This paper discusses the contribution of linguistics to theology, taking the specific example of L.-M. Chauvet’s thought. First, the critique of language as a tool is analyzed. According to Chauvet, language can no longer be considered as a tool, but as a mediation, understood as a “matrix” or environment ( milieu). Linguistic mediation is thus explained from the conceptual perspective of symbol and symbolic order: human subjectivity is inseparable from language, and language has a symbolic structure. Theological reflection follows the concept of mediation and symbol as an important anthropological fact. Faith, then, involves rejecting the illusion of direct contact with God and accepting the mediation of the Church and the sacraments as a process of “accepting ourselves” as children of God and accepting one another in Christ as brothers.

After the establishment of the first University Faculties of Missiology (Protestant and Catholic) in Germany, there was a dynamic development of missiology in Europe. In the second half of the twentieth century several academic missiological centers were established in America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. The missiologists of the first half of the twentieth century through their scientific work have proved that missiology is a theological and interdisciplinary science. This was achieved by emphasizing in their publications that the essence of missiology finds its foundations not in references to history and direct missionary practice, but the theology of mission, i.e., the theological justification of the Church’s missionary activity. This trend of missiological reflection was highlighted in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and in numerous papal documents of the post-conciliar period. Teaching on the missionary nature of the Church has become the subject of scientific and interdisciplinary missiological reflection. Unfortunately, up to these days the acceptance of missiology as a theological science, is not yet fully understood and not always accepted.

This paper takes into account questions formulated by the Holy Mother. Her thought and consideration on the revealed word serves as pattern of theological thinking and key to understanding of the relationship between theology and other sciences. This study is based on the Church’s magisterial documents, papal teaching, as well as theological and philosophical statements. The matter of theology determines its principles, start point and methods. Its criteria consider the universal requirements of reason but, unlike in other sciences, are deeply and indispensably enrooted in ecclesial community. The purpose also distinguishes theology in the scientific world and confers particular meaning concerning its pragmatism, benefits and importance.

The notion of free will, which supports moral responsibility in various accounts of Catholic moral theology, is in a particular way situated at the intersection of theological and non-theological disciplines. Early studies on volition in cognitive neuroscience, inspired by Libet’s experiment (1983), suggested that free will is an illusion because our conscious intentions do not cause corresponding actions: these are initiated beforehand by unconscious brain processes. Although this seems to contradict basic anthropological and ethical assumptions, a closer look at this thesis renders it immature. At the same time, new developments in the multidisciplinary science of human volition draw attention to several aspects of freedom and agency that may be central to the way people take action and control their lives. The implications of this research may provoke some reformulations on the side of theological ethics. They may also point to certain schools and traditions, such as Christian virtue ethics, as theologically preferable.

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the contribution of fundamental theology to meta- theological research. The main considerations are introduced by a brief presentation of the main stages of development of the theory of theology. This renders it possible to indicate at which moment fundamental theology enters the meta-theological research and to present the research in this area. The participation of fundamental theology in these investigations is presented in two parts: (1) fundamental theological research in the area of the general theory of theology and (2) in the area of the theory of fundamental theology. In both areas, fundamental theology has a good number of publications and significant substantive achievements. This is undoubtedly due to the inclusion of meta-theology by many fundamental theologians as being important subjects of their research. Important, too, is the acknowledgement that fundamental theology, more than other theological disciplines, is predestined to carry out this type of investigation.

This paper is an attempt to present the context and the essence of the dispute surrounding the understanding of theology as a science ( scientia) in the Aristotelian sense which took place at European universities in the13th-century. The aim of the text is also to indicate selected threads of the dispute, which also seem to be present in today’s metatheological and cultural discussions. Finally, the paper presents a brief presentation of the main strands of the solution to the dispute about the scientific character of theology as proposed by St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas’s metatheological proposal is presented owing to its completeness and coherence in addition to its inspiring and enduring character which perdures to the present day.

Prophetic vocation belongs to the essence of the bond between man and God. In the creation story, God speaks words and everything comes into being, He inscribes his law into the world, and tells the first people how they should behave. That act of speaking to man is continued first by prophets in the Old Testament and then by Jesus Christ who commissions his disciples to go and proclaim the Gospel (cf. Matt 28:19-20). The Church has been fulfilling this commission to the present day to the present day The aim of this article is to indicate that it is the constitutive element of her nature to preach in the name of God. Evangelization, as John Paul II expressed it in the encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis (No. 41), is the nature of the prophetic mission of the social teaching of the Church. She cannot stop preaching the Gospel, since this would constitute a deprivation of a part of her nature. Thus, it is important to properly understand the place of the Church in society and among its structures and institutions. False concepts of the presence of the Church in public space result in the criticism of both the positions taken by her [the Church] and her assessment of social phenomena. This, therefore, requires taking up discussion and explanation of the issues of her prophetic mission, most especially her social teaching.

