Wednesday, December 31, 2025
https://journal.unpar.ac.id/index.php/melintas/article/download/956…
https://journal.unpar.ac.id/index.php/melintas/article/download/956/940/1898
https://auojs.au.edu/index.php/PrajnaVihara/article/download/1108/990
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Monday, December 29, 2025
China
China the word was originated from Qin dynasty. Cin → Cine → Cina → China
Qin dynasty was the first Chinese dynasty which left deep influence to ancient Indians.
But in Russian language, China is called Kitay. Why's that? Because of 契丹 Khitay, a northern nation in China in 11th century which had conflicts with Slavic nations.
Chinatown is called 唐人街 "street of Tang people", because in 18th century, Chinatowns in different countries were established by Cantonese immigrants. Canton was not Chinese territory until Tang dynasty. So Cantonese call themselves 唐人 Tang people.
But in northern China in which people speak Mandarin, they worship Han dynasty because 汉武帝 (emperor Wu of Han dynasty, Liu Che) was the first emperor who chased Huns away and protected his people for ages successfully. So they call themselves 汉人 Han people. And because of northerners' domination over China, Han became our nation's call sign.
But why northern Chinese is called Mandarin? Because of a Latin word mandare, it means officials. Northern Chinese was the official language when Europeans started to do business with China, so official Chinese was called Mandarin.
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Qin dynasty was the first Chinese dynasty which left deep influence to ancient Indians.
But in Russian language, China is called Kitay. Why's that? Because of 契丹 Khitay, a northern nation in China in 11th century which had conflicts with Slavic nations.
Chinatown is called 唐人街 "street of Tang people", because in 18th century, Chinatowns in different countries were established by Cantonese immigrants. Canton was not Chinese territory until Tang dynasty. So Cantonese call themselves 唐人 Tang people.
But in northern China in which people speak Mandarin, they worship Han dynasty because 汉武帝 (emperor Wu of Han dynasty, Liu Che) was the first emperor who chased Huns away and protected his people for ages successfully. So they call themselves 汉人 Han people. And because of northerners' domination over China, Han became our nation's call sign.
But why northern Chinese is called Mandarin? Because of a Latin word mandare, it means officials. Northern Chinese was the official language when Europeans started to do business with China, so official Chinese was called Mandarin.
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Saturday, December 27, 2025
Rowan Williams: Theology as a Way of Life
Thank you so much for the welcome that you've given and thank you for the opportunity of sharing the life of Saint Mary's very briefly. It's been a joy and a privilege to be here and I felt myself very much at home and very warmly welcomed as you've heard my aim is to speak with you a little about the theology as a way of life. And to speak of the theology is a way of life does not of course mean the way of life that is spent by theologians that is in some degree of a theological way of life, but is not quite what I have in mind here, I want to ask rather what it is for the whole Christian community to live theologically what it is to think of intelligent discipleship itself as a theological way of life, but in order to address questions like that I need to go back a little and raise again the question of what we mean when we use the word theology classical when people have talked about theology in Christian and other contexts they have meant something like this theology is about the way we represent and explore the meanings of the word. God the ways we represent and explore the meanings of the word God, but some people in more technical terms called looking at the grammar of the word God where does it come in into human language how does it get used? How is it established in use or modified or refined in use but as soon as we begin to define theology in that kind of way looking at where the word God comes in, we're looking at narratives we're looking at human stories. We can't in fact, do the theology without some attention to the lives in which the word comes in the lives in which its meaning is established or modified horrified like it or not the theology is always going to have a narrative component in case you think that's just a 21st-century aberration let me take you back to St. Thomas Aquinas with the very beginning of the summer of the OG as you will all remember that theology is the study of those persons by whom divine revelation reaches us those persons scripture which for St. Thomas is the same thing as holy teachings Trina scripture is setting out of lives in which God has made sense and lives through which others have made sense of God Aquinas goes on again. I'm sure you'll remember to elaborate quite considerably what this might entail and it's not everybody's bedside reading, but that is indisputably where he starts. You can't do theology beginning by attending to those lives in which the word God comes to make sense that the lives that makes sense of talking about God and Thomas says they're also that the theology is a science that it's an ordered body of knowledge it links up it's not just a set of of the cuff reactions or reports of religious experience or uplifting waffle. It does actually have some bones to it some structure and some coherence, but it's a rather unusual body of knowledge because it's about events and narratives it is about ways of life if that's so does that mean that the theology claim to a kind of knowledge quite unlike the ways in which we know all sorts of other things, I don't think that St. Thomas believe that and I don't think we have to believe that this is appointed for just a moment it's very important in our culture to remind anyone who happens to be listening that so often use words like science and knowledge, as if there were one absolutely right way of doing it one thing and one thing only that counted is real hard knowledge, and that was say something like physics give that a moment thought, and you realize, of course, for all kinds of things that we call knowing in our ordinary human discourse, we know in a whole range of different ways. Some of those ways are mathematical and physical, and some of them are not, and some of them have a great deal to do with the order knowledge of ways of life give you two obvious examples of this first of all about music you can study music in one sense by picking up a book on musical theory, you can get to understand the basic principles of harmony encounter point you can understand a bit about the difference between Peaton scales and others you can look at how serial music works in the 20th century and you could imaginably get to the end of the course without ever having any of what it might be to be a musician because the other side of knowing about music is knowing how to perform how to transmit the essence of performance performance, how to make performance possible, how to look at the examples of those who have composed and performed and think about what they have to say to us so that a real musical education I suspect, for most of us would not be the kind that restricted itself primarily to attention to music theory it would look very broadly at musical lives. It would look at what sort of things make a composer a substantial significant presence. It would look a traditions of performance and how they shift softly from age to age would look at the different different ways in which the practice of music relates to the society. It'll be a science about ways of life musical ways of life, and I think you could make something of the same point about sport subject on which I confess no expertise whatsoever however, I am that happens chancellor of the university of South Wales, in which there is I'm of course in rugby studies. I have involvement in this one, but it seems seems to me that something similar is going on there, you could conceivably have a course in sport which simply consisted in learning the rules of the game and even British rugby has some rules or you could do what I think of of course the university of South Wales does which is to look a bit at how the game is evolved in the context of particularly Welsh society to look at the lives of great and distinguished players to look at what elegant and creative play looks like and there is seriously great elegance, great beauty and some of that can be seen sports studies does not amount to learning the rules of games. It's about ways of life a science of ways of life so these are example example examples which should make us challenge any idea, but there is one and only one way of really knowing stuff and it's some very, very, very reductive scientific approach. It should remind us, but knowing about knowing our way into ways of life is a serious and responsible science in Saint Thomas Aquinas assistance and ordered body of knowledge something that connects up and something that looks hard to make sense that the diversity of human behave so the kind of knowledge which theology might be about if it's about ways of life life is always going to be in some measure historical and Commonwealth and embodied. It's going to be looking at what bodies get up to just as much as studying music or sport. It may sound very odd to think of the theology as a science that looks at what bodies get up to that's of course what we mean when we talk about ways of life ways of inhabiting our bodies in prayer in relation in service however you want to put it and I'll come back a little later on I've been talking about the kind of knowledge which could be exercised in principle by somebody outside the community of practice, it's just about possible to imagine. Somebody producing quite interesting studies of music or sport might themselves be to death or whatever the equivalent is in sport so from the outside there is a knowledge of how things work a knowledge of our lives of all of and how they look, which doesn't necessarily commit to you to belonging, and that's not an insignificant part of the overall spread of what theology might mean I think it's quite important, for example that within the last half century, in particular people who studied the history of theology has become much much more alert to the ways in which society and culture in history and patterns of power and and so forth