Jesuit Pacifism: The Conversion of Daniel Berrigan

Among the Catholics who grew to prominence in the twentieth century, few matched the public witness of Daniel Berrigan (1921–2016). This paper will develop the topic of Berrigan’s use of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius as the backbone of his pacifism. This paper’s approach will be threefold. First, it expands on the sparse scholarly work on Berrigan specifically as a Jesuit and a priest. Second, it examines Berrigan’s own conversion alongside Ignatius’s dramatic decision to lay down his weapons in Montserrat. Third, in light of this momentous development in Ignatius’s life, the article will examine whether such pacifism ought to be mandatory for Jesuits today (beyond the prohibition on clerics from bearing arms in warfare), taking the particular case of Berrigan and his triumphs and trials into consideration as an example.

Mission and Principalities and Powers Reconsidered

This article examines the implications for public witness of the Pauline notion of principalities and powers with reference to Bosch, Newbigin, Bevans and Schroeder, Acolatse, Wink, Barth, and Moltmann. It critiques popular contemporary ideas of “spiritual warfare” in light of the relevant Pauline texts and theological arguments. It examines the theological idea that the source of evil lies in godlessness and how this idea illuminates the concept of principalities and powers for contemporary Christian practice. It argues that it is the mission of the church to publicly bear witness and to evangelize the principalities and powers in both personal and systemic forms while maintaining a humble but firm trust in the liberating work of Christ.

Participation in Divine Light and Church Membership in De Spiritu Sancto of Basil of Caesarea

The imagery of light plays a key role in Basil of Caesarea’s narrative of God and salvation. Curiously, the communal aspects of this imagery have received little attention in scholarship. A systematic analysis of “De Spiritu Sancto” reveals that in Basil’s understanding, participation in divine light functions as a parallel concept to Church membership. To begin with, the corporate nature of participation in divine light is evident from the ecclesial rites of initiation whereby this participation is bestowed. Furthermore, Basil uses the imagery of light to underscore the corporate nature of both the mystical union between God and the baptized, and the outward expressions of the believers’ lives in the divine light: worship and public witness. In addition to shedding new light on the Basilian notion of Church membership, the study o#ers a fresh outlook into the ecumenical dialogue between the Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church bodies on the theology of initiation.

Public Theology and Public Missiology

Faithful public witness is an expression of the faith of particular communities of formation. Thus, demythologized public discourse should be rejected in favor of the outwardness (or mission) emerging from theological particularity. This article draws from missiological resources in a bid to identify priorities for Christian formation toward public engagement. First, I take “public” to be a dialogic space where bounded entities and identities (people and communities) take part in interaction, engagement, and adaptation. Second, such an understanding of “public” is already at work in the prophetic emergence of the early church, thus pointing toward the theological significance of such sociality. Third, I identify priorities for formation from the missiological vision of prophetic dialogue.

The Christian Life

This chapter explores Bonhoeffer’s understanding of the Christian life in its public witness to God’s worldly presence. For Bonhoeffer, the Christian life unfolds as God’s word draws human beings into the story of Christ and as human beings in turn respond through practices of prayer and doing justice for others. The first section of this chapter explores the grammar of the Christian life as witnessing to the word of God. The second outlines Bonhoeffer’s distinction between the ethics of formation and of conformation, which sets apart Bonhoeffer’s approach to the Christian life from some other Protestant approaches. Third, there follows an account of the Christological grammar of the Christian life as life ‘in Christ’. The final section reflects upon the significance of Bonhoeffer’s doctrine of the mandates for understanding the publicity of the Christian life and its relevance for public theology today.

‘Descending into hell’: Tazmamart, civic activism and the politics of memory in contemporary Morocco

In the aftermath of two unsuccessful military coups (1971 and 1972) against Morocco’s King Hassan II (1961–1999), 58 officials and soldiers were disappeared for 18 years into what was then the secret prison of Tazmamart. Eventually released in 1991, some of the prisoners, who survived madness, illness and death, have been bearing public witness to the atrocities taking place in this desert prison. Concentrating, in particular, on the questions of place and ‘emplacement’ of the memory of Tazmamart, in this article, I explore the many enactments of memory by which survivors have challenged the state-imposed politics of silence and oblivion, and which today continue to counter the official narrative of democratic transition. Tracing memory’s transformative potential, I show that survivors’ orientation towards the past, but also, crucially, towards the present and future makes memory a vital site of collective agency and political imagination.

Frederick Douglass Is Not Dead!

The conclusion recounts the story of Douglass’s final day on earth and his funeral service in Washington D.C. The conclusion reveals how the leading eulogies for Douglass quite strongly emphasized the prophetic character of his faith and public witness. The conclusion ends with a summation of the main elements of Douglass’s faith and its contemporary relevance.