L O G O S

Updated Blog Now At: oswaldsobrino.blogspot.com

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 22:53:00 +0000

For updated blog posts, please go to http://oswaldsobrino.blogspot.com. The blog at this particular address will no longer be updated, but will remain available because of its archives dating back to 2002.

Says It All

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 02:02:00 +0000

THE POPE'S LETTER TO CARDINALS TO BE ELECTED ON 22 FEBRUARY

Vatican City, 13 January 2014 (VIS) – Published below is the letter sent today by the Holy Father to the future cardinals to be created on 22 February, whose names were announced publicly following the Angelus prayer on Sunday.

“Dear brother,

“On the day that your designation as part of the College of Cardinals is made public, I wish to send you a cordial greeting along with the guarantee of my closeness and prayer. It is my hope that, joined with the Church of Rome and “clothed in the virtues and sentiments of the Lord Jesus”, you may help me with fraternal efficacy in my service to the Universal Church.

“The cardinalship does not imply promotion; it is neither an honour nor a decoration; it is simply a service that requires you to broaden your gaze and open your hearts. And, although this may appear paradoxical, the ability to look further and to love more universally with greater intensity may be acquired only by following the same path of the Lord: the path of self-effacement and humility, taking on the role of a servant. Therefore I ask you, please, to receive this designation with a simple and humble heart. And, while you must do so with pleasure and joy, ensure that this sentiment is far from any expression of worldliness or from any form of celebration contrary to the evangelical spirit of austerity, sobriety and poverty.

“Until we meet, then, on 20 February, when our two days of reflection on the family commence. I remain at your disposal and ask you, please, to pray for me and to ask for prayers on my behalf.

May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin protect you.”

Early on Holy Thursday Foot Washing

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 11:45:00 +0000

In about 3 months, it starts all over again: whose feet will the Pope wash on Holy Thursday, April 17, 2014?

Well, here is my proactive page on the issue:

Foot Washing Page.

The Picture Says It All: This Papacy Is About Mercy and Reaching Out

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 20:07:00 +0000

The Manifestation (or Epiphany)

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 14:27:00 +0000

The three kings of the East visited over the weekend. In Hispanic cultures (possibly also in other cultures of which I am ignorant), children put straw for the camels in their shoes. The camels eat the straw overnight, and the kings leave gifts for the children. Only then has the Christmas season ended.

One of the benefits of so much immigration from Latin America may be that we Americans might take up this custom. It sure puts a different spin on events from a Santa Claus in whom St. Nicholas is hardly recognizable. I myself reinstituted this custom of "straw in the shoes" with my own children, as I fondly recalled how my parents as Cuban immigrants taught us to carry it out before Santa Claus took over even in my household.

The Pope's comments on Epiphany are, as usual, insightful for all of us, whether believers or not:

On the feast of the Epiphany, as we recall Jesus' manifestation to humanity in the face of a Child, may we sense the Magi at our side, as wise companions on the way", concluded the Holy Father. "Their example helps us to lift our gaze towards the star and to follow the great desires of our heart. They teach us not to be content with a life of mediocrity, of 'playing it safe', but to let ourselves be attracted always by what is good, true and beautiful. ... by God, who is all of this, and so much more! And they teach us not to be deceived by appearances, by what the world considers great, wise and powerful. ... We must press on towards Bethlehem, where, in the simplicity of a dwelling on the outskirts, beside a mother and father full of love and of faith, there shines forth the Sun from on high, the King of the universe. By the example of the Magi, with our little lights, may we seek the Light and keep the faith".

(Here ends the quote from Pope Francis' Homily for Epiphany, January 5, 2014, found in the Vatican Information Service article dated 1/6/14; the Vatican Information Service newsletter is a free email service that you can subscribe to at this link. It's a good way to avoid the misleading internet commentary of many supposedly Catholic commentators.)

Yes:

1. Do not be content with a life of mediocrity. The commencement speakers are right: follow your passion for the true, the good, and the beautiful. If you fail--if "failure" even makes any sense to anyone who is on the road toward the good, try another route.

