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Copyright of Specula is the property of SPECULA UCV 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.)

The debate over practices of physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia and other end-of-life questions is still ongoing in many countries around the world. At least, as of 2024, only 15 countries had varyingly legalised it under very specific, regulated conditions, while many more still view it as an extremely complex issue that, amongst other things, conflicts with their deeply held religious beliefs. Premised on their belief in the image of God as the source of human life, most monotheistic religions, but Christians in particular believe in the preservation of human life to its natural end. However, the unquestionable reality of this traditionally-held Christian belief does not preclude the rare reality where terminally ill Christians themselves, upon suffering excruciating pain, begin either to desire some form of a hastened death overtly or covertly. Under such conditions, however, pastoral therapists in particular lack the aptitude to openly initiate practical dialogues with patients, be it in the spirit of Ubuntu or to concretise the Christian position. That being said, the purpose of this article is to prepare Christian pastoral therapists in particular and the counselling profession in general to openly handle cases where agonising human suffering leads to suicidal thoughts or actions. In order to achieve this, the paper, through the use of literature reviews and desktop studies, draws on literature encompassing specific biblical instances in which not only physical suffering, but also mental suffering somehow led to suicidal events. The African concept of Ubuntu is then integrated into Christian humanism to promote pastoral therapeutic dialogue which may enrich Christian self-knowledge about the sacredness of human life, despite the urge of suicide or euthanasia. As per Christian humanism framework, Christian self-knowledge is inspired by the excruciating suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross. All things considered, pastoral therapy is endowed with the ability to present the image of God in human suffering while rejecting the urge for euthanasia or suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Was Belfast native C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) a Christian humanist? I approach this question by revisiting Lewis's critique of Christian humanism in Erasmus, More, Swift, and others. This sets up a contrast between Lewis the critic and Lewis the satirist—I refer particularly to the vein of satire that surfaces in The Pilgrim's Regress and runs through The Screwtape Letters and That Hideous Strength. I show that Lewis the satirist is indebted to the very same Christian humanists whom he disparages elsewhere. While Lewis's relation to Christian humanism is rife with contradiction, it is nonetheless central to his achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the bibliography about Fides et ratio, have been highlighted the defense of metaphysics and the idea of circularity between philosophy and theology. Here we hypothesize that the relationship between anthropology and metaphysics is analogous to the circularity between philosophy and theology. This is the path for the renewal of metaphysics proposed by John Paul II. First of all, I will present the conception of the encyclical on metaphysics and anthropology. Then, I will describe the concept of «circularity», to go on to apply it to the relationship between metaphysics and anthropology. Finally, I will show the relevance of this proposal for a Christian humanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of a Centre for Cultural Witness at Lambeth Palace, to serve the Church of England within an ecumenical partnership that already stretches across Europe, offers an opportune time to reflect upon the place—even the meaning—of "culture" in witness of the church. The analysis presented here identifies three senses in which that term might be applied to witness: as that from which the witness comes, that through which it comes, and that to which it comes. At least in theory, a strong cultural emphasis might (or might not) be placed on each of these dimensions independently. However, while this may prove to be a useful distinction, it risks perpetuating an assumption that churches, and Christians, stand outside the culture of those they address, speaking as if from beyond it. In the second half of this paper, I work, instead, from the recognition that the Christian speaks from a position of a shared creaturehood, shared humanity, and—in myriad ways—a shared culture. Approached that way, the mission of the church can fruitfully be seen as witness to a theologically specific understanding of that which is shared. I conclude with the suggestion that this can be ably resourced from the broad tradition of a Platonic "Christian humanism". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important terrains of the European search for new ways in politics between the two world wars was the debate on the reorganization and tasks of the state and, within it, of the economy and society. This topic dominated academic discourse in the 1920s and 1930s. The thinkers who sought answers—economists, philosophers, historians, sociologists, and ecclesiastics—could build on the work of early predecessors, reaching back as far as Thomas Aquinas’s “organic view of society,” later embodied in the economic and political theory of Jesuit solidarism. The common feature of the theories that emerged in the interwar period was that they approached the construction of the state not from the point of view of the individual, but from that of social groups. Vid Mihelics, a prominent exponent of these ideas in Hungary, devoted his journalistic, scientific, and political activities to the Hungarian Catholic revival. His interests focused on social issues and related teachings of the Church. His writings sought solutions through the ideas of Christian humanism, which for him was “the inalienable essence of true Europeanism.” His writings can help us better understand how interconnected Hungarian intellectual life was with European trends in the interwar period. zachar.peter.krisztian@uni-nke.hu