in binge on theological language, it's uncomfortable to recognize that but necessary and I think it's been a very good therapy for insiders in the world of religious practice to open their eyes a bit, and become a little little bit more questioning, even a little bit more suspicious about how the theology interacts with the world in which it is set however, theology does not begin with people looking at a phenomenon from the outside and saying, how should we understand their better theology and this is crucial the theology begins by believing people saying I want to understand myself we want to understand ourselves begins as the community and the individual wanting to know wanting to see themselves in a new light because theology is always not simply the representation and exploration of the meanings of God. It has always been the exploration on the representation of the meanings of me and of us and scattered through the history of Christian theology, particularly that I could talk of other theories, too are sayings an insights that reflect that recognition famous second century remark show show me your human human and I will show you my God other words to understand what kind of God you're talking about pay attention to what kind of human is developing in the practice of faith theology begins by believers saying we want to see ourselves more clearly perhaps they want to say we need a check on arbitrary or self-serving discourses we need to rain ourselves in before the exuberance of devotion become self-indulgence and self deceiving. We need to have some means of assessing and discerning within our patterns of authority, and as soon as those questions opposed, you're into theological enterprise, there are communities and individuals who like to say that they don't do the theology watch them carefully for a while and see if they're ever asking questions like that. Are they ever asking asking questions about how their authority systems become comfortable? Are they ever asking questions about the dangers of self deception and self-indulgence in their practice if so, the theology is what they're doing. I'm often reminded of the character in one of Malia's comedies from the 16th century in France, who is amazed and delighted to be told that he's been talking pros all his life he never knew he could do anything so clever, but I think sometimes it's right and proper to say to you you've been doing theology and you didn't have it. This is worth the theology as a way of life itself comes in not just theology as a boat ways of life, but the theology as itself a way of life theology as a practice of looking at oneself in the light of God, as a practice of asking difficult questions about the illusions of the self imposed illusions that threatened under mine, honest way of talking about God is going to be a concern with the history of the community went to the believer, lives a concern with it, however, not as a set of phenomena out there, but as part of what I inhabit part of what I inherit theology is a way of life involves questions about my history, my relation to the community, my relation to the past my body, where it is how it works, my body is immortal. My body is gendered, and all that that means in relation to the corporate life and corporate practice it raises questions. Also about our connection with our embeddedness in the very material world itself. Theology is about what bodies get up to bodies get up to things in, and as part of a material interdependent universe are very easy and are very seductive to think that theology or deed philosophy many other disciplines existed purely and simply inside here and was not about the embeddedness of human beings in a world of real material interactions. It's interesting to see incidentally that philosophy in our generation has begun to wake up to this read some treats in philosophy, and you could be forgiven for not noticing that we were bodies that is that we at died had sex made music all those bodily things that are preferably significant they don't seem to Cunt for a lot of of the philosophical traditional we've inherited, but there are thank goodness philosopher's, who are alert to these things, more and more in our age, and who note that to think philosophically is also about ways of life even dare we say that philosophy itself might be a way of life as everybody believed in the classical Christian and medieval ages, but that's another story. The main point I'm making here is that theology is a way of life to the extent that it is faith seeking understanding of the behaviors of faith, faith seeking understanding of the behavior behavior, behaviors of faith. What are we up to? What are we actually doing? What does it mean? How do we learn? learn to ask the intelligent and transformative questions about it that will enable faith to be an intelligent and transformative presence in the wider world it means looking at where meanings come live for me or a generation for your shift for me as a knowing subject of a certain kind, an intelligent body, I mentioned that sometimes it's important to be able to say to people, recognizing people the presence of a theology that they don't recognize they're doing and one of the great gifts of the pastoral life, as I think of the pastors in this audience will recognize when you see people doing the theology un self-conscious and I'll share with you. One story which for me exemplifies the beginnings of a real theological understanding a couple to my new in my first parish who were devoted enthusiastic church people with very little formal education, living in public housing estate, or among the most impressive Christian people I've ever known in my life and I recall the wife telling me once of a shopping expedition they've been on to Peterborough. It had been a rather difficult day. They hadn't been ready to go with the children that have been recalcitrant as children invariably when you've got a trip to make, the journey had been unpromising the weather was disagreeable by the time they got to Peterborough. They were all in a very bad with each other, but Peter has a very handsome cathedral, and my friends were at our devoted people, and they decided they'd go and have a look at the cathedral and said the wife when we went into the cathedral I said to her husband husband, we can't go around the cathedral like this. We're all cross with each other. We ought to sit down first and sorted out, and they sat down quietly for just a few moments as they went into the cathedral and hugged one another, and went around the cathedral to see it's beauties, and I would call that theological behavior, a profound recognition of the way of life in which you could be a tuned to the God who has called you in which you understand the obstacles to responding to that in which you begin to know what habits and practices unblock unfreeze yourself in order to grow, and in this, as many things, I make the most grateful acknowledgment to those greatest of teachers, that is the people with whom one's privileged to be a pastor, but I suggest in the light of that that there are at least three things that might enter into the theological way of life, faith seeking understanding of the behaves of faith in the way I've described it. The first is a very obvious one and that is that a theological way of life is as my friends in Peterborough Cathedral you a life which is not afraid of self scrutiny, putting oneself under the spotlight calmly, not anxiously or guiltily, but calmly, and clearly in whatever ways are available being able to ask on self awkward questions, questions about oneself not to take oneself for granted as always right or good or always Ramen bad for that matter self scrutiny develop developing what you might call an imaginative, an emotional emotional literacy about myself and others. How do people work work is a good theological question. It's not the only one but it's a very necessary one. How do people work? How do I work? What are the things that trigger resentment emotion fear guilt, shame, etc. self scrutiny in whatever ways are available and as my example I hope has shown that is not something restricted to those who like to think they're educated or sophisticated. The second thing is a bit less obvious and I would call it a theological way of life is a patience way of life that it's a way of life which is willing to sit with what is not easily or quickly said willing to sit with what is not easily or quickly said we love quick and short answers and quick fixes we like what we think is certainty until we think of something else else that we certain about I was always very delighted to be informed when I had another job at what people really wanted from me was strong leadership, which gave them certain answers experience suggested that that simply meant that people might have something nice and clear to disagree with but the fact the fact is that a great deal of a human a human fabric is profoundly resistant to being said quickly, some things it really takes time to know how to say to explore and to represent a theological way of life is one that is not afraid of that taking time that applies to at least two dimensions of our life which I really rather different but let's spend a moment on the first is of course about being patient with those who are purely, and simply not very articulate articularly is not in itself a virtue many people do not have the resources that might enable them to chatter fluently about what it feels like to be them or what it feels like about it to be anyone that's patience with that relatively limited art, and the capacity to think through with people what the words are that might help is theological theological in the sense that it respects a way of life coming constantly daily to deeper fruition and always with the words lagging behind because actually has St. Thomas Aquina once again reminded us that's what's going on even in the most sophisticated and articulate Christians. Remember, not long before he died said that most of what he had written seemed to him like straw compared with what he had seen Aquinas at the end of his life, celebrated being in articulate he knew that the words were not keeping up so a theological way of life I believe to be a way of life which recognizes that whether you think your sophisticated or you know, you're not, the words will not keep up that's right be patient. The other kind of patient is I think a patient with sometimes chaotic rich many layered language that's