2. Be shrewd, cunning, and astute enough (as the Pope says in the parts of his message not quoted above) to avoid the gloom, suspicion, and envy of Herod's palace. There are many Herodian palaces all around us. They look quite lavish, large, and even magnificent. But they are full of darkness. The shrewd know how to take a route, as the Pope says, around such places and to avoid becoming their prisoners. Anyone with even some life experience can likely think of examples of such Herodian palaces in his own personal history. I like to compare such shrewdness and cunning to the American strategy against the Japanese in World War II: "island-hopping." Jump over and around the Herodian palaces to avoid getting bogged down in the swamps of gloom where we suffer high casualties, and instead keep heading toward your ultimate goals.

3. Let us press on to Bethlehem and to Nazareth. Those are the places where we want to be: places free of status-seeking, of conspicuous material consumption, of envy, of insecurities, of cynicism, of sarcasm, of unending comparisons and obsessively compulsive nit-picking criticisms, of fear, of traps, and of people seeking to humiliate or embarrass or control others. Seek the Bethlehems and Nazareths that can be found everywhere people are generous, positive, grateful, friendly, joyful, humble, authentically honorable and dignified. Seek the places of magnanimity. Then you will be able to help others on the way also find similar places.

This message tugs at the hearts of all human beings. We Christians diplomatically propose Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as the historical models of all these good things.

(Images under fair use doctrine via Vatican Information Service and AP)

The Best Favor to Extremism: Kindly Disagree

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 20:48:00 +0000

Extremism is very common in the internet and the rest of the media. You get a lot of twitter followers and blog readers by becoming a caricature--whether of the right or of the left. You find the extremist phenomenon in politics, in religion, and in the mixture of both that is common among American rightwingers.

Even in private life, you sometimes are faced with expressions of extreme, almost paranoid, views of events.

What can you do? The golden mean of Aristotle, the qualitative excellence of genuine moderation, is mocked by extremists. Moderates are weak appeasers, too obtuse to see the stakes.

Well, I am a moderate in pursuit of the qualitative rational excellence of the golden mean in many disputes, whether political or religious. The best favor moderates can do to extremists is to be assertively and forthrightly moderate. Reason is usually on the side of the golden mean. Be assertive about your moderation. You are providing a dose of sanity to ideologists of all stripes.

So sometimes you just have to calmly tell someone, for his own good: "I disagree. Is it OK to disagree?" Sometimes they will take it well, other times they will be in shock.

But it is a good lesson to give anyone: other people and other views exist. Recognize that reality and deal with it intelligently and kindly. Do not retreat from reality into the mindlessness of ideological fanaticism--whether it is a form of hypernationalism or of Tea Party politics or of religious fanaticism.

Virtue lies in moderation. Barry Goldwater had it all wrong when he famously said that "extremism in defence of liberty is no vice." As usual in a misleading statement, the assumption involved is not openly defined. Goldwater assumed that "liberty" was equivalent to what his own very particular American version of rightwing politics celebrated. Liberty includes much more than that because it belongs to all human beings and to all cultures and existed well before modern capitalism. In addition, liberty is not just for me and my views, but also for the other and his views. That means that I must eschew extremism and learn to listen and learn from the other and be very skeptical about ideological claims to have uniquely and completely tapped into the ultimate truth.

I used to be a law clerk for a federal judge many years ago. I recall, with a smile, that he made sure that witnesses sworn to testify in his courtroom were not asked to swear to the "whole truth," because, as he said, no one knows the whole truth. Instead, you swore to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. The whole truth is only in the mind of God. Our minds cannot compete. The most religious should be the first to recognize this fact.

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

Winston Churchill

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/winstonchu100446.html#0YSHs3vObwBuqGjY.99

(Image is used via fair use doctrine and/or public domain; the Greek word in the chart means "vanity." Source of image is at Google books link.)

My Year End Summary

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 18:41:00 +0000

You will see many reviews of 2013 in the coming days. Here is mine in list form.

1. Yes, Time magazine was right. Pope Francis is indeed the Person of the Year. From the first time I saw him step out on the balcony, my heart leaped as he bowed and asked for the blessing of the crowds waiting to see the new pope before he gave his own blessing to the same crowds.

The cardinals chose a translucent Christian. By that phrase, I mean someone who, like a sacrament, radiates Jesus of Nazareth (Webster's: "permitting the passage of light"--yes, of the Light). Now, there are millions of Christians and many, many Catholic clergymen. But not enough are translucently Christian. It makes a big difference. Too often, the conventionally devout and pious simply radiate judgment and "correctionitis" tinged with patronizing, self-righteous disdain and even cynicism. Even worse, often the alleged corrections themselves are mistaken.

