McInerney, Patrick Nostra Aetate is Vatican II's ground-breaking document on the Catholic Church's relation with people of other religions. The two previous Popes have called it 'the Magna Carta' of the Church's new direction in interreligious dialogue. For centuries church teaching and practice in regard to other religions had been encapsulated in the axiom extra ecclesiam nulla salus. Nostra Aetate represents a 'radically new understanding of the relations of the church to the other great world religions.'.

During his pontificate John Paul II received the teaching of Nostra Aetate: by interpreting the mystery of human suffering in the light of Christ; by linking religions and cultures; by recognizing the universal activity of the Holy Spirit; by constantly showing his friendship for Jews; by encouraging Catholics to collaborate with all people in the defence of life and all moral values. Nostra Aetate speaks of the revelatory and salvific dimensions of the divine self-communication , and (...) pushes us into confessing Christ not only as universal Saviour but also as universal Revealer. (shrink)

Nostra Aetate indisputably represented at its promulgation in 1965 a momentous step forward in Catholic theology of religions. But its perspective on other religions still remains deeply "Christianity-centric" in that it views other religions from the Christian vantage-point and uses Christianity as the yardstick to evaluate them. Graphically, its theology of religions may be represented by a series of concentric circles with Christianity occupying the center of the innermost circle and other religions occupying successive circles, with increasing distance (...) from the center, depending on the number of the elements of the true religion, which is Christianity, they possess. How would the "the relation of the Church to non-Christian Religions" look like if we start from other religions and see them on their own terms, as they see themselves, that is, not as "non-Christian," and inquire into their mutual relations? The essay begins with an examination of the theology of religions implicit in the use of the expression “non-Christian” when referring to religions other than Christianity. It is argued that the “non” is not a neutral descriptive term but represents the “fulfillment theology” of religions prevalent before and during Vatican II. Next a critique of this fulfillment theology is presented showing that it is seriously inadequate for interreligious dialogue. Finally the essay proposes a different way to conceiving the relation between Christianity and other religions by applying the insights of the Jewish-Christian dialogue, especially its rejection of supersessionism, its condemnation of the “teaching of contempt,” and its Trinitarian theology of religion. In summary, the essay attempts to formulate a Christian “kenotic theology of religion,” in which Christianity and the church no longer stand at the normative center toward which “non-Christian” religions move as their “fulfillment” and perfection. Rather all religions, including Christianity, must “empty” themselves so as to be “filled” by the “other” in mutual correction, learning, and enrichment. (shrink)

Canning, Raymond I was born on 15 September 1947. That same year, on 5 August, the International Council of Christians and Jews, meeting in Switzerland, had issued what have become known as 'The Ten Points of Seelisberg'.1 As grief and shame over the Shoah took root, the necessity for a radical change of theological, cultural and political attitudes on the part of Christians became clear. These Ten Points articulate key dimensions of that growing perception. They can therefore be understood as (...) forming an initial basis for the Christian-Jewish dialogue that was already gathering momentum.2 They also represent a first step in the process that led, eighteen years later, to Nostra Aetate, the document on the Catholic Church's relation to non-Christian religions that would emerge from the Second Vatican Council in late 1965. At various stages during the council years, it had appeared that the bishops' engagement with the new demands and manifold ramifications of Christian-Jewish relations expressed at Seelisberg might fail to produce any new official statement of Catholic Church teaching on the matter. Would the council after all remain silent on this crucial question? Yves Congar expressed the sentiments of many when, faced with this prospect in May 1965, he wrote in his council diary: 'For myself, however, I am in no way in favour of the pure and simple withdrawal of the text. Twenty years after Auschwitz it is impossible for the Council to say nothing'.3 And, as we now know, with the declaration Nostra Aetate the 'something' the council did succeed in saying, however small it may have appeared at that time, continues to resonate more than fifty years later. (shrink)

The question can be put whether Nostra Aetate is addressing dialogue between religions,as its title would suggest, or encounter among the followers of different religions. Attention is paid first to the way the Council, in its other documents, speaks of religions. When the text of Nostra Aetate is examined, it is seen that its approach to religions is by no means exhaustive. Only a few religions are mentioned, and only positive aspects of them referred to. As (...) regards dialogue or encounter, it is shown that this really takes place between individual followers of religions, but abstraction cannot be made of the religious systems to which they belong. (shrink)

