TESP 4 Final Exam
Main Elements of Feminist Theology (Be able to identify and define at least 7):
- Women's experience - wants to know what women have to say about God, about the church. - Promotion of full humanity of women/fully alive/holistic salvation - whatever refills the full humanity of women is redemptive, whatever denies the full humanity of women is against God. - Relationality of God, humanity, and world - God is in relationship with us, women tend to grow up in relation to one another. - Mutuality (equality of relationships; commonality) - we are all equal, all under the same banner. - Promotion of Equality/Freedom/Justice/Liberation - focused on all races, classes and sexes. Ecological justice. - Rejection of patriarchy, androcentrism, sexism, gender discrimination, heterosexism - need to transform whole structure of church and society to create space for a new community of mutual partnership. - Rejection of masculine patriarch or monarch image of God - no longer only think of God as a Father figure.
Think of 5-7 stories from Boyle that represent his main ideas to use in your answers.
-Story of Shame (Story of Carmen): Women in her 30s, heroin addict, gang member, occasional prostitute; she went to catholic school all her life and is a high school graduate. She comes in seven minutes before Boyle has to give a baptism because she needs help (she has always been trying to quit). She says "I. am. a. disgrace." Boyle mistook her as an interruption and was too busy trying to get to the baptism; he feels shame himself and is able to connect. He realizes we must accept shame/sin as our own (empathize). Carmen is trying to make a change; she views herself as a disgrace. We see failure in Boyle when he overlooks her: he is a human too. The dilemma is how Boyle can convince them that God loves them when they don't see their own worth (liberation of shame). -Story of Jurisdiction (Story of Junior): Junior drinks "40's" every day/all day while being shirtless; people have urged him to go to rehab for two decades. One day, he screams to Boyle, "Love you G-Dawg! You're in my jurisdiction." Boyle doesn't know exactly what he meant by all of that but he knows that we need to allow people into our jurisdictions beyond the gangs and territories and mistakes/faults. -Story of Compassion (Story of Betito): 12 year old boy; he was the "real deal." He was shot and killed by gang members. Boyle's Reaction: Compassion is for not only the victim, but also the victimizer (Jesus said, "love your enemies") - be who God is. Compassion for Boyle is vast, full and expansive. -Story of Slow Work of God (Story of Pedro): Pedro is a case manager at Homeboy Industries (he came from rage while being a crack addict - he is a success story). It was a long, slow work of transformation for Pedro. 30 days into rehab - his brother who is also chemically dependent, committed suicide (Boyle offers to take him to the funeral and back). Pedro has a dream: Pedro and Boyle are in a room with no light, no windows and no exits - Boyle shines a flashlight toward a light switch but only Pedro can turn it on. Pedro says: "The light is better than the darkness." Only Pedro can make himself change. Boyle just guides him towards the light. Everyone has to make their own decisions in order to change - cannot be forced. -Story of Resilience (Story of Miguel): 23 years old, graffiti crew worker, abandoned as kid. For Christmas, he cooked a turkey "ghetto style" and invited 5 homeboys from Homeboy Industries (all are former enemies, from different gangs). Boyle asks Miguel about his resilience - Miguel found goodness in his heart (with this idea of clinging to sacredness) and realized nothing could touch him and he finally knew who he was. He saw his truest self (how God sees him). He decided he had goodness within himself and he could choose to live that way.
