Issue 101/3 (2020) of the magazine “Gregorianum” is available, quarterly published by the Gregorian University.

ARTICULI

Pino Di Luccio, S.I., Il «Giudizio» del Jewish Annotated New Testament e la teologia contestuale

 

Abstract - On March 28^th 2019 at the Pontifical Gregorian University has been presented the Jewish Annotated New Testament (JANT, Oxford University 2011; 2017²) – a commentary on the New Testament (NT) written by Jewish scholars. This commentary includes an appendix containing short articles that explain some aspects of the original context of NT, and other articles that have the aim to illustrate some aspects of NT in modern and contemporary Judaism. The present article proposes a reading of one text on Judgment from the fourth Gospel (John 5), with the help of notes and references to JANT. The choice of this text and of this theme (as well as of other themes occurring in the text studied and in the fourth Gospel, as Sabbath, Jewish feasts, eschatology, the term Ioudaioi, ecc.) has the aim to show the utility and advantages of JANT for those Christians who are interested on the Jewish background of NT. Moreover, the article has the aim to show that JANT allows to discern the original context of the NT which is necessary in order to elaborate a contextual theology.

Keywords: Judgment, Sabbath, feasts, eschatology, Ioudaioi, context, theology

 

Francesco Piazzolla, I messaggi alle sette Chiese d’Asia (Ap 2-3). Una cristologia paradigmatica nel contesto ecclesiale

 

Abstract - The messages of Christ to the seven Churches of Asia (Rev 2-3) are an example of mixed literary genre in which the author offers some important elements of Christology and ecclesiology. In each of these texts, Christ, with his titles, appears as a model for the communities he is addressing and helps them to recognize some dangers within and beyond. When it is necessary, the risen One invites his congregations to conversion and, through the promise of his visitation, Jesus keeps every community active, whereas the action of the Spirit makes the Christological message in the life of the Church continually present. The perspective of these texts assumes an eschatological purpose in the ‘promises to the winner’ that highlight the final goal of the ecclesial journey.

Keywords: Christological titles, Conversion, Christ’s coming, The Spirit’s voice, The promise to the winner.

 

Emmanuele Rotundo, Spiritualità e mistica cristiforme nella «scienza teologica» di s. Tommaso

 

Abstract - The work aims to bring out the «spiritual» and «mystical-contemplative» dimension of theology, understood as «science», in Thomas Aquinas. With spirituality we mean the intimate disposition of the religious man before the manifestation of the divine. Following this first connotation, we will investigate, according to the Angelic Doctor, what the adequate attitude of the theologian is so that he can correctly employ himself in a scientific reflection on the realities of faith. In this regard, analyzing the Thomasian doctrine of «theology as a science», we will realize how, paradoxically, the correct spiritual approach of the theologian is precisely what guarantees his theology the scientific statute.

But there is also another meaning of the term «spirituality», with which we are sent back to the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit in the spirit of man. To verify the perfective action of the Trinity God in the spirit of the theologian, it will be necessary to investigate the doctrine of the sapiential realm of theology according to the Angelic.

Finally, in the awareness that theology is by nature speculative, that is, contemplative, one can see the connection, intuitively known by Thomas, between contemplation and theological activity, as the beginning and anticipation of that ultimate beatitude which finds its form and its condition in Christ.

Keywords: spirituality, contemplation, science, theology, Thomas

 

Denis Kim, S.I., Church and Compressed Modernization: South Korea and Japan Compared

 

Abstract - This paper explores the question of how to explain the sharp contrast between the growth of the Catholic Church in Korea and the counterpart in Japan. Despite not only the religio-cultural similarities between the two countries, but also the fact that Japan received much more support from the international Church, the Catholic Church has grown explosively in Korea, but not in Japan. This paper examines the two conventional explanations, economic and cultural, and then suggests an explanation in terms of the Church as an agent in the recent East Asian historical context of compressed modernization. It argues that the Church in Korea has grown rapidly owing to its acquiring moral authority by its public engagement in that modernization process, whereas the counterpart in Japan has been inward oriented, resulting in its encapsulation in the foreignness of an imported religion.

