The Church in Pluralist Society

Social and Political Roles

Cornelius J. Casey, Fáinche Ryan, Cornelius J. Casey, Fáinche Ryan

• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780268106430
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion, Politics & State

Vatican II opened new pathways to engagement with societies shaped by modernity. Its project could be read as an attempt to interpret the stance of the church in relation to the whole project of modernity. The fundamental presumption of this collection of essays is that it is timely, indeed imperative, to keep alive the question of the church's self-understanding in its journey alongside "the complex, often rebellious, always restless mind of the modern world." Cornelius J. Casey and Fáinche Ryan have assembled some of the most prominent commentators on ecclesiastical and social-political engagements from the fields of theology, political philosophy, social theory, and cultural criticism. The contributors present differing perspectives on the role of the church. Some argue that pluralism is here to stay. Others point out that the liberal pluralism of contemporary society is aggressively powered by global corporate consumerism. This book, with its variety of voices, explores these issues largely from within the Catholic tradition. The role of the church in a pluralist society is a narrative that is being written by many people at many different levels of the church.

Contributors: J. Bryan Hehir, Terry Eagleton, Patrick J. Deneen, Hans Joas, William T. Cavanaugh, Massimo Faggioli, Fáinche Ryan, Patrick Riordan, and Cornelius J. Casey

INDEX

abortion, 15, 30

academia, 16, 35–37

Acton, Sir John, 103–4, 106, 120n32

adoption, 15

advertising, 66, 67–68, 69–70

Affordable Care Act, 15

After Virtue (MacIntyre), 145–46

Age of Authenticity, 65–66, 74–75

Alone Together (Turkle), 36

Anastasius (emperor), 4

angelism, 60, 76

anti-religious secularism, 135–36, 138

Aquinas, Thomas, 118–19

Arendt, Hannah, 79n33

Arian controversy, 106, 119n17

Augustine, Saint, 10, 41, 103, 123, 127–31, 134

authority (church)

abuse of, 116

democratic approach, 117–18

Newman’s article on, 102–7

unresolved tensions regarding, 101–2, 113–19

Vatican II addressing, 101, 109–13, 121n42, 147–48

See also learning church (ecclesia discens); sensus fidei (sensus fidelium); teaching church (ecclesia docens)

authority (state), 4, 131–34

Baudrillard, Jean, 66, 67, 68

Bauman, Zygmunt, 73

Beiner, Ronald, 123, 124, 126–27, 134

Beinert, Wolfgang, 115, 116

beliefs

and certainty, 24–25

cultural beliefs, 22–23

and individualism, 37–38

in liberal capitalist societies, 25–27, 37–38

optionality of, 58–59

and pluralism, 22–27

underlying conditions of, 58

See also faith

Bellah, Robert, 53

Benedict XVI (pope), 18n17, 45, 76, 91, 143

Bentham, Jeremy, 20

Bernays, Edward, 67

Bernbach, Bill, 67

bioethics, 13, 16

birth control, 15, 30

bishop appointment reform, 84, 87–88

Brave New World (Huxley), 79n33

Bruni, Luigino, 72, 73, 79n50

Burgess, Ernest, 50

Burkhard, John J., 114–15

Cano, Melchior, 108

Capes, J. M., 103

capitalism

belief in, 25–27

choice and nonconformity in, 68–69, 71–74

coercion in, 73

continuity between market and, 79n50

depersonalization of, 73

hierarchies in, 73

mass consumption in, 66

monopolies in, 33

options multiplied in, 21, 73–74

responses to, 75

superficial diversity in, 32–35

See also consumerism; economy; market economy

Casanova, José, 46

Cathedral of Notre Dame (Luxembourg), 143–44

Catholic Charities, 15

Catholic Church

as alternative to liberal order, 40–43, 146

apostolic character of, 48

cultural inheritance of, 42–43

distinctiveness of, 40–43

early characterizations of, 47–48

on human restlessness, 41–42

identity of, vii–viii, 4, 14, 16–17

institutional reform, 46–47, 90–91, 116, 118

in Ireland, 57–61, 74

mission of, vii–viii, 48

as People of God, 109–13

post-Vatican II, 46–47, 81, 90–91

relationality of, 40–41

relationship between power and, 85

responding to consumerism, 76–77

sanctity of, 48

sociological perspectives on, 45–54

in South Korea, 60

vision of unity, 47–48

working with pluralism, 30–31, 147

See also church-state relations; church-world relations

Catholicism

and constantinianism, 82

consumerism’s impact on, 57–59

meanings of “the world” in, 2–4

sacramental heart of, 76–77

Catholic Theological Association (U.K.), 113, 120n32

Catholic Theological Society of America, 113

Cavanaugh, William, 125–26

Chenu, Marie-Dominique, 82, 85

Christ, Society and the State (Trainor), 127

Christianity

consumerism’s impact on, 57–59, 62

distinctiveness of, 40–42

fusion with cultural traditions, 52

globalization of, 51–52

institutional differences within, 50

typology of, 52–54

uncompromising gospel of, viii, 19, 27–28

Christus Dominus (Vatican II), 87–89

church-state relations

Augustinian view of, 127–31

challenges to, 14–16

development of, 4–5

in Dignitatis Humanae,...