Oscar Romero: including 7 ideas from last homily; four elements of Romero's spirituality: incarnation, mission, cross, resurrection (from Sobrino article)
7 ideas from last homily: 1. Personal sin is the root of the great social sin: easy to denounce social structural injustice, institutionalized violence, and social sin but few examine their own conscience. Roots of social sin in the heart of every human being. Salvation begins with saving every person from sin. 2. God desires to save people as people. It is the whole population that God wants to save. 3. The grace of the Christian, therefore, is to not be braced on traditions that can no longer sustain themselves, but to apply that eternal tradition of Christ to the present realities. 4. Solutions for El Salvador: better land distribution; better administration and distribution of wealth; political organizations structured around common good. Changes must be sought within the context of definitive liberation. Liberation must free us from sin. 5. Life recovers all its meaning in Christ: suffering becomes a communion with Christ, the Christ who suffers. Death a communion with the death that redeemed the world. Christ gives meaning to sickness, pain, oppression, torture, margination. No one conquered; a victor in Christ; definitive victory of truth and justice will win out. 6. Romero recounted incidents of torture and repression throughout El Salvador during the preceding week: new government imposing itself by the force of bloodshed and pain; no roots in people therefore it cannot be effective. Appeal to army, National Guard, Police, garrisons: "No soldier is obliged to obey an order counter to the law of God. No one has to comply with an immoral law. It is time now that you recover your conscience and obey its dictates rather than the command of sin." Church cannot remain silent. 7. Church preaches liberation: "A liberation that holds, above all, respect for human dignity, the salvation of the common good of the people, and the transcendence that looks above all else to God, and from God alone derives its hope and its strength." 4 Elements of Romero's Spirituality: 1. Incarnation: Romero did not distance himself from the reality (first step of incarnation). Romero took on the debilities of that reality, "the pain, poverty, suffering, and oppression of the poor, and the violence directed against them by the state." Romero saw presence of God and Jesus in the poor of El Salvador. Possessed a spirit of incarnation, a spirit of solidarity with reality and its poor. 2. Mission: Romero evangelized through the Word, through his deeds, through his person, and through his way of acting. Embodied spirit of mercifulness extended to an entire people; sought salvation of entire nation; salvation must reach everything and everyone. Hope to evangelize structure of society; change economic and political infrastructure, legal system, health care, media, as well as ecclesial infrastructure; evangelize totality of country. 3. Cross: spirituality of bearing the burden of reality. Romero: "A Church which does not suffer persecution, but in fact enjoys the privileges and the support of the world, is a Church which should be afraid, because it is not the true church of Jesus Christ." Integrity, strength in conflict, resolve. 4. Resurrection: ROmero lives on in the sense of hope, celebrations, and in many Salvadoran hearts. Romero able to bear burden of reality with grace, freedom, joy, and hope; lived like someone already resurrected. Spirituality of Grace.
How did Bonhoeffer view his salvation in relationship to his mission? What was the significance and meaning of living a worldly life for Bonheoffer?
Bonhoeffer was willing to take judgement of sin on himself for others (saw violence as a sin inviting wrath of God); risked sacrifice of own salvation in love of God and neighbor; one should make whole life an answer to the question and call of God; God known at center of life (no dualism between sacred/profane); God claims whole world for Christ; one should live a wordly life and participate in the suffering of God. Living a wordly life means living completely in this world and throwing ourselves into the arms of God (abandon the desire to make something of oneself) in order to learn faith.
Trinitarian Theology
Definition: God manifested in three persons as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; One God dwelling in living communion and divine relationality as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Doctrine has been neglected over time, become unintelligible and religiously irrelevant. New renaissance of insight into trinity and meaning in contemporary world. Context: encounter with God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit awakened historical development of Trinitarian doctrine in first century and early church. Experience of salvation birthed talk of trinity. No full-blown doctrine of Trinity in New Testament but many references and allusions. Images of God: "God is Love;" God's own being as a self-giving communion of love; living God as the mystery of salvation; dynamic love encompassing the universe who acts to save. Contemporary Expression: 1 rooted in the experience of salvation - we know God through God's acts in history through incarnate Word and renewing Spirit. Threefold way God has self-communicated and brought salvation in history. 2 spoken allusively - second task is to remember that incomprehensible mystery of God is always greater than our thought or doctrine. Not a literal description but indirect. Allusive, indirect nature of Trinitarian Language; analogy, metaphor, or symbol that points to God's being as a communion of love. 3 expressed in concepts of our day - third task is to voice mystery anew in contemporary idiom.
Ecological Theology
Definition: deeply considers God's relationship to earth, animals, and creation as well as human responsibility, accountability, and stewardship in care of the earth, animals, and God's creation. Primary Focus and Intent: God and human relationship to the earth, animals, and creation. Context: dual ecological context of Wonder and Wasting. Wonder: 1 The Universe is very old, 2 the universe is incomprehensibly large, 3 the universe is complexly interconnected, 4 the universe is profoundly dynamic. Wasting: humans inflicting deadly damage on planet at accelerating rate; over consumption, overpopulation, exploitation of resources, pollution. Ecological harm. Connection between social injustice and ecological devastation; disproportionate impact on poor from environmental impoverishment; ravaging of people and lands; environmental racism. Images of God: creator spirit or creative spirit of God who is present and active throughout the natural world. The spirit is seen as the one who vivifies or the vivifier who gives life, animates and enlivens the natural world. Creator spirit empowers process from within as ground, sustaining power, and goal of evolving world; divine creative activity in, with, and under cosmic processes; "God makes the world, in other words, by empowering the world to make itself." Continuous Presence: God within and around the circle of life and the whole universe. Divine Solidarity: Creator spirit dwells in compassionate solidarity with every living being that suffers; through pattern of cross and resurrection, Creator Spirit meets nature's suffering with new life. Abiding in Promise: universe is an open-ended adventure; propensity toward more complexity, beauty, and ordered novelty; seeded with promise; faith forever encounters a God of promise and surprise; nature is the bearer of a divine promise. Praxis: ethic of responsible, assertive care of the Earth. Contribution to sustainable life community on Earth; passion for poor and oppressed extends to natural world, life systems, and other threatened species. Unique Perspectives: legitimacy to scientific discovery including evolution, chance, cosmic processes, including independent agency of human beings and creatures. God's gracious action is kenotic or self-emptying to empower others; divine agency does not determine or dictate all occurrences; allows for integrity of finite systems and allows for appearance of truly random chance. God does not have a plan but a vision for the evolving universe; vision is to bring into being a community of love; Creator spirit guides the world in that direction. Contemporary Relevance: as we continue on we are only hurting the Earth even more and we will continue to do so. So this is a very important theology telling us to look at what we are doing to our environment and treat it better.