On the path of the continued application of the Second Vatican Council’s Document Nostra Aetate, which turns 50, presenting a deepening biblical material based on written and oral tradition of the Jews and the Church's teaching from the same Vatican II up to the present days, by confirming the teaching of the last Popes, narrowing the route of mutual regard and friendship in dialogue with Judaism and the common heritage present in the Pentateuch and in all the Holy (...) Scriptures. (shrink)

The author presents his views on the factors that led the Church to dialogue with Jews, after a history marked by Catholic rule and persecution of the Jewish people. Also exposes some biblical Jewish contribution to the topic such as technic of discussion / study called pilpul and the content of extensive discussions found in the Talmud, that demonstrate the central role that dialogue and philosophical inquiry have in Judaism. It also adds the contemporary Jewish contributions to the universal thought (...) made by the philosophy developed by the Jewish thinker Martin Buber, corroborating the central and uninterrupted place of dialogue in Judaism since its birth. Throughout the presentation connections are made with the Nostra Aetate Declaration, showing the Church key position in the theme of dialogue with the Jews and the 10 points of Seelisberg and the “12 points of Berlin”, result of the interaction between Christians and Jews after the Holocaust. (shrink)

Nostra Aetate urges Christians to enter into dialogue and collaboration with religions, and to acknowledge, preserve and encourage the spiritual and moral truths found in them. It is in this spirit that this article makes a comparative theological study of altruistic love in the Christian and Buddhist Scriptures. Such comparison does not only facilitate better mutual understanding but also helps each tradition to understand itself better. The New Testament favours agape and related words to express the idea of (...) altruistic love, while Buddhism uses the words metta and karuna. After presenting the main characteristics of altruistic love in Christianity and in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, the article launches into the theological comparison. Christian and Buddhist love are altruistic and universal. Both are opposed to malice and cruelty, are forgiving and move one to transfer one's merit, and both go to the extent of loving one's enemy and even sacrificing one's life for another. But there are many differences arising from their different worldviews. Christians love others because God has loved them, but in Theravada the motivation is different, since there is no Supreme Being. In Mahayana the Buddhas will not forgive people unless they forgive others. However, it is not the Buddhas who are the highest, but it is the Adi Buddha that is the Supreme Being. In Theravada love is developed through personal effort, i.e., through meditation; while in Christianity love is a. (shrink)

Nostra Aetate has played a major role in fostering positive Buddhist-Christian relations. Buddhist-Christian dialogue differs from Christianity’s other inter-religious dialogues both due to Buddhism’s non-theistic assumptions and due to the primary locus of post-conciliar dialogue: the dialogue of religious experience among contemplative monastics. The decision to concentrate on monastics as a Buddhist-Catholic bridge continues to bear fruit, not only for larger Buddhist-Catholic relations but for the academic study of mysticism. The author discusses the experiences of the Trappist monk (...) Thomas Merton, the landmark Naropa Institute conferences, and other institutionalized Catholic outreach to Buddhist monastics. John Paul II’s remarks about Buddhism in Crossing the Threshold of Hope were a low point and setback in dialogue; the author evaluates these remarks and their consequences. (shrink)

In the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate as well as in many subsequent Church documents, Catholic as well as Protestant, Rom 11:29 is cited as a key text for understanding Jewish-Christian relations. This article looks at the history of the interpretation of this verse, giving examples from the patristic, medieval, and reformation periods as well as from more recent exegesis. A new approach began essentially with Karl Barth during the fateful years 193-3.1942 and bore fruit in Nostra (...) class='Hi'>Aetate and subsequent Church pronouncements, especially the Pontifical Biblical Commission's 2001 document The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible. The complex and delicate interplay between historical developments, theology, exegesis, and Church teachings is particularly evident in this case. Careful interpretation of our verse answers some questions, but seems to leave others wide open. (shrink)

Les déclarations de Nostra Aetate sur les traditions religieuses de l'Asie permirent de passer de l'ère des pionniers - occidentaux ou asiatiques - à celle de la 'réception' du dialogue interreligieux par les Églises d'Asie. L'article examine quelques facettes des évolutions de ces 40 dernières années: rencontre des spiritualités, tant au plan de leurs patrimoines classiques qu'à celui de leurs expressions populaires ou contemporaines; engagement commun pour la libération; prise de conscience de la complexité culturelle et religieuse de (...) sociétés traversées par des mutations rapides... En Asie, les théologies chrétiennes des religions et le dialogue interreligieux concernent la vie ecclésiale dans sa globalité. (shrink)

