Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching has increasingly come to bear on the moral and political horizons of our interdependent lives, seeking to address the nature and purpose of our common striving for human flourishing. Frequently, Rerum Novarum is identified as an origin point for CST as a distinctive thread within the deeper tradition of Catholic theology attentive to justice and the common good. The focus on justice in labour practices, especially living wages and social participation, demonstrates its contemporary relevance, (...) but can it contribute to the public debate on such issues, beyond the framework of its particular convictions? This article suggests that Rerum Novarum offers theological reasoning in and for the public sphere by way of its insistence on the social bond as foundation and task; the role of political and cultural plurality in formation and action; and a rich vision of public life as morally participatory for all. (shrink)

Rerum Novarum is a unique case of an encyclical, for we know in great detail how it was drafted and written. If we connect this knowledge to the fact that Matteo Liberatore - the main thinker who collaborated to its writing - wrote a treatise on the Principles of Political Economy, we can analyse how economic thought and moral theology are intertwined in the work of Liberatore. Similarly, the study of the economic thought of Liberatore can help us (...) understand two important questions of Rerum Novarum, namely, private property and the question of a just wage. (shrink)

Rerum Novarum, the papal encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, has had a major impact on Catholic thinking. Issued in 1891 it immediately received much public attention. This was especially the case in the United States where it was seen as the response re-affirming the sanctity of private property long sought by the American bishops in the public debates with Henry George and his supporters. George was a central public figure in the United States, England and Ireland, whose speeches (...) and writings supported free market ideas, especially free trade. But, George's main idea was that the sole tax should be a singletax on land values.His justification seemed to place the sanctity of private property in doubt. Since some Catholics were strong supporters of George, the Catholic bishops were anxious that the Pope clearly state the morality of private property. Rather than condemn the writings of George directly, Leo XIII prefered to reaffirm the sanctity of private property in a positive form. The American origins of Rerum Novarum had not been appropriately recognized.Rerum Novarum, l’encyclique papale de Léon XIII, a eu un impact majeur sur la pensée catholique. Publiée en 1891 elle reçut immédiatement une très grande attention. Ce fut spécialement le cas aux Etats-Unis où elle fut prise comme une réponse réaffirmant le caractère sacré de la propriété privée longtemps recherchée par les évêques Américains dans leurs débats publics avec Henry George et ses partisans. George était un personnage public central aux Etats-Unis, en Angleterre et en Irlande, dont les discours et les écrits étaient en faveur des idées du libre marché et notamment celles qui concernent l’échange libre. Mais, l’idée majeure de George était que le seul impôt qui devait exister était celui sur la valeur des terrains.Sa justification semblait émettre des doutes à l’égard du caractère sacré de la propriété privée. Alors que quelques Catholiques étaient de forts partisans de George, les évêques catholiques tenaient beaucoup à ce que le Pape se positionne clairement sur la moralité de la propriété privée. Plutôt que de condamner directement les écrits de George, Léon XIII préféra réaffirmer le caractère sacré de la propriété privée de manière positive. Les origines américaines de Rerum Novarum n’ont pas été reconnues à leur juste valeur. (shrink)

New Blackfriars, Volume 102, Issue 1101, Page 677-693, September 2021.

Im Jahre 1994 organisierte der Lehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsgeschichte und Geschichte der Wirtschaftslehre an der Universität Łódz eine wissenschaftliche Konferenz, die der 100-jährigen Entwicklung der Soziallehre der Kirche gewidmet war. Als aktiver Teilnehmer dieser zweitägigen Konferenz hörte ich mit grossem Interesse 11 Referate und die ihnen folgenden Diskussionen an. Einen größeren Teil der Referenten stellte die Universität Łódz - die anderen kamen aus verschiedenen akademischen Zentren Polens. Fünf von ihnen waren akademische Lehrer an kirchlichen Hochschulen.

Im Jahre 1994 organisierte der Lehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsgeschichte und Geschichte der Wirtschaftslehre an der Universität Łódz eine wissenschaftliche Konferenz, die der 100-jährigen Entwicklung der Soziallehre der Kirche gewidmet war. Als aktiver Teilnehmer dieser zweitägigen Konferenz hörte ich mit grossem Interesse 11 Referate und die ihnen folgenden Diskussionen an. Einen größeren Teil der Referenten stellte die Universität Łódz - die anderen kamen aus verschiedenen akademischen Zentren Polens. Fünf von ihnen waren akademische Lehrer an kirchlichen Hochschulen.