Till We Have Faces is profitably read at three levels: for its surface story, as a crime drama, and as an exploration of the theological mystery of grace. By transposing the myth of Psyche into the mystery genre, Lewis prepares the reader for Orual’s unreliability as a narrator and lures the reader into the novel’s theological depths. Part Two of the novel contains a series of visionary labors which Lewis borrows from Lucius Apuleius but recasts as feats achieved jointly by Orual and Psyche. The theological reading in this article finds textual support for rereading Part One of the novel as depicting Orual, by grace, unknowingly performing Psyche’s labors. Read thusly, the novel is a working out of Lewis’s belief that God can change the past—that grace can reach back into our histories and retell our story. By ascribing to the mutability of the past, Lewis sidesteps the dispute among various branches of Christianity over whether prevenient grace (the grace that pursues us prior to conversion) is both irresistible and salvific. An examination of four sources of grace in Orual’s life (love of beauty, love of wisdom, religious practice, and bereavement) reveals that what would have been common grace in her life becomes salvific as it leads to her redemption. This exposition also shows the novel’s indebtedness to the many classical Greek sources to which Lewis alludes within it, as well as its affinity with some of the ideas of Simone Weil.

One of the most important terrains of the European search for new ways in politics between the two world wars was the debate on the reorganization and tasks of the state and, within it, of the economy and society. This topic dominated academic discourse in the 1920s and 1930s. The thinkers who sought answers--economists, philosophers, historians, sociologists, and ecclesiastics--could build on the work of early predecessors, reaching back as far as Thomas Aquinas's "organic view of society," later embodied in the economic and political theory of Jesuit solidarism. The common feature of the theories that emerged in the interwar period was that they approached the construction of the state not from the point of view of the individual, but from that of social groups. Vid Mihelics, a prominent exponent of these ideas in Hungary, devoted his journalistic, scientific, and political activities to the Hungarian Catholic revival. His interests focused on social issues and related teachings of the Church. His writings sought solutions through the ideas of Christian humanism, which for him was "the inalienable essence of true Europeanism." His writings can help us better understand how interconnected Hungarian intellectual life was with European trends in the interwar period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the awareness of the existence of the limits of all individual methods but also the exhaustion of their potential over time (Jan Białostocki), in the modern methodology of history as a science and its disciplines, new research paths are often based on the contextualization of the subject (within the framework of our topic - cultural monuments) in historical (Jakob Burkhardt), socio-historical (Hans Belting) or mythological-religious (Aby Moritz Warburg; Erwin Panofsky) sense from the aspect of symbolic thinking (Ernst Kassirer). Once unimaginable methodological combinations achieve their current effects precisely on the basis of observing and interpreting the work of art in context. Such profiling of the research subject reconciles the opposites of factography of historical sources of written and monumental character and hermeneutics of artistic interpretations of a culturally understood phenomenon through the symbolization of reality. The Christian-humanist foundation of European culture represents a more comprehensive framework for researching the monuments of Serbian medieval art in which ancient and distinctly Christian contents are reconciled. A well-known and adequate example of the above, when it comes to heritage from the area of Kosovo and Metohija, is the church of the Bogorodica Ljeviška in Prizren, whose context is easy to establish, i.e. update on the basis of known factors: the founder (King Stefan Uroš II Milutin), the church administration and management of construction and decoration (Bishops Damjan of Prizren and Sava Hilandarac) and the collective author of the work (Nikola, Mihailo Astrapa and Eutyhije). The presentation of the methodological starting point is based on this example from the context of the work of art (cultural monument) and based on it - the examination of the methodological potential in relation to the possibility of interpreting some other monuments of medieval art from the area of Kosovo and Metohija. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What unites Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI to the French is ressourcement, a controversial movement that initiated a brilliant reorientation of Catholic thought and teaching in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In the light of the significant work that has already been done on Ratzinger's original contribution to Vatican II, the objectives of the present paper are, first, to situate him as theologian and Christian humanist at the heart of the ressourcement movement and to evaluate his work for peace and harmony in the confines between past and present. It attempts to illuminate a way forward for the Church, based on the anthropological, philosophical, and spiritual foundations of the new Christian humanism of the ressourcement project, championed by the French and their German allies. Secondly, the paper seeks to document the influence of notable, twentieth-century, French Catholic thinkers, theologians and philosophers, on Ratzinger's thought and future contribution to Church and culture on a global stage, with particular attention to Yves Congar, Henri de Lubac, Jean Daniélou (1905-74), and Jacques Maritain (1882-1973).1 Thirdly, it presents a fresh consideration of his vision of the Church, his contribution to the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council, and of the turbulent post-conciliar period. The key goals in this domain are, therefore, to articulate Ratzinger's spirituality and his preponderant contribution to theological anthropology, using the lens of Vatican II. This is a point of some considerable importance and fills a critical lacuna in Catholic theology. As a pertinent comment of Congar's makes clear. "For there is little awareness of the values of anthropology; we have created an ecclesiology without any anthropology".2 Like Congar, Ratzinger sought to construct a theological anthropology concerned to serve the pastoral needs of the Church but without neglecting its cultural and social elements. Spirituality and anthropology are then, unsurprisingly, as luminous, intricately interwoven threads that permeate and fortify his entire theological edifice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Antikvitás & Reneszánsz is the property of MTA-SZTE Antikvitas es Reneszansz, Forrasok es Recepcio Kutatocsoport 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.)

