St. Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle is an example of inductive (vs deductive) mystical theology since she proceeds from the particulars of her own experience and what she has observed in others, to the general. So this is not always a terrible idea. I really think that the primary thing in an exhortation on how to do theology ought to be something about striving for personal holiness though. That would be a paradigm shift. I don't think inventing new words for "talking to other cliques instead of only to one's own clique" is a paradigm shift since both will produce (to me) impenetrable jargon - it will look like a paradigm shift to people who know one or the other jargon, of course, but the proof of the pudding depends on what sort of alcohol it was soaked in (I think I am thinking of the right sort of pudding? there is one that is set on fire, yes?)
> If I said, "well, there is so much injustice in the world that God cannot possibly exist," that's a pretty bad use of inductive reasoning
We could have a smooth segue here to the Summa Theologica (it is one of the two objections that I can remember to the existence of God. St Thomas's appeal to authority is also perhaps my favorite. Sed contra "I AM" heh.)
St Teresa of Avila was deferential to the teachings of the Church (like, if any of this is wrong, correct or or burn it or whatever), and I think that obedience and humility would be an essential starting point without which we cannot really hope to do anything interesting or enduring (since Christ was humble and obedient and it is through him that we have access to anything interesting or enduring). They are very unpopular virtues. I think also that modern theologians ought to take a lot of math classes first. This would be transdisciplinary.
Math is the only transdisciplinary subject (I think there is an xkcd panel on this, in spirit because the word did not exist until fiveminutes ago), and is so much more full of elegant truths and surprising beauty than whatever disciplines the Pope was actually planning on trans-ing. Synodality demands it! This is me making stuff up and it does indeed feel good.
"it will look like a paradigm shift to people who know one or the other jargon, of course, but the proof of the pudding depends on what sort of alcohol it was soaked in"
A theological flambé. Yup, this feels like where we are as a Church. As the alcohol burns off, what flavor notes will we be left with?
"With this impiety spreading in every direction, it has come about, alas, that many even among the children of the catholic church have strayed from the path of genuine piety, and as the truth was gradually diluted in them, their catholic sensibility was weakened. Led away by diverse and strange teachings and confusing nature and grace, human knowledge and divine faith, they are found to distort the genuine sense of the dogmas which holy mother church holds and teaches, and to endanger the integrity and genuineness of the faith."
Session III. Article 8. Vatican I Dogmatic Constitution.
"Cultural revolution," a very poor choice of words not only for those of us who are familiar with the so called "cultural revelations" in China under Mao but also the current culture of the need to overthrow established and authentic works of theology. It sounds like it departs from the idea of "organic growth."
This is a lot of gibberish. I have had 12 yrs of Catholic Education and am a practicing Catholic and this means very little to me. I think it is justification for one’s position. If you are the Pope you are expected to do this but completely removed from everyday Catholics
None of the following quotes indicate a love for the Catholic church, it's teaching, or it's tradition:
[1] “To promote theology in the future, we cannot limit ourselves to abstractly re-proposing formulas and schemes from the past.”
[2] This means that theology must be “capable of reading and interpreting the Gospel in the conditions in which men and women live daily, in different geographical, social and cultural environments.”
[3] “Starting from here, theology can only develop in a culture of dialogue and encounter between different traditions and different knowledge, between different Christian confessions and different religions, openly engaging with everyone, believers and non-believers,”
These are calls to dismantle, to dilute, to change; to attempt to make the Church more popular by fitting in with the hedonism of the lost modern child. The Church already has the answers, she is already complete.
Expectations are a form of love, severely lacking in the current day.
“Cultural revolution” here does not refer to the decade-long upheaval in China that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Rather, it is a quotation from the 2015 encyclical Laudato si’.
That "cultural revolution" does not have that meaning in this context is likely completely coincidental.
Many readers in the field of education will remember the "Reading Wars" from the past few decades in which the "inductive" method of learning reading gained ascendancy and was promoted vigorously across the United States, replacing the old phonics and grammar-based methods. The result was the collapse of reading skills every where it was tried, with the victims being children deprived of an education. But it did a great job keeping reading "specialists" employed, because the worse job the experts did, the easier it was to justify hiring more "experts" because of the "crisis."
Look, the people behind this motu proprio published an Apostolic Exhortation in 2016 whose title literally translates as "The Joy of Sex." They are not serious people. They are not arguing in good faith. They are bored waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain and so they are collecting gold and kindling--anyone with an ounce of sensus fidelium knows to ignore all this nonsense and get back to praying the Rosary.
I really wish there were test cases of theological thought and its culturally significant connections demonstrated to see its coherence with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Proof of this concept in action would be helpful to illuminate the necessity of such vague expressions of change in approach. History recorded many the published theology that was tested and debated and either modified or excluded in our doctrinal development. Liable is an idea that can be proven useful (at least to some of us, searching for the truth, and a jungle of misinformation).