John Paul IIs prescriptions for humanizing the world economy are not likely to have the impact of Leo XIIIs Rerum Novarum because the reception accorded reform proposals depends on opportunity and circumstances as well as the ethical soundness and the logic of the principles advanced. Because of historical circumstances, Thomas Mores critique of the emerging agricultural capitalism of his time was ignored while Catholic Social Teaching inspired by Kettelers work, endorsed and publicized by Leo, strongly impacted the industrializing (...) world of a century ago. Whereas More defended a church seen as an impediment to economic progress by leading-edge Protestant entrepreneurs, Catholic Social Teaching was propagated at a time when Catholicism was enmeshed in the spread of industrialization. In our current world economy, increasingly dominated by non-Catholic regions of the East and a resurgent liberalism in the West, John Pauls recommendations currently seem more likely to meet the fate of Mores critique than of Leos. Implications for stakeholder theory are also discussed. (shrink)

This essay reviews the documents of the pontifical magisterium of the Church from the encyclical Mater et magistra (1961) to the exhortation Evangelii gaudium (2013), in order to show the Church’s historical commitment to the defense of the environment. It then argues that Laudato si’ elevates the theological status of the environmental crisis to that of a new social issue, much as Leo XIII did for the industrial crisis with his encyclical letter Rerum novarum (1891).

Rerum Novarum, the papal encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, has had a major impact on Catholic thinking. Issued in 1891 it immediately received much public attention. This was especially the case in the United States where it was seen as the response re-affirming the sanctity of private property long sought by the American bishops in the public debates with Henry George and his supporters. George was a central public figure in the United States, England and Ireland, whose speeches (...) and writings supported free market ideas, especially free trade. But, George's main idea was that the sole tax should be a singletax on land values.His justification seemed to place the sanctity of private property in doubt. Since some Catholics were strong supporters of George, the Catholic bishops were anxious that the Pope clearly state the morality of private property. Rather than condemn the writings of George directly, Leo XIII prefered to reaffirm the sanctity of private property in a positive form. The American origins of Rerum Novarum had not been appropriately recognized.Rerum Novarum, l’encyclique papale de Léon XIII, a eu un impact majeur sur la pensée catholique. Publiée en 1891 elle reçut immédiatement une très grande attention. Ce fut spécialement le cas aux Etats-Unis où elle fut prise comme une réponse réaffirmant le caractère sacré de la propriété privée longtemps recherchée par les évêques Américains dans leurs débats publics avec Henry George et ses partisans. George était un personnage public central aux Etats-Unis, en Angleterre et en Irlande, dont les discours et les écrits étaient en faveur des idées du libre marché et notamment celles qui concernent l’échange libre. Mais, l’idée majeure de George était que le seul impôt qui devait exister était celui sur la valeur des terrains.Sa justification semblait émettre des doutes à l’égard du caractère sacré de la propriété privée. Alors que quelques Catholiques étaient de forts partisans de George, les évêques catholiques tenaient beaucoup à ce que le Pape se positionne clairement sur la moralité de la propriété privée. Plutôt que de condamner directement les écrits de George, Léon XIII préféra réaffirmer le caractère sacré de la propriété privée de manière positive. Les origines américaines de Rerum Novarum n’ont pas été reconnues à leur juste valeur. (shrink)

Ogłoszenie encykliki Rerum novarum przez Leona XIII w dniu 15 maja 1891 roku dało początek temu, co dzisiaj nazywamy nauką społeczną Kościoła, ścisłej - Kościoła katolickiego, ponieważ Kościoły prawosławne nie podjęły tego tematu, zaś Kościoły protestanckie zajęły się problematyką społeczną dopiero w ostatnich dziesięcioleciach XX wieku. Istnieje ogólna zgoda specjalistów co do łączenia narodzin nauki społecznej Kościoła z ogłoszeniem tej encykliki. Przedtem nie istniał oficjalny nurt nauczania społecznego, w kształcie zamierzonego ciągu formalnych wypowiedzi Urzędu Nauczycielskiego Kościoła. Kościół pod (...) koniec XIX stulecia stal się świadkiem radykalnych przemian politycznych, gospodarczych i społecznych oraz znalazł się w sferze różnorakich wpływów dominujących ideologii. Życie gospodarcze weszło w okres tzw. „drugiej rewolucji przemysłowej", przypadającej na lata 1870-1914. Rerum novarum uważa się powszechnie za początek nauczania społecznego Kościoła w jego nowoczesnym ujęciu. Wcześniej jedynie ostrzegano wiernych przed błędami. (shrink)

