Catholic Theological
Society of America

Hello Members and Friends,
My name is Rufus Burnett, Jr. and I currently serve as a member of the WFTL/CTSA liaison. I am here to update you on some of the developments with the World Forum on Theology and Liberation.

During our time together in Minowaking (Milwaukee) the WFTL International Committee met and decided to join the WSF (World Social Forum) in Kathmandu, Nepal. Soon after that meeting, the Secretariat was notified that the WSF organizers decided to move the forum up by one month. The new dates are the 15th through the 19th of February 2024. This latest date is the second of two changes from summer 2025 to March 2024 and now to February 2024. As detailed in the liaison’s annual report (available here), the WFTL is no longer relying on the WSF to dictate its primary work and is building bridges with and beyond the WSF. The CTSA liaison is one of those bridges.

Over the course of the remainder of this year and next year, I will be posting regularly to inform the CTSA membership of this new chapter in the history of the WFTL as well as details about our participation with in the WSF 2024. One highlight is the WFTL’s new partnership with Palestinian liberation theologians.

On October 28, 2023 the WFTL will host a webinar entitled: “The Current Situation and Challenges for the Palestinian people and Palestinian Liberation Theology.”

The webinar seeks to take up the following question and will feature the panelists below:
What are the more urgent concerns for the Palestinian people in the current time? How do these concerns challenge and enrich theological reflection on liberation?

Panelists:
• Mitri Raheb is a prominent figure in Palestinian theology. He founded and is the first president of Dar-al-Kalima University, in Bethlehem. Rev. Raheb served as the pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem from 1987 until 2017. He was elected as the President of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land from 2011-2016. Among his publications: Bethlehem Besieged: Stories of Hope in Times of Trouble (2004). Augsburg Fortress Publishers. Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes. (2014). The Politics of Persecution: Middle Eastern Christianity in the Age of Empire. (2021).
• Varsen Aghabekian, an expert in right-based community practice (RBCP), has been engaged in several NGOs engaged in policy development, on matters of Al-Quds/Jerusalem, education, youth, women and management. She holds a Ph.D. in Administrative & Policy Studies-Education from the University of Pittsburgh/USA (1988) and a M.Sc. in Nursing Management from Indiana University/Purdue University (1983). Among numerous positions, she served as Manager of Capacity and Institution Building at the office of the President (2006-2009) and as the Executive Director of Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture in 2009. She also was elected the Commissioner General for the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights in January 2016. Among her publications : Palestinian Christians: Emigration, Displacement and Diaspora (2017). Middle Eastern Women: The Intersection of Law, Culture and Religion (2020). The Saga of Survival: Armenian Palestinians, the British Mandate and the Nakba (2023).

Stay tuned for more information on the webinar and a coming opportunity for CTSA members to meet the WFTL Secretariat, the primary coordinating group of the WFTL.

Best,

Rufus Burnett
WFTL Liaison

ReplyForward

On August 17, a judicial ruling by a court controlled by Nicaragua’s executive branch paved the way for the government’s definitive closure of the Universidad Centroamericana, administered by the Jesuits. In the preceding days, the government had frozen the university's bank accounts and assets, and suspended operation of its legal aid clinic and mediation center. Please see:, sign and share:

https://forms.gle/StjKw3JYJuVWBW31A

The CTSA Book Club invites you to join them when they next meet  on Wednesday, September 20th, at 7:00 p.m. (EST) / 4:00 p.m. (PST) to discuss John T. McGreevy's book Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis. For the meeting, please read Part 1 "Revolution and Revival, 1789-18870", which includes chapters 1 - 4; there are a total of 105 pages to read.  As you read, consider what you would like the group to discuss and prepare an engaging question to ask the group when we meet. 

If you are able to join us, email Mary Jane Ponyik so she may be sure to provide you with the Zoom link when it is sent out to the group.

Happy reading and mark your calendars!

