Issue 103/3 (2022) of the magazine “Gregorianum” is available, quarterly published by the Gregorian University. 

ARTICULI

Godefroid Bambi Kilunga, S.I., Quand YHWH touche la bouche de l’homme (Jr 1,9). Un geste et la parole aux origines de l’autorité du prophète

Abstract - A careful reading of the account of Jeremiah’s vocation raises questions about the impact that his priestly origins might have had on his life as a spokesman (prophet) of YHWH. Jeremiah seems to be tormented by a weight that is difficult for him to carry alone. His message is often a mixture of lawsuits against all – even against YHWH ­– and compassion or intercession. What happened in this man’s life and is it possible to understand his vocation? Jr 1.9 reports about a gesture which makes Jeremiah become the spokesman, the “mouth” of YHWH. «Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me: ‘Behold! I have put my words into your mouth’.» What can this gesture of YHWH’s extended hand tell us? What can be its theological as well as its anthropological impact in the life of Jeremiah? Can Jeremiah ever quit his responsibility of announcing with authority the Word of God?

Keywords: YHWH – Prophet – spokesperson – vocation – authority

 

César Carbullanca N., El silencio de los ángeles. En el judaísmo tardío y en Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice

Abstract - Multiple groups and trajectories of the period of late Judaism, angels interpret revelations, they are sent by God, and actively participate in the eschatological events; paradoxically, in Qumran, the angels – and even God himself – are silent. The objective of the article studies the silence of the angels in Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, highlighting that this silence the ideological position of the community, framed in the hierarchical model of the divine-human language, a predetermined vision of Paradise and a return to Eden through praise together with the angels before Yahweh’s throne.

Keywords: Paradise – Language – Silence – Angels – Qumran – Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice – Merkaba

 

Eóin de Bháldraithe, OCIST, The Word was made flesh. Conception or Resurrection?

Abstract - ‘The Word was made flesh’ is generally understood as referring to the conception of Christ. However, if we take it as referring to the resurrection, the Johannine Prologue offers a more coherent meaning. The article argues this at length. Similar is the Christological hymn in Colossians of which an exegesis is offered. Lastly, the prologue to the first letter of John. becomes so much clearer when it is understood as referring to the resurrection.

Keywords: ἐγένετο – εἰς τὸν κόλπον – ἐν ἡμῖν – ἐσκήνωσεν – πλήρωμα – ἐθεασάμεθα – ἐψηλάφησαν

 

Ignazio Genovese, Il carattere “ipotetico” delle origini. L’ipotesi come atto logico e teo-logico

Abstract - This essay intends to reflect on the “hypothetical” character of the theology of origins, starting from the analysis of some passages from Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae. Divided into three parts, the article intends first of all to outline the concept of “hypothesis” in the theological field, with particular reference to the protological horizon. Secondly, some protological issues are analyzed, present in Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae: the conservation of the species in the original state - dealing with whether and how the generation of other human beings would have taken place before guilt (S. Th., I, q. 98, aa. 1-2) - or the failure to transmit sin, if only Eve had done it (S. Th., I-II, q. 81, a. 5). The article closes with a reflection on the character, both logical and theo-logical, of the hypothetical discourse.

Keywords: Thomas Aquinas – anthropology – protology – man-woman

 

John Dadosky, Family and Friendship: The Implicit Ecclesiologies ad extra in Pope Francis’ Fratelli Tutti and the legacy of Vatican II’s Dual Theologies of Church

Abstract - The Pope’s encyclical Fratelli Tutti is a welcome advance on post-Vatican II ecclesiology, which heretofore has almost singly emphasized communion ecclesiology. The encyclical corroborates an earlier hypothesis by this author that there are two basic ecclesiologies of Vatican II, namely, communion and friendship. Although, the encyclical occasions a revisiting and development of that hypothesis. Communion is represented in the theme of family that is implied in the main title of the encyclical, fraternity; that is, if we follow the example of the African Synod that appropriated «family» as the proper analogy for communion ecclesiology. The subtitle of the encyclical includes the ecclesial attitudes of family and friendship. Francis states that he intends to bring the two notions of fraternity and social friendship together. I argue in this paper that these two notions comprise the conception of church as family (communion) and friendship as the appropriate expressions of post-Vatican II ecclesiology.

Keywords: Pope Francis – Fratelli Tutti – Ecclesiology – Communion – Family – Friendship – Lonergan – Vatican II

 

Andrzej Gielarowski, Le christianisme en tant que réponse à la crise de la culture contemporaine. La pensée apocalyptique de René Girard

Abstract - The crisis of contemporary culture is a widely discussed and exploited theme. But there is a rare perspective taken by René Girard. His is an apocalyptic perspective on our Western culture’s crisis. The apocalypse, according to the philosopher, refers to mimetic violence that can no longer be checked. Girard’s philosophical and scientific theses consist in showing the conversion of humanity and the Return of Christ (Parousia) as a response to the cultural crisis. This response comes from Girard’s understanding of Christianity as the revelation of the innocence of the scapegoats that have been sacrificed since the beginning of human culture. From the moment of this manifestation, the foundations of archaic religions, along with the rituals of sacrifice, have been destroyed and there are no longer any barriers to the violence born in human societies. Nor are there wars (understood as duels), which were the last cultural institutions capable of keeping violence in check.