The weeks-long rioting and the destruction of property were more than just a hyper reaction to apparent racial discrimination in 2020. We might interpret this anti-social and criminal behavior as having its origin with an envy and resentment over things material. We were warned about this misuse of our freedom more than forty years ago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Finding our way back from a materialistsaturated vision of the good life depends on taking up a Christian humanism which was championed by Pope Saint John Paul II. We see that Christian humanism expressed vividly in family life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the transfer of knowledge between Judaism and Christianity in the Renaissance, a period characterized by the encounter of different cultures and belief systems. In particular, it will focus on the Christian Kabbalah, which channels various philosophical and sapiential traditions into a universal, and at the same time, plural vision of wisdom. This convergence of ideas resulted, on the one hand, in the elaboration of translations, adaptations, and vulgarization of Jewish texts and, on the other, in the development of new interpretations. This is a characteristic of the collected writings of Pierleone of Spoleto, which involved the transformative communication of Jewish translators and the creative reception of Christian humanists. Of these manuscripts, we will examine the annotations concerning the sefirot , which are an excellent example of the reinterpretation of Jewish thought through a typically humanistic perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Co-herencia is the property of Universidad EAFIT 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.)

Copyright of Radovi Zavoda za znanstveni rad Varazdin is the property of Institute for Scientific Work in Varazdin, Croatian Academy of Sciences & Arts 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.)

The creation of a Centre for Cultural Witness at Lambeth Palace, to serve the Church of England within an ecumenical partnership that already stretches across Europe, offers an opportune time to reflect upon the place—even the meaning—of “culture” in witness of the church. The analysis presented here identifies three senses in which that term might be applied to witness: as that from which the witness comes, that through which it comes, and that to which it comes. At least in theory, a strong cultural emphasis might (or might not) be placed on each of these dimensions independently. However, while this may prove to be a useful distinction, it risks perpetuating an assumption that churches, and Christians, stand outside the culture of those they address, speaking as if from beyond it. In the second half of this paper, I work, instead, from the recognition that the Christian speaks from a position of a shared creaturehood, shared humanity, and—in myriad ways—a shared culture. Approached that way, the mission of the church can fruitfully be seen as witness to a theologically specific understanding of that which is shared. I conclude with the suggestion that this can be ably resourced from the broad tradition of a Platonic “Christian humanism”.