Transcendental Theology
Definition: explores the intimate relationship between the transcendent God and the human condition or the pattern of human self-transcendence. Primary focus and intent: examination of the human subject and human condition in relationship to the transcendent and immanent God. Context: modern and secular culture in Western Europe in the middle of the 20th century. Science is advancing discoveries about the natural world and people no longer need religion to give them answers about the world. Politics established democracy giving average people more freedom and education to make their own judgements. Intellectuals found that God is an illusion and we use him to mask unjust suffering in the name of the divine. There is the growth of secularism, atheism, agnosticism, positivism, and religious pluralism. Karl Rahner's metaphor of faith in the modern world is a wintry season because Christianity now requires a personal decision, that changes the heart and sustains long-term commitment. No longer cultural Christianity but a diaspora church among unbelievers and believers of all types. Images of God: Holy Mystery reflects transcendence and immanence of God. Incarnation and grace at heart of Christian faith is notion that infinitely incomprehensible holy mystery of God draws near in radical proximity and unspeakable nearness. Praxis: Discipleship - holy mystery of God flows into a path of discipleship comprised of love of God and love of neighbor. Prominent Theologians: Karl Rahner Unique Perspective: Pattern of Human Self-Transcendence - modern consciousness focuses on the perspective of the independent and free human subject; shift from cosmos or natural world to human being, human struggle, human consciousness, and human freedom. Human mind is driven by profound yearning to know all of reality, neverending dynamism of desire to seek and receive that propels spirit forward. We experience ourselves as beings who constantly reach out beyond ourselves toward something ineffable. Contemporary Relevance: we can see a continuous pattern of Human Self-Transcendence through our countless experiments and technological advances. We can see that Karl Rahner is correct about the Wintry season because we no longer need to rely on religion anymore like they did before.
Black Liberation Theology
Definition: in light of black experience of racism and oppression. From the perspective of black experience, black history, and black culture. Primary Focus and Intent: God and the gospel's relationship to Black Struggle for Freedom. Context: White privilege and racism - for blacks, oppression based on race has manifested itself in the U.S. through 100 million Africans stolen from their continent, 246 years of slavery, 100 years of legal segregation, the lynching of more than 5,000 African Americans, and the present era of de facto racial injustice. U.S. Constitution originally declared blacks as subhuman (⅗ of a person); legacy of racism in the midst of freedom and liberty. Images of God: God as Liberator of poor and oppressed, God who breaks the chains of slavery, God is partial to the struggle of black people and all oppressed peoples, God is Black, Christ is Black, metaphorically or symbolically, psychologically; blackness of God about God being on the side of those who are poor and oppressed to empower their struggle for freedom. Womanist Theology: African American women's experience as a source of doing theology, argue that Black Theology and Feminist Theology both exclude African American women's experience. Multidimensional oppression of black women due to race, gender, class, and sexuality. Praxis: racial justice in social and personal spheres flows from these theologies. Transformation of social, political, and economic structures. Contemporary Relevance: to this day black people are still judged and are not treated equally. Although things are starting to get better, for example Obama being President, they still aren't treated equally all the time.
Kaveny Article-Defining Feminism-3 polarities (Equality/Difference; Nature/Nurture; Complementarity/Collaboration): How would you define feminism and feminist theology? How do you define each polarity in relationship to men and women? What is the church and feminist positions on each polarity? What is your own interpretation and understanding of the polarities and how they should be balanced with respect to gender? What should be the goal of feminist theology?