the community of believers users in its worship in worship we quite brightly swing backwards and between silence and talkativeness in our literature, hymns language often we pile image on image and metaphor metaphor some of the very greatest of the protestant hymn of the 18th century, gives you two or three metaphors per line and lovers of Charles Wesley the greatest writer in the English language that method is deliberately creates a kind of language that is overloaded with simple and metaphor consciously as a kind kind of intellectual shock tactic. He wants you to feel out of your depth he wants you to be wondering what on earth is that about as you sing and that's the other kind of patient needed but within articular with articularly patients with the bewildering variety of language poured out of us in church in the G and that may mean, of course, patience with the language outage, but whether we're talking about an articular or about clotted richness of expression that the language of the church often gives we need patience with both we need to resist the idea that with the right, kind of training, education and encouragement from somebody like me, everything could be made simple ways of life or ways of taking time and thinking about ways of life, therefore involves thinking about taking time and taking time with thinking the greatest philosopher of the 20th century, Ludwig Wittenstein said that the most important thing one philosopher could say to another was take your time and that perhaps there's on the third aspect of theologically which comes into focus here and that is a willingness for conversational engagement, inviting the discernment of others if we're talking about ways of life, we're talking about shared patterns not just individual synchronies, but the habits we shaped together the practice we share and if we share practices, it's important of times to share reflections about them. I'm sure I'm not the only ordained cleric in this gathering tonight who has said from time to time in preaching you need to talk to each other about this not just me you need to discern together and test together what's being said, and you need to be able to regard the other believer as a gift and enrichment to you as one who has something for you I did in conversation in inviting the discernment of your Neighbourhood grow together, so the theological way of life is one capable of asking, awkward questions of oneself before any others, capable of patience with what doesn't get said quickly, capable of conversational and communal discernment, saved the tyranny of individualism and reactive, personal agendas and obvious I think that not everything written or spoken in theology about these things nothing else but what I'm trying to suggest is that these habits of self questioning and patience and conversation for a kind of nest in which the theological way of life is nurtured these things that make it happen but carry on making it possible. Remember when I was talking a little bit earlier about music and how that works. I suggested that one we're thinking about the study of music was thinking about what goes on making musical performance possible and so here these three aspects that I've touched on the things among the things at least that make the theological way of life possible take any of those away and I would say theology becomes actually unthinkable. You can't have a theological way of life without self questioning without repentance to use old-fashioned language, you can't have a theological way of life without patience because you always be squeezing and reducing and trimming words to suit your convenience. At one moment, you can't have a theological way of life that is not dialogical that's the nest in which these things grow and for a whole community to be practicing theology in someway, these are the habits which I believe make it happen in the last part of what I want to say I want to look a bit more specifically, and those things in the Christian context that seem to be crucial in identifying what makes a way of life life theological in the deepest cells. I've talked about the conditions that make it possible. What are the moments what are kinds of encounter but finally give theological living integrity and I think I don't want to talk here about two basic elements in a way psychological living happens yes and all those habits are in place, but it happens very specifically in connection with certain moments events of encounter. The first kind of encounter is the one that we identifies as having somehow sprung us free from the traps of self moments. When we feel we have been sprung free from the traps of self that is the traps self-serving habit traps of defensiveness and self protectiveness, and that can mean encounters the events of the individual and the corporate level a theological moment in someone's life maybe the classical conversion moment when you feel free to give your life as the evangelical standard rhetoric give your life to Jesus Christ the moment that Saint Augustine describes in his confessions when finally, something is unblocked and he can't quite understand why, but he knows that he's free to make a decision decision that the day before he couldn't make that is a theological moment and essentially theological moment because that's the moment where somehow the world shifts on his axis and what was not possible has become possible so if we're looking for those moments that generate theology, we look at moments that make possible something that wasn't before and that's theological because quite clearly it's a way of pointing to gesturing too that ultimate energy or action which is more more than the energy or action of any of us all over the whole universe that which makes possible what was previously impossible because we've got nothing is impossible, but I would underline that I don't see that as simply a matter of individual conversion or new possibility communities and societies have theological moments of new possibility don't they and I think it's intriguing to look at the lives of communities or of nations and say well where is the turning around a set of new possibilities a theological moment coming to birth a few years ago in Britain we celebrated by Centenary of the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and when all set and done about the very various theological, political philosophical ethical economic factors that were at work there, I would have to say that I cannot, but look back on that as a moment the theology happened when something became possible that wasn't possible before I think there are other such moments in the lives of communities and of nations where they're talking about local communities, cities, and tons or the communities of a parish or a diocese for the theological moment is when some kind of defensive therapist drops away, and some new possibility comes to birth, but the second dimension of this second theological moment, of course connected with that is that this is not only experienced as a liberation from what is blocked our growth, but also as a step into a positive positive new identity of theological moment is certainly that which brings us from the traps of self, but it is also the moment that establishes our identity in prayer the moment in which we discover that we can look at God and address, God listen to God in ways that were not possible before the new possibilities are focused on that new capacity to pray and I say that because I'm more more persuaded, but that is really the very heart of the New Testament approach to the theology, what is it that makes the writers of the New Testament the what are they thinking about but I think the answer is they're thinking about the fact that people at at least once a week get together and say our father who are in heaven I think it's as simple as that there is a new kind of prayer that is being uttered and experienced a prayer which embodies in the life of believers the relationship relationship that Jesus had to the source of his being the relationship. Jesus had to his ABBA father that's what they're thinking about in the New Testament. That's what again and again comes back to thinking about does not begin with a set of abstract questions about justification by faith. He begins with the fact that there are a lot of people around who impulsively are saying our father to the maker of the universe how does that happen? That's what Paul thinks that's how his theology begins to move forward so the theological moment is not just the liberation from self the theological moment is when we begin to address God with that sort of freedom I think through where that comes from how it works, and how it's to be transmitted how the possibility is to be shared with others. We're looking then in the theological language for kind of speech that has some kind of real attention to those two themes being sprung from the trap of self being established in a new confidence of Christ like confidence before God, what kinds of language and practice embody that make it transmittable to the next generation make it's possibility a continuing human reality, because in the light of that we I think can understand understand a very least theological language would have to be language that was all the time holding onto an awareness of its own riskiness in its own incompleteness. It's awareness of how easy it is to collapse back into the comfort zone I suppose a large part of the over the ages of meant by negative theology or apathetic theology we say constantly we can say this, but we must say it is not all we can say this, but we must say this is not all and the doctrine formulations of the church seems to be best understood in that we can say this confidently truthfully, and we must say this is not all because it can't be putting God in a box of conceptual control so a good theological language is one which has that awareness of its own riskiness are very, very seductive to think we've got it, but also is the second perspective of the second dimension. It must be language that gestures all the time towards contemplation towards the son's relationship relationship to the father, the word of God's relationship to the eternal source, whatever language you choose for it Jesus praying to the source of his being Jesus Jesus Jesus, opening himself to that unceasing flow of divine action, which takes him to the cross from the resurrection. We need a language that points into stillness of receptivity that must