some metaphysical prize that will unfortunately not arrive within he oppressed person's lifetime. It reveals that Julian of Norwich's writings offer a sample of Late-Medieval beliefs, who was ordained as an anchoress after having received visions of Christ's Crucifixion.

This article argues that doing theology in the context of diaspora is inseparable from people's experiences in their materiality, contemporaneity, and heterogeneity. Diasporic experience, and in this case, the particularity of diasporic Hongkongers, not only helps broaden our horizons, but also provides new understanding of suffering and salvation, and casts light on the journey toward a theo‐diasporic space. In this space, theologians and church leaders are motivated to deepen theological reflection through the diasporic lens and destabilize epistemic structures that gives false hope and certainty. This ever‐expanding space inevitably deterritorializes our theological orientation and meanwhile, invites more vigorous discussion on diasporic subjectivity and its potentiality in the imaginative construction of theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that if the African church is to make a meaningful contribution to human survival, livelihood, and dignity in post‐Covid‐19, it must reclaim and reconstitute the Christ of the marginalized and excluded who joins them in their suffering, struggles, and hopes for a liberated and emancipated post‐Covid‐19 Africa. This requires a passionate commitment to rethinking the idea of Christ as a critical resource to mobilize the masses for transformation and bettering their social contexts. The article concludes that the apparent contradiction between Christocapitalist Christian faith and the historical struggles of the masses reveals the underlying contradiction within most churches' conceptions of Christ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article spells out a range of strategies by which such suffering may be confronted with hope as proposed by late Archbishop John Quinn of San Francisco. Topics discussed include seeking to serve others; living according to the spirit that is dwelling within us; and identifying the work of the evil one.

Eben Scheffler wrote much on poverty and social injustice, and this article focusses on his understanding of the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts in order to comprehend the different dimensions of suffering and the healing ministry of the Lukan Jesus. Scheffler stressed that Jesus' life, from birth to cross, was immersed in suffering thus becoming part of the human condition of sorrow and misery, but Scheffler ultimately stressed the compassion of Jesus' ministry which continued in the early church and which must be reflected by his followers to all people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Suffering is that arduous, infrequent opening without reservations to the anomalous that resides within us, to that inexhaustible heteronomy that constitutes us and from which we try to escape by seeking shelter in intolerance for what is different, in submission to dogma, through servitude to the similar" (Kovadloff, 2008, p. 11). This article addresses the theme of suffering in relation to the capacity for agency by examining the experiences of a parish priest who played a key role in the emergence of Christian Base Communities in the central-western region of Mexico, particularly on the southern periphery of Guadalajara, Jalisco, during the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. Padre Juan's involvement led him to promote political and organizational process grounded in reclaiming "the preferential option for the poor." Christian Base Communities in Guadalajara functioned as catalysts of a diverse range of collective actions, while also serving as venues for ongoing conflict between conservative and progressive clergy responding to the proposal of a Church "incarnated in social reality" put forth by the Second Vatican Council. Padre Juan's adherence to this alternative movement has come with the consequences of persecution, exclusion, and punishment. His stances and practices have resulted in continual conflict with the Church hierarchy, placing him in a position of suffering, but hopeful, interconnectedness with the religious institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Catholic Church's evangelizing and healing presence throughout the world also entails the unintended reinforcement of cultural forces of misogyny that contribute to the suffering of women. This presents an urgent ethical imperative for the church to examine and reform its patriarchal structures of decision-making, ministry, and worship. Ecofeminist epistemologies and Schillebeeckx's theory of the proportional norm are employed in a movement through the steps of a theological reflection process that the author learned in collaboration with women theologians from Latin America. The symbolic paradigm guiding the movement is the Lukan Gospel's bent-over woman, standing up straight and glorifying God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suffering is an inescapable part of life. As Christians it is difficult to comprehend that a God who is both omnipotent and benevolent could allow his people to endure such agony. This raises the issue of how Christians should respond to suffering. To answer the question this paper will firstly reflect on the aspects of isolation caused by suffering in the book of Job, paying particular attention to chapers 2, 3, 29, 30 and 31. Secondly, it will consider Job's response to isolation caused by suffering, with particular attention to his lament and Job 42:7-17, and use this as a paradigm of how Christians should respond to God, our own thoughts and emotions, and others during times of suffering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni is the property of Editrice Morcelliana S.p.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One of the outstanding poetic achievements of the French Counter-Reformation is the sonnet sequence of Jean de La Ceppède (1550-1623), the full title of which isLes Théorèmes sur le sacré mystère de notre Rédemption, and which appeared in a form whose combination of intense formal focus and broad narrative development is particularly appropriate to the subject. The collection, published in two stages (dating from 1613 and 1622) is at once erudite, physical, penitential and precise, under which broad headings it is discussed in the first part of this article, which concentrates on the detailed attention accorded to the specifics of Christ’s suffering body before and during the Crucifixion, often in a strikingly painterly fashion. Two other features stand out: first, the existence of frequently very extensiveAnnotations, in which the whole panoply of patristic and later erudition is applied to features of the episodes depicted; and, then, the potential for their evocation to serve as meditational and penitential stimuli for the poet persona and, through him, for the reader. The second part of the article turns to the status of the wounds of Christ in the post-Resurrection appearances, as a means of restoring to the risen body some of the previous physical beauty implicitly evoked in the earlier pieces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of suffering in 16th century Lutheran devotional books in relation to the impact of the Protestant Reformation on the theology of the human body. Topics include religious leader Martin Luther's views about suffering and penance, the role of the Passion of religious figure Jesus Christ in Lutheran views of suffering, and Lutheran practical advice on suffering.