Ogłoszenie encykliki Rerum novarum przez Leona XIII w dniu 15 maja 1891 roku dało początek temu, co dzisiaj nazywamy nauką społeczną Kościoła, ścisłej - Kościoła katolickiego, ponieważ Kościoły prawosławne nie podjęły tego tematu, zaś Kościoły protestanckie zajęły się problematyką społeczną dopiero w ostatnich dziesięcioleciach XX wieku. Istnieje ogólna zgoda specjalistów co do łączenia narodzin nauki społecznej Kościoła z ogłoszeniem tej encykliki. Przedtem nie istniał oficjalny nurt nauczania społecznego, w kształcie zamierzonego ciągu formalnych wypowiedzi Urzędu Nauczycielskiego Kościoła. Kościół pod (...) koniec XIX stulecia stal się świadkiem radykalnych przemian politycznych, gospodarczych i społecznych oraz znalazł się w sferze różnorakich wpływów dominujących ideologii. Życie gospodarcze weszło w okres tzw. „drugiej rewolucji przemysłowej", przypadającej na lata 1870-1914. Rerum novarum uważa się powszechnie za początek nauczania społecznego Kościoła w jego nowoczesnym ujęciu. Wcześniej jedynie ostrzegano wiernych przed błędami. (shrink)

While the idea of worker-owned cooperatives is centuries-old, the network of over 300 such enterprises in the Basque region of Spain and founded upon Catholic social justice teachings, is the most successful and impressive in history. The central claim of this paper is that the worker-owned, Mondragon cooperatives demonstrate not only how economic institutions can be structured so as to promote the common good but also how participation in them can engender a concern for the common good among individual participants (...) in those institutions, which spills over into their broader participation as citizens in the larger community. The paper advances this thesis by, first, providing a brief history of the Mondragon cooperatives, from their founding in the 1950s by Father Jose Arizmendiarrieta, the parish priest in the village of Mondragon, trained in economics. Second, it outlines the central principles of Catholic social justice teachings regarding economy that form the foundation for the Mondragon cooperatives and how those teachings have been institutionalized in the cooperatives’ democratic managerial practices and their creative financial structures. While Father Arizmendiarrieta drew mainly from Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, this paper shows how Mondragon’s policies and practices are also in keeping with later Church teachings, as put forward especially by Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis I. Third, the paper contrasts the understanding of the common good in Catholic social teachings and the Mondragon cooperatives, on the one hand, to the notion of the common good found in mainstream classical and neoclassical economics. The latter sees society as merely the sum of its individual members and hence the common good as but the sum of individual goods, or aggregate utility. The former, by contrast, sees society as a living organism, the whole of which is greater than the sum of its parts, and hence it understands the common good as greater than the sum of individual goods, but also including the organic relationships among individuals. Fourth, the paper describes how participation in the cooperatives engenders, cultivates, and deepens worker-members’ sense and understanding of the common good and their commitment to it. (shrink)

Kann und soll die katholische Kirche auf die Christliche Sozialethik verzichten, auf eine Disziplin, die sich an den theologischen Ausbildungsorten des deutschsprachigen Raums fast überall etabliert hat und gleichsam als Bindeglied zwischen Kirche und Welt dient? Kann ihr Feld von den Moraltheologen "mitbetreut" werden? Eine Frage, die der Autor letztlich verneint, wenn es auch Bereiche gibt, in denen sich der individualethische Ansatz der Moraltheologie vom sozialethischen nicht völlig trennen lässt. Ein historischer Überblick zeigt, dass die Geschichte der Christlichen Sozialethik nicht (...) erst mit dem Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts und dem Erscheinen der 1. Sozialenzyklika "Rerum novarum" 1891 beginnt, sondern in die Anfänge der Kirche zurückgeht, und zwar dort, wo es um die soziale Frage (Armut, Reichtum und Sklaverei), um die Wirtschaftsfrage (Eigentum, Zins und Wucher) sowie um die politische Frage (Krieg und Frieden, Verhältnis Kirche und Staat) gegangen ist. Das heutige Selbstverständnis der Christlichen Sozialethik steht sodann im Mittelpunkt. Anhand der ("neuen") Politischen Theologie und der Wirtschaftsethik werden zwei Themenkreise aufgegriffen, an denen sich zeigt, wie hochaktuell und bedeutsam dieses theologische Fach als "Disziplin in der Welt" ist. (shrink)

In this article, Andrew Collier critiques the method, but not the aim, of Rerum Novarum, the Catholic argument against socialism, as interpreted by G.K. Chesterton. He holds that Rerum Novarum may...

