The emergence of the digital technologies that make possible the worldwide web, the internet, the... more The emergence of the digital technologies that make possible the worldwide web, the internet, the cell phone, and social media was admired as revolutionary. They were welcomed as facilitating, enriching, and empowering information, communication, relationships, and communities. In writing, they did away with pen, pencil, and typewriter. In communicating, email outrun snail mail, and texting made letters, stamps, and telephones outdated. Gathering relatives, friends, and associates for occasions, special or otherwise, was made possible through a multitude of platforms. It was exciting and rewarding. They were even regarded as fostering freedom and enhancing a democratic way of life. Not anymore. Every day the headlines blaze with reports of racist algorithms, data leaks and hijacks, social media platforms festering lies, conspiracies, righteous anger, and hateful tirades. They have been captured by would-be authoritarians in exploiting and harnessing popular fear, hate, and anger for people to follow them, for their followers to attack opponents and dissenters, and for themselves to be elected, assume, and wield power for their interests in illiberal democracies. It has come to a point, I now hold, that social media have outlived their uses and have become more detrimental to individual lives, to relationships and communities, and to society as whole. They have become the greatest danger to democracy. David Runciman (2018), professor of politics at Cambridge University, asserts that Mark Zuckerberg is a bigger threat to democracy than Donald Trump; he might not intend what he is causing, but Trump intends what he causes.
Alexis de Tocqueville, aristocrat and political philosopher, was active in French politics, first... more Alexis de Tocqueville, aristocrat and political philosopher, was active in French politics, first under the July monarchy (1830-1848) of Louis Philippe who abdicated because he disagreed with the First Republic's decision to execute Louis XVI, and then during the Second Republic (1849-1851) which succeeded the 1848 French Revolution. He despised the old regime and argued that the importance of the French Revolution was to initiate the process of modernizing the French state. The French Revolution, however, failed because of the inexperience of the deputies, who were too wedded to the abstract ideals of the Enlightenment. He retired from politics after the 1851 coup of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte which he opposed.
The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council is often described as the Catholic Church's belated rapproc... more The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council is often described as the Catholic Church's belated rapprochement with the modern world. It was Hans Kung who most consistently and assiduously studied and promoted the implications of this rapprochement.
, when in 1984 he published a slender volume titled What Crucified Jesus? A preface to that volum... more , when in 1984 he published a slender volume titled What Crucified Jesus? A preface to that volume was written by E. P. Sanders who himself was a pioneer in his Jesus and Judaism in locating and understanding Jesus in the first-century Palestine of his time. Sanders commented: "[Ellis Rivkin's] study deals with only one issue in the New Testament, but one of central importance: the cause or causes of the death of Jesus. The book is brilliantly conceived and admirably argued. While there are some details about which one might disagree, the overall argument is, in my judgement completely convincing. This study should also help shift the discussion of the historical Jesus on to a firmer historical basis. As we understand more clearly the environment in which he lived and what it was that which led to his execution, we should also come to understand his life and message better." Ellis Rivkin's slender volume is reprinted as a long article, revised and updated by permission of its 1984 publisher, Abington Press, in a volume of essays, Jesus' Jewishness: Exploring the Place of Jesus in Early Judaism, ed. by James H. Charlesworth (The American Interfaith Institute, New York: Crossroad, 1991).
Climate change, it is now scientifically proven, has become an existential threat to humanity and... more Climate change, it is now scientifically proven, has become an existential threat to humanity and the earth, our home. But in what exactly does the threat of climate change consist? We have experienced the increasing incidence and devastation of typhoons, hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes. We have seen fires shooting up in the air, burning forests, swaths of homes torched to the ground, leaving families homeless. We have watched on television giant glaciers break off and float to the ocean, with polar bears stranded in search of diminished food. We know for a fact that some low-lying islands in the world are slowly being submerged by the rising levels of water of oceans.
With the election of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States in January 1981, an epoch in... more With the election of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States in January 1981, an epoch in the nation's political history came to an end. "The New Deal, as a dominant order of ideas, public policies, and political alliances, died," maintained Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle (1989) maintained in their introduction, "however much its ghost still hovers over a troubled polity."
Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, gives a definition of the Church... more Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, gives a definition of the Church ad intra as the People of God on a pilgrimage towards its eschatological fulfillment, and a definition ad extra as a sacrament, that is, a sign and an instrument, of the Reign of God in the world, of justice, peace, and love. Every Christian institution, therefore, is a portion of God's pilgrim people, which endeavors to be a sacrament in its specific area of work in the world. The Catholic family is or should be a sacrament of husband and wife to each other, a sacrament of parents and children among themselves. The Catholic parish is and should be a community of sacraments between pastor and parishioners. In the Catholic school, college or university, administrators, staff, faculty, and students are or should be sacraments to one another, studying and learning in justice and respect. The Catholic hospital is or should be a sacrament of healers and those to be healed in patience and understanding as they go through the process of pain, suffering, healing, and even of death. The Catholic business is or should be a sacrament to its producers, to its suppliers, to its employees, and to its customers in fairness, honesty, and justice. This is a universal call to holiness, a chapter of its own in Lumen Gentium. Humans are frail moral agents, institutions can become dysfunctional and sinful, relationships can become toxic and even lethal. We all are on a pilgrimage, ever struggling to remain faithful to truth, justice, peace, and love. We struggle, we fall, we rise again. The call is there to aspire for, to inspire, to reach out to, achieve.
At the end of the Second Vatican Council, Karl Rahner (1966), perhaps the most influential theolo... more At the end of the Second Vatican Council, Karl Rahner (1966), perhaps the most influential theologian at the Council, wrote a small book, The Church after the Council, which was composed of three essays: 1. The Council-A New Beginning 2. The Church-A New Image 3. Theology-A New Challenge In the first essay, Rahner declared that "the Council was without doubt far and away the most productive of all the Church's ecumenical councils to date. It was a Council which undertook the greatest tasks so far and the most far-reaching themes.. .. Everything at the Council was reworked from the ground up.. .. Just as no former Council had consisted of this enormous assembly, so no former Council had as its objective the full scope of the task of the Church." But Rahner insisted that "One may not accuse the Church of having turned, introvert fashion, into herself. Certainly, she speaks of herself in all these declarations, but she is considering in all expressions how she can serve-God, man, the world, and her destiny."
The emergence of the digital technologies that make possible the worldwide web, the internet, the... more The emergence of the digital technologies that make possible the worldwide web, the internet, the cell phone, and social media was admired as revolutionary. They were welcomed as facilitating, enriching, and empowering information, communication, relationships, and communities. In writing, they did away with pen, pencil, and typewriter. In communicating, email outrun snail mail, and texting made letters, stamps, and telephones outdated. Gathering relatives, friends, and associates for occasions, special or otherwise, was made possible through a multitude of platforms. It was exciting and rewarding. They were even regarded as fostering freedom and enhancing a democratic way of life. Not anymore. Every day the headlines blaze with reports of racist algorithms, data leaks and hijacks, social media platforms festering lies, conspiracies, righteous anger, and hateful tirades. They have been captured by would-be authoritarians in exploiting and harnessing popular fear, hate, and anger for people to follow them, for their followers to attack opponents and dissenters, and for themselves to be elected, assume, and wield power for their interests in illiberal democracies. It has come to a point, I now hold, that social media have outlived their uses and have become more detrimental to individual lives, to relationships and communities, and to society as whole. They have become the greatest danger to democracy. David Runciman (2018), professor of politics at Cambridge University, asserts that Mark Zuckerberg is a bigger threat to democracy than Donald Trump; he might not intend what he is causing, but Trump intends what he causes.
Alexis de Tocqueville, aristocrat and political philosopher, was active in French politics, first... more Alexis de Tocqueville, aristocrat and political philosopher, was active in French politics, first under the July monarchy (1830-1848) of Louis Philippe who abdicated because he disagreed with the First Republic's decision to execute Louis XVI, and then during the Second Republic (1849-1851) which succeeded the 1848 French Revolution. He despised the old regime and argued that the importance of the French Revolution was to initiate the process of modernizing the French state. The French Revolution, however, failed because of the inexperience of the deputies, who were too wedded to the abstract ideals of the Enlightenment. He retired from politics after the 1851 coup of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte which he opposed.
The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council is often described as the Catholic Church's belated rapproc... more The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council is often described as the Catholic Church's belated rapprochement with the modern world. It was Hans Kung who most consistently and assiduously studied and promoted the implications of this rapprochement.
