Search results for ""author p. de mey""

This volume is the fruit of the eleventh Leuven Encounters in Systematic Theology (LEST XI) which was organized by Leuven’s Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies from 11-14 October, 2017. On the occasion of the five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, this conference focused on the ongoing need for the renewal and reform of the Churches, a desideratum encapsulated in the well-known adage, Ecclesia semper reformanda. The quest for such renewal constitutes a challenge for theologians of all confessional traditions. This volume focuses particularly on the themes and topics that were at the forefront of the theological controversies which raged during the transitional period between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, some of which are still unresolved. Part I focuses on the foundations of theology, viz. Scripture, tradition(s), and/or reason. Part II investigates the important theological issues that have their roots in the Reformation Era, including the tensile relationship between sin, grace, free will, justification and sanctification, and the controversies related to the Eucharist, including the notion of sacrifice. Part III examines democratization and leadership structures in the Church. Part IV explores what a historically-informed awareness can contribute to an ecumenically-oriented reflection on the renewal and reform of the Church today.

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In the growing body of theological and spiritual literature on the family over recent years there is hardly any publication that does not explicitly refer to the “domestic church”. In spite of this broad interest, however, the concept itself today still remains unclear. Where the model of the “church in miniature” is not used to further align the family with the hierarchical ecclesiastical institution, it simply serves as a pious metaphor to instil some spiritual dignity to the Christian household. Likewise, theological treatises insist that the church is not a family and so the domestic church has remained a marginal and exotic note in ecclesiology as well. One may wonder, however, whether small communities, as families are, have indeed so little to tell the “new family of God” to which Christ has called his disciples to belong. Can the churches afford to neglect the specific competences that families have when it comes to serving and sharing with each other, to dealing with differences and otherness of its members (be they related to gender, age, ethnicity, or religious conviction), and to encountering God in ordinary life with its everyday ties, duties and responsibilities? This volume is intended to critically revisit the notion of domestic church and to explore both its pitfalls and potential for the life of the churches and of families.

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Johannes Cardinal Willebrands (1909-2006) certainly was one of the major players in the turn of the Roman Catholic Church to ecumenism. Through his stimulating role as secretary of the Catholic Conference for Ecumenical Questions (1952-1962), he prepared the ecumenical openness of the bishops of the Second Vatican Council. As secretary of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity (1960-1968), and as President of the Secretariat, later Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (1968-1989), he played a central role in setting up ecumenical structures within the Roman Catholic Church, and starting bilateral dialogues with the churches and ecclesial communities that are not in communion with the Bishop of Rome. On the occasion of the centenary of his birthday (4 September 1909), two symposia were organised in memory of J. Willebrands, in Utrecht and in Rome.The majority of the papers presented at both conferences now become available in this volume. After a biographical introduction (A. Denaux), four contributions pay attention to 'Willebrands' formation and early commitment to ecumenism' (A. Houtepen, T. Merrigan, P. De Mey, T. Salemink). The next part focuses on 'Willebrands and the development of the Catholic view on ecumenism during the Second Vatican Council' (M. Velati, W. Thonissen, J. Wicks). Four contributions of this volume focus on 'Willebrands and ecumenism', commenting both on his relations with the Eastern Christian Churches (M. Van Parys) and with the churches of the West and to the World Council of Churches (J. Radano, W. Henn, G. Gassmann). Willebrands also played an important role in the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people. This aspect of his work is highlighted in the next four contributions (M. Lamberigts-L. Declerck, M. Poorthuis, P.F. Fumagalli, J. Banki). The volume closes with Cardinal Kasper's address on the legacy of Cardinal Willebrands and the future of ecumenism, with some witnesses of close friends and collaborators of the cardinal (T. Stransky, P.-W. Scheele), and with a bibliography of Willebrands, provided by the co-founder of the Willebrands Archives and co-organiser of the Utrecht conference, Maria ter Steeg.

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"Omnes Gentes" is a collaborative effort between "Missio"-Belgium, the International "Lumen Vitae" Institute for Catechesis and Pastoral Studies (Brussels), the Faculty of Theology (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), and the Faculte de theologie et de droit canonique (Universite Catholique Louvain-la-Neuve). "Omnes Gentes" believes that the Gospel about Jesus Christ constitutes a challenging and life giving message for all people.The first part of this volume, "A Mission Statement for Today's Christians," contains the contributions of the first "Omnes Gentes" conference (2003). As the title suggests, this conference intended to make a statement on the missionary task of all Christians. In many contributions by Belgian and international scholars it is emphasized that mission is no longer seen as a unidirectional movement, starting from the Western Church, and that the Church in Belgium and Europe is a missionary Church as well.In the second part of this volume, "Rituals for Life," the contributions of the second "Omnes Gentes" conference (2004) are gathered. The fruitful exchanges between scholars from Belgium, Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ucraine and the United States made it possible to reflect on the anthropological, ritual, liturgical and theological dimensions of a "lively" Christian liturgy.

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