ANDES, Stephen J.C.; YOUNG, Julia. Local Church, Global Church: Catholic Activism in Latin America from Rerum Novarum to Vatican II. Washington, DC, The Catholic University of America Press, 201 O livro em questão insere-se em uma perspectiva analítica, tentando mostrar o jogo de adaptação e de continuidade ao trabalho no continente americano. Apesar do reconhecimento das mudanças notáveis introduzidas pelo Vaticano II, a tese é que, ao contrário do que é sugerido por uma certa literatura de historiografia e (...) teologia latino-americana, o ativismo católico dos anos 60 e 80 teve suas origens no período anterior, tendo, em parte, como ponto de partida a encíclica Rerum Novarum. (shrink)

Among the rights of workers articulated in Catholic social thought is the right to associate or the right to form associations of working persons. This right has been discussed in Church documents since the time of the publication of Rerum Novarum in 1891. It is this right that is addressed in this paper.

The article analyzes Pope Benedict XVI’s social encyclical Caritas in Veritate and its original contribution to Catholic social doctrine. The author begins by examining Benedict’s claim that Populorum Progressio deserves to be considered the Rerum Novarum of the present age, and asserts that the substance of this claim is not Paul VI’s specific evaluation of the social question but rather his elevation of “integral human development” as the overarching principle of Catholic social doctrine. The article goes on to (...) explicate Benedict’s understanding of “charity in truth” as the most suitable virtue for engaging in Catholic social ethics, underscoring five ways in which charity and truth complement one another. The essay concludes with a study of the requirements of integral human development as presented in Caritas in Veritate, with special emphasis given to the three most original components of this development as proposed by Benedict: respect for human life, religious liberty and environmental responsibility. (shrink)

Since Pope Leo XIII wrote Rerum Novarum, the Catholic Church, while opposing socialism, has adopted a skeptical and suspicious posture with regard to the free market. The popes have supported labor unions, the idea of a "just wage," and a variety of other interventions. Yet the economic recommendations of the Church have consistently proven counterproductive, and have apparently been devised without recourse to economic law. Papal economic teaching is filled with unstated assumptions which, if false, throw into question (...) the moral analysis based on them.Depuis que le Pape Léon XIII a écrit Rerum Novarum l’église catholique, bien qu’opposée au socialisme, a adopté une attitude sceptique et suspicieuse à l’égard du libre marché. Les papes successifs ont soutenu les syndicats, l’idée de « juste salaire », et une variété d’autres interventions. Jusqu’à présent les recommandations économiques de l’Eglise ont constamment été contreproductives et ont été promulguées sans égard vis-à-vis des lois économiques. L’enseignement économique des Papes est rempli d’hypothèses non formulées qui, si elles sont fausses, mettent en question l’analyse morale qu’elles sous-tendent. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:How to Inherit a Kingdom:Reflections on the Situation of Catholic Political Thought*Russell Hittinger and Scott RonigerPrudenceIn 1890, in his Sapientiae Christianae, Pope Leo XIII wrote: "The political prudence of the Pontiff embraces diverse and multiform things, for it is his charge not only to rule the Church, but generally so to regulate the actions of Christian citizens that these may be in apt conformity to their hope of gaining (...) eternal salvation" (§37). The title of the encyclical means on principles of Christian practical wisdom, the truths concerning the pursuit in this life of our supernatural end. Leo was also referring to the regnative prudence of the pontifical office, directing citizens qua baptized. Even if the direction is about political morality, the prudential directives presuppose sanctifying grace and a supernatural end. In other words, such prudence is here proffered under the formality of the New Law.1In the concrete, directing those who have sanctifying grace to right [End Page 971] judgment and action regarding what belongs or does not belong to Caesar is not easily given or received. The lines and entanglements are contingent and fluid. At a consistory immediately after World War II, Pope Pius XII remarked that the triumph of democratic forms of government has at least one advantage: "The distinction between the Church and even the democratic State becomes increasingly clear."2 Divine providence includes two comprehensive communities, polity and ecclesia, which differ in their respective origin and end. In the thick of events, they are not always so clear. For the better part of two millennia, ecclesial and civil governments look very much alike from an institutional and sociological point of view. They share families, languages, costumes, arts and sciences, banks, moral principles, the same contemporary media—indeed, even sharing the same laws and international protocols. More than half of the European Union countries are under at least one concordat with the Holy See. Yet when we casually speak of "Church and state," it is easy to imagine two teams in the same order of things. Even so, Pius XII acknowledged that democratic government makes clear(er) that the first subject of the polity is the populus, the people, whereas the first subject of the ecclesia is the Holy Spirit.Beginning with Leo (1878–1903), pontifical prudence had to reckon with the benefits and challenges of representative governments. Whenever public responsibility is vested in the citizens, the baptized citizens bear a greater burden of distinguishing what properly belongs to the Church and to civil government. For in representative governments the citizens are not vassals or retainers of the king and his court. Therefore it falls more directly upon the people to understand the difference between Church and civil government.3Leo understood the world he inhabited. In Rerum Novarum (1891), he mused, "Nothing is more useful than to look upon the world as it really is" (§18). This marks an important change in papal letters after 1789. Christian wisdom has to be communicated not merely to Catholics who are subjects but also to Catholics who are citizens: in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, [End Page 972] and so on. Thus, Leo observed in an allocution two years after Sapientiae Christianae: "Faith embodied in the conscience of peoples rather than restoration of medieval institutions is the way to final victory."4As it turned out, Leo's greatest problem was the French Church and the Third Republic, which became more aggressively laicist with every passing decade, even though it was still under the 1801 concordat signed by Napoleon and Pius VII. For Leo, much was at stake, chiefly the law of divorce, which had been excised from the Napoleonic Code. Born in 1810, Leo had seen the historical events: the captivity of Pope Pius VII and then his release by the French, the demise of Napoleon, the loss of the papal states (the longest continuous temporal government in western Europe, until the summer of 1870), and Otto von Bismarck's Kulturkampf. He possessed those chief parts of prudence: memory, foresight, circumspection, and above all caution!Writing to the French Church in 1892, he observed that:Founded by Him who was, who is, and who... (shrink)