At the beginning of Nostra aetate, the Church calls for mutual understanding with Muslims in the interests of “peace, liberty, social justice, and moral values.” This paper strives to achieve such an understanding in light of the fragile state of democracy in today’s world. The paper first presents the Church’s approach to democracy through an analysis of the work of the philosopher Jacques Maritain and the Second Vatican Council. It then presents representative views from Islam: the work of (...) the Sunni legal scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl and the Shi’ite scholar Naser Ghobadzadeh. By appealing to the Jesuit scholarDavid Hollenbach’smethodology of “dialogic universalism,” the paper argues finally that there is a rich confluence between the two traditions: Their basic commitment to the dignity and freedom of the human person implies a respect for pluralism, a reverence for reason, and a call for self-transcendence, all of which can serve to enhance democracy. (shrink)

Avant le concile Vatican II, l’Église catholique considérait le peuple juif comme déicide, réprouvé et maudit par Dieu ; après cet événement, elle renonça à ce qui fut appelé la « théologie de la substitution », s’engagea dans la voie du dialogue, affirma la permanence de l’élection d’Israël et considéra les juifs comme des « frères aînés ». Dans cet article, l’auteur étudie le rôle de la Congrégation Notre-Dame de Sion dans l’évolution du regard porté par l’Église catholique sur les (...) juifs et le judaïsme, rôle qui a conduit à une remise en cause théologique et à un changement des mentalités qui ont mené, plus ou moins directement, à la déclaration Nostra Aetate du concile Vatican II. (shrink)

This book assesses how Vatican II opened up the Catholic Church to encounter, dialogue, and engagement with other world religions. Opening with a contribution from the President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, it next explores the impact, relevance, and promise of the Declaration Nostra Aetate before turning to consider how Vatican II in general has influenced interfaith dialogue and the intellectual and comparative study of world religions in the postconciliar decades, as well as (...) the contribution of particular past and present thinkers to the formation of current interreligious and comparative theological methods. Additionally, chapters consider interreligious dialogue vis-à-vis theological anthropology in conciliar documents; openness to the spiritual practices of other faith traditions as a way of encouraging positive interreligious encounter; the role of lay and new ecclesial movements in interreligious dialogue; and the development of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue. Finally, it includes a range of perspectives on the fruits and future of Vatican’s II’s opening to particular faiths such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Dialogue and Liberation:What I Have Learned from My Friends—Buddhist and ChristianPaul KnitterMy co-coordinator for this conference, Kyeongil Jung, has given me a rather daunting assignment for this lecture: within no more than forty minutes, I am supposed to (1) draw some insightful conclusions for our conference, (2) bid farewell to Union Theological Seminary as I sail off into retirement, and (3) reminisce on the past fifty years of my (...) life. The easiest and most enjoyable of these assignments will, I suspect, be the most effective in covering them all: I’m going to focus on reminiscing.It all started for me more than fifty years ago as I stood in the Piazza San Pietro on October 11, 1962, having just arrived in Rome two weeks earlier to begin my theological studies at the Gregorian University. There, awestruck and euphoric, I watched Pope John XXIII lead some two thousand bishops into the Basilica of St. Peter to begin the Second Vatican Council. That council, especially in its revolutionary “Declaration on the Church’s Attitude toward Non-Christian Religions” (Nostra Aetate), is where for me things took off—where I first felt the challenge of religious diversity and the inspiration to take up the challenge. Vatican II opened the door and beckoned Christians to enter into a life-giving dialogue with other religious communities—and to work out a theology that would support and animate such a dialogue. That, essentially, has been the business I have been about over these past fifty years: laying the foundations for, and then trying to engage in, an interreligious dialogue that will be truly life-giving and world-healing.But on the occasion of this conference and of this lecture, surrounded by so many old and new friends, I’ve come to realize, with a stunning clarity that I did not have before, that what has inspired and guided me in my efforts to respond to religious diversity over these past five decades has been friends much more than books. Yes, over the years, I have tried to put in my required academic hours of study: I have developed a sizeable amount of what Germans call Sitzfleisch. But tonight, as I look upon the faces of so many old friends with whom I have walked, and of so many new, younger friends with whom I try to keep pace, it is clear to me that most of the theological convictions and spiritual discoveries that have sustained my professional and personal life have become true for me—really true and trustworthy—because I have [End Page 173] seen them embodied in the lives of my friends and fellow searchers. Other people, in the kind of lives they live, have inspired me, challenged me, convinced me, more than any coherent, creative theological, philosophical, or political argument. That’s the kind of realization that becomes clear especially after one tips seventy. On some matters, you just have to get old before you can get wise.So let me spend this time with you this evening reminiscing on some of the Christian and Buddhists friends who have guided me and formed me over these past fifty years. They have also contributed to the gifts I have tried to bring to, and hope to leave behind for, Union Theological Seminary. Clearly, too, these friends embody and confirm what I suspect are some of the principal points of consensus for our conference on Enlightenment and Liberation. With only forty minutes to speak, and with seventy-four years full of friends, I’ll have to be painfully selective.karl rahner, john hick, stanley samartha: the theological challenge of religious diversityThree of my oldest friends, all of them now of blessed memory, were clear-cut and beautiful examples for me of both the honesty and the courage that are required in taking other religious traditions seriously. All three of them, in differing ways and degrees, recognized that if Christians are going to be able to engage in the kind of dialogue that Vatican II and eventually the World Council of Churches were calling for, then Christians and especially Christian theologians are going to have to do some heavy... (shrink)