The article focuses on the life and sufferings of Christian women mystics Catherine of Siena and Mother Teresa of Kolkatta, India. Topics discussed include mystical experience of Catherine and Teresa in relationship to Christology, Catherine's life as a 14th-century Dominican tertiary, Catherine's teaching on spiritual development, and Teresa's belief in redemptive suffering with Christ as consisting of her darkness. Also mentioned is Teresa's founding of the Missionaries of Charity.

Anthropology's approach to answering the question of the role of suffering in our lives is limited to empirical data and at best describes an individual's capability to endure it and make sense of it. Levinas was at odds to find meaning in suffering once it had exceeded certain proportions. Various cultures demonstrate greater and lesser capacities for integrating corporate suffering when it has crossed a significant threshold (e.g. Israeli Holocaust survivors, Canadian-Cambodian Khmer Rouge survivors, and their descendants). What is the role of ritual and productive suffering in revealing meaning in suffering? Some examples are drawn from the experiences of pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago de Compostella. Drawing from Dr. Eleonore Stump's exploration of second-person narratives and relationships, a Christian philosophical-theological response is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on evolution of the universe based on the Genesis narrative of the bible. It offers view on God's relationship to the suffering endemic in an evolving cosmos, theologians trust that creatures themselves involved in risks including chaos, conflict and catastrophe. It describes theological proposals which suggests God's engagement, investment, and involvement in creation of universe.

The article explores John bar Penkaye's "Book of Main Points" and the anonymous "Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius," two texts written by Eastern Christians during the early Muslim expansion, using theodicy at the margins as a tool under which theodicy concerns itself with belief in God within a specific instance of suffering and oppression. Topics covered include theological approach used by the authors to understand Islamic conquest and the Muslim invasion as punishment for the Christian people.

The article offers information on the book "Keeping An Unbreakable Faith in the Mist of Afflictions" by Asule G. Jacob. Topics discussed include keeping the faith of God amidst affliction, upgrade knowledge on the ways of God, the use of afflictions in punishing evil, and the significance of worship.

An interview with Archbishop Anthony Fisher is presented. Topics discussed by Fisher during the interview include his understanding of health care and healing profession after his hospital discharge, his insight on suffering, and his observations on the deepening of friendship and relationships between people.