It is important to specify terms – the truth is conformity of a word to a thing or an event, whereas a lie is making the truth unavailable to someone who has the right to it. John Paul II promoted the essential truth that a man is God’s creation; God knows what is good for his creation; human person is God’s image, then should act in such a manner that the image is clear. Faith has moral dimension-it is moral dimension. (...) It is the source of practical involvement which remains in harmony with faith. The principles of one’s conduct are God’s commandments, whereas individualistic ethics, practised in the spirit of illusory freedom, prevents us from discovering the only certain truth-God. Contemporary crisis of society is that faith is rejected and as a result there is breaking off the essential and constitutive bond between the truth and freedom. In economy we can see that the truth in one’s conduct cannot withstand the style of the present geared towards profit. It is proper that the Church supports profit but the profit cannot be the only regulator of a company’s life. There are still human and moral factors. Economic growth should respect human values. Freedom in the economic and social area cannot be torn out from the truth about a human being. The meeting of the Church and the workers’ movement in 1980 showed that it is possible to demand ethics in economy in the name of the truth of a human being-then the civilisation of love is created with its main principles: a person before a thing, more important to be than to have, ethics before technology, mercy before justice, defeat evil with good. Problems existing in this area cannot be disregarded. The matter is important and urging – otherwise, as Pope Leo XIII said in the Encyclical Rerum Novarum, delaying would make evil incurable. (shrink)

