Creeds, Society, and Human Rights
Crahan, Margaret E.
Christianity & social vision CREEDS, SOCIETY, AND HUMAN RIGHTS A STUDY IN THREE CULTURES Max L. Stackhouse Eerdmans, $19.95, 315 pp. Margaret E. Crahan Books written with certainty tend...
...The second methodology used is labeled cross-sectional and aims at analyzing the dominant stuctures of a specific culture in order to establish universal elements without diminishing the individuality of that culture...
...And it has a place for human passion, human love, and human heartache...
...Some time before I finally converted to the Catholic faith, I found myself one morning in front of a French Catholic church in San Francisco...
...however, I am stunned that an article entitled "Spirituality in Ferment" [October 4], could possibly be published without any mention of women, changing images of God, and the host of issues that have truly been fermenting in the American church as women struggle to find the place God intended when they were created "in the image of God...
...Mary's College, Moraga, CA 94575, June 16-20...
...I view her writing as an example of the growing movement for "creative orthodoxy" now gaining prominence, often spearheaded by "reformed sinners...
...I think the church holds it to be a clear mistake to try to reach God by rejecting nature, and especially by rejecting nature's appointed Commonweal: 712 times for birth and love and death...
...I had been ruminating on intellectual things: the pope and politics...
...It was all a blatant celebration of the body in its deep joys and deeper pains...
...With my family I have worshipped in Anglican churches for periods of some length as well as on isolated occasions...
...I realize that an entire article was devoted to women, and it was well done...
...The effort is affected by biophysical environment, mythological or creedal assumptions, and individual and communal social interactions...
...CHARLES DAVIS Celebrate life Berkeley, Calif...
...In coming to this conclusion, Stackhouse is fulfilling a prime purpose in writing this book, namely, to try to convert the public to a commitment to reform societal structures according to a Christian vision, in order to achieve a more humane world...
...Maritain Notebooks, Jacques Maritain, 312 pages, $13.89 post, paid, is a new companion to Raissa's Journal, 400 pages, also $13.89...
...We hear frequent expressions of outrage among BECOME A COMMONWEAL ASSOCIATE Patron Member $200 or more Charter Member $100 Sustaining Member $50 Commonweal Associates, 232 Madison Ave...
...Cambridge, Mass...
...It is the mind of the church not to mess with Mother Nature...
...The third methodological approach used is evaluation...
...They are expressions of hatred for the innermost functions of the human body, for life itself...
...Will the next step be that Catholics will once again hesitate to come to funerals in Protestant churches or (as was the case when I was a kid) fear to enjoy the potluck suppers in the Baptist church basement...
...What's going on...
...Send lists or call: Erasmus Books, 1027 E. Wayne, South Bend, IN 46617...
...I also have good reason to be grateful to Anglicans for the practical and unpossessive friendship they have shown me...
...Bishops Pastoral on Concerns of Women Sacrament of wisdom Park Ridge, 111...
...New York, N.Y...
...If we become a church known only for social action—a noble and necessary addition since Vatican II—we are merely another goodwill agency...
...Together these processes and structures mold each society's operative concept of human rights...
...12208...
...Salary: Negotiable according to qualifications...
...Prospective starting date: September 1986...
...thomas w. case 'Creative orthodoxy' Los Angeles, Calif...
...RONDA CHERVIN Consultant to U.S...
...In this spirit may I recount that as an atheist college student in 1957, I was amazed and ecstatic when a friend told me that her doctor father had given her a new astounding pill which would enable her to have as much pre-marital sex as she wanted without fear of babies...
...Faculty: Donald Senior, Carolyn Osiek, Roland Murphy, Bruce Metzger, Reginald Fuller, Joseph Cunneen...
...A second objective is to reach students, whom Stackhouse feels are surprisingly unaware of the role of religion in history and the importance of Christianity in responding to economic, political, educational, and familial problems which in essence are human rights problems...
...The author posits that within different societies there are structurally similar functions, roles, and institutions created to meet social needs...
...Within each culture, the author identifies institutional sectors that meet specific social needs and that reflect the dominant creeds and forms of social bonding...
...Hence, while respecting unity in essentials, I feel free to choose inessentials according to my cultural background and identity...