lie the heart of all that a no language, I think can be truly theological at the end of the day, which is not somehow gesture into that stillness into that stillness, which is at the center of Jesus relation with the mystery out of which into which he moves as the eternal word proceeding forth from the eternal mystery that he calls, father, and a great deal of the tradition of thinking about contemplative prayer across the centuries has involve trying to understand it contemplation as the movement in which the self itself becomes simply a place where Jesus happens a place where that freedom of prayer and service comes alive theological language is serious gestures, stillness, and the transformation of the self as that kind of place where this happens so that ultimately theology as a way of life is, I think all those habits that I've suggested as formal habits, self questioning and patience and conversation, combined with the substantive awareness of the kind of moment where the world shifts on his axis, a new identity comes into being living theologically, living with those habits and living with that eager awareness that readiness to notice and identify the moments when the world shifts the moments of release the moment when the new identity in prayer comes alive, which I think is very much, particularly some aspects of the eastern Christian tradition have always understood theology to be the allergen is the one who praises truly and anyone who praises truly is if the erosion that famous slogan from Pythagoras at the end of the fourth century, although although although Vihari is meant by the theology, something a bit different from what we mean by it there isn't none nonetheless a really significant principle to be held on her praying truthfully praying rightly praying with integrity praying in the way that allows Jesus to be Jesus in yourself and in your act that is worth theology happens because that is what is opened up and what is defended and enriched in constant virtuous circle of self questioning and patience as transformation comes Alive I said the faith seeking understanding the behavior of faith behavior of faith is finally behaving as a Christ like child of the everlasting divine parent, that behavior is what we're really talking about an theology is always going to be that experience of what some theological affiliation be becoming a son or daughter of God, affiliation, becoming aware of itself itself, exploring itself, representing itself discovering itself, and we back to where I started the theology, not only representing exploring God representing exploring myself, not just myself as I immediately experience myself, the usual sinful idol, confused self that you and I are also familiar with, but the self which is becoming the place where Christ comes alive, representing and exploring that and a theological way of life is one that is all the time aware of learning how to be the child of God there's more that could be said and given a little more time I'd love to speak a bit more about how for example example for Sacramento life of the Christian community becomes the focus and energizing center of this process process and I think you can see in the light of what I've said so far Sacramento is very profoundly significantly theological behavior intrinsic to a theological way of life, but I hope the overall point is clear the theology is first of all about ways of life. It can't not be about lives that claimed to have been transformed lives that claim to be coming alive, freshly but at the same time the theology is itself a way of life. It's not just a way of understanding other people and understanding me and understanding in self questioning and patience and conversation engagement understanding those moments with liberation happens at a new identity in prayer to come alive that sense of course it's extremely bizarre that we do it to people in theology them experts in theology and we need to approach that with a certain amount of tongue and cheek, but the good news is before us, therefore a life of theology in the fullest richest sense of exploring who we are in the light of God, not as self-serving or self-indulgent practice or something which we believe with all our hearts I trust is the greatest gift we can offer to a world in need of self understanding, self acceptance and acceptance, transformed relationship honesty clarity, patience, but above all the word I haven't used, but I couldn't use at this point because but all of this adds up to is actually the unlikely message. The theology is about joy. It's about that conscious awareness of a gift for which no words will ever be enough enough for which no life is long enough to express or respond to, which is why it's just as well really that we have got eternity to explore it. Thank you thank you and thank you. It was a joy to hear you as one who is engaged in the extremely bizarre behavior of giving degrees the students who study theology we've asked one of our students Mr. Carlton run the microphone, and I invite you to begin formulating your questions and those who are in the simulcast area to also begin making their way here with the ushers as we do. I suppose we should remind ourselves that we've just been told that we need to be willing to sit with what is not quickly or easily said and that's a pretty good introduction to a question and answer session so if you would raise your hands and I'll I'll offer to help and if the Bishop Williams is willing to come back and take the microphone again just please signal and we'll try to get an order set up. I'm interested in your views on how a person who wants to live theologically should deal with evil in the world, particularly as a scholar, who studied Dostoevsky I'm interested in whether you agree with his ideas expressed in the brother karma's off by the Russian monk that the beginning of salvation is for all of us to recognize that we all share in the sin of all of us, and if we're in encountering evil and sinfulness in this world how do you think we should act that's a wonderful question thank you your fingers that way the key to everything is understanding our shared responsibility without exaggeration illusional sentimentality just saying I am part of the problem and I can't be part of the solution until I've recognized my part of the problem so maybe that's the beginning of an answer. Living theologically in the face of evil is not stepping back and saying it to her suffering at outrageous and outraged world just hang on a minute while I work this out, it is looking for those narratives those ways of life that are engaging with evil transformative. I don't think there is ever going to be a very impressive solution to the problem of evil and I think if we had one it wouldn't work because that's hardly what people are really asking about. I've often thought when people come and say why should my why should my daughter be dying of cancer at the age of 35 and I tell you why they wouldn't thank me for it, but that somebody might be sacrificially a generously accompanying someone in their suffering and making it possible to go on living with Grayson integrity in the middle of it that's a theological response I think to a patient response maybe thank you for that quicker theology emphasizes one's testimony basically one living as Quaker in the world, and hopefully if one sees a quaker and one sees their theology through their actions, the challenge that you know us quaker sometimes find is that our theology can sometimes slip into effectively becoming an ethic without actually having a theology and I was wondering if you wanted to speak to that in terms of the challenge of living theologically thank you I think that's interesting. That's a question for those elsewhere about the tradition very very committed to living the faith at the same time sometimes aware of the theology just an ethic if I've heard the question right and I'd have to start by expressing my enormous admiration for the society of friends and my deck, my decades, long debt to the witness of the Quakers and all sorts of areas. I think the one thing I'd want to add to the ethic is perhaps something to do with that final touched the sense of a prayerful, a prayerful and thoughtful growth in the joy of being the daughter of son of the father of Jesus Christ, and trying to hold onto the fact that that element of gift and joy the ethic can become well at worst. It could become rather complacent at best. It can become a bit dry. I don't thank God that I know quite the opposite, but I recognize that an ethic which cuts the tie with some of the bigger things I've been trying to outline is going to be slightly at risk, so I think I just want to remind anyone tempted to drift towards the ethical end of the spectrum that those dimensions of degrade would enjoy, and they have thoughtful awareness of what once growing into which for those of us in non-Quaker communities the sacraments helped to hold onto. That's something I wouldn't want to lose you. That's a very serious question. How can all this help us towards the unity that Jesus prayed for well let me start at the end. I think the deepest unifying thing for Christians is to be able to recognizing in one another millenniums of being a son or daughter of the father of Jesus Christ because of the baptism we share and I don't think we can get anywhere at talking about Christianity without talking about that, but I called affiliation moment or dimension of our lives as the one thing we absolutely have in common and therefore the one to me the one test ultimately of what matters in the church does this or that practice or teaching in the church actually make it hard harder for people to become adult adult sons and daughters what does it help? That's that's the question worth asking and that's where I sometimes find some of our contemporary debates in between the churches. I'm not 100% sure that these these are the issues that are really affect how we grow into being sons or daughters along with Jesus Christ so I think a theological way of life which has about those characteristics of patience and self self critique can also help get us out of an attitude, which is simply defensive about our history of our traditional way of doing things doesn't mean we we become relatives at all, but it does mean I think that we try to identify the truth that is absolutely recognizable in each other and that's where it starts. There's a long way ahead, but that's where it starts. There's so