This article examines the anthropological cognitive aspects of the contemporary theological thought of Hans Urs von Balthasar, with particular emphasis on the analysis of the relationship between agathology and theodrama. Starting from the Swiss theologian’s theatrical and literary inspirations, the key link between agathology and agogics is established which, in turn, explains why the Basel theologian chose the good as the starting point for his theodramatic reflections. Conversely, it is shown that theodrama cannot be exhausted in theoagatology. In order to understand the depth of theodrama, an extended analysis of the dialogical aspect and the issue of the drama of choice is necessary. However, the essence of theodrama is discovered only when the central role of the paradox related to the problem of mysterium iniquitatis is considered. The theodramatic approach to this mystery and the proposal of the Swiss theologian regarding the positive view of this problem in the light of the indefinite finality paradox immersed in the mystery of the cross are subjected to thorough analysis here.

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the work of Theodoret of Cyrus, the theologian and representative of the fifth-century Antiochian exegetical school, entitled Cure of the Greek Maladies, with reference to the passages presenting the question of pagan worship and, more specifically, his [Theodoret’s] position towards it. The Antiochenian understands perfectly well that literature, culture and philosophy are the meeting point between Christianity and Hellenism. He does not explicitly reject the entire output of Greek culture, because he believes that an attempt to reconcile Christianity with Hellenism is possible, but without the participation of pagan worship. Christianity’s superiority to Hellenism must undoubtedly be granted. The author of the apologia offers the pagans a remedy to cure themselves of the disease of conceit. Theodoret of Cyrus condemned, among other things, secret practices and bowing to statues (III, 84; III 85), rejected bloody and impious sacrifices (VII, 3; VII, 10; VII 22; VII, 24), warned not to confuse the cult of martyrs with supplication offerings to the dead for the well-being of the living (VIII, 33; VIII 34), and was critical of the Greek oracles (X, 2-3; X, 9). In order to show more fully the issue referred to in the theme, the historical and social context of the apologia are analysed and the circumstances of the formation of the author’s own reason and spirituality are also discussed.

This paper has an ambitious aim: to predict the future of the Church. How can anyone undertake such an enterprise since the one thing we know for certain about history is omnia aliter, that is, everything will be different than we once imagined. However, such a project is not as unfeasible as it seems. In the footsteps of literary critics, economists, historians, political scientists, philosophers, and theologians, we sketch some of the most likely shifts in the light of already-observable trends using the finest hermeneutics available. First, we interpret the most significant global trend today: secularization (sections 1). Second, we present and evaluate current models for the future of the Church, paying particular attention to the Magisterium of Pope Francis (sections 2). Finally, we predict likely developments in the area of spirituality (sections 3). In setting out to write academically about futuristic topics, we are aware that one looks to the future not so much to predict it accurately, as to shape it.

In the third decade of the twenty-first century, the “cathedral” of Catholic theology has suffered some structural assaults and the way forward is a contemporary “hot topic”. This paper argues against the idea, common among Catholics of the millennial generation, that we simply need to “reboot” the system to 1959 and restore the framework of “Strict Observance Neo-Scholasticism”. Instead, it suggests that attention needs to be given to the structure itself, to issues in fundamental theology, and the relationships or “joints” in the framework of Catholic theology, along the lines recommended by Joseph Ratzinger and others in his theological circle.

The idea of revelation is closely related in theology to the concept of mediation. This article analyzes the meaning of the concept of revelation and its relation to the category of mediation in the theological thought of Paul Tillich, one of the great Protestant theologians and philosophers of the twentieth century. Tillich’s doctrine of God assumes inconceivable closeness and, at the same time, transcendence of the Ultimate Reality. However, it also assumes that God reveals Himself to man through the elements of temporal reality. The first part of the article therefore deals with Tillich’s understanding of revelation. In the next part, the question of the final form of God’s revelation, which, according to Tillich, is Jesus Christ is analyzed. Finally, in the concluding third part, the concept of revelation will be presented in the key of mediation. Through revelation, the incomprehensible God mediates in the world so that man can recognize His [God’s] closeness and presence. The revelatory mediation in this optics does not mean that the immediate closeness of God is denied but both leads to, and discloses, it.

This paper presents the image of St. Joseph in one of the sermons preached by Joseph Ratzinger on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of religious vows by two sisters from the Congregation of Our Lady of Sorrows. The special character of this approach lies in the fact that the main source of inspiration for the Bavarian Theologian is a relief from the Baroque altar located in a specific and largely unknown church in Portugal. The preacher – thanks to the reading of certain elements contained in the sculpture of St. Joseph – was able to emphasize aspects that had so far remained invisible: a readiness to do God’s will, going on a pilgrimage in faith or resignation from one’s own plans made to the point of heroism. Ratzinger’s interpretation, reinforced with references to Sacred Scripture, confirms the value of the presence of a work of art among theological topics.