When power is exercised in the enterprise some ethical issues might occur with business ownership, personnel policy, working conditions etc. These issues and ways of addressing them were depicted and interpreted from the perspective of the Church’s social teachings included in papal encyclicals, viz.: Rerum novarum, Laborem exercens, Centesimus Annus. In the Church’s social teachings a number of principles were noticed that are favourable for the ethical corporate management including the principle of the primacy of work over capital, (...) right to private ownership, right to establish professional associations, right to fair pay, right to fulfil religious obligations and having rest during holidays, a duty to support the weak and the needy (solidarity principle). The analysis of the social content of papal encyclicals showed two faces of power. On the one hand it is necessary and has positive effects (introduction of corporate governance, taking right decisions, prevention of theft and assets devastation etc.); on the other hand improper power exercise may lead to a number of undesirable effects (corruption, worker discrimination, thriftlessness etc.) The paper identifies also sources, forms and power exercising planes in the enterprise. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Social Justice and Subsidiarity: Luigi Taparelli and the Origins of Modern Catholic Social Thought by Thomas C. BehrPatrick Auer JonesSocial Justice and Subsidiarity: Luigi Taparelli and the Origins of Modern Catholic Social Thought by Thomas C. Behr (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2019), ix + 259 pp.The status of Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum as the origin point of what has come to be called (...) Catholic Social Teaching (CST), or Catholic social doctrine, has been reinforced on the magisterial level by the commemorations of the encyclical by Pius XI, Paul VI, and John Paul II. It should be noted, then, that the tradition of CST is comparatively recent. Indeed, it is nearly coextensive with the twentieth-century. Nevertheless, this short tradition already calls for a ressourcement. As Russell Hittinger has pointed out, reflections on CST often move swiftly to the particulars of social issues without an adequate grasp even of its basic concepts: subsidiarity, solidarity, the common good, and the dignity of the person. Further, historical [End Page 1101] developments have had dramatic impact upon the ways in which these principles have been received and developed in the course of this young tradition.In his book Social Justice and Subsidiarity: Luigi Taparelli and the Origins of Modern Catholic Social Thought, Thomas C. Behr provides a major contribution to just such a ressourcement. He does this by presenting an introduction to the thought of the Jesuit scholar whose revival of Thomistic thought in a modern register formed the basis for Leonine social teaching. As Behr explains, Taparelli has remained a somewhat hidden figure in accounts of the genesis and development of CST. He goes unmentioned in the major social encyclicals of Leo and Pius, despite the fact that Leo himself was Taparelli's student. Because of his rhetorically and philosophically potent critique of Enlightenment thought and its effect on mid-nineteenth-century Europe, available to a popular audience through his frequent contributions to the Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica, Taparelli's name carried baggage for a Church that sought to move beyond the posture of reaction to liberal political orders.However, as Behr shows in the introduction, Taparelli hardly rejected the methods and insights of modern political thought tout court. Behr describes Taparelli's system as a "realist social science." This terminology speaks to the promise which Taparelli found in the sociological analysis of Montesquieu in particular. Though Taparelli judged that Montesquieu held a questionable preference for a republican political form, he greatly admired Montesquieu's ability to, as Behr puts it, "bring political theory into relationship with social theory and historical contingency" (8). Though Taparelli was not familiar with the work of Alexis De Tocqueville, Behr also notes the resonances between Taparelli's work and Tocqueville's political sociology and defense of "intermediary institutions." Yet Taparelli makes up for what the sociological approaches of Montesquieu and Tocqueville lack in the way of natural, teleological principles of politics. Behr alerts the reader from the very beginning of his work that, in approaching Taparelli, he will not find a simple recapitulation of Thomas, but rather a creative approach to political thought which aims to set what is worthy in the modern empirical methodologies on firmer foundations through the recovery of Thomistic-Aristotelian principles.In chapter 1, "Taparelli and the Age of Ideology," Behr situates Taparelli within the political conflicts of the early nineteenth century. Behr sets the scene for Taparelli's renovated Scholasticism by explaining the opposition between Catholic traditionalism (represented especially by Joseph De Maistre and Donoso Cortés) and Catholic liberalism (represented especially by Henri Dominique Lacordaire and his more radical associate Felicité de Lammenais). While the Catholic liberals aimed to convince both [End Page 1102] the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the anticlerical, postrevolutionary governments of Europe that Christianity upheld liberal and republican ideals, the traditionalists argued that Europe's moral and political derangement was the result of a rejection of the norms of tradition—especially of papal and monarchical authority. Remarkably, Taparelli entered neither of these camps. In the opening chapter, Behr stimulates the contemporary reader's interest by showing how Taparelli responded to a crisis of ideologies—progressive and... (shrink)