This article explores the reason for the positive disposition that Paul apparently exhibited with respect to his weakness and the sufferings that it entailed. He not only boasts of his weaknesses but even delights in them. He even makes a paradoxical declaration, 'When I am weak, then I am strong.' The article argues that the key to unlocking the paradoxical relation of power and weakness in Paul' s existential statement and in understanding the resilience of Paul in the face of the many sufferings that he had to endure is the assurance of the dynamic grace of Christ. Paul is made to understand through the divine response to his prayer, the only recorded oratio recta of the Risen Christ in the whole Pauline literature, that the empowering grace of Christ remains present and operative in times of weakness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christian theology has constantly taken an interest in the question of suffering. I want to do so once more in the hope that my approach will help to deepen this reflection. My hypothesis concerns the identification of God with all victims of injustice and violence. I believe that developing this approach can benefit the theology of the God presented in Judaeo-Christian revelation. To this end this article looks at some contemporary theologies, European and Latin American. At the end I shall try to indicate some ways forward for reflection on this important theological question today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on German theologist Martin Luther's theology of the cross in the Bremen Church Order (BCO) of 1534. Topics discussed include Luther's reference to the suffering and cross of Jesus Christ; the BCO, which states that the evangelical preacher condemns human righteousness, glory and wisdom, and bears witness to Jesus Christ; and BCO's chapter "About the Cross" which states that Christians may expect "Cross and Suffering" as part of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

From theological and philosophical viewpoints living life can be described as a mystery, which intensifies when suffering or adversity unexpectedly strikes. The martyrs' cry for justice in their suffering (Rev 6) sketches the typical situation of the mystery of theodicy. The penetrating question is not to dare giving a so-called "final" answer to this problem, but also not to shrink back as researcher to investigate the issue. The reality of human suffering has to be accepted. The sensitivity of the issue, narrated in the books of Job and Revelation, compels the researcher to be meticulously cautious and not to be too ambitious, particularly in drawing biblical and theological conclusions about God. After plotting different explanations to account for human suffering, the "why" question is theologically analysed. Coming to grips with the impact and hermeneutical functionality of divine mystery helps the researcher to get behind the mystery of divine theodicy. This is followed by the outcome of the research in the convergence of the function of divine mystery and theodicy in human suffering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on transformative suffering in terms of cultivation and exercise of virtues including edification and potentially transformative (PT) theologies. Topics discussed include claims in common to edificationism and PT theologies such as intrinsically negative character of suffering regardless of positive edifying potential, suffering being potentially edifying or transformative, and positive potential of suffering being contingent upon sufferers' response to suffering.

Gregory Nazianzen spoke of a suffering Christ ‘who became weak for us’ in the context of an oration, On Love of the Poor, which dealt at length with the extreme suffering the lepers had endured. The outcasts of the ancient world, lepers figured prominently in Jesus’ ministry as recorded in the Gospels. By juxtaposing their human suffering with divine weakness, Gregory implied that Christ had suffered with the lepers. The comparison not only gave meaning to the human experience of suffering, it also explored the extent of Christ's suffering in the divine economy. There was no affliction too grotesque for Christ to have assumed.Throughout his life, Gregory developed a notion of collective suffering which is relevant to understanding the magnitude of the suffering of Christ. It made the limitless suffering of humanity seem manageable and contained. It normalised the overwhelming sense of misery by expanding individual suffering into the suffering of the group, the suffering of the group into the suffering of neighbours and finally the suffering of neighbours into the collective suffering of the body of Christ. Christ then experienced the fullness of the human condition as the head of this body.The lepers served a purpose in this vision of collective suffering. By making the lepers a synecdoche for all human suffering, Gregory allowed Christ to assume their misery without his listeners having to imagine Christ suffering every aspect of their physical and emotional distress. This transference of collective suffering to the body of Christ worked in the following way: the individual suffering of the leper flowed into the collective suffering of the group, which connected with, and was incorporated into, the collective suffering of the Christian body. The result was a relationship of mutual imitation between Christ and humanity. It implied that human beings suffered with Christ, and that Christ suffered with human beings.By integrating literary techniques and contexts into theological analysis, this article examines the various ways in which Gregory construed the suffering of Christ. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The unusual flow of thought in Psalm 22 (description of suffering, description of deliverance, global acknowledgment of Yhwh as king) has long been recognized, as have its lexical and thematic similarities to the servant passages in Deutero-Isaiah. In this essay, 1 argue that Psalm 22 has been edited in light of how Trito-Isaiah develops themes from Deutero-Isaiah--in particular, in light of its emphasis on a social group called the "offspring" or "servants." Psalm 22 functions paradigmatically for those who suffer righteously and who self-identify as the "servants." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of the many problems which evolutionary theodicy tries to address, the ones of animal suffering and extinction seem especially intractable. In this essay, I show how C. D. Broad's growing block conception of time does much to ameliorate the problems. Additionally, I suggest it leads to another way of understanding the soul. Instead of it being understood as a substance, it is seen as a history-a history which is resurrected in the end times. Correspondingly, redemption, I argue, should not be seen as an event which redeems some future portion of time. God's triumph is over all of history, not just some future temporal portion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suffering can generate the disorienting experience of a deep void within and an accompanying question "Who am I?" I explore the way in which silent attending to this experience transforms suffering into an awareness of a luminous core of consciousness. There are remarkable similarities between the ways in which commentators from Christian and Hindu traditions account for the phenomenon of our luminous centre. The Jesuit theologian, Bernard Lonergan, and the Hindu sage, Ramana Maharshi, both point to the value of focused attention upon our experience of consciousness. Comparative theologian, Francis X. Clooney, helps us to navigate through the terrain of material drawn from such disparate traditions. We discover that silent attentiveness to the depths of our consciousness not only provides an embodied, existential answer to the question "Who am I?" but also opens out into the silent, luminous, loving presence of God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the conversion of French philosopher, mystic and writer to Christianity. It provides the author's Weltanshauung or thought-world and offers a description of such words as affliction, necessity, obedience and decreation. Other topics discussed include her refusal to enter the Roman Catholic Church and her opinion on baptism in the church.