Feminists fight for equality of gender/sexes, status of women in society/church, and the empowerment of women. Feminist theology talks about the women's experience of gender discrimination and inequality in society and church exacerbated by race and class oppression; in encounter with living God, women see that God, who created them in God's image, desires their flourishing and can be reflected in female ways. - Equality/Difference: Catholic tradition affirms that all humans are created in God's image/likeness regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, social status. On the other hand, we are embodied differently as male or female, part of the goodness of God's creation and a divinely ordered aspect of the created order (that needs to be respected for human flourishing). The Vatican worries that some strands of secular, Western feminism emphasize equality to the detriment of difference; saying that when women emphasize the equality between men and women they obscure the goodness of differences between them; then if there is no longer any difference it will denigrate women's unique power as mothers; saying women are meant to be mothers. Feminists are concerned at how the Vatican seeks to specify these differences by defining and imposing certain traits as male or female without regard to empirical study or individual variance; that definition and imposition contributes to equality. Saying men have masculine traits and women only should have feminine traits. I think that women and men should be equal but their differences should not be men have to be only masculine and women can't have any of those traits can can only be feminine. - Nature/Nurture: Catholic tradition recognizes that human beings are essentially social; our identities are shaped and transmitted by languages, cultures, and society that we inhabit; on the other hand, the tradition proclaims an irreducible core human nature that is constant across time, place and culture; church committed to notion of common human nature; so by nature we are either male or female. The Vatican believes the secular west has gone too far in endorsing nurture to the detriment of nature; rejects that human nature, including sex and gender, is completely malleable; it is a mistake to think of human beings as androgynous minds encased in male or female bodies. Feminists worry that what people view as the designs of nature are not natural at all but are the deceptive mask worn by ingrained patterns of sexism. I think by nature our sex is determined but by nurture and somewhat nature our gender is determined and not all of human nature is purely decided by nature but is also affected by nurture. - Complementarity/Collaboration: Men and women complement one another. Pope Benedict XVI called for collaborative relationship between the sexes rather than competition in 2004: basis of collaboration in recognition of complementary gifts and skills of men and women; women should not aim to emulate men but to nurture own distinct gifts; Church says women are mothers. Feminists worry about call to complementarity because how it plays out in practice; undermines collaboration while promoting separation and practical inequality; women viewed as all and only that which a man is not; if complementarity is taken too far, fosters separate spheres of interest and specialization. I think that in marriages men and women complement each other but they don't have to have specific strengths and together they have to collaborate to make things work. Feminist theology should work towards equality for men and women but not try to dominate the men as they did women. Nothing good will come out of flipping the tables on men. We need to be able to celebrate the differences between us but not think that either gender can only behave a certain way.
Liberation Theology
Definition: in light of poverty, oppression, injustice, and suffering that promotes the need for personal and social liberation from structural injustice, institutional violence, social sin, and oppressive conditions. Primary Focus and Intent: liberation from poverty, oppression and injustice. Full humanity; fully alive; holistic salvation. Freedom, equality, justice, salvation. God's process and movement in history. Context: Wretched poverty. Originated in Latin America; prominent among Third World peoples of color and minority groups in economically developed countries including women. Threefold context: massive suffering due to poverty, oppression, struggle for justice. Material deprivation; political and social marginalization, social powerlessness, lack of individual rights; institutional violence, military repression, human rights abuses. Poverty result of historical decisions made by conquering European powers; set up political, economic, and cultural institutions that de-humanized indigenous peoples; became permanent social structures exerted oppressive power over masses. Images of God: God of the poor and oppressed (partial to struggles of poor and oppressed; God is on their side). God as Liberator. The liberating God of life (life-giving, creates out of love, protects and defends beloved creation). Praxis: theology intended to show us what to do in society. Justice, right thinking, transformation of social, economic and political structures. Walk as a disciple following Jesus' example, seek the reign of God. Unique Perspectives: God's preferential option for the poor - GOd is not neutral; God desires for all creatures to flourish; living God sides with the oppressed in their struggle for life; living God gives partiality to poor due to divine love not because they are more holy or less sinful but because of their situation. Contemporary Relevance: there will always be a significant difference between first world and third world countries because of the history behind the relationships between them. Also within society there will always be people who are poorer than others and are taken advantage of. Origins, Slave Religion: white slave owners taught law and order Christianity; slaves obey your masters; encouraged submission and docility among slaves. Jesus was a Liberator who came to set all people free; implicit equality and dignity of persons. Two important biblical events: Exodus and the cross and resurrection of Jesus; identified with Israelites in bondage in Egypt; identified with suffering and crucifixion of Christ; resurrection gave hope in deliverance, afterlife, and kingdom of God; otherworldly aspects but also believed in imminent freedom and deliverance.