This book assesses how Vatican II opened up the Catholic Church to encounter, dialogue, and engagement with other world religions. Opening with a contribution from the President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, it next explores the impact, relevance, and promise of the Declaration Nostra Aetate before turning to consider how Vatican II in general has influenced interfaith dialogue and the intellectual and comparative study of world religions in the postconciliar decades, as well as (...) the contribution of particular past and present thinkers to the formation of current interreligious and comparative theological methods. Additionally, chapters consider interreligious dialogue vis-à-vis theological anthropology in conciliar documents; openness to the spiritual practices of other faith traditions as a way of encouraging positive interreligious encounter; the role of lay and new ecclesial movements in interreligious dialogue; and the development of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue. Finally, it includes a range of perspectives on the fruits and future of Vatican’s II’s opening to particular faiths such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. (shrink)

The Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network organized a major international conference at Georgetown University, Washington National Cathedral and Marymount University, in 2015, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council. The council, one of the most important events in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, initiated a process of renewal, transition, and openness that affected not only Catholics, but all Christians, adherents of other religions, and the secular world. The Washington conference received worldwide media (...) attention, with highlights including keynote addresses by several cardinals, archbishops, and bishops as well as eminent scholars from a wide and diverse range of backgrounds in terms of geography and expertise alike. This second of three volumes emerging from this event assesses how Vatican II opened up the Catholic Church to encounter, dialogue, and engagement with other world religions. It begins with a contribution from the late President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, followed by a section devoted to exploring the impact, relevance, and promise of the Council's Declaration on Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate. The volume turns next to explore how Vatican II in general has influenced and helped develop method in both interfaith dialogue and in the intellectual and comparative study of world religions in the post-conciliar decades. The final thematic section of this volume is devoted to a range of perspectives on the fruits and future of Vatican II’s opening to other faiths. The volume draws toward its conclusion with a moving and evocative reflection from one of the leading pioneers in contemporary comparative theology, Jesuit Francis X. Clooney. (shrink)

