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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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

The article discusses the book by fr. Divo Barsotti “Dostoevsky. The Passion for Christ”. It carries a research project on the interpretation of F.M. Dostoevsky’s works by Catholic religious thinkers and theologians started in 2019. On the one hand, these analyses allow us to discover new ways of interaction between literature and theology, while highlighting Dostoevsky’s, although indirect, contribution to the change of the Catholic world after the second Vatican Council. The article presents the book, its structure, and main contents, and attempts to identify the peculiarities of Barsotti’s reception of Dostoevsky’s texts. Attention is focused on the concept of moral law as an evidence of the existence of God, and on the interpretation of Dostoevsky’s “profession of faith” and, consequently, on who Christ is for Barsotti and Dostoevsky.

The Sacred Scriptures narrated the marvelous deeds of God. It is divided into the Old Testament, which narrates God's preparation for humankind's salvation, and the New Testament, which fulfills His promise. The Gospels serve explicitly as a witness to the divine realities as it records the life and mission of Jesus Christ that He truly exists for humanity's sake. The other epistle writings found in the New Testament foretold the beginning and growth of the Church in following Christ. This paper seeks to look at the relation between the Dogma of the Theotokosand Mark 6:3 on Jesus as the Son of Mary. In presenting the said theme, the following parts are discussed: first, A Short History of the Dogma of the Theotokos by looking into the context which leads to the promulgation of the teaching; second, the Inseparability of Mary with Jesus by tackling the connection between the Mother and Son; and third, the Dogma of the Theotokos and Mark 6:3 by relating the teaching on Mark's Gospel account which is an affirmation of Catholic theology regarding the person of Jesus.

The article analyzes the basic concepts of Christology in modern Catholic theology, which determine the Church's desire to protect the biblical teaching of the doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ by modernizing religious doctrines on the basis of modern terminology.This approach has led to the emergence of contemporary models of Christological doctrine, which have demonstrated the development and need of the Roman Catholic Church not to be aloof from contemporary political and social processes.Recent trends in Christological topics have their own peculiarities, reflecting the millennial existence of the Church. Religious analysis of the key problems of theological discourse in the Christological teachings of the representatives of Catholic theology led to the transformation of ideological orientations: from enlightenment, which justified belief in the human mind and scientific and technological progress, to the existential, defining a human as the personality-dialogical phenomenon;revealing the deep connection of Christology and soteriology as interdependent aspects of one phenomenon of salvation in the context of understanding the earthly existence of Jesus, the historical recollection of the Passions, the Death and Resurrection of Christ, and the psychological and ontological content of Jesus' consciousness through the prism of the ecology of Christ through the lens of Christ. It is established that a large number of theologians belonging to different Christian denominations are refining already existing or generating new concepts in understanding Christ as Savior of the world or historical Person, opening the boundary between the nature of Christ and His ministry.This contributed to the formation of Christological models that meet the urgent needs of the development of modern theology: evolutionary, existential-transcendental, monistic, liberation, eschatological, personal and spiritual.This approach promotes the search for common moments of Christological doctrines, which gives reason to speak as a perspective for the future, about the Christological basis of modern dialogue.However, the traditional doctrinal differences between Christian denominations are moving away from unity on a Christian basis.

Old Catholic theology is the theology that is characteristic of the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht. Old Catholic Theology: An Introduction, authored by Peter-Ben Smit, an acknowledged expert in the field, outlines the main characteristics of and influences on Old Catholic theology, as well as the extant ecumenical relationships of the Old Catholic Churches. In doing so, it covers what may be called ‘mainstream’ Old Catholic theology, while paying attention to extant diversity within the Old Catholic tradition. Particular attention is given to the hermeneutical approach to theology, ecclesiology, sacramental theology and ecumenical theology. Old Catholic theology has come to be characterized by a sacramental understanding of the church. This is the result of ecumenical dialogue and the basis upon which the Old Catholic Churches engage in ecumenical rapprochement. Hermeneutics of Scripture and tradition plays an important role as well, given that Old Catholic Churches have developed their own form of a hermeneutics of communion.

The study maps the attitudes of Italian Catholic theologians publishing in the prestigious journal La Civilta Cattolica on the issue of the evolutionary origin of the human body from 1850–1980. The strict rejection of the so-called Mivart‘s thesis lasted up to the beginning of the 1940s when things began to change gradually. It is noteworthy that German and Italian Jesuits used different strategies. The former approached Mivart‘s thesis in an increasingly liberal way as of the 1890s, while the latter remained in opposition up until the 1940s. Czech Catholic theology followed the German more closely, rather than the official Italian pattern.