Issue 102/3 (2021) of the magazine “Gregorianum” is available, quarterly published by the Gregorian University.

ARTICULI

Françoise Mies, Job : une traversée du mal et du malheur devant Dieu

Abstract - Throughout the drama, the article studies how the voices in the book articulate evil and misfortune and their hypotheses relating to the responsibility for evil. It explores how the characters stand in relation to evil before God (de Deo, pro Deo, contra Deum, ad Deum). The temporality of the story in this literary work makes it possible to read the story of Job as a crossing of evil and misfortune before God.

Keywords: Job, evil, misfortune, retribution

 

Luc Forestier, « Dans chaque ville, on lit Moïse chaque semaine » (Ac 15,21). Vie conciliaire et permanence d’Israël

Abstract - The churches’ awareness of the permanence of Israel is a major element in responding to the questions posed by conciliar life on the ecumenical level. This article shows how, in the work of Luke, the account of the assembly in Jerusalem (Acts 15) constitutes one of the main manifestations of the need for the presence of Jewish communities in order to understand the originality of the church. The affirmation of the permanence of Israel in Acts 15:21, which the author of Acts attributes to James, plays a decisive role in the Lucanian narrative which proposes an alternative model to the image of the graft that Paul presents in Romans 11. Without neglecting history, the narrative approach of Acts 15 within the canon of Scripture makes it possible to grasp a question that is essential to any ecclesiology, even more so when it comes to thinking about the conciliar structure of the churches.

Keywords: ecclesiology, Acts 15, conciliarity of the church, permanence of Israel

 

Rubén Peretó Rivas, Los Padres de la Iglesia y la atención plena. Acerca de la posibilidad de un mindfulness cristiano

Abstract - In recent years there has been interest in some therapeutic practices of Buddhist origin aimed at achieving well-being and in order to overcome some disorders such as anxiety and depression, particularly the so-called mindfulness. Its main objective is to reach the full attention in order to prevent mental wandering that distorts and makes the mind sick. The importance of conserving attention, however, had been pointed out insistently by many Church Fathers, who devoted various treatises and other types of writings to the subject. This paper studies the patristic concept of attention in order to raise the possibility of identification or, in any case, coincidences with the mindfulness and its therapeutic practice.

Keywords: Attention, Mindfulness, Church’s Fathers, Casian, Basil of Caesarea.

 

Samuel Fernández, Towards a Definition of Abuse of Conscience in the Catholic Setting

Abstract - This article aims to propose a definition of abuse of conscience in the Catholic setting. To this end, it exposes the relevant features of the moral conscience according to the Second Vatican Council and the subsequent Catholic theology. Then, the topic of abuse of conscience is set in the context of abuse of power. Thereafter, the article discusses abuse of conscience, distinguishing it from similar phenomena and highlighting the religious and institutional dimensions of this kind of abuse. Finally, the conclusion offers a definition of abuse of conscience in the Catholic setting and proposes that canonical legislation should establish the crime of abuse of spiritual power and that of abuse of conscience.

Keywords: abuse of conscience, abuse of power, conscience, obedience, Christian freedom

 

Pavulraj Michael, S.I., Contemplativus in Actione. A Profound Insight of the Ignatian Spirituality

Abstract - Contemplativus in actione translates a profound intuition that is perhaps Ignatius’s most original contribution to apostolic spirituality. It is not that he introduced a new method into spirituality. He rediscovered a very ancient but forgotten dimension: contemplation as a search for God’s presence in creation, in Scripture, in the Church, in the sacraments, in the liturgy and, finally, in the heart of human beings. Contemplatives in action seek to find God in all things by looking at the world in an incarnational way, and, in their quest, they realize their desire for freedom and detachment, which helps them move even closer to God and the will of God. A life of explicit prayer is necessary, but it is not an end in itself. It is an exercise or means to an end and focused on this end: action performed with a pure intention for the love of God. Without action, contemplation becomes sterile and obscure. But without contemplation, action cannot reveal the mystery of grace. In the dialectical interplay of action and contemplation, the person has a contemplation that incarnates itself in the history of life and an action that illuminates itself through searching for and finding the will of God. A genuine progressive integration of prayer and action leads the human persons an increasing serenity in their work, the serenity of Christ who lives in the Father and acts with them. Ignatian spirituality conceives human existence as the point of encounter with God, who is to be found in all things – in action, therefore, as well as in prayer. The Spiritual Exercises does not rest on a dichotomy between action and prayer; rather, envisions the entire activity of the human person as a continuous practice of service proceeding from prayer and vice-versa.