Political Theology
Definition: seeks to connect speech about God with the polis, the city, the public good of massive numbers of people, living and dead. Theology that gives religion a public face and holds belief in God accountable to public arena. Primary Focus and Intent: considers the theological implications of massive suffering; makes compassion in solidarity with victims an essential component of faith; encourages protest, questioning, lament, remembering, and suffering unto God. Context: created in response to the Holocaust. Asked "where is God, where is God now?" Various Jewish scholars envisioned different answers: "We do not know where God was. God was hidden, or silent, or absent, or dead. God was there, suffering with the victims, weeping with their pain. God does not exist." Images of God: The God of Pathos - a God deeply involved with the pain of the world. God takes pain of world into divine self in order to redeem it. God of deep compassion who stands in solidarity with those who suffer. God of overwhelming pathos offering hope in the midst of death. God as caring, loving, and deeply involved with God's people. Crucified God, suffering God, God of compassion. The Crucified God (Jurgen Moltmann): locates suffering in the very being of God; the crucified God actually suffers with all who suffer in this world. Jesus suffers violence and dies a godforsaken death; simultaneously, God the Father suffers the loss of God's Son. The Holy Spirit who is love, flows out into the broken, sinful world. The Silent Cry (Dorothee Soelle): the cross reveals that God is always suffering with the one who is suffering; we are called to join God there. Challenges tradition of omnipotent God and the church's encouragement to love, honor, and obey a God whose greatest attribute is power, whose primary action is to subjugate, and whose greatest fear is independence. Sees oversized father figure as a projection of the fantasy of male domination. Sees obedience as a huge problem rather than a virtue. Passion for God (Johann Baptist Metz): does not believe that the symbol of a suffering God is helpful, it eternalizes suffering by placing it in God, gives suffering a beauty and splendor, avoids radical dissonance between God and suffering by reconciling them too smoothly, and removes the tension created by the cries of victims. Metz proposes remembering and lamenting unto god. Remembering: narrative memory and solidarity necessary for our theology, remembers the cross of Jesus in solidarity with the dead and those who suffer now in this world; remembering entails hope for the future. Lamenting: no positive meaning in unjust radical suffering; must acknowledge full measure of negativity; cannot ignore it, spiritualize it, or glorify it. An active engagement with God in anguished hope of God's answer; suffering of past and present must drive us toward God protesting, complaining, lamenting, grieving, crying out of the depths, insistently questioning 'How long, O Lord?" Praxis: compassion and solidarity for victims, engaging faith for public good and public arena. Contemporary Relevance: genocides are still going on in third world countries and this will always be relevant to society until peace reigns.
Latino Theology
Definition: takes seriously popular religion as a source of theological reflection. Seeking to interpret meaning of popular religious practice in Latino communities and giving voice to their faith in everyday life. Primary Focus and Intent: popular religion; everyday faith of Latino people in U.S. Example - devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe blends Catholic Christian symbols with indigenous symbols of love, devotion, and compassion. Context: La Lucha (the struggle). Insight by peoples of Latin American and Caribbean ancestry in the U.S. Largest minority group; widely diverse ethnicity, race, and nationality. Two-thirds of these people at low end of economic and educational status, struggling to advance. For majority, to live means to engage in the struggle, la lucha. Historical: Spain's conquest of lands and peoples of the "new world" discovered by them in 1492. Spain placed indigenous populations into servitude, killed their leaders, appropriated their land and natural resources, and broke the backs of their cultures. Missionaries arrived with conquistadores introducing Christianity in the midst of slavery, plunder, rape and oppression. U.S. 19th century military conquest, annexation, and purchase in 1848 Mexico, defeated in war, ceded one-half of country to U.S. including California, Arizona, and New Mexico, plus large sections of Colorado, Nevada and Utah. Put Latino people in a minority position within a ruling nation and brought them in contact with Protestant Anglo Christianity. Images of God: The God who accompanies; God of immanence and relationship; personal and communal God of great compassion; metaphor of accompaniment; see God communally as walking with them, gifting them with life and strength; divine solidarity and care in struggles, sufferings, and joys. The God of Fiesta; aesthetic conception of the universe approached through poetry and beauty; intuitive imagination of the heart rather than universal, abstract conception governed by linear logic; God as passionate lover of beauty; fiesta deeply rooted in sense that life is a gift; creator is source of gift; first act after receiving should be thanksgiving; fiesta as an aesthetic practice. Praxis: harmonizes beauty with justice, ethics with enjoyment; celebration of God and gift of life in everyday life and practices. Popular Religion: center of attention is mystery of God who walks with the people in everyday life. Appropriation of traditional beliefs of Christianity and expressing them in their own everyday spiritual practices. A lived faith that encounters and names God; strong spirituality that recognizes the routines and surprises of everyday life; accessible to all, diminishing the importance of the institutional church and clergy; brings God into the daily life of the poor.