...The author's conclusion is that Christianity succeeds in prompting societies to meet social needs better and hence promotes human rights more effectively than Marxism or Hinduism...
...I have never really felt too secure about my standing with the Curia, but I do hope Commonweal does not abandon me as well...
...I find this a bit sobering, not a very hopeful straw in the wind as we approach a synod which some fear will repeal many of the ecumenical advances of Vatican II...
...Artificial birth control, abortion, euthanasia, the cleavage of the sexual act from its intended result, unnecessary hysterectomies — all of these are violations of the human design...
...However, having made my way to acceptance of the teaching authority of the church by means of such logical thinkers (creatively orthodox) as Chesterton, Lewis, Newman, and von Hildebrand, I was more than ready to accept Humanae Vitae and to study with openness the books that began to emerge after Humanae Vitae by Derrick, von Hildebrand, Grisez, Anscombe, Shivinanden, Kippley, etc., showing how wrong contraceptives could be on all levels...
...Correspondence (Continued from page 690) be the "nod" part, and we shrug...
...I would only add what I also said in 1966 that those who remain have a special duty to oppose the untruth, injustice, and violations of human dignity in their church...
...PATRICIA A. SULLIVAN Unfinished business Montreal, Canada To the Editors: I must correct the statement of Jack Miles ["From the Council to the Synod," October 18] thatlbecame an Episcopalian...
...or call Collect (301)484-2250...
...Pheme Perkins: The Social and Moral World of St...
...Classified payable with order...
...When John XXIII opened the window, we all benefited from the fresh air that swept in...
...BLEEN REILLY, SSND Classified RATES: 700 a word, one time...
...Marxism is categorized as a religion, which Stackhouse defines as a broad metaphysical-moral vision...
...Has the enormous impact of Vatican II on all of us so shrunken in memory over twenty years that its review, revision, and possible recantation now seem to be a strictly Catholic affair...
...Reverence for the sacred is misappropriated for devotion to television and the movies...
...Boston Schools of Law, Management, Nursing, Education and Social Work, as well as the College and Graduate Schools of Arts and Sciences, an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer...
...Could he have foreseen Vatican II...
...Stackhouse came to this conclusion largely through comparative study of sectors of three distinct societies and their cultures...
...20 December 1985: 713...
...Institute Director Wanted Boston College Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry Director Position Available: Duties: Primarily responsible for the direction and continuing development of a large institute offering 4 graduate degrees in religious education and pastoral ministry, as well as a program in continuing education...
...Even as a Catholic convert, with oneyear-old twins, a miscarriage, and a doctor who suggested I recheck Catholic teaching and get on the pill, I was naive...
...is Jesus God...
...You ask what is the most essential unfinished business still facing the Catholic church today...
...This, as a consequence, is a book that reverses itself somewhat by concluding with an expression of support for a particular faith, rather than in a strong affirmation of the universality of human rights that transcends cultural and religious differences...
...Write: Br...
...When Jesus instituted the Eucharist during his final meal, he forced every "expert," every "theologian," every "activist" to make a choice, i.e., whether they would subordinate judgment to the priority of submission, the reception of his body...
...To the Editors: The differences of opinion of scholarly people make interesting reading...
...10016 Memberships in the Associates are tax-deductible Catholics at particular instances of ecclesiastical oppression, but the only consistently sustained criticism of the present set-up of the Catholic church is the feminist insistence on the absurdity and injustice today of having the Catholic church ruled by a male celibate clergy...
...The Catholic church talks much, but then contradicts in its structure, policy, and action what it says...
...ROSEMARIE BRICKLEY interest your series of articles leading up to the synod, including the round-up of some twenty opinions in your October 18 issue...
...By longitudinal, he means a search for the roots of ideas and social patterns that mold concepts of human rights...
...Send resume" or write to: Robert J. Daly, S.J., Boston College, Dept...
...Religious Community Considering Religious Life...
...Anglicans have achieved a distinctive quality of Christian life and love, which I admire...
...Used Books Permanent Want: Cathotic theology/ liturgy books of all kinds...
...Stackhouse uses as his point of departure the premise that society has to meet certain social needs that all humans have...