Keywords: Catholicism, compressed modernization, Korea, Japan, unsettled period

 

Louis Caruana, S.I., Electronic Persons?

 

Abstract - To describe computers and sophisticated robots, many people today have no problem using personal attributes. Alan Turing published his famous intelligence test in 1950. From that time onwards, computers have gained increasingly higher status in this regard. Computers and robots nowadays are not only intelligent. They perceive, they remember, they understand, they decide, they play and so on. Recently, another such step has occurred but, this time, many researchers are seriously concerned. In February 2017, the European Parliament passed a Resolution to attribute legal personhood to intelligent robots. If this is accepted as law, it will have very serious consequences for our self-understanding and for the way we live together as a community. The EU Resolution has stimulated various studies, arising mainly from the area of legal studies. It is urgent that the response include also a philosophical evaluation regarding the fundamental concepts at play. This paper seeks to make a contribution precisely in this area. It explores the attribution of legal personhood to machines by focusing on what is happening at the level of meaning. It explores crucial concepts like responsibility, autonomy, person and quasi-person by drawing inspiration from the seminal works of Aristotle and L. Wittgenstein and from the ensuing debates between current philosophers like P. Hacker and D. Dennett. The results of this paper indicate what dangers could lie ahead and what could be the right way to avoid them.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, legal person, autonomy, robot, Wittgenstein

 

Carlo Lorenzo Rossetti, Azzardo transumanista o vera umanità? Il contrasto tra distopia tecnocratica ed eutopia cattolica

 

Abstract - This essay on the theology of history points out the contrast between two emerging visions on the future of the world and of society: on the one hand transhumanism, as a complete manifestation of modern secularization, which aims at the technological overcoming of man and opens to distopical horizons; on the other hand, the ecclesial and theocentric proposal of a true humanity, sensitive to the Gospel, based on personal dignity, human fraternity and ecological care (the catholic «eutopia»). Those two antithetical approaches are probably the most crucial alternative that our contemporaries will be confronted with.

Keywords: Theology of history, secularization, transhumanism, Catholic social doctrine, dignity, fraternity, distopia, eutopia.

 

César Izquierdo, Espiritualidad sacerdotal. Puntos de actualidad a partir de la nueva Ratio Fundamentalis

 

Abstract - The Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis (RF) of the Congregation for the Clergy (2016), which regulates the formation of future priests, has given a new impetus to priestly spirituality, both in life and in theological-pastoral reflection. On the occasion of this document, the article examines some questions of great importance for the life of priests, on which a concrete proposal is offered. After a presentation of the doctrine contained in the RF, two fundamental characteristics of the spirituality of the diocesan priest are analyzed: the concept of “diocesaneity” and its secular character. Three main manifestations of this spirituality are then discussed and synthesized: the obedience of the priest, priestly fraternity, and pastoral charity.

Keywords: Priestly Spirituality, Secularity, Obedience, Fraternity, Pastoral Charity

 

Rossano Zas Friz de Col, S.I., Lo sviluppo della teologia spirituale: tra la Cost. Ap. «Sapientia Christiana» (1979) e la Cost. Ap. «Veritatis Gaudium» (2018)

 

Abstract - In between the publication of the Cost. Apost. Sapientia Christiana of 1979 to the Cost. Apost. Veritatis Gaudium of 2018, it would seem that spiritual theology, as an academic discipline, has not registered any development that would make it autonomous and independent from dogmatic theology and moral theology, as if, during this interval, its academic condition had remained unchanged and, in a certain sense, still subordinate to both. The article presents the evolution of the discipline from the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council up through the publication of the Veritatis Gaudium, formulating the need for a new paradigm for theology tout court.

Keywords: Paradigm, Veritatis Gaudium, spiritual theology, theology, spirituality

 

Fernando de la Iglesia Viguiristi, S.I., Una nota sobre las consecuencias eticas del maltusianismo actual

 

Abstract - Malthus’s apocalyptic prophecy was not fulfilled. In fact, the Malthusian demon was defeated by both the Industrial Revolution and the Green Revolution. However, the limited nature of our available resources and environmental sustainability, now called into question by climate change, revive this problem of notable ethical consequences.