The Georgetown University Women's Center is happy to share a recording of "Faith, Feminism, and Being Unfinished: The Question of Women's Ordination." This video features a panel of feminist theologians, ministers, thought leaders, and students discussing women's ministry in the Roman Catholic Church. CTSA members Teresa Delgado, Mary E. Hunt, and Annie Selak participated. The video and accompanying news articles can be found on the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs's website. We encourage CTSA members to use this as a teaching tool in the classroom and parish.

In a sequel to the first "Faith, Feminism, and Being Unfinished" event in 2018, the Georgetown University community gathered on DC Emancipation Day to explore the writings of moral theologian and CTSA member Anne E. Patrick, SNJM (1941-2016). A panel of theologians and thought-leaders discussed her 1975 essay “A Conservative Case for the Ordination of Women.” The conversation was in part a response to the October 2022 release of the Vatican synod document “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent,” which reflects a global call for inclusivity, including expanded roles for women in the church.

Terry Tilley has recently published The Karamazov Case: Dostoevsky's Argument for His Vision, Explorations at the Crossroads of Theology & Aesthetics, Volume I (London and New York: T. + T. Clark, 2023). Caryl Emerson, emerita from Princeton (translator of Mikhail Bakhtin, Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics) endorsed the book, writing, “It takes courage, delicacy, and extremely careful habits of reading to determine what Dostoevsky desired his readers to believe. Terrence Tilley brings those qualities to this sophisticated discussion of The Brothers Karamazov as a polyphonic faith text, neither dogmatic nor naïve but reasonable, communal and (as its author envisioned) transfigurative. For a limited "free" preview including the introduction that sketches the argument,  see

https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=SYWwEAAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PP1&source=ebookstore

Beyond Bakhtin, Terry utilizes Stanley Fish and John Searle as hermeneutical guides for breaking a long-standing stalemate about the argument (or lack thereof) in the book, an impasse rooted in a modernist, essentialist opposition of faith and reason; in contrast, he has identified a previously unseen argument with Kant and identify at least six different mentalités or forms of life described in the text.

CALL FOR PAPERS

for a topical issue of Open Theology

DOUBTING PAUL: THE LEGACY OF THE DUTCH RADICAL SCHOOL 

"Open Theology” (https://www.degruyter.com/opth) invites submissions for the topical issue "Doubting Paul: The Legacy of the Dutch Radical School" edited by Wolfgang Grünstäudl and Jacco Pekelder (University of Münster, Germany).

DESCRIPTION  

This topical issue seeks to open a new perspective on one of the most controversial themes of New Testament Studies in Modern Europe: The rise and decline of the so-called “Dutch Radical School” (ca. 1850–1950). Unlike the mainstream of New Testament studies from the middle of the 19th century onwards, which recognized at least four (more often: seven) Epistles of the Apostle Paul as authentic, a small group of Dutch scholars (stemming from different cities, religious backgrounds and academic disciplines) claimed that there is no such thing as an authentic writing of Paul.

We are especially interested in the biographical, historical, political, social and religious background of these “radical” scholars, in their connections and conflicts with each other and in their national and international linkages and reception. In our view, this group consists of members with highly different profiles and we even wonder if it is justified and helpful to call it a “school”. Moreover, we are eager to learn which aspects of these scholars’ work might be of ongoing relevance for present historical and/or theological discussions. 

We invite researchers to submit papers that contribute to the reflection about the history and legacy of the Dutch Radical School, especially in regard of its contribution to the intellectual history of the Netherlands as well as its place in the history of scholarship on Paul and his letters. Please note that the thematical issue is mainly interested in the treatment of Paul and his letters by the Dutch Radical School and not so much in questions surrounding the historicity of Jesus, although it will not be possible to clearly separate these two issues from one another in each and every case. Especially welcomed are papers that

 

• study the biographical, historical, political, social and religious background of scholars associated with the Dutch Radical School (e.g., A. Pierson, A. D. Loman, W. C. van Manen, G. A. van den Bergh van Eysinga),
• analyze connections and conflicts between those scholars (Is it helpful to speak of a “school”?),
• utilize fresh approaches not yet used to analyze this topic (e.g., network analysis, cultural anthropology, sociology of knowledge, history from below),
• identify and describe international relationships of Dutch Radicals inside and outside of Europe,
• demonstrate the place of the Dutch Radical School within the broader context of the intellectual and religious history of the Netherlands, and
• evaluate critically the historical, literary and exegetical arguments put forward by the Dutch Radical School in light of most recent research on Paul and Early Christianity.