many questions and very impressed with talking about theologically being self scrutiny and also engagement with others and patience yet here in the in America and in particular here in Baltimore, the 24th, 21st century where people live is in an environment of fear of economic collapse both for themselves personally and for society of violence in a city, where so many of our young men, especially and women are cut down and warehouse in prisons and environmental degradation, which we are wondering if we are going to be able to sustain in ourselves in our children's lives in the future to speak of the living theologically I think for a number of our people they they may wonder what does that have to do with any of the issues by which they live in pain Monday through Saturday we live in traditions we're thankfully I love being a tradition where every Sunday we say the nice creed anachronism in mid ways 1700 years old I'd love it that people stand up in the 21st-century and say what we believe and they really don't know what they're saying but yet what they're looking for also is a way to connect with the pain and the suffering of a society that seems in many ways on the bridge of collapse what does living theologically have what does living theologically have to say to the actual degradation and fear and social disintegration around us in this city, many cities, not only here, but of course in the United Kingdom as well as we face almost unprecedented economic hardship, and the widening gap between Richard and Paul and so forth I think it has to say I think that let's see the habits of living theologically our habits that are they incompatible with a lot of those ways of life and assumptions that drive our society into this disintegration to live with a real awareness of mortality to live with a sense of being embedded in a material universe to attend to the specific quality and character of peoples growth and movement to sit patiently to engage in dialogue these these are not one of them themselves well changing magic bullet things, but they are the habits which are I think definitively against a great deal of the way. The world goes the culture we live in and of which we honest, we are all in some degree part complicit back to the responsibility question the culture we live in is one which privileges impatience which loves to reduce questions to quick answers and form, which is profoundly impatient with those who don't keep up in the race which actually doesn't much like conversation, however, much it likes electronic communication, which is criminal and fantastically irresponsible about the environment, and which you spoke, and my heart really resonates with this spoke about the problem of young men in a society that treats them as dispensable and they behave accordingly the same problem with the gun cultural of South London culture, which people is disposable in that way is of course, as un theological as it gets to say well, we look for no gift no insight from this person they don't matter they have nothing to give, and if it's true as I believe it is that as been said the most important gift you can ever give to anybody is to let them be a giver then the gifts were not giving to huge slaves of the society around us. I could say a lot more, but those are the point where I think the perspective outline is something of a rational for pushing back against a lot of the systemic injustice and malpractice bring us to and keep us in this really very toxic environment that you and I are sadly familiar with thank you. Yes, the question about this impact on our relation with non-Christians how long have you got this in electron be giving Boston next week first of all I think that the perspective of line is one which ought to make us very very cautious about assuming that it ought to be possible for us to know what God was going to do with non-Christians and you know whatever else we say we just have to be very much aware that we're not actually, and therefore the fate of the non-Christian is not not our to decide, but I think if the general approach I outlined is anything like right then we have two things to be in mind one is let's go to the articularly question and think of the person who is not any kind of believer not someone in another religion, but not any kind of believer really and we have to be prepared as Christians not as pastors to have what can be excruciatingly attracted patients with people who may very well be responding somehow to what God is giving, and where God is calling and who really do not have the words and very much want to have the words because the way they've heard the words is oppressive or empty or superstitious or self-serving but I think there's a real patience to be exercise sometimes with people who are genuinely moving there's a very significant French writer of the belong to the Russian orthodox tradition who wrote a paper many years ago under the title purification by atheism and he said it's very important for an awful lot of people not to believe in God in the sense that they're stopping, believing in the God, they were brought up to believe in, who is not the true God there's all that then to people who profess another faith. I'm a Christian largely because I believe with all my heart that they, the person of Jesus of Nazareth is where the word of God wants, and for all definitively and uniquely dwelled in human history because I believe that in some sense that I can't quite understand all the pathways of human history and exploration of imagination finally converge on that eternal word as we see the word in Jesus that's what I believe. That's why I'm a Christian and if I stop believing that, I don't think I would be a Christian and that I find gives me quite a lot of latitude about how exactly that makes sense of the lives, expirations spiritual growth of people in other religious traditions and I don't mean by that just to have a sort of patronizing attitude saying well I know they're really Christians inside because they wouldn't think that they wouldn't thank me for that. I do believe that if there is one God and of God wishes God self to be known and if historical contingency is the way it is and not everybody grows up in the same culture with the same vocabulary I can't imagine God not having witnesses outside household of Christian faith and I suppose my self scrutiny myself questioning moment there Is well I believe fully that we have this gift in Jesus Christ and I've just got to be very cautious about any temptation to think that I know exactly what that means for the person who has not heard or appropriate to receive the word of Christ I don't know, but what I do know very often is the enrichment of my own spiritual awareness that comes from against sitting with and listening to in conversing with those who belong to other families of faith typically, I suppose I want to keep my I want to have as robust and unambiguous as possible a Christology I want to say yes, but I Creed is right that's why I say it I want at the same time to say as I said earlier about formula we can say that with confidence that we must say that that's not all and not all of how that flashes itself out outside the Christian household I can't know I can hope and pray and think encounter and discover I don't know whether you notice this during your lecture, but as soon as you mentioned a willingness for conversational engagement to phone started ringing back here just wanna make sure it wasn't my own phone, but it got me onto a train of thought which was where I believe I've most felt theological in my life is as a penitent in the sacrament of reconciliation and you said you wanted to talk about behavior so I think that's a pretty good place to start both as a priest who hears confessions and as somebody who makes a confession regularly, it seems to me that everything you've spoken about about self questioning patience and conversation. It's boiled down very intensely in the confessional and not that a very important moment for me in my own life faith in which I've experienced what it means to live theological, and I wondered whether you could reflect on that sacrament of reconciliation is about the sacrament of reconciliation hearing I'm making confession exemplifies some of the themes that I was talking about and I resonate very very deeply with what you said I couldn't agree more that these are intensely theological encounter because I won't talk about my experience of making confession that would take too long hearing confessions again and again what I'm engaging with is exactly those three things of asking myself questions as I listen to someone else's self questioning, and sometimes thinking what the penitent is saying to me is is a gift from God to challenge me. They're awareness of what their questions are bringing me up short about my complacency about similar things, but also it's about what can be a very demanding process of finding the words people really want to speak in that context and the dialogue that helps clarify what is and what isn't really there is a matter of repentance and what might be there as a matter of other things even so yes I just think that's that's a really wonderful insight that you've shared that the reconciliation is exactly an instance of theological living and it's a bit of a contest site these days reconciliation and it's sometimes been practiced exercised in ways that are either a mechanical or someone's even corrupt and if it's been forgotten in some traditions and regardless is just an outgrowth of clericalism, it's time to think again because I think a church that doesn't somehow make provision in this way is all the poor for it so I'm really grateful for that. Thank you Bishop Williams acknowledge that one way of living theologically one small, but perhaps important part of living theologically is an attentiveness to the practices in which we live in the way they can invent conceal and dilute. I will say I was only acutely aware of this, as I watched your pixels from the projection screen at the same cast, but I was wondering if you could say speak something to the distinction between that scrutiny that is characteristic of the profits, but also the way the scrutiny can evolve into a slight type of skepticism. Thank you. Very intelligent distinction how do we? How do we tell apart? If you like from a scrutiny that is idol skepticism essentially corrosive destructive again because we live in a world of cynicism that comes easily I think