2014 offers the opportunity to be translucently Christian like Francis. Or we can simply be "opaque Christians" (Webster's: opacity = being "impervious to . . . light"--the Light).

2. The Tea Party irrationality collapsed in an ignominious budget showdown with the Democrats. Fools were exposed. That is always a good thing. And, although I do not agree with any mandate that violates religious freedom, I, as the American Catholic bishops do, think that the greater availability of health insurance for those uninsured or underinsured is a good thing.

3. Finally, what cannot be described here are all the good things that happened in my life and in yours over 2013. They are not "newsworthy" for the world, but they are for us. So, fill in this space with your own great and good experiences in 2013. As for me, I again enjoyed my vocation of teaching and writing. I enjoyed the blessings of friendship. I enjoyed the opportunity to travel to wonderful places. As a lover of the humanities, I enjoyed the opportunity to learn more and more about what matters in life.

2013 was a good year.

From Dickens for Year's End

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 18:56:00 +0000

“Christmas was close at hand, in all his bluff and hearty honesty; it was the season of hospitality, merriment, and open-heartedness; the old year was preparing, like an ancient philosopher, to call his friends around him, and amidst the sound of feasting and revelry to pass gently and calmly away.” – The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

And remember to spot and call out the many foolish statements "in a Pickwickian sense" that many idling minds will throw out in 2014. It is inevitable.

(Quote found at Oxford University Press Blog)

My Modest Proposal for the Supreme Court

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 20:09:00 +0000

Why not make the office of justice on the U.S. Supreme Court an elected position? Here is the logic. We really have three "houses" of Congress: the House of Representatives, the Senate, and, in practice, the Supreme Court. All three really participate in making law. In effect, the Supreme Court is a de facto part of the legislative branch.

At one time, Senators were not elected directly but by state legislatures. That changed in 1913 via the 17th Amendment. Thus, arguably, the logical next step is to extend the same principle of direct election to what is, for all practical purposes, the "third house" of Congress: the Supreme Court. And, after all, we are very used to electing state supreme court justices.

One benefit may be more educational diversity on the Supreme Court. The media have pointed out that the Ivy League is tremendously overrepresented, as are elite educational institutions in general (see N.Y. Times link). This educational elitism is not the mark of a great nation proud of its broad equality of opportunity for all. In addition, as the nation becomes more ethnically diverse, we may get more than one or two token ethnic justices with direct election.

Of course, this proposal, in spite of its logical basis, given the de facto law-making power of the Court and given the analogy with direct election of the Senate and of state supreme court justices, requires careful thought about whether this step should be taken at all.

Yet, the proposal is worth considering since the Supreme Court is really a small (and very political) legislative chamber in which law is made with a simple 5 to 4 majority vote. This proposal is simply a matter of legal and political realism: the Supreme Court makes law, just as the House and the Senate do.

(Image of Ivy League locations in public domain)

My Prediction: St. Francis of Buenos Aires

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Sat, 21 Dec 2013 03:53:00 +0000

Or maybe St. Francis the Great? Who knows? But sainthood is my prediction.

And so we must ask: saints can make certain people uncomfortable, no? And we must reflect: what should those relative few do about that discomfort? Look and look again and see something new that is being done. He is doing something new. Blessed and happy are those who do not take offense.

Libertarianism Is Not Catholic

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 16:27:00 +0000

But, I guess, it could be Protestant since there is no definitive doctrinal authority in Protestantism, just different interpretations of the Bible to suit one's honest preferences. (I do not make that last statement flippantly; I am not denigrating the sincerely held views of others based on conscience. I have strong respect for my Protestant brethren.)

But Catholicism has a central authority which has rejected the libertarian perspective, in spite of the idolization of Ayn Rand by Paul Ryan in the U.S. Congress and other Catholics. This recent Commonweal article does a good job of setting forth the facts about the Catholic view of libertarianism--see link. I myself wrote on the mutual incompatibility of Catholic social thought and libertarianism in the article on "Libertarianism" found in Volume 2 of the Catholic Encyclopedia of Social Thought, which is carried by many university libraries throughout the U.S. and even overseas. Go to WorldCat and find the nearest library carrying the volume (link).

