Continental Philosophy and Catholic Theology

Dear Colleagues,

The advent of Continental philosophy offers Catholic theologians a decisive and evocative opportunity to develop the language of faith. This opportunity is decisive because the inherent imagination of phenomenology, ontology and metaphysical ethics creates a vision to communicate the mission and identity of the Church with boldness and hope. This opportunity is evocative because Continental philosophy invites, as it were, the fresh air of the Spirit of Pentecost to animate and enliven the soul of life with the shuddering force of divine sensibility to work and walk together with Christ towards a new world, an age of love in the Kingdom of God.

Catholic theology is decisive in its intent to discover a rational means of speaking about God as much as resounds in the character of the Bible. From the Apostolic Fathers, Apologists and Church Fathers to Medieval, Modern and Contemporary Theologians, the current of progress has been the light of faith and reason actively focused to reveal the truth of the Gospel: “In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance … In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1: 11, 13). Accordingly, theologians and philosophers have before them an inheritance of the goodness and breadth of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. Every generation of scholars must keep the sanctity of study alive, to run to the house of study as it were.

Catholic Theology inherits much from the Jewish tradition and charism of scholarship and, like Judaism, has set about to encounter the wisdom and challenges of various philosophies developed through the ages from the Ancient Greeks and today—for example, from Continental and Analytic philosophies. Still, such “inheritance” can do well to go beyond and find resonance with Indian philosophies and Confucianism, for instance. At the same time, let us be reminded by the sense of “inheritance” in its Christian and Jewish tradition articulated by Matthew and the Psalmist: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matt 5:5; Ps. 37:11).

Theologians and philosophers have before them a charism of the gentleness of study to make sense of the “earth”, to cultivate the barren “lands” and envision an Eden of surprise, purpose, imagination and creativity: “For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song” (Isa 51:3). To “comfort Zion” and to comfort the “People of God”, both theologians and philosophers are called to work together to create possibilities to make theology “fertile” in every age. Bearing the mysteries of the faith, theologians, animated by the energies of philosophers (as much as artists, poets and musicians), are almost the hidden keepers of faith in the Church. Gentleness awakens the theological imagination to share fragments of the wisdom of love and moments of grace, to give heart to the human will and soul to discover new ways for peace and dialogue in a turbulent and troubled world.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide a time to reflect upon the Church’s position in contemporary society and to remember and give new life to the traditions of sacred learning. Here, amidst study and research, comes a crooked pathway to invite God into the language of faith and beliefs and to give a sense of purpose: “the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Lk 3:5-6). There are many areas for Catholic theologians and philosophers to address, for there are two thousand years of Christian theological and philosophical tradition resting on another two thousand years of Jewish writing, scholarship, vision and tradition.

Reflecting on “Cooperation of the Human Family” and “solidarity”, Pope Benedict XVI states: “Pope Paul VI noted that ‘the world is in trouble because of the lack of thinking’. He was making an observation, but also expressing a wish: a new trajectory of thinking is needed …. This is a task that … metaphysics and theology is needed if man's transcendent dignity is to be properly understood” (Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, no. 53). Let us then listen to Pope Benedict XVI and move towards a future world of good, bold, critical, searching and heartfelt thinking, of bringing Catholic theology and Continental philosophy together to forge pathways towards the newness of the Kingdom of God wherein “new wine must be put into fresh wineskins” (Lk 5:38).

Of particular interest are original research papers that explore the following topics:

• The challenge of dialogue and peace in the world;
• Synodality, unity or schism: Vatican III on the horizon;
• The crisis of Christian beliefs today in the Catholic Church;
• Emmanuel Levinas and Catholic theology;
• Theological ethics;
• Continental philosophy and practical/pastoral theology;
• The influence of Jewish European thinkers on the development of Catholic theology;
• Phenomenology, ontology and Catholic theology;
• Continental philosophy developing Catholic theology, e.g., Ecclesiology, Mariology, Eschatology, Trinity, and the Paschal mystery;
• Charity in truth: integral human development;
• Facing a world of war and polarization: philosophical and theological responses;
• Continental philosophy and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition;
• Catholic universities: “Born from the heart of the Church”;
• God’s transcendence as opposed to ideology, idolatry and false forms of holiness;
• Theology or theologies?;
• Catholic theology in an age of optimism, secularism and indifference;
• Catholic social teaching, human fraternity and care for the environment;
• Surveillance, information technology and artificial intelligence: philosophical and theological perspectives;
• Discovering new expressions of Continental philosophy for Catholic theology;
• Continental philosophy and the ecclesiologies of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis;
• Approaching the limits of phenomenology: What is Catholic theology hoping for?

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor ([email protected]) or to the Religions editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring their proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. Thank you for your consideration.

References:

Burggraeve, Roger. 2020. To Love Otherwise: Essays in Bible Philosophy and Ethics. Leuven: Peeters.

Grossman, Vasily. 2006. Life and Fate. Trans. Robert Chandler. London: Vintage.

Gregory P. Floyd and Stephanie Rumpza. 2020. The Catholic Reception of Continental Philosophy in North America. Toronto: The University of Toronto Press.

Levinas, Emmanuel. 1998. Otherwise than Being or Beyond Essence. Trans. Alphonso Lingis. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.

Marion, Jean-Luc. 2002. Prolegomena to Charity. Trans. Stephen Lewis. New York: Fordham University Press.

Morrison, Glenn. 2023. “A Spiritual Theology of Integral Human Development: To Grow in Holiness”. Religions Vol. 14: 1233, 1-16.

Morrison, Glenn. 2023. “A Spiritual Theology of Synodality: Towards a Thinking Heart in Catholic Education”. Religions Vol. 14, no. 201: 1-12.

Morrison, Glenn. 2013. A Theology of Alterity: Levinas, von Balthasar and Trinitarian Praxis. Pittsburgh PA: Duquesne University Press.

Morrison, Glenn. 2023. “Pastoral Theology and the Little Goodness: Rejoice and Be Glad with the Voice of Song”. Journal of Ecumenical Studies Vol. 58, no.4: 544-563.

Morrison, Glenn, Editor. 2024. Continental Philosophy and Christian Beliefs. Special Issue Reprint. Basel, Switzerland: Religions, MDPI Books. https://www.mdpi.com/books/reprint/9628-continental-philosophy-and-christian-beliefs.  

Oltvai, Kristóf. 2018. “Bergoglio among the Phenomenologists: Encounter, Otherness, and Church in Evangelii Gaudium and Amoris laetitia”. Open Theology, vol. 4, no. 1: 316–324.

Pope Benedict XVI. 2009. Caritas in veritate [Charity in Truth] (7 July 2009). Encyclical Letter. Available online: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate.html.

Pope Francis. Gaudete Et Exsulate, Apostolic Exhortation. Vatican website, 19^th March, 2018, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20180319_gaudete-et-exsultate.html.

Vanlaere, Linus, Burggraeve, Roger and Lategan, Laetus O.K. 2019. Vulnerable Responsibility: Small Vice for Caregivers. Bloemfontein, South Africa: Sun Press.

Veling, Terry. 2005. Practical Theology: “On Earth as It Is in Heaven”. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

Dr. Glenn Morrison
Guest Editor

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• Christianity
• Catholic
• continental philosophy
• theology
• metaphysics
• mystery
• phenomenology
• synodality
• truth
• wisdom