 

Because "Open Theology" is published under an Open Access model, as a rule, publication costs should be covered by Article Publishing Charges (APC), paid by authors, their affiliated institutions, funders or sponsors. Authors without access to publishing funds are encouraged to discuss potential discounts or waivers with Managing Editor of the journal Katarzyna Tempczyk (katarzyna.tempczyk@degruyter.com) before submitting their manuscripts. 

HOW TO SUBMIT  

 Submissions will be collected until January 31, 2024, via the on-line submission system at

http://www.editorialmanager.com/openth/  

Choose as article type: Doubting Paul

 

Before submission the authors should carefully read the Instruction for Authors, available at:

https://www.degruyter.com/publication/journal_key/OPTH/downloadAsset/OPTH_Instruction%20for%20Authors.pdf  

All contributions will undergo critical peer-review before being accepted for publication.  

  

Further questions about content for this thematic issue can be addressed to Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Grünstäudl (gruenstaeudl@uni-muenster.de) and Prof. Dr. Jacco Pekelder (jacco.pekelder@uni-muenster.de). Financial questions should be directed to journal Managing Editor Katarzyna Tempczyk at katarzyna.tempczyk@degruyter.com. In case of technical problems with submission please write to AssistantManagingEditor@degruyter.com.  

Mother Teresa Institute Academic Colloquim
September 7-9 at The Catholic University of America

The Mother Teresa Institute is an outgrowth of the work and activities of the Mother Teresa Center, a non-profit organization established and directed by the religious family founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Missionaries of Charity. The mission of the MTI is to preserve, protect, promote, and develop the authentic legacy of Saint Teresa of Calcutta to the Church and to the world by providing resources to students, scholars and researchers who are interested in Mother Teresa, her life, charism and message.

As we advance the establishment of the MTI, we are seeking to engage with scholars who can help direct the future of Mother Teresa studies, particularly graduate students. We are delighted to invite applications from qualified candidates to share their perspective and insights studies at the MTI Colloquium on September 8, 2023, held at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

A maximum travel reimbursement of $200 will be offered to accepted students traveling a minimum of 50 miles from their institution.

To be considered, please submit your (1) completed application, (2) current curriculum vitae, and (3) one academic letter of reference to director@mtinstitute.org.

The deadline for submission is August 1, 2023.

Application

Heidi Schlumpf, Anxiety at annual Catholic theology meetings amid higher education closure, National Catholic Reporter, June 21, 2023.

Aquinas After 750 Years: Still the Common Doctor?
September 14 - 16, 2023
Dominican House of Studies / Washington, D.C.

Registration: $65 (limited housing is available at an additional cost)

This conference is hosted by the Thomistic Institute, an academic research institute of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies. Planned in commemoration of the 750th anniversary of Aquinas’s death, this three-day international conference will consider whether – and to what extent – Thomas Aquinas might still be considered the Common Doctor in contemporary theological and philosophical engagements.

The conference will feature 6 plenary speakers (see below) and a series of scholarly panels.

For more information and to register for the conference, please visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events/common-doctor.

Questions? Email thomisticinstitute@dhs.edu or call (202) 495-3871.

Plenary Speakers:

Prof. Therese Cory (University of Notre Dame)

Fr. Serge-Thomas Bonino, O.P. (Angelicum)

Prof. Joseph Wawrykow (University of Notre Dame)

Prof. Matthew Levering (University of St. Mary of the Lake)

Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P. (Angelicum)

Prof. Russell Hittinger (Catholic University of America)

James T. Keane, America Magazine, published "Jesuit Roger Haight's lifetime of theological achievement" yesterday, June 13, 2023.  The link to the article is provided below. 

https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2023/06/13/cbc-column-roger-haight-245477