But, of course, labels are fuzzy things. You are likely to find individuals with their own highly adapted, mitigated, and modified version of libertarianism who will claim a Christian foundation for their embrace of libertarianism. As in Protestantism, there is no central authority available to define libertarianism. Thus, often, in a discussion, the anti-Christian character of libertarianism is evaded by clever, adhoc metamorphoses. (The question then remains whether it is libertarianism that is now really being discussed and whether that label now serves any practical use in the discussion. I am reminded of Proteus, the mythological figure who was hard to pin down--see image below. Hence, our word "protean" to signify the elusive.)

In contrast, authoritative, clear, and logical Catholic social teaching is easily located--just go to this Vatican link for an authorized summary of the Catholic view on economics and society at large.

(Image of Proteus below is in public domain.)

Merry Christmas/Feliz Navidad

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 15:16:00 +0000

LAST AUDIENCE OF 2013: THE BIRTH OF JESUS DEMONSTRATES THAT GOD IS ON THE SIDE OF HUMANITY

Vatican City, 18 December 2013 (VIS) – Pope Francis dedicated the final general audience of 2013 to the birth of Jesus, “celebration of trust and hope, which overcome uncertainty and pessimism”. “And the reason for our hope is this: God is with us, and still trusts in us! … He comes to live with mankind, he chooses to dwell on earth in order to stay with man, and to be found there where man passes his days in joy or in pain. Therefore, earth is no longer merely a 'vale of tears' but rather the place where God Himself has pitched His tent, it is the meeting place of God and mankind, of God's solidarity with humanity”.

But in sharing in our human condition, there is something even more surprising. “God's presence among mankind did not take place in an ideal, idyllic world, but rather in this real world, characterised by good and bad things, marked by divisions, evil, poverty, abuse of power, and wars. He chose to take part in our history as it is, with all the weight of its limits and its dramas. … He is God-with-us … Jesus has always been God-with-us, and is always with us in all the suffering and pain of history. The birth of Jesus is the demonstration that God placed Himself once and for all on the side of mankind, to save us, to lift us up from the dust of our misery, of our difficulties, and of our sins”.

The great “gift” of Bethlehem is, therefore, “the spiritual energy that helps us not to collapse under the weight of our labours, our desperation, our sorrows. … The birth of Jesus brings us the good news that God loves us immensely and individually”. Two considerations may be drawn from the joyful contemplation of the mystery of the Son of God, born for us.

The first is that in His Nativity God shows Himself to be not as one who remains on high and dominates the universe, but rather He Who bows down, Who descends to our small and poor earth … if we want to be like Him we must not place ourselves above others, but instead lower ourselves, place ourselves in service, be small with the small and poor with the poor. It is sad to see a Christian who does not want to bow down, who does not want to serve. A Christian who parades around is not Christian – this is pagan! … Let us ensure that our brothers and sisters never feel alone”.

The second consequence is that God, through Jesus, became involved with mankind to the point of becoming one of us, which means that whatever we would do to our brother or our sister, we would do to Him. Jesus Himself reminds us of this: whoever nourishes, welcomes, visits or loves one of the smallest and poorest among man, does so also to the Son of God.

As we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord, now approaching, the Pope encouraged us to pray to Mary “to help us … recognise in the face of our neighbour, especially in the weakest and most marginalised, the image of the Son of God made man”.

As indicated above, this was the final general audience of 2013, as it is the last Wednesday before Christmas. Since his election to the pontificate, Pope Francis has celebrated 30 general audiences for which the Prefecture of the Papal Household has distributed 1,548,500 entry tickets, although there have been at times more than one hundred thousand attendees and the crowds have often exceeded the capacity of the Square. On these occasions, maxi-screens have been installed in the adjacent Piazza Pio XII, and Via della Conciliazione has been transformed into a pedestrian zone.

(Image under Creative Commons License

Disrespect for Pope by "Traditionalists" Is Telling

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 12:24:00 +0000

Here and there, I come across an immature flippancy and disrespect aimed at Pope Francis by English-speaking traditionalists who take strong exception to a Pope who has discerned that excessive emphasis on a legalistic and ritualistic approach to the faith is not in keeping with the Gospel. Pope Francis has also seemed to trouble some by discerning that the excessive embrace of right-wing "Tea Party" economic theory is also not in keeping with the Gospel.