the answer is to try to see the scrutiny we undertake of ourselves as believers as first of all directed to myself before anybody else and I'm not going to divine anybody else. The first question is to me and it's a question. I ask myself on behalf of the God who loves me otherwise it has to be in the context of love if I deceive myself if I delude myself in all kinds of ways as I do that does not mean that God has ceased to love me and my freedom to ask the difficulty unwelcome question is something to do with God giving me the grace to hear the question God wants to put for my liberation for my capacity to receive love love love you that's the context in which we we have to see this question isn't that what we see in the gospels of Jesus questioning Peter on the shore at the end of John's gospel do you love me knowing exactly Peter's history of self delusion and betrayal and Jesus ask the difficult question and Peter I have to imagine half choked replies, even though I love you or even in the chest of the story about the death confessional I want to want to love you the story I have in mind as the story of a Scottish priest, hearing confessions and in the docs, and hearing the confession of an old sailor who elaborated at some length on what you've got up to in the parts of the world and the priest eventually said you don't sound as if you're very sorry about her and I said well well I guess I'm not that sorry and the priests are you. Sorry you're not. Sorry I wonder if I can follow up on Jamie's question and ask you to let me say I'm not sure what the Christians can think or live theologically now in isolation from engagement with people of other religious traditions as well as the nonbeliever, but I would like to play out a little bit. If you would what are Christians to make of the Jewishness of Jesus, and the fact that in some fundamental Way, Christian simply cannot penetrate the mystery at the heart of our tradition without engaging the a Jewish tradition that in some fundamental way, the encounter with Judaism can help de familiarize ourselves with the tradition so easily taken for granted and helping in that process of self scrutiny because way too often our tradition has put in and put in the service of an anti-Jewish shot dynamics. Thank you the question which begins by saying goes in in our age. Is it really possible to do to live theologically without engaging with an Christian traditions and pressing that specifically in connection with Judaism, and with a Jewishness of Jesus, I think first of all the answer well comment on your first observation I'd rather agree that in the world of religious plurality, we can't live as if there were nobody else there and that respectful engagement without going into synchronism more relative of the respectful engagement is essential to all of this, I fully agree and in respect of the Jewishness of Jesus, you used very helpful. They phrase de Familia ourselves and that's that's very useful because sometimes we really do need to find ways of coming up to the gospel narrative as if for the first time I think how do we how do we easily taken for granted and helping in that process of scrutiny because way too often our tradition has put in and put in the service of an anti-Jewish dynamics thank you the question which begins by saying goes in in our age is it really possible to do to live theologically without engaging with an Christian traditions and pressing that specifically in connection with Judaism and with a Jewishness of Jesus, I think first of all the answer will comment on your first observation. I'd rather agree that in the world of religious plurality, we can't live as if there were nobody else there, and that respect, respectful engagement without going into asynchronism or relative as a respectful engagement is essential to all of this I fully agree, and in respect of the Jewishness of Jesus, Jesus, you used very helpfully the phrase de Familia ourselves, and that's that's very useful because sometimes we really do need to find ways of coming out to the gospel narrative, as if for the first time as if we hadn't heard it and sometimes looking at the Jewish hinterland of who Jesus is and what he says is immensely useful though, but it's more than just useful. It's not just as somebody said a lot of Christians not using Jews to think with there's a real sense in which I think every Christian has to be aware that where they come from from is a great fundamental moment of liberation and new identity, which has to do with the covenant promise of God to God's people. The God we talk about as Christians is a God who establishes identity as the liberator of this people, the one who constitutes them are community living in just relationship that's the God we have to do with it that's that's how we know we know about this God because there is a Jewish people and I think that's that's axiomatic really an understanding who we are as Christians it's it's as complex as it gets. I think we're negotiate that relationship. We are absolutely rightly paralyzed with guilt as Christians often about the way we've treated Jews over the centuries and we should we should be full fully unequivocally repentant about the appalling record that we have there about all that helped to make possible the nightmare events of the 1930s and 40s not ways about that. We are also at the moment confronted with a politically hugely complex Middle Eastern situation where some of those who want to make positive sounds about the Jewish heritage of Christianity think that involves them in unequivocal support of everything and anything in the state of Israel chooses to do, and those who think that any criticism in the state of Israel and antisemitic it's a quagmire and yet I think our our proper sensitivity on those schools should not of obscure for us that deep fundamental recognition that God we are talking about is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the God of the Exodus the God of the prophets the God of the temple that's our God that's why we say the psalms as Christians and God forbid. We should have a stop doing it. This is where the identity of our God was first shaped there was never any doubt that lecture tile theology has a way of life wouldn't leave us feeling like we had completed everything at 9 PM and yet the time of ending has come and so I invited you to join with me and thanking Bishop Roan Woodi
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Monday, December 15, 2025
James Dominic Rooney, Review of Material Objects
1. A review of James Dominic Rooney, Material Objects in Confucian and Aristotelian Metaphysics: The Inevitability of Hylomorphism, London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. ISBN 978-1-3502-7634-5.
In this book, an interesting comparison is made between form–matter in Thomistic thought and the concepts of 理 (li) and 氣 (qi) in the twelfth-century philosopher 朱熹 (Zhu Xi):
「天下未有無理之氣，亦未有無氣之理。」
"In the world there is never qi without li, nor li without qi."
This expresses the inseparable unity between principle (理 li) and material force (氣 qi).
For Zhu Xi, li is the universal "normative structure" of things (somewhat like the Aristotelian form), while qi is the dynamic matter that realizes it.
All things exist as inseparable configurations of li–qi.
This view rejects both idealistic dualism (pure li without matter) and blind materialism (qi without order*).*
This is also interesting because Matteo Ricci in his 天主実義 (The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven) discusses the some problem with Zhu XI.
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In this book, an interesting comparison is made between form–matter in Thomistic thought and the concepts of 理 (li) and 氣 (qi) in the twelfth-century philosopher 朱熹 (Zhu Xi):
「天下未有無理之氣，亦未有無氣之理。」
"In the world there is never qi without li, nor li without qi."
This expresses the inseparable unity between principle (理 li) and material force (氣 qi).
For Zhu Xi, li is the universal "normative structure" of things (somewhat like the Aristotelian form), while qi is the dynamic matter that realizes it.
All things exist as inseparable configurations of li–qi.
This view rejects both idealistic dualism (pure li without matter) and blind materialism (qi without order*).*
This is also interesting because Matteo Ricci in his 天主実義 (The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven) discusses the some problem with Zhu XI.
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Friday, December 12, 2025
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Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Nihilism in the church
"Many people today — even inside the Church — live as functional Nietzscheans without knowing it. When doctrine or moral teaching is treated as an obstacle to 'pastoral accompaniment' or to 'inclusion,' and we are told we must simply override it because 'the Spirit is doing a new thing,' that is the Will to Power dressed in theological language."
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Monday, November 17, 2025
The Samizdat view of the 75th Anniversary of the Xaverian mission…
The Samizdat view of the 75th Anniversary of the Xaverian mission in Japan
An organization that allows Girardian mimetic fields to fester for decades is in a deeply dysfunctional relational and structural state, with both moral and practical consequences. Let's break this down carefully:
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1. Structural consequences
1. Entrenched rivalry and competition
• Mimetic desire escalates over time, creating persistent internal rivalries.
• Individuals and groups become fixated on competing rather than collaborating.
2. Cycles of scapegoating
• Long-term mimetic tension often produces recurring scapegoats, who are blamed for systemic problems.
• This preserves the illusion of order while leaving underlying envy and rivalry unresolved.
3. Toxic culture
• Chronic envy and rivalry poison trust, communication, and cooperation.
• Organizational norms adapt to competition, secrecy, and self-protection rather than excellence or mission.
4. Stifled growth and innovation
• Fear of rivalry reduces risk-taking, initiative, and creativity.
• Talented individuals may leave or become disengaged.
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2. Moral and ethical consequences
1. Leadership responsibility
• Leaders who fail to intervene bear structural responsibility for allowing envy, rivalry, and scapegoating to persist.