What is the impression of the power of faith in Mark? What are some examples from Jesus' ministry?
If you have faith in God then you will be able to be healed by Jesus. Faith is important in receiving salvation or healing. Some examples are: Leper (1:40-45) The leper believes that Jesus can heal him and that it is Jesus' choice whether or not to heal him. Showing his faith. Paralytic (2:1-12) Went to great lengths to bring the man to Jesus. Jesus was inside of a very crowded house, so they had the roof removed to lower the paralytic to see Jesus. If they didn't believe so strongly in Jesus, they wouldn't have gone through the trouble to get the man into the house. Jairus' daughter/woman healed of hemorrhages If she can only touch the hem of his garment she can be healed. And in this instance, Jesus actually says, "Daughter, your faith has made you well." Jesus is saying that as long as you have faith you will be healed. In her mind and spirit she truly believed in Jesus. Rejection at Nazareth (Faithlessness) (6:1-6) Jesus could do no great acts of healing in Nazareth because of the people's lack of faith and believe (this is also Jesus' hometown).
Johnson-Context (Status of Women in Church and Society): How would you describe the historical and contemporary status of women in church and society? What needs to change?
In society bleak statistics globally concerning women's work, salary, economics, ownership of land, poverty, hunger, refugee status, and literacy; threat of violence omnipresent including domestic abuse, rape, prostitution, trafficking and murder; factoring in race and class illustrates complexity of forces facing women; no country on earth where men and women are equal. In church women have been marginalized despite significant participation in founding and spreading of the church; barred from governing; no voice in formulation church doctrine, moral teaching, and law; banned from pulpit and altar; history in church and teaching of bias and misogyny attacking women's inferior nature coupled with exclusionary practices and relegation to secondary status; women's movement in 1960s and 1970s sparked global resistance to sexism and women discovered that they are beloved of God who desires fullness of life and human flourishing for them. Women need to first be recognized within the church as equals to men and that may change how society altogether treats them as well.
What is Jesus' praxis and lived experience of God?
Jesus goes about casting out demons, healing, miracles, teaches in parables, teaches in synagogues, calls disciples and sends them out, claims the good news, controversy with Pharisees/Scribes/Sagesses/Chief Priests/Elders, and prays alone in remote areas
As a "refounder" or "second founder" of the Jesuits following after Ignatius of Loyola, what were the two principles of the modern vocation of the Jesuits that Arrupe implemented?
Modern vocation of the Jesuits: promote justice and enter into solidarity with voiceless and powerless. Saw pursuit of justice as integral to life in Jesus; unifying force for life and ministry of modern Jesuits; integrated faith and justice; work of justice in the name of the gospel; promoted one central mission of Jesuits. Justice in Societal structures as in personal relationships; structural change in every aspect of human life.
What are the main messages and teachings of Jesus in Mark?
Power of Faith - "have faith in God" Love God and Love Neighbor as yourself Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow (humility, self-sacrifice, servant leadership) To be first, last of all, servant of all (servant leadership) Forgiveness, compassion and love Remember the Good News (for Mark - the Good News is that the time is fulfilled and that the Kingdom of God has come near - repent and believe in the gospel) Jesus is Son of God, Messiah, the Christ and Son of Man For God, all things are possible
What is Praxis? How does praxis relate to theology and one's understanding of God or the divine or the Ultimate?
Praxis is the practical application of theological beliefs. Theology is speech about God, study about the divine or ultimate, and the relationship of God, the Ultimate and the world. Praxis is the way that you choose to live out your life in the way that you believe God would want you to. So theology helps you to understand God or the divine or the Ultimate and how they would live out their praxis, so that you can live out yours in the same way.
Identify Oscar Romero's context of ministry and praxis. Define and discuss at least 5 theological ideas from his final homily and how they relate to Romero's life and main message. In addition define and discuss the four elements of Romero's spirituality identified in Sobrino's article. How does Romero represent the quest for the living God and the lived experience of God?
