Theology Papers and Journal Articles

Classified Timelines of Vernacular Liturgy

Russell Hardiman — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:08:38 PST

Renewability of Liturgical Spaces

Angela McCarthy — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:02:15 PST

The response of people to particular liturgical spaces, and their understanding of what is suitable, is very diverse. There are particular churches that are under great demand for weddings because they will look good in the photos and look like a ‘real church’. Churches are still being built that do not echo the reforms of the past half century and respond to a particular taste rather than the requirements of the liturgy. Communities still struggle with churches built before the reforming period that are difficult to renovate and difficult to adjust to contemporary liturgical norms so the renewability of liturgical spaces is an issue faced by many communities.

Book Review: Presiding Like A Woman

Angela McCarthy — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:51:56 PST

Deep divisions lie within the Christian churches about the role of women within worship, and indeed, other aspects of church life. This book is a rich addition to the literature on such divisions and offers an opportunity for many voices to be heard.

Moral Conversion, Liturgy and The Preface to Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 21:28:09 PDT

Anecdotal evidence suggests that, amongst the Eucharistic Prayers in the Roman Catholic liturgy, the laity find the Second Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation the most attractive. This article attempts to address the question: what is there about this Prayer that is so appealing and why? The focal point is the first thing people hear in this Eucharistic Prayer, namely, the Preface. There seems to be something special, if not unique, about the Preface to EP RII.

This article will focus mainly on the Preface of EP RII in terms of its theme, tone, tempo and as a template. In preparing to examine the language and structure of the Preface, some key ideas on moral conversion and the formative role of Liturgy are outlined. Lonergan’s models of conversion together with William Spohn’s approach to moral transformation are then used as hermeneutical lenses for a reading of the text of the Preface. What emerges is that the Preface of EP RII may go some way in offering a basic framework for the process of moral transformation as ideally effected in the Liturgy. Some final observations close the article.

Healing Abortion's Trauma and 'Rachel's Vineyard Retreat': From Three Participants

Genevieve et al. — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 19:32:50 PDT

The Rachel's Vineyard Retreat seminar designed for women and men touched by an abortion and the views of three participants are discussed. Three participants present different angles on the experience: the first from a woman participant ('Genevieve' - not her real name), the second deals with the retreat as a transformational process (Peter Maher) and some theological reflections from Tom Ryan bring the article to a close. All three participants comment in conclusion that the seminar is sensitively and prayerfully designed and blends the best of psychological, spiritual and scriptural resources under the guidance of skilled people and appropriately qualified professionals.

Holy Spirit, Hidden God: Moral Life and the Non-Believer

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 22:02:19 PDT

The proclamation in I Timothy of God's desire for everyone to be saved and 'reach full knowledge of the truth' had an uneasy passage into the twenty-first century. We are now more 'comfortable' theologically with divine grace and Chrisfs saving action present in other religious traditions and even in the lives of non-believers. Ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue is symptomatic of the former. Yet, can we say the same of the existence of grace, God's self-gift, in the fives of non-believers, especially in its moral dimension? Is it possible to articulate a more integrated account of its presence, particularly in the lives of those who define themselves as non-religious, humanist, agnostic, even atheist?

Evelyn Underhill on Spiritual Transformation: A Trinitarian Structure?

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:32:41 PDT

There is a trinitarian structure underlying Evelyn Underhill's understanding of spiritual transformation as the presence and action of the Holy. After briefly outlining her spiritual vision, this article will discuss Underhill's foundations by tapping the philosophical psychology within the spiritual heritage, namely its cognitive, affective and conative dimensions. We then examine, in three phases, how she uses these resources, combined with other influences, in adapting the schema of Adoration/ Adherence/ Cooperation from the French School of Spirituality. This becomes the dominant lens through which she interprets the pattern of human responsiveness to the divine and the role of the trinitarian relations in the process of spiritual transformation. It will emerge that her method is descriptive and existential, with a focus on experience of the divine as distinctively ecstatic and self-transcending. Finally, there will be some evaluative comments on her significance within the tradition, both past and present.

Revisiting Affective Knowing and Connaturality in Aquinas

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 00:53:27 PDT

The author investigates the nature and function of affective cognition through connaturality in Thomas Aquinas. Its modulations are disclosed in the human attraction to happiness, in emotions and their moral significance, in the affective virtues (fortitude and temperance), and in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Finally, the article notes some convergences between the thought of Aquinas and Bernard Lonergan concerning conversion and intentionality, both epistemological and existential.

Psychic conversion and St Thérèse of Lisieux

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 00:07:14 PDT

Bernard Lonergan’s model of on-going conversion is now part of the theological and spiritual currency within the Catholic tradition.¹ The foundation of his approach is that to be human is to be driven by the urge to know, love, value and transform ourselves and our world. In being open to ‘more’, we show that we are intentional beings seeking self-transcendence.