...Hence, the original hypotheses and inclinations of the author tend to influence substantially what is considered important in the interplay of factors over time...
...The author further believes that this doctrine of human rights is evolving into what might be thought of as a creed, a set of beliefs that is widely accepted and can be employed to determine ethical behavior for both individuals and communities...
...of Theology, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167...
...All the same, though I have considered the possibility, I have never formally become an Anglican...
...It is not a historical recreation of the past, but rather a selective extrapolation which the analyst deems to have explanatory relevance...
...In brief, the differences among the major Christian denominations are to me of no greater importance than that between communities of the same denomination...
...While they were not so identified, all the writers in the October 18 issue appeared to me to be Catholics...
...It sounded pretty good to me...
...The reason is partly that the formal process for entering any particular Christian denomination is meaningless to me, and partly that the Anglican identity is not my own, however much I respect it...
...How refreshing to read the constructive remarks of those who remain devoted to the church, in spite of its adolescent flounderings and serendipitous liturgies...
...They represent the medical arm of the same Dr...
...The "happy chat" Mass does exist, "egocentrism" abounds, and a "sense of holiness" is truly difficult to find...
...While what he affirms about the relationship between Christianity and human rights is insightful, he tends in his conclusions to diminish the contributions of other religions to the universality of human rights...
...I still find it most distressing to find dissenters from Humanae Vitae who have never read these books or any defending the position of the magisterium, and who take it for granted that Natural Family Planning is a farce in spite of non-Catholic medical studies of its effectiveness...
...we have a tough decision to make about where to hold the car wash the youth committee is having this Saturday...
...That stuff about 'discipleship,' I mean...
...Of all the contributors, Keith Burris speaks most eloquently with more seriousness than satire...
...Deadline for submission of resume': January 1, 1986...
...The church contains the whole of what is human, as God contains the whole of the universe...
...What I saw as I walked through the doors was shocking — every available space was jammed with alabaster Christs with crimson paint dripping down their faces, Marys with rosy cheeks and rosaries hanging from their arms, saints and technicolor angels...
...To Stackhouse, the existence of human rights implies that there is a universal moral order in which all peoples and societies exist...
...Where will it end...
...To the Editors: It was refreshing to read Juli Loesch's frank piece [October 18] on her negative experiences and assessments of contraception...
...They're doing it because, as one of them said, "Isn't this what it's all about...
...Such is the case with this book, which views human rights as rooted in creed and social membership...
...Stackhouse's view of the nature and origins of human rights is generally narrower than that of most scholars...
...Write: Sister Miriam Ward...
...Priesthood Desire Priesthood...
...If it is closed we will all begin to suffocate again...
...They exist on three levels — the material, the associational, and the ideational...
...1-800-633-2252, Father Nigro, Gonzaga University, Spokane 99258...
...HARVEY COX Harvard Divinity School Closing the windows...
...Timothy McCarthy...
...Albany, N.Y...
...It is a Catholic theological perspective, the "preferential option for the poor," which has become the dominant theological mood in the member churches of the World Council of Churches...
...Death who hovers over the machinery of Total War...
...I remain distressed by the passive submission of many to the attitudes and actions of their ecclesiastical organization...
...That, also, is an opinion about the results of Vatican II...
...Biblical Institute 21 st Biblical Institute, Trinity College, Burlington, VT 05401, June 15-20, 1986...
...That car wash is, therefore, important because the kids are doing it without being ordered to do it...
...The author's intention in doing this is to help prepare church leaders to be better equipped to deal with critical problems of modern society...
...ability to hold senior faculty rank in the Theology Dept...
...However, at the end of his highly complex analytical journey through three separate cultures, the author expresses far more certainty of vision than the REVIEWERS ROBERT JONES, a frequent contributor to these pages, works for a major publisher in New York City...
...It is sad enough to have those Catholic and Protestant scholars who teach in each other's seminaries opening their mail with trepidation lest some curial agent may be informing them they should no longer be teaching there...
...There is much good will and effort on the part of bishops to do what is required, but their best initiatives flounder because an obsolete authority structure both prevents creative innovation and destroys plausibility...