, when in 1984 he published a slender volume titled What Crucified Jesus? A preface to that volum... more , when in 1984 he published a slender volume titled What Crucified Jesus? A preface to that volume was written by E. P. Sanders who himself was a pioneer in his Jesus and Judaism in locating and understanding Jesus in the first-century Palestine of his time. Sanders commented: "[Ellis Rivkin's] study deals with only one issue in the New Testament, but one of central importance: the cause or causes of the death of Jesus. The book is brilliantly conceived and admirably argued. While there are some details about which one might disagree, the overall argument is, in my judgement completely convincing. This study should also help shift the discussion of the historical Jesus on to a firmer historical basis. As we understand more clearly the environment in which he lived and what it was that which led to his execution, we should also come to understand his life and message better." Ellis Rivkin's slender volume is reprinted as a long article, revised and updated by permission of its 1984 publisher, Abington Press, in a volume of essays, Jesus' Jewishness: Exploring the Place of Jesus in Early Judaism, ed. by James H. Charlesworth (The American Interfaith Institute, New York: Crossroad, 1991).
Climate change, it is now scientifically proven, has become an existential threat to humanity and... more Climate change, it is now scientifically proven, has become an existential threat to humanity and the earth, our home. But in what exactly does the threat of climate change consist? We have experienced the increasing incidence and devastation of typhoons, hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes. We have seen fires shooting up in the air, burning forests, swaths of homes torched to the ground, leaving families homeless. We have watched on television giant glaciers break off and float to the ocean, with polar bears stranded in search of diminished food. We know for a fact that some low-lying islands in the world are slowly being submerged by the rising levels of water of oceans.
With the election of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States in January 1981, an epoch in... more With the election of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States in January 1981, an epoch in the nation's political history came to an end. "The New Deal, as a dominant order of ideas, public policies, and political alliances, died," maintained Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle (1989) maintained in their introduction, "however much its ghost still hovers over a troubled polity."
Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, gives a definition of the Church... more Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, gives a definition of the Church ad intra as the People of God on a pilgrimage towards its eschatological fulfillment, and a definition ad extra as a sacrament, that is, a sign and an instrument, of the Reign of God in the world, of justice, peace, and love. Every Christian institution, therefore, is a portion of God's pilgrim people, which endeavors to be a sacrament in its specific area of work in the world. The Catholic family is or should be a sacrament of husband and wife to each other, a sacrament of parents and children among themselves. The Catholic parish is and should be a community of sacraments between pastor and parishioners. In the Catholic school, college or university, administrators, staff, faculty, and students are or should be sacraments to one another, studying and learning in justice and respect. The Catholic hospital is or should be a sacrament of healers and those to be healed in patience and understanding as they go through the process of pain, suffering, healing, and even of death. The Catholic business is or should be a sacrament to its producers, to its suppliers, to its employees, and to its customers in fairness, honesty, and justice. This is a universal call to holiness, a chapter of its own in Lumen Gentium. Humans are frail moral agents, institutions can become dysfunctional and sinful, relationships can become toxic and even lethal. We all are on a pilgrimage, ever struggling to remain faithful to truth, justice, peace, and love. We struggle, we fall, we rise again. The call is there to aspire for, to inspire, to reach out to, achieve.
At the end of the Second Vatican Council, Karl Rahner (1966), perhaps the most influential theolo... more At the end of the Second Vatican Council, Karl Rahner (1966), perhaps the most influential theologian at the Council, wrote a small book, The Church after the Council, which was composed of three essays: 1. The Council-A New Beginning 2. The Church-A New Image 3. Theology-A New Challenge In the first essay, Rahner declared that "the Council was without doubt far and away the most productive of all the Church's ecumenical councils to date. It was a Council which undertook the greatest tasks so far and the most far-reaching themes.. .. Everything at the Council was reworked from the ground up.. .. Just as no former Council had consisted of this enormous assembly, so no former Council had as its objective the full scope of the task of the Church." But Rahner insisted that "One may not accuse the Church of having turned, introvert fashion, into herself. Certainly, she speaks of herself in all these declarations, but she is considering in all expressions how she can serve-God, man, the world, and her destiny."
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