Frankly, as a Catholic, I am amazed at the flippancy I have seen (what is even more disturbing is the mockery of the Pope and the accompanying sarcastic tone). Maybe, it's cultural. As a Hispanic, I am often struck at the immature and puerile way of speaking that permeates our shallow U.S. culture. I see that same juvenile, teenage-like immaturity in those flippant toward the Pope. There is a lot of shallow secular culture in the style of those who claim to be countercultural. In amazement, I exclaim to myself "Wow!" when I see this flippancy. (As an aside, it is interesting how often ways of thinking or acting do not match a self-professed ideology. I sometimes notice how some who are politically liberal think in a very individualistic way that, ironically, has a lot in common with the politically conservative-libertarian mindset they claim to dislike. Likewise, some who identify as traditional sure sound like typical examples of the superficiality of American popular culture.)

In contrast to the puerile, it is good to observe the style and conduct of Opus Dei. You will never hear someone from Opus Dei engage in such flippancy. In my mind, the sincere gravitas of Opus Dei sets the gold standard for imitation. When I think "Catholic," the Opus Dei way of thinking is what comes to mind, not the conduct and language of self-proclaimed protectors of tradition.

And so I end with a quote from St. Josemaría Escrivá to mark the birthday of Pope Francis:

"For me, in the hierarchy of love, the Pope comes right after the Most Holy Trinity and our Mother the Virgin."

Now, that strikes me as Catholic, in contrast to the superciliousness of some claiming to uphold tradition.

The Diagnosis When There Is No Prophecy: Hyperlegalism (a/k/a Hypernomianism)

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 16:10:00 +0000

"When there is no prophecy in the people of God, the void it leaves is filled by clericalism: In fact it is this clericalism that demands of Jesus: ' By what authority do you do these things? By what law?'. And the memory of the promise and hope to move forward will be reduced only to the present: no past, no hopeful future. The present is legal: if it is legal you go forward.”

---Pope Francis, see Vatican Insider link.

The Gospels make the diagnosis. St. Paul views prophecy as the foremost charism. It all adds up biblically.

(Image in public domain)

A Catholic Salutes Luther's "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 03:11:00 +0000

It's a great hymn that you even sing, at times, in Catholic churches. I heard it today in concert in the fourth movement of Mendelssohn's Fifth Symphony (the aptly named "Reformation Symphony"). It was exquisite. You do yourself a favor by finding a recording of the hymn (see link). Below is the text of the old hymn--whose majestic German title is "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott." The hymn is based on Psalm 46. For more information on Mendelssohn's related symphony, see this link.

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Source link.

(Image below of Felix Mendelssohn, 1809-47, in public domain)

EU Council President on Latin, Christianity, and Ortega y Gasset

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 16:32:00 +0000

The President of the European Union Council, Herman Van Rompuy of Belgium, spoke yesterday in Madrid where he received an honorary doctorate from a Spanish university. The speech is interesting for various reasons: the current state of the European Union (including a reference to the situation in the Ukraine) and also for the scattered historical and cultural references in the speech.

These references include tributes to the role of Latin and Christianity in European cultural identity and to the role of Spain in Europe, both in the past and today. In addition, Rompuy lauds my favorite philosopher Ortega y Gasset whom Rompuy cites as an early influence in his thinking about Europe.

Here is the PDF link to the speech given yesterday, December 12, 2013, in Madrid.

[Image below is of Rompuy in very distinctive (!) academic garb and Mariano Rajoy, the current Prime Minister of Spain.]

Don't Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 17:11:00 +0000

From Time magazine:

"[If] somehow by his own vivid example Francis could bring the church into a new relationship with its critics and dissidents—agreeing to disagree about issues that divide them while cooperating in the urgent mission of spreading mercy—he might unleash untold good. “Argue less, accomplish more” could be a healing motto for our times. We have a glut of problems to tackle. Francis says by example, Stop bickering and roll up your sleeves. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good—an important thing for the world to hear, especially from a man who holds an office deemed infallible."

Read more: TIME's Person of the Year 2013 Pope Francis, The People's Pope | TIME.com link

Pope Francis is Time Person of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 15:46:00 +0000

According to Reuters, only John XXIII and John Paul II were previous recipients of this honor (they will also be canonized next year).

What can I say? We are living through a historic time of Catholic renewal. Pope Francis shows what compassion, a natural decency, and humility can achieve. These traits should not be a surprising formula--this modus operandi was pioneered by the Founder of the whole thing, a Founder who did not cling to divinity but humbled himself to the depths (see Philippians Chapter 2).