Keywords: Contemplative in action, Ignatian Spirituality, finding God in all things, prayer, service, the Spiritual Exercises.

 

Martín M. Morales, S.I., La herencia escondida: las huellas documentales de Roberto Bellarmino en la Pontificia Universidad Gregoriana

Resumen - Los documentos que se conservan el Archivo Histórico de la Pontificia Universidad Gregoriana, como todas las operaciones comunicativas, se realizan en el momento de su recepción. El historiador se coloca de esta manera como un observador de segundo orden. La operación historiográfica puede considerar las construcciones de sentido que se han hecho alrededor de las fuentes a partir de las expectativas del sistema social en las que se generaron y circularon. Un análisis sistémico de las fuentes históricas sobre San Roberto Bellarmino deberán enfrentar no solo la complejidad de dicha documentación, sino también aquella autogenerada por la propia disciplina histórica. Para lidiar con la complejidad será necesaria una teoría que no reduzca la historia a una mera analogía entre pasado y presente, sino que tenga cuenta de la diferencia de las semánticas conceptuales y de las respectivas estructuras sociales.

Palabras clave: Roberto Bellarmino, historiografía, epistemología histórica, sistemas sociales, complejidad.

 

Louis Caruana, S.I., To Marvel at the Manifold Connections: Philosophy, Biology, and Laudato si’

Abstract - One of the aims of Laudato Si’ is to help us “marvel at the manifold connections existing among creatures”, to show how we are also involved, and to motivate us thereby to care for our common home. Are there new dimensions of beauty available to us today because of recent advances in biology? In this paper I seek to answer this question by first recalling the basic criteria for beauty, as expressed by Aristotle and Aquinas, and then evaluating their applicability as regards three ways in which some prominent twentieth century philosophers of biology have sought to overcome the limitations of reductionism. The overall argument refers especially to the works of Jakob von Uexküll and Georges Canguilhem. The results indicate that harmony, proportion, and integrity in the natural order should be more evident than ever before, especially as regards the way the organism and its environment codetermine each other. This insight allows a deeper appreciation of the message of Laudato Si’.

Keywords: Laudato Si’, Uexküll, Canguilhem, environment, ecology, beauty

 

Ľuboš Rojka, S.I., Encyclical Letter Laudato si’ and Some Transhumanist Theories of Nature and Religion

Abstract - The encyclical letter Laudato si’ reacts to scientific reports of the rapid pace of degradation of the environment on our planet, points to the roots of the global environmental crisis, and calls for a slowdown in technological development so that we can adapt our cultures and increase respect, sensibility, and love for nature. M. More, in his secular transhumanist philosophy, uses the metaphor of mother nature that generated us but then abandoned us, and the metaphor of extropy that guides human development. R. Ascott understands nature as a metaphor that will be replaced by a more scientific conception amid future cultural changes. R. Kurzweil observes many long term tendencies in human development in his rather optimistic vision of the future. The three transhumanists founded their visions on a reductive understanding of human consciousness and the essence of religion. Consequently, even though some of their suggestions are instructive and complementary to the encyclical, significant differences regard the changes needed to avoid a radical deterioration of the living conditions of a great part of humanity.

Keywords: Laudato si’, transhumanism, religion, nature.

 

Fernando de la Iglesia Viguiristi, S.I., En los 30 años de la publicación de la Centesimus annus, una nota sobre su actualidad, y relevancia

Abstract - Thirty years ago, Saint John Paul II published his third social encyclical, the Centesimus annus. With it he reacted to the momentous event of the collapse of the communist system that was staged with the fall of the Berlin Wall. He did so by providing, among other aspects, an extremely valuable reflection on the role of the market and the State in the economy. This study is dedicated, above all, to expose the foundations in anthropology, history and economic theory of his teachings.

Keywords: Saint John Paul II, encyclical, Centesimus annus, market, central planning, State.

 

Notae – Recensiones – Indicationes – Libri nostri – Opera accepta