Faith and Culture in Conversation: One Theologian at Work

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 23:53:23 PDT

This article proposes that John Thornhill's ongoing interest in the relationship between faith and culture indicates that he can, in a sense, be described as a pastoral/practical theologian who has something to offer us in this field. First, it outlines (with some observations) his approach to theological reflection viewed as a critical conversation around the three themes he explores in Making Australia: Exploring Our National Conversation. Having established a context, the second task is to present an analysis and commentary of the three main theological assumptions that appear to underpin and give cohesion to John's methodology. These are the Spirit of God at work, the importance of beginning with human experience and the dynamic of self-transcendence. The conclusion brings some final comments on John Thornhill as a theologian.

In God’s image: Towards a theology of our emotions

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 23:41:33 PDT

Emotions are bewildering. We relish joy and wonder, craving more of the same. Others like fear and guilt can so upset us that we want them to just go away. Culturally, too, we are expected to approach everything ‘unemotionally,’ since feelings can overwhelm thinking and discussion, distorting our judgments and our dealings with others. In other words, objectivity, maturity, reasonableness are best exercised without our feelings. The reality is that we cannot live and develop as rational beings or Christians without the obbligato of our emotions. There is a growing awareness how much our feelings and emotional health bring insight and attunement that are indispensable to us psychologically and morally. The New Catechism describes emotions (‘passions’) as the passageway between spirit and body. Emotions anchor us in the world as embodied beings. But what is their significance theologically? How do we image God in our emotional life? We will explore this through four questions.

The Thérèse ‘Phenomenon’: Reflections on a Pilgrimage

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:33:50 PDT

On the Saturday of Easter weekend in 2002, one journalist opened her column with these words:

Why would 40,000 people turn out in Perth to see a box of old bones? Why would hundreds of people drive from Kalgoorlie and Broome to see it, then sit through the night in a church keeping vigil?... In Melbourne, young people from around the diocese flocked into the cathedral… [1]

The international pilgrimage of Thérèse of Lisieux’s relics commenced in 1997 and has attracted huge crowds. For example, fifteen million in Mexico and 75% of Ireland’s population of roughly 5 million viewed the relics. In New York, Fifth Avenue had to be closed down when the reliquary was being brought to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

As many have already asked ‘Why this remarkable response?’ It has amazed even the most committed and sanguine of the organizers. Is it nostalgia for a lost past? Or does it point to a pathology in Catholic life seen, at its worst, as a form of ghoulish superstition? I would like to make a case that we may have here an instance of a cross- section of Catholic believers [and others worldwide] tapping into an underground water-table in our Catholic memory. Or alternatively, it is touching a nerve that is a sensitive reminder of something neglected, even forgotten.

I would like to present an approach that complements Dr. Michael Whelan’s reflections given in 1997 on the occasion of the centenary of Thérèse’s death [2] . Building on his thoughts as a fellow ‘pilgrim’ and on studies done in the intervening five years, I will attempt to address what one could call this Thérèse ‘phenomenon’ that has emerged around the ‘pilgrimage’ of her relics. The spontaneous, consistent and widespread response of faith to Thérèse through her relics is not easily dismissed. It cannot be attributed, in a reductive fashion, to the gullibility of ‘devoted Catholics’ prone to being easily led and manipulated by Church authorities.

I would like to offer some thoughts on the significance of Thérèse and her spiritual doctrine firstly in its historical context and in relation to Vatican II, then in the context of the third millennium for the Church and for the postmodern world.

Aquinas on Compassion: Has He Something to Offer Today?

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 23:27:28 PDT

‘Compassion’—an engaging yet troublesome word? Recent studies on Thomas Aquinas prompt a reconsideration of the place of compassion as an emotion and a virtue in his treatment of the Christian moral life. Through an analysis of relevant texts in Thomas and in relation to contemporary authors such as Oliver Davies, it becomes evident that compassion has a more significant role in his spiritual/ moral theology than is often acknowledged. Despite the limits of his psychological model, Aquinas offers a carefully calibrated account of compassion as a defining emotion, of compassion’s development within the model of friendship, of the relationship between cognition, affectivity, and action, of divine compassion and mercy and, finally, of compassion and mercy within divinization through the differing modalities of the virtues and the gifts. After suggesting six ways we can learn from Aquinas, the article closes with a reflection on the impenetrable yet life-giving mystery of compassion.

Healthy Shame? An Interchange between Elspeth Probyn and Thomas Aquinas

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 22:39:25 PDT

In her recent book Blush: Faces of Shame, Elspeth Probyn offers a profile of shame drawing on the disciplines of psychology, sociology and cultural anthropology. She argues that shame is a) inherently value-oriented, b) necessary for human well-being and c) universal or essential as a human phenomenon. This approach to shame has significant resonances with the theological anthropology and christian ethics of Thomas Aquinas. In exploring these authors, we can gain a clearer picture of the transformative function of shame in the personal, social, cultural and moral dimensions of human life.