Keywords: Christianity – the apocalypse – the crisis of culture – René Girard – the violence – the Return of Christ (Parousia) – the scapegoats – the archaic religions – the rituals of sacrifice – the mimeticism

 

Juan Manuel Cabiedas, François Laruelle y la constante crística del Hombre-en-persona. Aproximación analítica y breve crítica teológica

Abstract - This study critically explores, in the light of Christian theology, the singular interpretation that François Laruelle (1937) makes of the figure of Christ and his relationship with human being. First, we approach the way in which Laruelle’s Christology challenges the abidance between the apostolic narrative and the believing comprehension about the unity between the Mystery of God and the Event of Jesus Christ. According to Laruelle, Christ has not only raised human freedom beyond the essence and existence of an absolute (and, therefore, the founding axioms of Philosophy that require a prior foundation of the founded); but Christ exhibits the absolute in his finit existence as fully actual. Second, even briefly, we will trace the theological-anthropological physiognomy of the Mystery of the Incarnation by means of an inquiry in its soteriological sense. In that sense, the first formal Christian theology is precious: the theology of the Fathers of the Church. So, we intend to point to the way in which Christian faith contributes to the clarification of the singular super-natural quality that defines human nature in its divine connaturality: possibility of always being more and better in the world.

Keywords: François Laruelle – Non-philosophy – French Philosophy – Christ – Soteriology – Theological Anthropology

 

Americo Miranda, Agostino retore alla schola Christi. Tecnica argomentativa e prassi omiletica nei discorsi al popolo

Abstract - The true rhetoric science has to be learnt at the “school of Christ” according to Augustine. The model of rhetor he defines, related to pagan models, faces the mistakes of a bad rhetoric: a discourse has to be founded on the expression of Scripture, with a moderate and well motivated application of rhetorical procedures. The extraordinary complexity of arguments, to be expressed with other means than words too, needs sustain, expressed by the hearers, and not pathetic performances. The preacher, conscious of the limits of comprehension, does not try to dramatize his exposition, and avoids any affectation; he presents several aspects in which he is weaker than the bad rhetors. The true meaning of the discourse cannot be found in the success it encounters, but in its call for interiority.

Keywords: model – procedures – support – limits – interiority

 

Manuel Palma Ramírez, El yo que trema. Una fenomenología del miedo

Abstract - As we cling to life, and even though human beings could destroy everything, fear remains. Through the states-of-mind described by Heidegger in Being and Time, the dreadful can be considered: firstly, in its exteriority, as being pushed outward, as in the scientific world, subject to the technical representation, from where subjectivity itself is expelled; secondly, as self-expression, which neither phenomenology, with its intentional reading of the Cartesian cogito, nor the Heideggerian “ontological difference” are able to capture; And, thirdly, Fear, as self-manifestation of the conscience, which places the Ego in the pure passion of oneself. How do we begin, then, to fear of others, of the alter ego? Through the abandonment of the spiritual order and entry into divine Charity, which surpasses the limitations imposed by Descartes and Husserl.

Keywords: fear – phenomenology – Husserl – Michel Henry – cogito

 

NOTAE

La Contemplazione di Dio con la Lettera d’Oro: G. Bacchini, ed., Guglielmo di Saint-Therry, La Contemplazione di Dio con la Lettera d’Oro (E. Caroleo).

 

RECENSIONES

Biblia: S. L. Adams – G. Schmidt Goering – M. Goff, ed., Sirach and Its Contexts. The Pursuit of Wisdom and Human Flourishing (N. Calduch-Benages), 639- 641; G. Barbiero – M. Pavan – J. Schnocks, ed., The Formation of the Hebrew Psalter. The Book of Psalms Between Ancient Versions (F. Ficco), 641-643; C. K. Croy, Sequencing The Hebrew Bible. The Order of The Books (G. Bambi Kilunga), 643-644; S. Weeks, Ecclesiastes 1-5. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary (L. Mazzinghi), 645-646.

Theologia: F-X. Durrwell, La trinité. Le Père engendre le Fils dans l’Esprit (D. Kowalczyk), 647-648; G. O’Collins, A Christology of Religions (N. Capizzi), 649-650; A. Schmemann, Diari 1973-1983, Vol. 1 e 2 (A. M. Putti), 650-652; R. Somavilla – E. Osa, ed., Eutanasia ¿Desafío a la vida? (J. Ďačok), 653-655.

Ius Canonicum: L. Sabbarese, ed., Legalità e pena nel diritto penale canonico (D. Astigueta), 655-657.

Philosophia: P. Thielke, ed., Kant’s Prolegomena. A Critical Guide (S. D’Agostino), 658-659.

 

LIBRI NOSTRI

 

G. Bonfrate, Maurice Blondel, 660;
G. Bonfrate – H. M. Yáñez, Il «poliedro» della pastorale familiare, 660-661;
R. D’ambrosio, Il potere. Uno spazio inquieto, 661.

OPERA ACCEPTA

(662-663)