• Ignoring mimetic cycles is morally negligent, especially in organizations with social or spiritual missions (e.g., churches, schools).
2. Individual responsibility
• Members contribute to the mimetic field through participation, imitation, or passive acceptance.
• Even silence or neutrality can perpetuate rivalry and injustice over decades.
3. Cultural pathology
• After decades, patterns of envy and rivalry often become normalized: people may perceive conflict as inevitable or acceptable.
• The organization develops a "relational disease", where moral responsibility is diffused and accountability is low.
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3. Long-term psychological effects
• Chronic stress, anxiety, and burnout among members.
• Alienation of talented or ethical individuals.
• Entrenchment of identity in comparison, rivalry, and survival, rather than mission or vocation.
• Mimetic cycles become self-perpetuating: new members are quickly drawn into existing rivalries.
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4. Girardian interpretation
• Such an organization effectively externalizes the scapegoating mechanism without resolving rivalry.
• The mimetic triangle becomes institutionalized: the system itself generates envy, blame, and conflict.
• Without deliberate ethical intervention (boundaries, non-rivalrous leadership, justice), the organization may never exit the cycle.
In short: decades of unaddressed mimetic fields indicate a structural, moral, and relational pathology, not just isolated interpersonal conflict. It is a symptom of leadership and cultural failure.
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5. Possible remedies (Girardian-informed)
1. Leadership self-reflection and ethical modeling
• Leaders must act non-rivalrously and take responsibility for relational patterns.
2. Break cycles with clear boundaries and justice
• Establish fair practices and transparent accountability.
3. Reorient desire toward mission, not rivalry
• Shift focus from internal competition to shared goals or higher purpose.
4. Cultural "detox"
• Encourage open dialogue, repair relationships, and disrupt scapegoating mechanisms.
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「日本におけるザベリアン宣教75周年：サミズダート的視点から」
数十年間にわたりジラール理論的模倣欲望（ミメーシス）の場を放置する組織は、関係性・構造の両面で深刻に機能不全に陥っており、道徳的・実務的な影響を伴います。以下に詳細を整理します。
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1. 構造的な影響
1. 固定化した競争と対立
• 時間とともに模倣欲望が増幅し、内部の恒常的な競争関係を生む。
• 個人や集団は協力よりも競争に固執するようになる。
2. スケープゴート（生贄）循環
• 長期的な模倣的緊張は、システム上の問題の責任を負わせるスケープゴートの出現を繰り返すことが多い。
• これにより秩序の幻想は保たれるが、根本的な嫉妬や競争関係は解決されないまま残る。
3. 有毒な文化
• 慢性的な嫉妬や対立が信頼、コミュニケーション、協働を蝕む。
• 組織規範は卓越や使命よりも競争、秘密主義、自己防衛に適応する。
4. 成長と革新の停滞
• 競争への恐れがリスクテイク、主体性、創造性を削ぐ。
• 優秀な人材は離職するか、関与を避けるようになる。
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2. 道徳的・倫理的影響
1. リーダーシップの責任
• 介入を怠るリーダーは、嫉妬、対立、スケープゴートの循環を放置した構造的責任を負う。
• 模倣的サイクルを無視することは、特に社会的・宗教的使命を持つ組織（教会、学校など）において倫理的怠慢である。
2. 個人の責任
• メンバーは参加、模倣、あるいは受動的な受容を通じて模倣的場に加担する。
• 沈黙や中立であっても、数十年にわたり競争や不正義を助長することがある。
3. 文化的病理
• 長年にわたり嫉妬や競争のパターンが常態化し、対立は避けられない、または容認されるものと認識されることがある。
• 組織は「関係性の病理」を抱え、責任感は希薄化し、アカウンタビリティは低下する。
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3. 長期的心理的影響
• メンバーの慢性的ストレス、不安、燃え尽き。
• 優秀または倫理的な人材の疎外。
• 使命や天職よりも比較・競争・生存のアイデンティティが強化される。
• 模倣的サイクルが自己増殖化し、新しいメンバーも既存の競争に巻き込まれる。
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4. ジラール理論的解釈
• このような組織は、競争を解決することなく、スケープゴートのメカニズムを外部化している。
• 模倣の三角関係が制度化され、システム自体が嫉妬、非難、対立を生み出す。
• 意図的な倫理的介入（境界設定、非競争的リーダーシップ、公正）のない場合、組織はこの循環から脱出できない可能性がある。
要するに：数十年にわたり模倣的場が放置されることは、単なる個人間の対立ではなく、構造的・倫理的・関係的な病理の兆候であり、リーダーシップと文化の失敗の表れである。
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5. 可能な対応策（ジラール理論的視点）
1. リーダーの自己省察と倫理的模範
• リーダーは非競争的に行動し、関係性のパターンに責任を持つ必要がある。
2. 明確な境界と公正でサイクルを断つ
• 公正な慣行と透明性のあるアカウンタビリティを確立する。
3. 欲望を競争ではなく使命へ向ける
• 内部競争から共有目標やより高い目的へのフォーカスに切り替える。
4. 文化の"デトックス"
• オープンな対話を促し、関係を修復し、スケープゴートのメカニズムを解体する。
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Sunday, November 16, 2025
Anima
Ora ci concentriamo sugli effetti teologico-dottrinali dell'oblio di questo principio salvifico fondamentale, individuando tre principali conseguenze nefaste dell'abbandono della teologia classica della salvezza dell'anima:
A) La perdita del senso del peccato (che poi è anche una della cause dello smarrimento del principio in esame);
B) L'abbandono della teologia spirituale e quindi della necessita di progredire nell'esercizio delle virtù puntando alla santità;
C) La subordinazione della contemplazione all'azione sfociante nel pragmatismo pastorale dei nostri tempi.
Se non bisogna più salvarsi l'anima o salvare le anime cosa si inizierà a salvare? Tutto, tranne l'anima. Perfino il mondo, lasciandolo però nel suo essere mondano e politico. Non è tutto ciò capovolgere il Cristianesimo?"
QUI e sotto il video integrale.
Luigi C.
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A) La perdita del senso del peccato (che poi è anche una della cause dello smarrimento del principio in esame);
B) L'abbandono della teologia spirituale e quindi della necessita di progredire nell'esercizio delle virtù puntando alla santità;
C) La subordinazione della contemplazione all'azione sfociante nel pragmatismo pastorale dei nostri tempi.
Se non bisogna più salvarsi l'anima o salvare le anime cosa si inizierà a salvare? Tutto, tranne l'anima. Perfino il mondo, lasciandolo però nel suo essere mondano e politico. Non è tutto ciò capovolgere il Cristianesimo?"
QUI e sotto il video integrale.
Luigi C.
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Invidia
Quanta sia la componente di invidia nel voto a sinistra lo hanno ben dimostrato gli studi di Victor Frankl, lo "psicologo nel lager".
Si badi, l'invidia è cosa diversa dalla gelosia. Il geloso vuole anche lui quel che concupisce negli altri. L'invidioso, invece, vuole abbattere il concupito al suo livello. Il primo sceglie: o fa il ladro o si rimbocca le maniche. In quest'ultimo caso la gelosia è una potente molla di elevazione che fa ben a tutta la società. Il secondo, al grido di "uguaglianza!" vuole trascinare tutti nel brago, credendo che davvero il mal comune sia mezzo gaudio.
