Correspondence: Thresholds & theologies
Ach, himmel! The cartoon politicians in your issue of December 3, 1999 [page 19], who enter the Reichstag fearful that a cry of "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Furher [sic]" will land them in trouble...
...I'm disappointed that Father Newman found the article to be yet another symptom of the decline of Western civilization...
...Could the same apply to "symbol...
...Chicago, IlL The writer is senior professor of theology at Loyola University Chicago...
...As ! wrote in the essay, Weigel's book "has many fine things in it," but it is too adulatory and too long...
...Add gin & a slice of lime How little we know each other even after all these years...
...REV...
...or e.maih commonweal@msn.com Pricing (includes shipping and handling for domestic orders...
...But it's not a new idea and the pope is far from the only person to express such convictions...
...The pleasure principle...
...ls it "unworthy of a Catholic theologian to write'mere symbol...
...For John Cavadini to write "mere symbol" is unworthy of a Catholic theologianpardonable, perhaps, but a misguided concession to rationalism...
...A blessed and typo-free millennium...
...ROBERT P. IMBELLI Newton Centre, Mass...
...It's utterly true that "[1]ove is opposed to (Continued on page 4) Commonweal 2 January 14, 2000 (Continued from page 4) selfishness and to using anyone else as a means of self-gratification or self-fulfillment...
...The cartoon politicians in your issue of December 3, 1999 [page 19], who enter the Reichstag fearful that a cry of "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Furher [sic]" will land them in trouble are, of course, correct...
...The pope's positive remarks about love and sex don't make his arguments about contraception any more persuasive...
...This is not surprising...
...Tonic for a parched soul...
...Paul Baumann on George Weigel's biography of John Paul II is a revelation...
...11-25:$3.00 ea...
...Whatever shortcomings liberal Catholicism may display, detailed refutation of the church's teaching on contraception is not among them...
...REV...
...Whether Roger Haight pulls off his daim that Jesus' relatedness to the Father can be done justice by means of "symbol" remains to be seen, at least by me...
...I never realized what a humorist Paul Baumann can be until I read his "Notebook" [December 3,1999] on the pope's ideas about conjugal love...
...Accordingly, nowhere does the magisterium teach: 'Jesus is God...
...It is my impression that God joined sex to laughter as truly as he commanded the first couple to be mirthful and multiply...
...JAY SCOTT NEWMAN Charleston, S.C...
...no Catholic theologian can afford to reduce what the creed says to something a little more manageable for purposes of debate...
...Only if in an unqualified, absolute way...
...that face us, but to put them in high relief...
...And that's only three wonderful features...
...But seriously--if Father Newman insistsmy little essay was an effort to introduce a note of levity into the discussion of sex I found in Weigel's book...
...I always thought there was something...about that "worship...with one's body," and now I find it stated in a voice more powerful than my own...
...As for the charge of rationalism, my review explicitly defends the way in which faith should restructure the categories of reason, and in particular defends mysteries which Haight's Christology sets aside (the mystery of the Theotokos, and of God's suffering as a human being in time), but which the traditional formulas are meant to preserve...
...Their plight, however, seems more lingnistic than political...
...And it's nice to hear from Jo McGowan as a person (I've used other of her writings as examples in class) and as a commentator on U.S./world education...
...FRANZJO SEF VAN BEECK, S.J...
...ANDREW A. GALLIGAN Tracy, Calif...
...Rather than engage the ideas offered in John Paul's "Theology of the Body," Baumann merely sneers at what he evidently considers papal naivet6, and instead of arguments offered to demonstrate where Weigel's reading of the pope is defective, Baumann only ridicules the suggestion that all human life---and therefore human sexuality--is grounded on the Law of the Gift...
...even atheists have been known to harbor such sentiments...
...REV...
...Suffice it to say, the Law of the Gift and the pleasure principle are not the only alternatives we have to choose from...
...What we disagree about is whether contraception transforms marital sex into sinful self-gratification...
...51-100:$2.50 ea...
...Reason to renew The December 3, 1999 issue provided more than enough reason to renew my subscription...
...It was the most hilarious piece I've seen in a Catholic magazine in ages...
...The teaching of the Catholic church is that the Lord Jesus Christ is "God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God...
...call toll-free: 1 (888) 495-6755...
...ROGER J. LANDRY Vatican City Sex & the pope In the issue of November 19, 1999, Cardinal Francis George declared that liberal Catholicism is an exhausted project, and even Peter Steinfels acknowledged internal disintegration from intellectual poverty in that venerable old house...
...I feel compelled to note, however, that nowhere does he mention, let alone defend, the pope's views on contraception...