"Theology must be "capable of reading and interpreting the Gospel in the conditions in which men and women live daily, in different geographical, social and cultural environments.'” This is just another stone in the foundation Francis is laying for the next, even more overtly radical pope, whom Francis intends to have elected by his increasingly radical college of cardinals.
Let us pray that just as the Cardinals created by JP2 and B16 who elected Francis (a surprise) the men created Cardinals by Francis surprise us by electing a moderate who can begin the work of "toning down" the current and distressing agenda. Some.of these.men have to know, especially from the Southern Cone that all is not well in the Church.
Since Francis appointed Cardinals in the US are into his agenda and their number is small it will be the other national Churches that will have to bear the brunt of any restoration of authentic order.
Most of us thought that given those elevated by the two previous pope would not elect a pope like Francis the game of electioneering will not triumph again.
Maybe that's just wishful thinking. But our God is the god Who works wonders. cf Ps. 77:14a
IME, TC is the major event/issue that has actually, sadly really impacted the Church.
Francis (like any pope) has issued so many documents and the more issued the less implemented that have a direct impact on the Church.
I like to think the same thing - that enough "progressive" or "moderate" Francis appointees will, come election day, have become so troubled by the turmoil he created (or by his efforts to pack the College of Cardinals) that they'll vote for a "moderate" or "stability" candidate in order to "bring the Church back to the center" or "unite the faithful".
But we also shouldn't forget that many "progressive" Catholics thought St. John Paul II was harmful in his orthodoxy, and I expect that some cardinals voted for Francis because they perceived a need to "rebalance" the Church after the long period of "conservative" rule under JP II and Benedict XVI. So, it seems equally plausible (especially in this increasingly zero-sum world), that progressive Cardinals will see the task of electing Francis' successor as an opportunity to continue his agenda.
The consequences of this motus proprio will be dear. I wish you would put online your own translation so it can be kept as a reference for later troubles.
St. Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle is an example of inductive (vs deductive) mystical theology since she proceeds from the particulars of her own experience and what she has observed in others, to the general. So this is not always a terrible idea. I really think that the primary thing in an exhortation on how to do theology ought to be something about striving for personal holiness though. That would be a paradigm shift. I don't think inventing new words for "talking to other cliques instead of only to one's own clique" is a paradigm shift since both will produce (to me) impenetrable jargon - it will look like a paradigm shift to people who know one or the other jargon, of course, but the proof of the pudding depends on what sort of alcohol it was soaked in (I think I am thinking of the right sort of pudding? there is one that is set on fire, yes?)
> If I said, "well, there is so much injustice in the world that God cannot possibly exist," that's a pretty bad use of inductive reasoning
We could have a smooth segue here to the Summa Theologica (it is one of the two objections that I can remember to the existence of God. St Thomas's appeal to authority is also perhaps my favorite. Sed contra "I AM" heh.)
St Teresa of Avila was deferential to the teachings of the Church (like, if any of this is wrong, correct or or burn it or whatever), and I think that obedience and humility would be an essential starting point without which we cannot really hope to do anything interesting or enduring (since Christ was humble and obedient and it is through him that we have access to anything interesting or enduring). They are very unpopular virtues. I think also that modern theologians ought to take a lot of math classes first. This would be transdisciplinary.
Math is the only transdisciplinary subject (I think there is an xkcd panel on this, in spirit because the word did not exist until fiveminutes ago), and is so much more full of elegant truths and surprising beauty than whatever disciplines the Pope was actually planning on trans-ing. Synodality demands it! This is me making stuff up and it does indeed feel good.
Not sure if this is the one you mean, but it sure feels relevant: https://xkcd.com/263/
"it will look like a paradigm shift to people who know one or the other jargon, of course, but the proof of the pudding depends on what sort of alcohol it was soaked in"
A theological flambé. Yup, this feels like where we are as a Church. As the alcohol burns off, what flavor notes will we be left with?
Are you sure it's alcohol and not gasoline?
Christmas Plum Pudding in our home !!!
"With this impiety spreading in every direction, it has come about, alas, that many even among the children of the catholic church have strayed from the path of genuine piety, and as the truth was gradually diluted in them, their catholic sensibility was weakened. Led away by diverse and strange teachings and confusing nature and grace, human knowledge and divine faith, they are found to distort the genuine sense of the dogmas which holy mother church holds and teaches, and to endanger the integrity and genuineness of the faith."
Session III. Article 8. Vatican I Dogmatic Constitution.
Amen!
I've been waiting for this Explainer and I was not disappointed. Thank you for the concision and clarity, all things considered...
"Cultural revolution," a very poor choice of words not only for those of us who are familiar with the so called "cultural revelations" in China under Mao but also the current culture of the need to overthrow established and authentic works of theology. It sounds like it departs from the idea of "organic growth."