...To the Editors: Juli Loesch's defense of the much abused and largely ignored Humanae Vitae [October 18] hit a nerve with me...
...Magi Books, Inc...
...Do the editors of Commonweal believe, or think their readers believe, it doesn't really matter what the rest of us think about this...
...Through a map of these elements, Stackhouse compares the evolution of human rights in Christianity as it exists in the U.S., in Marxism as it exists in Hast Germany, and in Hinduism as it exists in India...
...In fact, Stackhouse regards the increased focus on human rights in recent years as indicating the growth of a universal "doctrine" of human rights that contradicts utilitarianism and theories that emphasize relativism in behavioral norms...
...We have all learned so much and been so powerfully cheered by the revival that has taken place in the Catholic church, worldwide...
...Have I missed it, or have you for some reason not asked any non-Catholics for their views on this subject...
...Each was analyzed via what Stackhouse categorizes as a longitudinal, crosssectional, and evaluational methodology...
...On another point Jack Miles has hit the mark in saying that I did not claim that it was necessary to leave the Catholic church, but only that it was not necessary to stay in it...
...It is bad enough to watch John Paul II solemnly declare that non-Catholic Christians have to be approached in "a missionary spirit...
...Let us regain our spirituality and reverence, and heed the criticism so valiantly stated by these writers...
...There are more important things to do than to worry about Ratzinger papering the house, writing the agenda, and having general hysterics over whatever it is he's afraid of today...
...But in all those words of wisdom ["From the Council to the Synod," October 18], none commented on Christ's strategy for laying the foundation for unity and continuity in his church...
...Qualifications: Knowledge of and commitment to the Pastoral and Ecumenical dimensions of the Catholic tradition of theology, education and ministry...
...Write Fr...
...Dennis P. McCANN the author (with Charles Strain) of Polity and Praxis: A Program for American Practical Theology (Winston-Seabury), teaches business ethics and related topics at DePaul University in Chicago...
...You see, the kids want to give the money they earn to somebody who needs it badly...
...630, six times...
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...These include the United States, Eastern Germany, and India...
...Bill Axe, The Trinitarian Friars, P.O...
...the theory of monks...
...EDWARD F. HALPIN Missing the obvious Boston, Mass...
...Hence, while Stackhouse's book is stimulating, it ultimately judges nonChristian cultures and societies as deficient...
...219) 232-8444...
...In addition, there are three distinct structural types: interpersonal, civilizational, and collective...
...Theology Workshop 22nd Theology Workshop, St...
...Completed B.A...
...MARGARET E. CRAHAN is Luce Professor of Religion, Power and the Political Process at Occidental College in Los Angeles...
...We are as bureaucratic as ever under a new guise...
...of the University, with scholarly accomplishments in one of the fields of pastoral studies or in a field of theology intimately related to the life of the Church...
...Commonweal: 710 reader has derived from the text...
...Her books include Human Rights and Basic Needs in the Americas (Georgetown University Press...
...660, three times...
...To the Editors: As an avid Commonweal reader for what must be decades now I have naturally been following with keen 20 December 1985: 711 More than good works Kailua, Hawaii To the Editors: I applaud Commonweal's "From the Council to the Synod" [October 18...
...Margaret E. Crahan Books written with certainty tend to have considerable vitality...
...The only real success for the forthcoming synod would be if the bishops were to tear apart that synod's present structure...
...monthly in advance for more than three times...
...I suggest that the great unfinished business is for the church to create in its own structure and life a model of community, which will serve to guide and sustain the building of human community in this divided world...
...The question posed here is whether Christianity, Marxism, or Hinduism more adequately deals with the fundamental structures of human life...
...One thing about this Catholic church, I figured (once I had recovered from my shock): It looks birth and death right in the eye, and doesn't blink...
...To the Editors: I have enjoyed Commonweal's attempts to "chart a course from the council to the synod," and appreciate much of the material contained in this series of articles...
...Founded to ransom slaves, our small community of men have grounded our lives and our work of liberation in fraternity, prayer, and the Bible for over 800 years...
...Her notion of the "inviolability of the human design" is indeed the mind of the church...
...Paul...
...Over 30...
Vol. 112 • December 1985 • No. 22