...It deserves to be made required reading for every student of Catholic moral theology...
...In any case, it is worth remembering that the great Athanasius himself made his peace with the Homoiousians...
...Keep up the good work...
...Defending Weigel & JP II Paul Baumann's "Crossing the Threshold" describes his encounter with George Weigel's Witness to Hope as a "titanic struggle" and "not a light penance...
...And Richard Hanson's The Searth for the Christian Doctrine of God remains worth rereading...
...Without providing serious alternatives to John Paul's ideas, Baumann leaves the impression that the best liberal Catholicism can do these days is defend the ersatz understanding of sexuality offered by the sexual revolution...
...Whatever a Christian says about Christ is essentially specified by the profession of an inextricable and mutual bond between Jesus Christ and the Living God...
...The author replies: How about the "Get a Sense of Humor" principle...
...Way to go: Simple truth is often more powerful than rhetoric...
...The r e v i e w e r replies: If "true God from true God" is not sufficient (though I'm not sure why it would not be), there is the formula of Chalcedon ("Our Lord Jesus Christ is true God and true man"), Leo's Tome, ('qArho is true God, and the same is true man"), and the Sixth Ecumenical Council ("Our Lord Jesus Christ is true God, our God, One of the Holy Trinity...
...Rahner's famous essay on the theology of symbol certainly suggests the possibility...
...JOHN CAVADINI Commonweal 4 January 14, 2000...
...I found the papal biography to be one of the most enjoyable and grace-filled reads of the year...
...If human sexual behavior is not governed by the Law of the Gift, then what does govern it...
...2-10:$3.50 ea...
...in reply I explained that we speak in metaphors not to reduce the ontological intensity of the faith-realities The special 75th anniversary double issue of Commonweal (November 19, 1999) on the CRISIS OF LIBERAL CATHOLICISM offers a stimulating, multi-faceted discussion, featuring: Cardinal Francis George, Peter Steinfels, John Noonan, John McGreevy, and E.J...
...My point was carefully controlled, namely, that one particular definition of symbol (Haight's), used in one particular way (of Jesus, to explain the central Chi'istian claim about him), ends up making Jesus "merely a symbol" because the definition cannot adequately distinguish Jesus, whom the grammar of Christian faith calls "God," from any other symbol of God, living or inanimate, in Christianity or any other religion, and in fact succeeds only in separating "Jesus" from "God...
...Love is opposed to selfishness and to using anyone else as a means to self-gratification or self-fulfillment...
...Perhaps Baumann believes that human sexuality is about something other than interpersonal communion created by mutual self-donation, but he doesn't say exactly what that is...
...I have been accused, in learned company, of "reducing the faith to a bunch of metaphors...
...Father Landry's concerns are roughly parallel to Father Newman's...
...And whereas Baumann sarcastically ridicules the work's presentation of John Paul II's "Theology of the Body," I found Weigel's concise, clear, and accurate presentation of the quinquennium of catechetical addresses perhaps the greatest triumph and contribution of a work filled with so many of them...
...JOAN HUBER Allison Park, Pa...
...over 100 $2.25 ea...
...In my ten years of studying and teaching the pope's theology of the body and catecheses on human love, with high school and university students, engaged and married couples, Catholics and atheists, I have witnessed what Weigel describes as this "theological time bomb" detonate within so many varied hearts and minds...
...In the issue of December 3, Paul Baumann provides ample evidence of the decline...
...PAUL BAUMANN Who is Jesus...
...26-50:$2.75 ea...
...The pope's genius, which Weigel captures, is in integrating the Christian notion of human love----giving one's life to and for another--within the context of the experience of life and love as a whole...
...it would lighten his/her load considerably...
...t have not yet read Roger Haight's book, yet I wish John Cavadini [Correspondence, November 19,1999] had been a bit more carefi~l when he wrote that "Jesus not only mediates God, but also/s God...
...I will be happy to debate the claims of my review in more detail with Father van Beeck when he has read the book that elicited them...
...fax" (212) 662-4183...
...The editorial, "Mandate from Rome," is honest, if discouraging, especially to one who teaches in a state school...
...To order, write Commonweal 475 Riverside Drive, Room 405, NY, NY 10015...
...In his "Crossing the Threshold" column, Baumann takes to task both John Paul II and his recent biographer, George Weigel, for an unrealistic treatment of human sexuality...
...foreign orders require an additional $1 shipping charge per copy): 1 copy : $4.50...
...There are other authorities as well, but these should suffice...
...Dionne, Jr...
Vol. 127 • January 2000 • No. 1