Romero lived in El Salvador when the citizens were being oppressed by the military and government. Additionally, we are more aware of the oppression, hidden for centuries, of women, of children, and of whole races of people. In the days of Monseñor Romero there also was cruel and inhuman oppression. Romero lived among the poor in solidarity with them and suffered just as they did. The church was persecuted with the Salvadoran people. Romero would do a weekly broadcast sermon across El Salvador denouncing what the military and government were doing to the people of El Salvador. Personal sin is the root of the great social sin: easy to denounce social structural injustice, institutionalized violence, and social sin but few examine their own conscience. Roots of social sin in the heart of every human being. Salvation begins with saving every person from sin. God desires to save people as people. It is the whole population that God wants to save. Solutions for El Salvador: better land distribution; better administration and distribution of wealth; political organizations structured around common good. Changes must be sought within the context of definitive liberation. Liberation must free us from sin. Life recovers all its meaning in Christ: suffering becomes a communion with Christ, the Christ who suffers. Death a communion with the death that redeemed the world. Christ gives meaning to sickness, pain, oppression, torture, margination. No one conquered; a victor in Christ; definitive victory of truth and justice will win out. Romero recounted incidents of torture and repression throughout El Salvador during the preceding week: new government imposing itself by the force of bloodshed and pain; no roots in people therefore it cannot be effective. Appeal to army, National Guard, Police, garrisons: "No soldier is obliged to obey an order counter to the law of God. No one has to comply with an immoral law. It is time now that you recover your conscience and obey its dictates rather than the command of sin." Church cannot remain silent.
What were the origins of some of Day's radical social views and how did she combine faith in the tradition and discipline of the church with her former rebelliousness and radicalism?
She was a former communist, militantly radical secular journalist; common-law wife of anarchist; mother of daughter out of wedlock; and used to drink with Eugene O'Neill and other Greenwich Village visionaries. She converted to Catholicism and saw the church as church ow working masses of poor; church respectful of tradition, the demands and discipline of the faith; but the church offered no adequate vehicle to respond to injustice and suffering. So she formed the Catholic Worker movement; expression of practical life and sayings of Jesus; centered on simplicity, poverty, and vulnerability of Jesus. Catholic theologians and bishops denounced Catholic Worker pacifism while nonetheless admiring their houses of hospitality (places of welcome and sustenance for those who had no food or welcome).
What was Sister Ortiz's context? What happened to her? Of what did her quest for the living God consist?
Sister Ortiz was an Ursuline nun originally from New Mexico who traveled to Guatemala to teach indigenous children how to read and write. In 1989 she was abducted, taken to clandestine prison, tortured and raped repeatedly, and harassed then rescued. Guatemala was filled with kidnappings, death threats, bombings, murders; succession of military dictators after CIA backed overthrow of democratically elected government in 1954. Ortiz's life was a search for the truth of what happened to her. She did a Silent vigil for truth in Lafayette Park across from Clinton White House for answers from US government. She wanted to free the Guatemalan people from the oppression, injustice and suffering.
How would you describe the relationship between Sisulu and Hamer in reference to their different contexts, struggles, and accomplishments?
Sisulu is in South Africa where black people are the majority but are controlled by the white minority fighting for the end of the apartheid in South Africa. While Hamer is in the U.S. during the Civil Rights Movement where black people are the minority fighting against the white majority. Both women were harassed, Sisulu by the South African Government, and Hamer by the Mississippi authorities, KKK, White Citizens' Council and FBI; both were also imprisoned and beaten. Sisulu believed in forgiveness of the white people and believes in peace and non-violence. Hamer was concerned about the people and their lives, not only blacks but also did not want the US to go into the Vietnam war she wanted to fight for human rights in conflict with a system whose leaders were more interested in more profits and power for the rich and powerful and have no interest in helping the poor people. Sisulu was able to end the apartheid and was elected to the South African parliament after the end of the apartheid. Hamer was elected and served for 3 years as a committeewoman for Mississippi's Democratic National Committee.
What are the three biblical scriptures providing the basis for Franciscan life? How did St. Francis envision his intended reform of the church? Was his approach to follow Christ too literal?
The 3 biblical scriptures were 1 Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor; 2 Take nothing for your journey; and 3 Deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow. St. Francis wanted to see the church restored to Christ and did this by pursuing voluntary poverty with humility; to become poor like Jesus who loved the poor; to become closer to God and nearer to forgotten; spiritual populism rooted in the love of God; honored, loved, and respected all people. I think that his approach to follow Christ was too literal because everyone has their own way of following Christ and it isn't necessary to follow the gospel literally. We can live out our praxis not literally.
What is the central message of Tattoos on the Heart and Gregory Boyle's ministry? How does it relate to Boyle's image of God and context of ministry? How does Boyle choose to live out and embody his experience and understanding of God within his context?