Berikut ini diperkenalkan tiga buku yang ditulis oleh para dosen Sekolah Tinggi Filsafat dan Teologi Widya Sasana di Malang tentang bagaimana Gereja Katolik perlu menempatkan diri dalam ruang publik Indonesia. Fokus buku pertama, tulisan Prof. Dr. Armada Riyanto (2014), adalah ajaran sosial Gereja Katolik, jadi ajaran mengenai bagaimana Gereja Katolik memahami panggilannya dalam masyarakat yang sekaligus menjadi ruang publiknya. Sepintas alur buku ini dapat mem- bingungkan karena penulis suka melancong ke pelbagai bidang sam- pingan, apalagi ia tidak menjelaskan susunan bukunya. (...) Namun kekaya- an buku ini justru terletak dalam luasnya acuan, penjelasan pelbagai latar belakang, serta perhatian pada konteks-konteks ajaran sosial Gereja yang diangkat penulis. Dengan demikian pembaca dibantu dalam mencari bagaimana umat Katolik Indonesia dapat memberikan sum- bangannya bagi bangsanya dalam segala pergulatannya. Bagian kedua, mulai dari bab ke-10, memasuki situasi umat Katolik Indonesia sebagai minoritas yang sepertinya masih “kurang memiliki” (187). Bertolak dari catatan bahwa waktu Congregatio Missionis (Romo-romo CM) mengam-bil alih wilayah Jawa Timur dari romo-romo Yesuit hanya ada 40 umat Katolik Jawa tercatat (hal. 203), bab 11 menjelaskan kesulitan yang dialami Gereja Katolik sejak dari permulaan abad ke-19 dalam bergiat di Hindia Belanda. Namun kemudian dijelaskan bagaimana orang Katolik Jawa, di antara- nya Pak Kasimo, sebelum Kemerdekaan sudah berjuang sebagai nasionalis Indonesia tulen. Bagian ketiga, dimulai dari bab 12, membahas sifat dialogal ajaran sosial Gereja dalam pelbagai dimensi. Bahwa iman dan teologi Gereja secara hakiki bersifat dialogal merupakan kesadaran teologis (dan sosiologis) baru. Daripada hanya berpegang teguh pada suatu ajaran yang sudah membatu menjadi tradisi, lalu dibawa begitu saja ke dalam dunia, Gereja menyadari bahwa iman maupun teologinya selalu bergerak dalam medan masyarakat di mana Gereja berhadapan dengan segala macam pemikiran dan tanta-ngan. Dengan sifat dialogal dimaksud bahwa iman dan teologi Gereja mau tak mau terwujud dalam menghadapi tantangan-tantangan itu. Kekuatan buku Prof. Armada ini adalah bahwa ia menempatkan ajaran sosial Gereja yang pokok-pokoknya sudah sering diuraikan ke dalam pelbagai konteks, dengan implikasi-implikasi dan acuan pada pelbagai pengalaman Gereja. Pembaca menemukan banyak petunjuk bagaimana ajaran sosial Gereja Katolik dapat menjadi inspirasi bagi umat Katolik Indonesia. Ada juga beberapa kelemahan. Tidak ada daftar nama. Dan barangkali cakupan uraiannya terlalu luas. Misalnya uraian panjang lebar tentang paham Platon dan Aristoteles tentang keadilan sebenarnya kurang relevan, begitu pula uraian tentang perkembangan pemikiran filosofis tentang demokrasi. Padahal pertanyaan sangat relevan, yang muncul di banyak negara, bagaimana sebuah minoritas berpartisipasi dalam sistem demokrasi tidak didiskusilan. Mengapa fungsi suatu Partai Katolik di Indonesia tidak diangkat, padahal seku- rang-kurangnya sudah tiga kali menjadi debat besar dan panas dalam umat Katolik Indonesia: 1960 di zaman demokrasi terpimpin, 1971 sesudah pemilihan umum pertama di bawah presiden Suharto, dan 1999 di masa reformasi. Betul, persepsi “kemiskinan struktural” dibuka dengan Rerum Novarum (h. 24), tetapi istilah itu sendiri tidak ditemukan di dalamnya, melainkan berasal dari teologi pembebasan. Karena penulis menganggap “pluralisme” tak punya arti di luar “pluralitas,” penulis tidak masuk ke dalam kontroversi tajam tentang pluralisme di Indone- sia. Fatwa MUI tentang pluralisme tidak didiskusi-kan. Uraian panjang tentang pendidikan Katolik yang sangat optimis tinggal normatif. Padahal dalam kenyataan Gereja Katolik, juga di Indonesia, biasanya justru mempertahankan pegangan eksklusif atas pendidikan. Dalam kaitan ini seharusnya penolakan UU Sisdiknas — dengan keharusan memberikan pelajaran agama kepada para siswa sesuai dengan agama mereka — oleh sebagian besar penanggap Katolik didiskusikan. Namun kekurangan-kekurangan ini tidak menghilangkan bahwa buku ini amat memperkaya pustaka Katolik berbahasa Indonesia tentang panggilan Gereja, juga panggilan Gereja Indonesia, dalam masyarakat (Franz Magnis-Suseno, Guru Besar Ilmu Filsafat Emeritus, Sekolah Tinggi Filsafat Driyarkara, Jakarta). (shrink)