This article reexamines the intellectual and religious inclinations of Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, or "Bess of Hardwick." Popular accounts emphasize her wealth, strong-willed character, staunch Protestantism, and dynastic ambitions. This study revises common assumptions about her character using evidence from a set of embroidered wall hangings Bess owned and designed. Their iconography reveals that she studied Boccaccio's Famous Women, and linked it to other texts in formal comparisons. Bess's textile furnishings reveal that she was prepared to weigh in on such topics as female virtue and soteriology in ways that were empowering for her as a woman, a scholar, and a Christian. These objects demonstrate Bess's notational habits, preparatory methods for dialogue, and sophisticated understanding of iconography. Bess was a product of the same Christian humanist culture as many of her elite contemporaries, and it was her sharp intellect--not her marital pedigree--that helped her win their praise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The argument of this paper is centred on early modern Tacitism and emergent political theory in Ben Jonson's England and his play Sejanus His Fall. Early modern political theory displayed a shift from a Christian humanist framework to what has been termed as Tacitean politics. In this paper, I will be discussing how Ben Jonson's Sejanus His Fall comments on current political affairs via contemporary Tacitism and particularly George Buchanan's political theory, especially his oeuvre De Jure Regni Apud Scotos; A Dialogue Concerning the Rights of the Crown in Scotland. Jonsonian scholarship has successfully discussed Ben Jonson's sources and focused mainly on the famous Flemish influence of Justus Lipsius's Tacitism but has overlooked George Buchanan's thought and his importance in the drama of Ben Jonson and his play Sejanus His Fall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: This research is framed by both the historical lineage of the New Civics and the legacy of educational and curricular debates in the United States. It contributes to the literature on mid-20th century education. Purpose and Research Questions: This study explores the relationship between religion, civics, and education through the lens of university and faculty leaders at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Universities in the mid-20th century. Research questions include (a) What were some of the major trends in curricular reform before totalitarianism emerged as an idea or concept, and how were they related to questions of freedom? (b) In the mid-to-late 1930s, how did the presidents of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale view the idea of totalitarianism/authoritarianism and its potential impact on these earlier reform efforts? In addition, what role did trustees, students, faculty, and other constituents play in these conversations? (c) What educational proposals were offered as solutions or counterattacks to totalitarian ideas? (d) What lessons can we draw today from these debates about educating for freedom? Research Design: This study utilized a historical case study design based on intellectual, educational, and cultural history. I examined more than 30 archival collections at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale; my focus was on curricular meeting minutes, presidential papers, dean's papers, and individual manuscripts. Findings/Results: Most literature on 20th-century American education and civics focuses on secularization. My research instead emphasizes the dynamic relationship between religion and education, including the ways in which educational practices became religious in form and purpose. I illuminate the ways in which, even after World War II, Christian supernaturalism and secular facts were thought by a coterie of faculty and university leaders to be interconnected. Educators at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale referenced Christian Humanism—a fusion of supernatural and secular—as being highly relevant to their time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Orientamenti Pedagogici is the property of Pontificio Ateneo Salesiano (Facoltà di Scienze dell'Educazione dell'Università Pontificia Salesian) 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.)

Copyright of Revista de Derecho Politico is the property of Editorial UNED 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.)

The conduct of an individual should be based on moral values, which should not be subject to relativisation, that is, they should not depend on the situation and conditions, but should be treated as absolute values - on which the whole of social life is based. For Christian democrats, an important value is man, created by God in his image and likeness, equipped with freedom, consciousness and elementary rights, among which the right to life from conception to natural death is essential. Among the priority values (besides respect for life and the institution of the family) are work, private property, solidarity and responsibility. The principles of social solidarity and the common good should be a bulwark against class egoism. Consumerism is criticised as an attitude that leads to the pursuit of material goods and at the same time to the distortion and reduction of human dignity. The aim of this paper is a historical and critical analysis of the concept of democracy in the context of the social teaching of the Church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the excesses and contradictions that led to the different humanisms that characterized modernity, both illustrated and delayed, contemporary thought has fallen into a pessimism, to some extent justified, regarding the emancipating and humanizing potentialities of rationality autonomous and critical that characterized that era. Current pessimism denies the human being as a value and as an ideal, also with a certain reason, opening the way to an antihumanist and post-human era. From the point of view of the Christian tradition it is intended to recover humanism; it can’t be said to be a new humanism but an originary one. What we understand here for Christian humanism is the result of the confluence between those two traditions that make up the face of the West, (Israel and Athens). This must be a self-critical, measured and self-limited humanism, which under the concept of creaturality –and the contingency that derives from it– aims to revalue man in the more general framework of his finitude and his necessary conformity with natural law; in this way they seek to recover both roots and pillars that have defined Western culture.