The central messages of the book are: - Vision of kinship, solidarity/oneness, fellowship - no daylight between us breaking down barriers. - Seeing the goodness, loveliness, sacredness, worthiness, beauty in ourselves and others - image of God, children of God, sees as God sees - Boyle's image of God - Unconditional love of God, God's joy to love us, God's delight - Boyle's ministry at Dolores Mission Church is the poorest parish in the LA archdiocese. There is high gang violence, murder rates, drugs, crime and social issues. It is the gang capital of the world with 2 housing projects and 1100 gangs in the area. In this context Boyle's image of God as loving unconditionally, and God delighting and joyful to love us is very important. For the people that Boyle is serving, love is something that is usually missing in their lives and is greatly needed to put them back on track. Boyle is trying to show the people that they are always loved by God and that He loves everyone and they are all his children. If the gang members see themselves in solidarity and kinship with members of other gangs, the violence would stop. If they saw the goodness within themselves, they would not continue to do the crimes that they do. - Boyle chooses to live out and embody his experience and understanding of God by helping all of the people in his community. He created Homeboy Industries to give homies a second chance to rebuild their life and find God.
What is Mark's impression of the disciples? What are the different ways that the people welcome or reject Jesus? What are the main elements of Peter's story? How does the original gospel of Mark end? What do you think these ideas and events say about Mark's view of faith and the followers of Christ? What does discipleship mean to you?
The disciples are sometimes unfaithful, prideful, envious, and misunderstanding, which leads them to let Jesus down (eventually deserting him). They have pride and envy because they want to be the only disciples of Jesus, they stop people from bringing children to Jesus, and they ask to be seated next to Jesus in glory. People welcome Jesus when they declare him the Messiah during his Triumphal entry into Jerusalem. They reject Jesus in Nazareth because they've known him from a little kid and don't believe that he is the Son of God. Peter says that Jesus is the Messiah after he proclaims the good news, Jesus tells him to tell no one. Jesus predicts his suffering, rejection, crucification and resurrection 3 times in the gospel, Peter rebukes Jesus for saying this and tells him he can't do that; Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me Satan." Jesus is telling him that he is speaking from his human simpleness and the devil because he doesn't know what God sent him to do; Peter follows Jesus to the Courtyard when he is arrested to see what is going to happen to Jesus, but denies Jesus 3 times. Mark is saying that Jesus' followers do not have enough faith in him because they often reject Jesus and it is all because of their humanness. Discipleship means to try your best to live out the quest for the living God, you definitely won't always stay on the path, but you must try to live in that way as best as possible.
Think about the meaning of theology as contextual and perspectival, as well as Tillich's method of correlation. How do these concepts relate to Johnson's thesis and the development of her book? What does each concept mean for the evolution of theology in each new generation? Should theology change and adapt to new circumstances and conditions?
Theology is contextual because it is shaped by its historical context, social conditions, and cultural factors. Theology is perspectival because whoever wrote the theology has a particular perspective and that will take part of the theology. Tillich's method of correlation is that each new generation has a new set of existential questions about human existence. Theology is supposed to correlate to these new existential questions with theological answers of Christianity. Johnson's thesis is that from the 1950's forward, there has been a renaissance or revolution in the idea of God, and Tillich's method of correlation and the new theologies show exactly this. From the 1950's there have been many new theologies and existential questions that each generation has because of this revolution in the idea of God. This means that each new generation will have a different perspective of God from the previous generation. I think that theology should change and adapt to new circumstances because theology can be seen as breathing and living and changing in different contexts, adapting to different circumstances. Religion is there to help people in their times of need, and every circumstance is different meaning theology must be different to fit each circumstance.
What are the ways that Jesus' divinity is depicted and what are the ways that Jesus' humanity is highlighted?
Transfiguration - part of Jesus' heavenly being is exposed as he is transfigured and the holy spirit comes in; he shines bright; up on the hill he is able to talk to Elijah and Moses (prophets). Miracles - calms storm, feeds 5000/4000, walks on water, healing people. God speaking and saying (also when up on the hill), "This is my Son" When he prays to God, questioning God's plan for him. Begging that there be another way, rather than him dying on the cross. Love and compassion - He has pity at certain times when feeding people. Biased and bigotedness - Calling Gentile woman a dog. In the temple when he became angry that merchants were selling things in the temple, so he overthrew their tables and told them not to sell there.
What is the significance of describing God as Holy Mystery for Johnson? How do you interpret the transcendence and immanence of God in relationship to Holy Mystery? What does the concept of Holy Mystery mean for theology?
When Johnson describes God as Holy Mystery, she is saying that God is beyond description; He is unfathomable, ineffable, incomprehensible; can't describe who he is because he is infinite. Holy Mystery reflects transcendence and infinite, limitlessness of God; incarnation and grace reflect immanence, nearness, and self-communication of God. God is transcendent because we can never fully understand and get to know him, but His immanence allows us to try have a relationship and get to know him on a certain level. Theology is the study in which we try to come to a better conclusion and understanding of God.