In a monograph-length contribution to the Common Knowledge symposium on contextualism, the journal's editor decontextualizes and then recontextualizes the medieval iconographic trope of Ecclesia and Synagoga in an effort to make plausible a news story about Pope Francis that received little coverage in the press. During 2015, the fiftieth anniversary of the Vatican II declaration Nostra Aetate, Francis paid a surprise visit to a new statue in the United States, “Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time” by Joshua Koffman, (...) as a sign of his endorsement of its radical reconsideration of a trope long associated with anti-Jewish sentiment in the Catholic Church. This article, which begins with a detailed analysis of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI's essay on the Nostra Aetate treatise De Iudaeis, deals primarily with twelfth- and thirteenth-century uses of the iconography. Special attention is paid to the Anagogical Window of the Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis and to the Ecclesia, Synagoga, and King Solomon statues on the south facade of Strasbourg Cathedral, in both of which is found previously overlooked evidence of philo-Semitic, rather than anti-Semitic, thinking on the part of the designers. The article concludes that contextualist scholars of medieval art have found what they expected to find and ignored contrary indications. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Buddhist-Christian Studies 23 (2003) 183-186 [Access article in PDF] Zen Gifts to Christians. By Robert Kennedy. New York: Continuum, 2000. 131 pp. Though Robert Kennedy's recent book Zen Gifts to Christians (2000) is intended for Christian readers who may be "temperamentally inclined" (i) to learn about Zen to spiritually augment their lives, it also succeeds as a work that defines the Western Buddhist community and as an introductory text (...) for those interested in Zen Buddhism. Drawing on his experiences as a Catholic priest and Zen master, Kennedy's work contributes much to the ideals expressed in the Second Vatican Council's conciliar decree Nostra Aetate (as well as the Thirty-fourth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus): to preserve and promote those universal elements of truth that manifest themselves in different cultures and societies, through dialogue and collaboration with followers of other religions. Kennedy achieves this monumental goal by organizing the book around the ten ox-herding pictures of Zen Buddhism (also known as the ten bulls) so as to better illustrate to Christians what Zen Buddhism has to offer through the narrative of spiritual growth common to all Zen Buddhists. Each ox-herding picture (or "bull") is elegantly expanded into a chapter detailing each step in the path of the spiritual quest. Kennedy richly supplements the lessons and ideas contained in each bull with references to Western poetry and prose, making the bulls more accessible to the reader by presenting the information in different ways.For both Christian and non-Christian readers, Kennedy's introduction to Zen may come as somewhat of a surprise, because he begins with the lived components of Zen Buddhism: discipline and practice. Though Zen does have speculative features and theories (as evidenced by koans), it is primarily concrete in its approach. Unlike Christianity, Zen is also a physical skill: it must be attentively practiced for enlightenment to occur. As Kennedy notes, if it is practiced sporadically or by rote, the student cannot make any spiritual progress, thus destroying the goal of the exercise. Moreover, Kennedy indirectly echoes a Platonic critique when he warns the [End Page 183] prospective student that time alone will not produce results, let alone Enlightenment! As with the perfection of any skill, discipline requires that the student give up strengths to concentrate on weaknesses. Kennedy's anecdotes and citations beautifully illustrate the points he wishes to make. However, he is cognizant of the fact that failure is part of any spiritual growth (in fact, it is the hallmark of discipline!) and is careful not to paint Zen in overly rosy colors.While the first chapter (Kennedy's commentary and explanation of the first bull) introduces readers to the concrete aspects of Zen, the second chapter on "not-knowing" explores the application of the abstract or mental component of Zen in one's attitude toward daily circumstances. Kennedy skillfully builds on the lessons he presented in the first chapter to express several ideas, many with implications for Christianity today.Two of these ideas are "letting go" and "the loss of God."Though Zen Gifts to Christians was written well before September 2001, these twin themes have become applicable to the contemporary situation for Christians and Buddhists alike. The theme of"letting go" allows Kennedy to subtly explore how old habits (characteristic of rigidness and inflexibility) not only prevent students from realizing their Buddha-nature, but also destroy the possibility for spiritual growth and progress of any sort. This serves to highlight the second theme: the loss of God. Though the book is open and inclusive, the reader is reminded anew that Kennedy wrote the book with a Christian audience in mind. While Kennedy holds that the experience of "losing" God is common to fervent Christians (30), the student, rather than focusing on how distressing that can be, should take it as a reminder of the most primal Christian belief—namely, that a person need not adhere to any single doctrine to be able to accept God. Moreover, such an experience should jar students out of their complacency and allow them to grow further.This point... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Buddhist-Christian Studies 23 (2003) 183-186 [Access article in PDF] Zen Gifts to Christians. By Robert Kennedy. New York: Continuum, 2000. 131 pp. Though Robert Kennedy's recent book Zen Gifts to Christians (2000) is intended for Christian readers who may be "temperamentally inclined" (i) to learn about Zen to spiritually augment their lives, it also succeeds as a work that defines the Western Buddhist community and as an introductory text (...) for those interested in Zen Buddhism. Drawing on his experiences as a Catholic priest and Zen master, Kennedy's work contributes much to the ideals expressed in the Second Vatican Council's conciliar decree Nostra Aetate (as well as the Thirty-fourth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus): to preserve and promote those universal elements of truth that manifest themselves in different cultures and societies, through dialogue and collaboration with followers of other religions. Kennedy achieves this monumental goal by organizing the book around the ten ox-herding pictures of Zen Buddhism (also known as the ten bulls) so as to better illustrate to Christians what Zen Buddhism has to offer through the narrative of spiritual growth common to all Zen Buddhists. Each ox-herding picture (or "bull") is elegantly expanded into a chapter detailing each step in the path of the spiritual quest. Kennedy richly supplements the lessons and ideas contained in each bull with references to Western poetry and prose, making the bulls more accessible to the reader by presenting the information in different ways.For both Christian and non-Christian readers, Kennedy's introduction to Zen may come as somewhat of a surprise, because he begins with the lived components of Zen Buddhism: discipline and practice. Though Zen does have speculative features and theories (as evidenced by koans), it is primarily concrete in its approach. Unlike Christianity, Zen is also a physical skill: it must be attentively practiced for enlightenment to occur. As Kennedy notes, if it is practiced sporadically or by rote, the student cannot make any spiritual progress, thus destroying the goal of the exercise. Moreover, Kennedy indirectly echoes a Platonic critique when he warns the [End Page 183] prospective student that time alone will not produce results, let alone Enlightenment! As with the perfection of any skill, discipline requires that the student give up strengths to concentrate on weaknesses. Kennedy's anecdotes and citations beautifully illustrate the points he wishes to make. However, he is cognizant of the fact that failure is part of any spiritual growth (in fact, it is the hallmark of discipline!) and is careful not to paint Zen in overly rosy colors.While the first chapter (Kennedy's commentary and explanation of the first bull) introduces readers to the concrete aspects of Zen, the second chapter on "not-knowing" explores the application of the abstract or mental component of Zen in one's attitude toward daily circumstances. Kennedy skillfully builds on the lessons he presented in the first chapter to express several ideas, many with implications for Christianity today.Two of these ideas are "letting go" and "the loss of God."Though Zen Gifts to Christians was written well before September 2001, these twin themes have become applicable to the contemporary situation for Christians and Buddhists alike. The theme of"letting go" allows Kennedy to subtly explore how old habits (characteristic of rigidness and inflexibility) not only prevent students from realizing their Buddha-nature, but also destroy the possibility for spiritual growth and progress of any sort. This serves to highlight the second theme: the loss of God. Though the book is open and inclusive, the reader is reminded anew that Kennedy wrote the book with a Christian audience in mind. While Kennedy holds that the experience of "losing" God is common to fervent Christians (30), the student, rather than focusing on how distressing that can be, should take it as a reminder of the most primal Christian belief—namely, that a person need not adhere to any single doctrine to be able to accept God. Moreover, such an experience should jar students out of their complacency and allow them to grow further.This point... (shrink)