It is obvious that contemporary man is suffering. His sufferings often seem pointless and causeless. Modern science more and more comes to reveal and acknowledge that human sufferings have a psychosomatic basis. In some of the cases, these sufferings are noogenic neuroses. They do not originate from the psychological dimension but from the noological or spiritual one of human existence. The pointlessness of life is the basic cause for the noogenic neurosis and depression from which the humankind suffers. Hence, the many escapes from such experienced reality into various addictions. Possible way towards healing is to retrieve one's meaning of life, to strengthen his will to meaning. Religion has always been--and still remains--a powerful and appealing purpose that fulfills the life and being of the believers. This article demonstrates the systematization of the spiritual development of a person presented in a table of the harmony of the ascetic-hesychastic struggle, according which everyone can find his place on the ladder of spiritual development, become aware, and reconciliate the mode of personal struggle according to his spiritual development. The reconciliation of the primary function of the mind with its secondary function--the intellect, is of an essential importance. Contemporary religious psychology do not regard man merely as a biological or a psychological being. The subject matter of research is the human being as a whole, as a spiritual person that is characterized by autonomy, regarding the biological and psychological processes. The importance of understanding the spiritual level of human existence enables holistic approach and experiencing of the human personality as a whole. Furthermore, it offers new perspectives of psychotherapeutic action not only within the range of the classical psychotherapeutic modalities but also within the range of the applied Christian Psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how the heart of Jesus was shaped by a deep concern with people's suffering. It discusses the realization of Jesus that a lot of suffering was contrary to the will of God mainly due to false understanding of God's will through prayer and observation. It highlights how people were taught that dire poverty and severe illnesses were a punishment from God.

Brent D. Shaw, in his very important and influential article "Body/Power/Identity: Passions of the Martyrs," published in 1996, argues that a new means of self-identification emerges in the late antique period, often denoted by the Greek abstract noun hypomonē (ύπμονή, the "endurance of suffering"). The first-century pseudepigraphic text Testament of Job offers evidence for this revaluation of suffering, but Shaw goes on to discover "feminized rhetoric" in this work: a phrase that is too dismissive of the Testament's profeminine content. Feminine rhetoric, despite Shaw's slighting of the idea, is a remarkably precocious feature of the Testament of Job; moreover, the events surrounding the inheritance of Job's three daughters at the end of this text, taken together, probably represent the most explicit example in biblical or apocryphal texts of engagement with what can only be described as feminine language. Not coincidentally, this text also directly fuses ideas of patience with feminine language, so that the Testament of Job and the early passios that feature female protagonists demonstrate the generation of an important tradition (and the generation of a literary genre best called patience literature) in Western culture, where women become famous for patience and endurance just as men can gain honor through exhibiting the traditional manly virtues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]