Now, let's hope (but don't hold your breath) that the neo-Pharisees, both religious and political, will join the renewal. But, whatever happens, the train has left the station.

When the Label ¨Pious¨ Is Too Narrow

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 01:36:00 +0000

Those familiar with Vergil's Aeneid know that Aeneas, the Trojan hero who struggles to finally be the founder of the future Rome, is given the constant epithet or description of being pius or pious, a term that had a very different meaning for Vergil and his contemporaries than it has for us today.

Today, we, for the most part, think of a pious person as one given to external displays of religious devotion. That modern view of piety is only part of what the Romans of Vergil's time would think about a pious person. For the ancient Romans, the pious one was primarily the dutiful and responsible person who endured hardship for the sake of fulfilling his obligations. And, yes, Aeneas was also very dutiful in religious ritual and prayer.

What makes me pine for the Roman definition is that all we have today is the label "pious" primarily applied to those given to external religious exercises and devotions. The problem is that we see too many people given to external religiosity who are also not given to responsibility.

Here are some examples of non-pious (non-responsible) religiosity:

1. We think of marriage as primarily for the personal satisfaction of the spouses instead of putting the welfare of the children first;

2. We think of ritual observance as having priority over compassion for others;

3. We think of the religious person as one who is busy with religious meetings, conferences, and workshops, rather than as one who heroically endures and bears her many responsibilities.

I suggest that we need to recover the old Roman view that piety involved much more than merely external displays of religiosity. Too many of the conventionally "religious" are just too plain irresponsible when it comes to their duties to others to be truly "pious."

(Image of Aeneas and his son finally reaching Italy is in the public domain.)

A Privileged Semester for Thinking

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 23:58:00 +0000

I was privileged again to teach a graduate course on the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I sincerely hope my students got as much out of the course as I did. Teachers learn as they teach--if they ponder what they are teaching as they teach.

And ponder I did. Teaching becomes then the occasion for an intellectual adventure in which you are "forced" by the necessity of regular lectures "to go deep" in regards to your subject matter. For me, Spanish expresses it better: profundizar, to make something profound, to deepen one's thought on a matter.

The lens I use for the Synoptic Gospels (academese for Matthew, Mark, and Luke) is the New Exodus. For both the gospel writers and for Paul, the book of Isaiah, especially its second section, gives the theme of the New Exodus, namely, that, as in the original Exodus of Moses and Aaron, so Adonai is making a New Exodus in a new time to rescue his people from their current slavery and exile.

As in the time of Second Isaiah (academese, again, for the second big section of the book of Isaiah), so in the time of the gospels: Adonai is once again doing something new, a new Exodus to--this time--definitively and conclusively rescue all his people in all nations from slavery and exile. And so Jesus becomes the New Moses (of course, he is more than just a New Moses). In Mark, Jesus is the new Moses as prophet. In Matthew, he is the new Moses as Teacher and Lawgiver. In Luke, he is the new Moses as liberator.

When you read the gospels with this New Exodus template, you get a sense of their flow and intimate connection with the Hebrew Bible and with each other--and with the letters of Paul. You get what I think every teacher should strive for: to propose (never impose) on students, especially graduate students, a synthesis, a schema, and a framework to organize the inexhaustible material and context of the Scriptures.

Just as the Teacher (Qoheleth) in Ecclesiastes tells us that of the "making [of] many books there is no end; and [that] much study is a weariness of the flesh," so we often confuse learning with the mere accumulation of facts and data: author, date, place of composition, geography, book outline, the location of a particular story in the text, etc. What rescues the flesh from weariness in study is to find a way to put it all together--to elegantly tie together all that you study. In that elegant creativity lies the thrill of intellectual discovery and beauty.

In my privileged semester, I again contemplated the reality that biblical theology is a theology of liberation. Of course, I do not mean an ideological theology of mere politics or social activism, but rather what is truly a theology of liberation, which includes liberation from all forms of slavery, whether very personal or quite social, cultural, economic, and political. Aren't all these realities, in any event, on a continuum? In this way, the Scriptures are books of liberation from all that enslaves on all levels of existence.

This insight takes what is best in what is, in a very particular way, known as "liberation theology" and saves it from the Babylonian captivity of secular ideology, neo-Marxism, and crude class warfare. In the end, all Christian and biblical theology is a liberation theology, as our current Pope reminds us--with a special and urgent preference to care for those most marginalized in our societies, for the sick, the poor, the lepers, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the Samaritans all around us and in us.