Resumen El artículo recuerda El Concilio Vaticano II a partir del ecumenismo. Trata del ambiente anterior al Concilio que hizo posible nuevas relaciones ecuménicas. Indica los debates del periodo conciliar relativos a la misión de la Iglesia ante el mundo, a la libertad religiosa y a la relación de la Iglesia con las otras Iglesias, y con otras religiones, debates importantes en la redacción de varios documentos conciliares como Lumem Gentium, Dei Verbum, Dignitatis Humanae, Nostra Aetate e Unitatis (...) Redintegratio. Paralelamente a los pasos ecuménicos alcanzados por el Concilio, el artículo destaca tres reacciones: (i) El nacimiento de una Iglesia latinoamericana cuyo rostro se presenta en las positivas respuestas de las Conferencias del Episcopado latinoamericano, en la efectiva construcción de una Iglesia “pueblo de Dios” y en el “ecumenismo social”; (ii) La posterior “restauración eclesiocéntrica”, marcada por la rigidez doctrinal y disciplinar del ambiente católico; (iii) La esperanza de un nuevo proceso conciliar, iluminado por la perspectiva liberadora propiciada por el Vaticano II, en el contexto de un mundo diversificado y pluralista. Palabras clave: Concilio Vaticano II. Ecumenismo. CELAM. PluralismoThe article addresses the Second Vatican Council under the focus of ecumenism. In this way, the article mentions the climate, prior to the Council that made possible new ecumenical relations. The text also points out the debates that took place at the time of the Council, especially those connected with the mission of the Church, the freedom of religion, and the relationship of the Church with the other Churches and with other religions. Among others, the article mentions the following documents: Lumen Gentium, Dei Verbum, Dignitatis Humanae, Nostra Aetate and Unitatis Redintegratio. In correlation to the ecumenical steps reached by the Council, the article highlights three reactions: (i) The birth of a Latin American Church, whose face shows up in the positive answers of the Conferences of the Latin American Episcopate, in the effective construction of a Church understood as “People of god” and in “Social Ecumenism”; (ii) The subsequent ecclesiocentric restoration, marked by doctrinal and disciplinal rigidity within catholic environment; (iii) To hope of a new Conciliar process, illuminated by a liberator perspective favored by the Vatican II, in the context of a diversified and pluralist world. Keywords: Vatican Council II. Ecumenism. CELAM. Pluralism. - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2011v9n24p1221. (shrink)