Keywords: Malthusianism, population control, natural resources, climate change, green economy.

RECENSIONES

Biblia: S. L. Adams – M. Goff, ed., The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Wisdom Literature (N. Calduch-Benages), 699-701; E. Ben Zvi, Social Memory among the Literati of Yehud (M. Settembrini), 701-703; J. Corley – G. D. Miller, ed., Intertextual Explorations in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature (N. Calduch-Benages), 703-705; A.-M. Crignon, « Qui es-tu mon fils? ». La vie prophétique de Jacob et Rachel, Gn 25-35 (F. Ficco), 705-707; M. Dhont, Style and Context of Old Greek Job (M. N. van der Meer), 707-708; P. Dragutinović, Interpretation of Scripture in the Orthodox Church (Á. Pereira), 708-710; É. Grenet, Unité du “je” psalmique, i-v.1-686 (M. Pavan), 710-712; V. Herrero De Miguel, Carne escrita en la roca. La poética implícita del libro de Job (S. Mazzoni), 712-714; B. Janowski, Anthropologie des Alten Testaments. Grundfragen – Kontexte – Themenfelder (N. Calduch-Benages), 714-716; R. Roukema, Micah in Ancient Christianity. Reception and interpretation (D. Scaiola), 717-718; A. J. Schmidt, Wisdom, Cosmos, and Cultus in the Book of Sirach (N. Calduch-Benages), 719-720; N. R. Werse, Reconsidering the book of the four. The shaping of Hosea, Amos, Micah, and Zephaniah as an Early Prophetic Collection (D. Scaiola), 721-722.

 

Theologia: A. Houziaux, Job ou le problème du mal. Un éloge de l’absurde (M. Alemagna), 722-724.

 

Ius Canonicum: L. Bianchi – A. Cattaneo – G. Eisenring, ed., Parola – Sacramento – Carisma. Scritti in onore di Libero Gerosa in occasione del suo 70° compleanno (M. Visioli), 724-726; C. Papale, La procedura nei delitti riservati alla Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede (D. G. Astigueta), 726-727; D. J. Tortosa, El munus del párroco y su potestad de jurisdicción. Un problema de Derecho administrativo canónico (G. P. Montini), 728-729; J. Witte Jr, Monogamia e poligamia nella tradizione giuridica occidentale (M. Visioli), 730-731.

 

Philosophia: R. A. Furtak, Knowing Emotions: Truthfulness and Recognition in Affective Experience (T. Abraham), 731-733; E. Radcliffe, Hume, Passion and Action (S. D’Agostino), 734-735.

 

Missiologia: G. Benzi – G. Cavag nari – X. Matoses, ed., La fonte dell’evangelizzazione. Fondamenti, ambiti ed esperienze di pastorale biblica (R. Manes), 736-737; M. Marcheselli, Un «Pensiero aperto» sull’evangelizzazione. Il percorso teologico compiuto a Bologna 1997-2017 (R. Cheaib), 738-739; R. Repole, La Chiesa e il suo dono. La missione fra teo-logia ed ecclesiologia (R. Cheaib), 740-741.

 

Historia Ecclesiae: A. Huijbers, Zealots for Souls, Dominican Narratives of Self-Understanding during Observant Reforms, c. 1388-1517 (P-B. Hodel), 742-744.

 

LIBRI NOSTRI

N. Calduch-Benages, Pan de sensatez y agua de sabiduría. Estudios sobre el libro de Ben Sira (Artículos selectos 1), 745;

F. Graziano, La composizione letteraria del Vangelo di Matteo, 745-746;

R. Meynet, Le Psautier. Quatrième livre (Ps 90–106), 746-747;

D. L. Orsuto – R. S. White, ed., Full, Conscious, and Active. Lay Participation in the Church’s Dialogue with the World, 747.