Seems like the sort of document where the theology departments say "well isn't that nice" and then keep on doing what they were doing anyway.
This is a lot of gibberish. I have had 12 yrs of Catholic Education and am a practicing Catholic and this means very little to me. I think it is justification for one’s position. If you are the Pope you are expected to do this but completely removed from everyday Catholics
An advantage of speaking in coded gibberish is that no one can argue with you because only the in crowd have a clue what you're talking about.
None of the following quotes indicate a love for the Catholic church, it's teaching, or it's tradition:
[1] “To promote theology in the future, we cannot limit ourselves to abstractly re-proposing formulas and schemes from the past.”
[2] This means that theology must be “capable of reading and interpreting the Gospel in the conditions in which men and women live daily, in different geographical, social and cultural environments.”
[3] “Starting from here, theology can only develop in a culture of dialogue and encounter between different traditions and different knowledge, between different Christian confessions and different religions, openly engaging with everyone, believers and non-believers,”
These are calls to dismantle, to dilute, to change; to attempt to make the Church more popular by fitting in with the hedonism of the lost modern child. The Church already has the answers, she is already complete.
Expectations are a form of love, severely lacking in the current day.
“Cultural revolution” here does not refer to the decade-long upheaval in China that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Rather, it is a quotation from the 2015 encyclical Laudato si’.
That "cultural revolution" does not have that meaning in this context is likely completely coincidental.
Many readers in the field of education will remember the "Reading Wars" from the past few decades in which the "inductive" method of learning reading gained ascendancy and was promoted vigorously across the United States, replacing the old phonics and grammar-based methods. The result was the collapse of reading skills every where it was tried, with the victims being children deprived of an education. But it did a great job keeping reading "specialists" employed, because the worse job the experts did, the easier it was to justify hiring more "experts" because of the "crisis."
Look, the people behind this motu proprio published an Apostolic Exhortation in 2016 whose title literally translates as "The Joy of Sex." They are not serious people. They are not arguing in good faith. They are bored waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain and so they are collecting gold and kindling--anyone with an ounce of sensus fidelium knows to ignore all this nonsense and get back to praying the Rosary.
I really wish there were test cases of theological thought and its culturally significant connections demonstrated to see its coherence with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Proof of this concept in action would be helpful to illuminate the necessity of such vague expressions of change in approach. History recorded many the published theology that was tested and debated and either modified or excluded in our doctrinal development. Liable is an idea that can be proven useful (at least to some of us, searching for the truth, and a jungle of misinformation).
Liberation Theology all over again... but now we can call in the Maoists to help us figure it out better.
Wondering why this article contains an off-kilter photo of Pope Francis. Is that an editorial comment on his "paradigm shift?"
"Theology must be "capable of reading and interpreting the Gospel in the conditions in which men and women live daily, in different geographical, social and cultural environments.'” This is just another stone in the foundation Francis is laying for the next, even more overtly radical pope, whom Francis intends to have elected by his increasingly radical college of cardinals.
Let us pray that just as the Cardinals created by JP2 and B16 who elected Francis (a surprise) the men created Cardinals by Francis surprise us by electing a moderate who can begin the work of "toning down" the current and distressing agenda. Some.of these.men have to know, especially from the Southern Cone that all is not well in the Church.
Since Francis appointed Cardinals in the US are into his agenda and their number is small it will be the other national Churches that will have to bear the brunt of any restoration of authentic order.
Most of us thought that given those elevated by the two previous pope would not elect a pope like Francis the game of electioneering will not triumph again.
Maybe that's just wishful thinking. But our God is the god Who works wonders. cf Ps. 77:14a
IME, TC is the major event/issue that has actually, sadly really impacted the Church.
Francis (like any pope) has issued so many documents and the more issued the less implemented that have a direct impact on the Church.
Pray
I like to think the same thing - that enough "progressive" or "moderate" Francis appointees will, come election day, have become so troubled by the turmoil he created (or by his efforts to pack the College of Cardinals) that they'll vote for a "moderate" or "stability" candidate in order to "bring the Church back to the center" or "unite the faithful".
But we also shouldn't forget that many "progressive" Catholics thought St. John Paul II was harmful in his orthodoxy, and I expect that some cardinals voted for Francis because they perceived a need to "rebalance" the Church after the long period of "conservative" rule under JP II and Benedict XVI. So, it seems equally plausible (especially in this increasingly zero-sum world), that progressive Cardinals will see the task of electing Francis' successor as an opportunity to continue his agenda.
// It is a typical Pope Francis document — a great deal of high-sounding words that are very ambiguous. //
That's our boy. How in heaven's name was this man chosen to be Pope? I'd love to read a thorough history of all that.
The consequences of this motus proprio will be dear. I wish you would put online your own translation so it can be kept as a reference for later troubles.