By Way of Moral Beauty

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 21:36:25 PDT

Reviewing the book, Jason Steger captures the incident with one prisoner who ...finds his hands shaking so much he can't handle the rope; the condemned man turns to him kisses his hand and eases his head into the noose. The dignity and humanity the young prisoner demonstrated moments before his death - and the disdainful refusal of the other condemned men to plead for their lives - no doubt served over time to reinforce my conviction that moral resistance in the face of evil is no less courageous than physical resistance, a point that has unfortunately been frequently lost in the debate over the lack of greater Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. [...] they tell of ordinary people doing extraordinary things faced by the most degrading and repellent settings of evil.

Conscience as Primordial Moral Awareness in Gaudium et Spes and Veritatis Splendor

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:53:44 PDT

Theological discussion on conscience in the light of recent Church documents has tended to focus predominantly on its relationship to the truth and specifically as moral judgment in a particular situation. However, conscience has a more foundational sense. I argue that, in Gaudium et Spes and Veritatis Splendor, conscience understood as primordial moral awareness is presented in the setting of four epistemological processes which mediate the intuitive and affective appreciation of value, namely through a) participation in a divine-human dialogical relationship of love, b) participation as recognition of the true self, c) participation as collaboration in divine providence and wisdom and d) through a specific form of participative knowing, namely affective connaturality. The discussion will attempt to identify some of the key theological tributaries flowing into the treatment of the topic in these documents. In particular, recourse to Aquinas’ understanding of practical reason, evaluative knowing and affective connaturality is a valuable interpretative tool in this process. Critical evaluation suggests possibilities for further exploration.

Christian Ethics: Moral Dilemmas or Something More

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:40:58 PDT

Consider this experience. I normally begin a course in Christian Ethics by asking the students to say the first image or word that comes to mind when they hear the words ‘morality’ or ‘ethics’. It is intriguing to find, even in 2011, how often the response is ‘rules’ or ‘solving moral dilemmas.’ Perhaps the first phrase indicates a view of the moral life that is deeply-embedded for cultural or religious reasons. The second response is more understandable, given the nature of public life. Church leaders are called to respond to legal and moral questions concerning, for example, IVF, same-sex marriage, genetic engineering, economic justice, asylum seekers, etc.

'Speaking for myself personally'...Awareness of Self, of God, of Others

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:16:57 PDT

Language is intriguing. Take the comment above. Am I repeating myself or emphasising a point? Can I turn it around and say 'speaking for myself impersonally'? Unwittingly, our language can say more than we intend. How I speak about myself reflects how [ am aware of myself. But, then, what is meant by one's 'self'? Is our experience of the self in 2002 the same as someone in 1002 or in 102 CE? These are the sorts of issues triggered by the above four words. This article will explore some of those aspects of the self under three headings:

1. Is self-awareness the same as either self-knowledge or of knowledge about the self?

2. How is awareness of the Other (God) related to awareness of others and of the self?

3. Do these questions and the ensuing discussion have any relevance today?

Aquinas’ Integrated View of Emotions, Morality, and the Person

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 19:36:44 PDT

In this article the author argues that there are five components in Aquinas’ integrated account of emotions, morality and the person. Firstly, it is the rationally “fitting” or “consonant” with human nature that mediates the affective virtues as they structure the objects of emotions as specific emotional responses. Secondly, Aquinas outlines principles to ascertain a) how emotions are moral and voluntary and b) the need for certain right and good emotional responses. Thirdly, he highlights the psychological and physiological resonance of emotions in moral living. Fourthly, by an over-arching metaphor (the polis), Aquinas encapsulates the mutual tutoring and interdependence of intellect, will and emotions in practical reasoning. Finally, Aquinas’ insistence on the location and immanence of the affective virtues grounds his view of the body/spirit relationship.

Positive and negative emotions in Aquinas: Retrieving a distorted tradition

Rev Thomas Ryan SM — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:32:21 PDT

'It is regrettable that moral theology has neglected the role that emotions play in the moral life' said William Spohn, SJ. at the start of the past decade.¹ In his view, this situation seems to emerge from the influence of a rationalist natural law tradition which, unlike Aquinas, 'did not pay as much critical attention to this dimension.'² Spohn would also concur with the impact of a negative view of the emotions fostered by the Kantian perspective of moral agency. More importantly, one must acknowledge the distorted approach of the Manualists in which the emotions are, at the least, impediments to the human act or, at the worst, its enemy. Spohn reminds us of the place of the emotions in the virtue-centred ethics of Thomas Aquinas and in contemporary philosophy's rediscovery of character and virtue. With Aquinas, these philosophers recognise that 'well-ordered affectivity guides moral decisionmaking through discerning perceptions and virtuous dispositions.'³