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Si badi, l'invidia è cosa diversa dalla gelosia. Il geloso vuole anche lui quel che concupisce negli altri. L'invidioso, invece, vuole abbattere il concupito al suo livello. Il primo sceglie: o fa il ladro o si rimbocca le maniche. In quest'ultimo caso la gelosia è una potente molla di elevazione che fa ben a tutta la società. Il secondo, al grido di "uguaglianza!" vuole trascinare tutti nel brago, credendo che davvero il mal comune sia mezzo gaudio.
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Monday, November 10, 2025
Saturday, October 25, 2025
"Il Pirla" di Eugenio Montale
"Il Pirla" di Eugenio Montale
Prima di chiudere gli occhi mi hai detto pirla
una parola gergale
non traducibile
Da allora
me la porto addosso
come un marchio che resiste alla pomice
Ci sono anche altri pirla nel mondo
ma come riconoscerli?
I pirla non sanno di esserlo
Se pure ne fossero informati
tenterebbero di scollarsi
con le unghie
quello stimma.
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Montale 1971
La morte di Dio (SATURA I)
Tutte le religioni del Dio unico
sono una sola: variano i cuochi e le cotture.
Così rimuginavo; e m'interruppi quando
tu scivolasti vertiginosamente
dentro la scala a chiocciola della Périgourdine
e di laggiù ridesti a crepapelle.
Fu una buona serata con un attimo appena
di spavento. Anche il papa
in Israele disse la stessa cosa
ma se ne pentì quando fu informato
che il sommo Emarginato, se mai fu,
era perento.
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Tutte le religioni del Dio unico
sono una sola: variano i cuochi e le cotture.
Così rimuginavo; e m'interruppi quando
tu scivolasti vertiginosamente
dentro la scala a chiocciola della Périgourdine
e di laggiù ridesti a crepapelle.
Fu una buona serata con un attimo appena
di spavento. Anche il papa
in Israele disse la stessa cosa
ma se ne pentì quando fu informato
che il sommo Emarginato, se mai fu,
era perento.
iPhoneから送信
Saturday, October 18, 2025
Saturday, October 11, 2025
アウグスティヌス、『神の国』
①
もちろん、以下はアウグスティヌス『神の国』第13巻第18章の日本語訳の要約です。原文の哲学的・神学的な深みを保ちつつ、読みやすく整理しました：（copilot）
🌌 第18章：天に存在できないとされる地上の身体について
哲学者たちはこう主張します：
「地上の身体は自然の重さによって地に引き戻されるため、天に存在することはできない。」
これに対してアウグスティヌスは反論します：
✝️ キリストの昇天と復活の身体
- 最初の人間は「楽園」と呼ばれる豊かな森に住んでいた。
- キリストは肉体を持って天に昇った。
- 復活後の聖人たちの身体も、地上のものとは異なる性質を持つ。
🛠️ 人間の技術 vs 神の力
- 人間の技術でも、金属でできた器を水に浮かせることができる。
- ならば、神の隠された力によって、地上の身体が天に存在することはより信じるに値する。
🧠 魂と身体の関係
- 魂は身体を動かす力を持つ。健康なときは重い身体でも軽々と動かせる。
- つまり、重さよりも「調和」が重要である。
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直訳： それでも魂は、自らの肉体の四肢を、病弱で痩せているときよりも、健康でたくましいときの方が軽々と運ぶ。 そして他人が運ぶ場合には、健康で頑丈な人の身体の方が、痩せて病んだ人の身体よりも重く感じられるが、本人自身にとっては、病気や飢えで力がほとんどないときよりも、健康で肉付きが良いときの方が、自らの身体を動かし運ぶのに機敏である。 つまり、地上の身体を持つにあたっては、それがまだ腐敗し得るものであり、死すべきものであるとしても、重要なのは量的な重さではなく、調和のあり方である。 そして、今私たちが「健康」と呼ぶ状態と、将来の「不死」との間に、どれほどの違いがあるかを、誰が言葉で説明できるだろうか？ したがって、身体の重さについて語る哲学者たちは、私たちの信仰を論駁することはできない。 私は、なぜ彼らが地上の身体が天に存在し得ると信じないのかを問いただすつもりはない。なぜなら、地球全体が虚無の中に浮かんでいるのだから。 この一節は、身体の「重さ」が物理的な質量だけでなく、魂との関係性や健康状態によって変容することを示し、復活後の身体がいかにして天に存在し得るかを論じる重要な箇所です。 |
👼 天使と聖人の力
- 天使が地上の動物を持ち上げて移動させることができるなら、聖人の魂も神の恩恵によって身体を自由に動かせるはず。
🌍 地球の位置と重力
- 地球全体が「虚無の中に浮かんでいる」ならば、地上の身体が天に存在できないという議論は成り立たない。
- プラトンが語るように、神の意志によって生まれたものは滅びず、結びついたものは分離できない。
🔚 結論
神は人間の肉体から腐敗を取り除き、形や性質を保ちつつ、重さによる制限を取り払うことができる。
復活と不死の身体については、神が望めばこの著作の最後でさらに詳しく論じる、とアウグスティヌスは述べています。
②
もちろんです。以下はアウグスティヌス『神の国』第22巻第5章の日本語による要約です：
✝️ 第5章：世界が信じたにもかかわらず、なお信じない者たちについて──肉体の復活
アウグスティヌスは、キリストの肉体の復活と昇天がかつては信じがたいことであったにもかかわらず、今や世界中で信じられている事実を強調します。そして、これに関連する三つの「信じがたいこと」がすでに実現していると述べます：
1. キリストが肉体をもって復活し、天に昇ったこと
2. 世界がそのような信じがたいことを信じたこと
3. 卑しい身分で無学な少数の人々が、それを世界中に説得できたこと
これら三つのうち、最初のものを信じない者がいるが、第二のもの（世界が信じたこと）は否定できず、第三のもの（誰が説得したか）を否定すれば、第二のものの説明がつかないと論じます。
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直訳： キリストの肉体が天に昇ったこと──すなわち肉体の復活と天上の座への昇天──は、今や学ある者も無学な者も信じており、驚きつつも信じない者はごくわずかしか残っていない。 もしそれが「信じるに値すること」であったなら、信じない者たちはどれほど愚かであるかを知るべきである。 もしそれが「信じがたいこと」であったなら、それが信じられているという事実そのものがまた信じがたい。 つまり、「信じがたいことが信じられた」ということ自体が、もう一つの驚くべき事実なのだ。 このように、二つの信じがたいこと──すなわち「私たちの身体が永遠に復活すること」と「世界がそのような信じがたいことを信じるようになること」──は、神によって、どちらも起こると予告されていた。 そのうちの一つはすでに実現している。すなわち、かつては信じがたかったことを世界が信じた。 ならば、なぜもう一つが絶望視されるのか？ 世界がすでに信じたことが、かつては信じがたいことであったのだから、残る一つも実現するはずではないか？ この二つの信じがたいこと──そのうちの一つはすでに目にしており、もう一つは信じている──は、世界が信じるに至ったその聖なる書物において、どちらも予告されていたのである。 |
さらに、使徒たちが行った奇跡──異言を話す、病人を癒す、死者を蘇らせる──が信仰の説得力となったことを挙げ、これらの奇跡が実際に起こったと認めるならば、肉体の復活と昇天を信じる根拠は十分であると主張します。
そして最後に、もし奇跡がなかったとしても、世界がそれを信じたという事実そのものが、神の力による最大の奇跡であると締めくくります。
4世紀末にはキリスト教徒が帝国内の多数派となり、5世紀初頭には人口（約5,000万〜5,500万人と見積もられています。）の過半数以上がキリスト教徒だったと考えられます。
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