Theology

Death is a subject that raises so many questions. A first question would be: where "are" those loved ones that death has snatched away from us? A second question: where will we "be" when the same happens to us? These are questions with complex answers that leave us with a sense of uncertainty and anxiety. This booklet seeks to reflect on the quest or search that these questions have brought about within the context of Christian theology.

The same fear that Jesus Christ can inspire in us today he inspired in those days, not only in the Jewish religious authorities, but also in his own disciples.  Among these latter, however, the attraction of Jesus turned out to be stronger than the fear.  Something of that nature is what is asked of us today: that same confident following of Jesus which dares to hear the oft-repeated words, “Do not be afraid”.

The Apocalypse, therefore, is not a book that seeks to inspire fear in people by speaking of the dreadful events at the end of the world. What it seeks to do is to encourage Christians to bear prophetic witness to the Gospel, and it is perennial good news for all believers, for it declares that ultimately the Lord of history is God, not the empire that happens to be in power.

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, other walls still form part of our everyday life. Other walls are perhaps more subtle, though they are still the cause of bloodshed, because they exist within us and take possession of our lives. These are the walls that separate “them” from “us. This booklet will explore the meaning and implications of situations like those, which are both symbolic and real, personal and public, spiritual and political.

Believers or non-believers, we all should make an effort to oil the joints of our common existence, if we want to avoid sliding down a slope that could end in an unprecedented catastrophe. This booklet describes the privileged place that the encounter with God has in our relations with others, since contemplation is at the heart of interhuman relations and so is one of the chief characteristics of Christianity.

The ethics of care has often been ignored by traditional ethics, which has relegated it to the private or domestic sphere or has assigned it exclusively to women.   In a world wounded by poverty and inequality it becomes necessary to recover a Christian vision of justice that spells out the meaning of caring for others and for the Earth and that impels us toward social transformation.  That is precisely what theologian Lucía Ramón does in this booklet.

In this Booklet the author sets himself a daunting objective: to delve into the diverse spiritual experiences—or “mysticisms”—that are at the base of the different world religions, with a view to allowing the various experiences to complement and cross-fertilize one another. It is only by entering into the heart of the mystical experiences that the way can be opened up for dialogue among them.

Traditionally the gospel message has been commonly seen as a utopian ideal that appeals to all. However, we need only reflect on the tragic fate of Jesus and that of the Christian martyrs of all ages to conclude unequivocally that the horizon of God’s kingdom is basically dystopian. “The evangelical utopias/dystopias are located beyond the moral sphere. They do not seek to reward the virtuous poor and punish the covetous rich. They denounce a situation even before any action takes place: the simple existence of wealth in a context of generalized poverty is a scandalous situation that needs to be changed”. (page 6)

Recalling Saint Thomas’s "five ways" for approaching the reality of God, the author of this booklet proposes five other ways (science, philosophy, ethics, esthetics, and mysticism). While accepting that "in God we can only believe,” he does not concede that faith is irrational and unfounded. The booklet is dedicated “To all those who are searching, perhaps with great eagerness, and don’t seem to find anything. Also to those who doubt."

Drawing on various biblical, theological, and ecclesiological arguments, four theologians agree on the need to apply the principle of mercy in the case of divorced persons who have remarried. Without slighting the value of the indissolubility of marriage, they grant greater centrality to acceptance and communion.