"Pre-modern philosophy" means the line of reflection that started with Plato andvAristotle, passed through Augustine and Boethius, and reached its acme in Aquinas, Scotus, and Suarez. The whole line was harshly judged by Descartes, then mocked by the empiricsts of the 18th Century. Why, then, did Pope Leo XII make a determined effort to revive it? And, more importantly, why was the revival a stunning success by the middle of the 20th Century? The answers to both questions are found in (...) a famous German book, Philosophie der Vorzeit by Josef Kleutgen, now available for the first time in English. Pre-ModernPhilosophy Defended shaped and strengthened Pope Leo's resolve. It showed how inaccurate the harsh judgments had been and how sadly inferior the modern replacements from Descartes to Hegel had turned out to be in many respects. Not in all. Kleutgen was no knee-jerk reactionary. He made no bones about the obsolete status of pre-Newtonian physics and cosmology. Rather, he focused on the central boast of "modern" thought, namely, that it had turned at least to the "subject" and had provided a long-needed thing called a "critique of knowledge." This book is must reading for intellectual historians and for philosophers working today in epistemology. But most of all, it is essential reading for laity and clergy concerned about revivals of modernism in the church. What was modernism, after all, but an attempt to make the Church revise her theology in the "light" of Kant or Hegel? This is why every Modernist knew Kleutgen's name and hated this book. Here is the first English translation (from the German) of the master work of Josef Kleutgen, the nineteenth century social philosopher whose thought lies at, or near, the heart of Catholic Social Thought. Kleutgen is widely and rightly seen as the shadow author of the social encyclicals of Leo XII. Leo's Rerum Novarum remains the origin and constant reference point of all Catholic Social Teaching. And Popes since have dated their own social encyclicals from Rerum Novarum - hence, Quadragesimo anno and Centesimus annus. --Gerard V. Bradley, University of Notre Dame Pre-Modern Philosophy Defended is must reading for intellectual historians and for philosophers working today in epistemology. And it is essential reading for laity and clergy concerned about revivals of modernism in the church. What was modernism, after all, but an attempt to make the Church revise her theology in the 'light' of Kant or Hegel? This is why every Modernist knew Kleutgen's name and hated Philosophie der Vorzeit (Pre-Modern Philosophy Defended). (shrink)

Este artigo parte da Exortação Pós-Sinodal Amoris Laetitia quanto trata da questão da importância do trabalho para a constituição e estabilidade da família. O trabalho é um tema bíblico que diz respeito tanto á realidade pessoal, familiar, quanto com a conservação da natureza. A preocupação da Igreja com as questões sociais sempre esteve presente. Os acontecimentos decorrentes da revolução industrial, suscitando questões de justiça, e colocando em destaque a causa operária, derivada do conflito entre capital e trabalho, provocou a promulgação (...) da primeira encíclica social, a Rerum Novarum. A globalização e a tecnologia trouxeram mudanças para o mundo do trabalho como para todo o conjunto da sociedade. Essas mudanças exigem das pessoas uma constante atualização para se adaptarem à nova realidade. O termo empregabilidade apareceu nos debates na Academia, no mundo do trabalho e nas discussões sobre políticas públicas no Brasil. O trabalho, quanto mais desenvolvida a sociedade mais se especializa, sua atualização vai acompanhando os avanços tecnológicos, que permite e auxilia nas demais áreas nas quais o esforço humano é aplicado. Além de paradigma da vida social, o trabalho tem a dignidade de um âmbito no qual deve encontrar realização a vocação pessoal e social da pessoa humana. A empregabilidade como forma de se manter ativo no mercado de trabalho requer que o sujeito procure corresponder ao que as corporações necessitam para o seu desenvolvimento e exigem dos seus colaboradores para se integrarem nas equipes que compõem a empresa. (shrink)

A raíz de la publicación de Rerum Novarum, el sociólogo y agrónomo práctico católico genovés Stanislao Solari fundó el movimiento de reforma agraria que llevaría su nombre, el Sistema Solari. Se basó en "una agricultura racional... con la inducción gratuita de nitrógeno atmosférico y el avance racional de los estiércol mineral". Este sistema pronto se propagó por toda Europa y Sudamérica desde el colegio salesiano de Parma, bajo el auspicio de su director, Carlo Baratta. En España, el centro (...) que lo difundió fueron las Escuelas Salesianas de Artes y Oficios "La Santísima Trinidad" de Sevilla, cuyo director, Pedro Recaldone, se mostró convencido de que "el verdadero problema de España, especialmente en Andalucía, era la tierra". Por tanto, para solucionar ese problema inició la publicación del Diario Agrario Solari Biblioteca, que tenía 118 números. Durante ese período (1895-1930), la acción en la tierra fue considerada un aspecto significativo de la respuesta salesiana sobre la solución a la "cuestión social". (shrink)

Pope Francis’s two encyclicals—Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti—belong to the tradition of Catholic social teaching that began in 1891 with Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum novarum. There have been continuities and discontinuities within the tradition of Catholic social teaching, but there has been a tendency to downplay the discontinuities. Francis’s two encyclicals show both discontinuities and continuities with the earlier documents. The final section criticizes these two encyclicals as being too overly optimistic in their approach to solving the problems (...) facing the environment and the social, political, and economic orders. (shrink)