(Image under GNU Free Documentation License)

A Conservative Free-Marketer Urges His Colleagues to Listen to Pope Francis

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 16:53:00 +0000

Here is the link to the article.

As someone who studied diligently to obtain his M.A. in Economics and who also taught Principles of Microeconomics, Principles of Macroeconomics, and Intermediate Microeconomics in a state university and also a graduate MBA course in economics at a Catholic university, this quote from the article rings true:

"What it turns out is that economists actually know very, very little, and that a lot of what we thought we knew turned out to be wrong."

(Actually, as a lawyer, I can make the same observation about American law--there is much less intellectual weight there than meets the eye, regardless of our august courtrooms and robed functionaries.)

(Graph in public domain)

The Joy of the Gospel: The Revolution of Tenderness

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 18:30:00 +0000

The Pope's new document--with Francis as the sole author--was released today. I read it all of it this morning. It is lengthy but worth it. Go to this Vatican link.

Here are three quotes that stood out in the eyes of this reader. Read the document yourself and share your own favorite lines.

The Vatican link above has hyperlinks to different sections of the document--so you can jump around and read first those parts that interest you the most.

1. "The Son of God, by becoming flesh, summoned us to the revolution of tenderness" (The Joy of the Gospel, 88);

2. "Our infinite sadness can only be cured by an infinite love" (265);

3. "We achieve fulfilment when we break down walls and our heart is filled with faces and names!" (274).

See also Washington Post, BBC, CNN.

For Spanish language coverage, see El País.

Pulling It Out

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 02:31:00 +0000

We human beings tend to be intimidated by many little things. Yet, our experience tells us that we can really "pull it out."

The challenges are legion (pun intended for those with a biblical bent). Yet, we persist and, often to our surprise, actually win.

And we can also take comfort in this reality: the nobility of heroic persistence is its own reward and victory. The true victory is in the journey. And often we even get the extra of reaching our goals.

The Greeks gave us the word "protagonist"--the one who struggles. In Spanish, we say "a la lucha" as we get up each day--"to the struggle." Every language says it.

(Image of Aeneas carrying his father Anchises in public domain)

Horace Giving Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 01:23:00 +0000

As we approach Thanksgiving week, we can listen to Horace teaching us gratitude.

Here is Dryden translating Horace in Ode 3.29:

Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He, who can call to day his own:
He, secure within, can say
To morrow do thy worst, for I have liv'd to day.
Be fair, or foul, or rain, or shine,
The joys I have possest, in spight of fate are mine.
Not Heav'n it self upon the past has pow'r;
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

And modern poet Charles Tomlinson translates the same lines:

Happy the man who to himself can say
"Whatever awaits me now, I've lived today.
Let tomorrow's sky be filled
With cloud or sunshine--why should I
Discount the happiness I've had:
Fate itself cannot undo what's done
Or take away that hour's content
That came and went, yet lives within the mind.

Both translations are quoted from Horace The Odes: New Translations by Contemporary Poets, ed. J.D. McClatchy (Princeton Univ. Press, 2002), pp. 5, 241.

Each of us has that hour of magical gratitude. As for me, I fondly recall an extended holiday in the very middle of Spain with my children.

(Image below under Creative Commons License, Wikimedia Commons)

Not Perfectionism, But Always More

noreply@blogger.com (Oswald Sobrino) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 00:16:00 +0000

Sometimes people speak at cross-purposes when they really do agree. For example, some are troubled when I say: "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." They take it as an excuse for the status quo. But that is not the case.

To always seek more means to be practical and to embrace the more that is possible and is always less than perfect. The standard of perfectionism leads to paralysis because there is nothing perfect on this side of heaven and because perfectionism injects fear of the risk of failure that we all must embrace. Perfectionism is also very pessimistic and denies the possible breakthroughs that can come from persistent and patient incrementalism. For example, often, we fail to realize great gains, especially in education, when we give up prematurely on people.

As a result, the greatest ally of the status quo is paralyzing perfectionism. The greatest enemy of the status quo is the good that always seeks more. If we say it in Latin, we would say:

"Semper Magis, Quamvis Imperfectum"--Always More, However Imperfect.

(Image under GNU Free Documentation License, Wikimedia Commons)