In an earlier article in Classical Quarterly, S. J. Harrison explored the varying frequency of hexameter-endings of the type discordia taetra, where a noun that ends in short a is followed by its epithet with the same termination. It appears from this that while most pre-Augustan poets allow a fairly high frequency of such verse-endings , some Augustan poets and their imitators show a distinct tendency to avoid them , while some almost exclude them altogether . The hexameters of elegiac (...) poetry might be subject to the same restriction; the following are figures for elegy from Catullus to Martial. (shrink)

The following article proposes an empirical study to explore communication strategies in the Cosa Nostra. Psychological studies on the characteristics of the language within the criminal organization are undoubtedly recent, but crucial to thoroughly understand the characteristics of implicit and explicit communication it adopts in the various contexts it works, as well as the power and value they assume. The data we have obtained from some videos concerning interviews and police interrogations to men of honor have been analyzed through (...) a method that refers to the grounds of qualitative research in clinical psychology, the Grounded Theory by Glaser and Strauss. The analysis we have carried out and its relevant data show us a world of the Mafia where the care for linguistic choices, for both form and contents, is characterized as a crucial activity, even when words are replaced by silence or gestures. (shrink)

O presente artigo constitui um estudo do conceito de amizade em Santo Agostinho, em particular tal como ele se apresenta nas Confissões e nas Epístolas, tendo especialmente em conta a influência que a noção de φιλία ou de amicitia produziram no seu pensamento. Mostra-se também que o modelo teórico ciceroniano é uma das principais fontes de Agostinho, mas não a única. Nesse sentido, a definição que Cícero dá da amizade transforma-se em motivo para uma verificação da medida em que Agostinho (...) está em sintonia com o autor Latino ou em que medida eles se diferenciam. Daí a atenção dada ao conceito de benivolentia, conceito esse que no pensamento de Agostinho tem uma conotação próxima do conceito de caritas e do afecto, coisa que não acontece nem em Aristóteles nem em Cícero. Por outro lado, mostra-se também que Agostinho mantém praticamente desde a sua conversão a mesma concepção de amizade, pois que, quer no Contra Académicos, quer na Epístola 258, se encontra presente a mesma doutrina sobre a amizade, à qual está subjacente uma espiritualidade monástica e fraternal, que resulta da consolidação de elementos tanto filosóficos como bíblicos. Por último, o artigo sublinha ainda até que ponto para Agostinho a amizade verdadeira entre amigos deverá manter um acordo entre as coisas humanas e divinas, acordo esse que consiste numa articulação, em consonância com a tradição bíblica, das rerum humanariam et divinarum cum benivolentia et caritate consensio. /// The aim of this article is to discuss the concept of friendship in Augustine, particularly in the Confessions and in the Epistles, considering in particular the influence that the notion of φιλία or amicitia had in his thought. Cicero's theoretical model is one of the main sources for Augustine but not the only one. The definition that Cicero presents is a fundamental motive for the author of the article to assess to what extent there is, in Augustine, a complete harmony with him, and in which aspects they differ. One of these concepts is benivolentia, which in Augustine's thought is reinforced and comes closer to caritas and affection, a meaning that it does not have in Aristotle and Cicero. The article also shows that after his conversion Augustine maintained practically the same concept of friendship, since both in Contra Academicos as well as in the Epístola 258 we find the same doctrine. Subjacent to this notion of friendship there is a monastic and brotherly spirituality which is the result of the consolidation of philosophical and biblical elements. Finally, the article shows that for Augustine a true friendship implies an agreement between human and divine matters. This agreement allows an articulation between the rerum humanarum et divinarum cum benivolentia et caritate consensio and the biblical tradition. (shrink)

Este artículo reseña: Massimo La Torre. Nostra Legge è la Libertà. Anarchismo dei Moderni. Roma : Derive Approdi, 2017.