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Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Drew Christiansen
Mary Budd Rowe was a model scientist, ever inquisitive, asking questions no one had asked before. She was a psychologist who specialized in science education. When I first met her in the late 1970’s, she had done pioneering work on “wait time,” the time teachers allow students to p
Holy See Backs Nuclear Disarmament
Robert F. Drinan
In 1970, almost 200 countries signed a document urging nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. It was designed to help nations develop peaceful nuclear energy programs, if they would foreswear nuclear weapons. The five countries possessing such weapons—the United States, Britain, Russia, China an
United Nations Reform and Human Rights
Silvano M. Tomasi
The world is busy debating the reform of the United Nations. In mid-September a rendezvous with history is anticipated in New York City: a summit of heads of states and governments to decide up-to-date structures for the governance of the planet. In 1945, in the aftermath of a bloody and destructive
Faraway Children Bringing Christ Closer
Lorraine V. Murray
I could barely wait to tear into the fat envelope. As I pulled out the letter, my eyes spotted the photos of two grinning girls with dark eyes. Come and see our children! I called out to my husband. To be precise, they are not really ours. They are two little girls in Ethiopia whom I am sponsoring t
Arts & CultureBooks
Can We Justify God's Ways?
Daniel J. Harrington
In the aftermath of the great tsunami of late December 2004 there emerged a lively public philosophical and theological debate in the popular media Where was God in this terrible event Why did God allow it to happen What did the victims do to deserve this Did they do anything wrong at all How
FaithThe Word
Is Our Generous God Fair?
Dianne Bergant
We have learned that God is all-knowing, all-loving, all-just, all-everything-that-is-good, etc. Therefore, we are afraid to suggest that God might not be fair. We are afraid that this might be a kind of blasphemy. But then, how is this parable to be understood?
Editorials
Meeting the Millennium Development Goals
The Editors
When world leaders gathered at the United Nations five years ago to promulgate their Millennium Declaration, they pledged their nations to a global partnership aimed at cutting extreme poverty in half by 2015. Two years later they met again in Monterrey, Mexico, to develop a framework for undertakin
A Shared Belief
The Islamic Society of North America, the Managing the Atom Project of the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Churches’ Center for Theology and Public Policy convened a group of 24 religious leaders and scholars, with equal representation
Poetry
Beatification
Gillian Devereux
When I say poor, I mean we drank powdered milk,and our meat slid from the can in jellied squares.I mean our TV always showed black, white, or greyeven though the screen promised technicolor.Inside me, color flourished, each ray a wild band,a length of the spectrum. Bent and separated,different shade
Television
Fear and Trembling in Oceania
Jim McDermott
A commercial plane traveling from Sydney to Los Angeles has communication problems six hours into the flight. The pilots detour toward Fiji. A thousand miles off their original course, things go bad. Turbulence tears off the tail section, then the nose. The middle section crash lands on the beach of
Arts & CultureBooks
Politics Over Policy
Carol Nackenoff
With the publication of One Nation Uninsured the Florida State University sociologist Jill Quadagno joins an array of scholars who have sought to account for the failure of national health care in the United States and to explain why we get so little health for our health care expenditure Classic
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Brother Roger of Taizé Murdered in ChurchBrother Roger Schütz, the 90-year-old Protestant founder of the ecumenical Taizé community in France, was stabbed in the throat during a Vespers service in the Reconciliation Church near Maçon in France on Aug. 16. He died almost immediately. Some of thos
A Jewish-Catholic Friendship
Rabbi A. James Rudin
Cardinal John J. O’Connor died five years ago, but I frequently remember the times we worked together on the critical issues faced by our two communities. Our friendship was a result of the Second Vatican Council. In October 1965, 2,200 Catholic bishops adopted Nostra Aetate, the Declaration o
FaithThe Word
None of My Business!
Dianne Bergant
We all know individuals who pride themselves on “keeping their noses out of other people’s business.”
Letters
Letters

Diverse Ecclesiologies

I read Christopher Ruddy’s review of volume two of my Christian Community in History with some surprise (8/1). The whole two-volume work is a history, not of the church, but of ecclesiology, the understanding of the church. Thus I was pleased when he wrote of the author’s largely evenhanded expositions of diverse ecclesiologies and recommended it as a text and reference work for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. This was the goal of the work. The surprise came with the harsh criticism which followed, and I sought an explanation.

I have formulated a theory. I wonder whether Mr. Ruddy thinks that Volume Two of C.C.H. is the systematic theology that I promised when I indicated that the two-volume work C.C.H. was itself the first part of a two-part ecclesiology from below which I hope will be followed by a more systematic and constructive essay. As a theory it accounts for several things about his review: first, he seems to want a history from above, something that is at least paradoxical. In this historical ecclesiology, the transcendent dimensions of the church, especially the roles of Christ and the Spirit, appear in all the examples that are analyzed, thereby suggesting historically a normative, ecclesiological constant. Second, he asks many questions that can be answered only in a systematics. And third, his review reads as though he thinks my lack of a long conclusion means that Volume Two of C.C.H. is the end of my ecclesiology. Actually, the promised concluding systematic volume which, will address many of his questions, is under construction. It will draw out in an explicit way the transcendent dimensions that appear in the comparison of ecclesiologies among themselves and with the sources of Christian theology.

I do not know whether this theory is true, but it accounts for much if not all of the data. I think that my long sentences may be due to the early influence of Karl Rahner! In any case, if it is true, it would mean that Ruddy did not recognize the difference between the history of ecclesiology and a systematic ecclesiology, something that would subtract from the value of his judgments.

Roger Haight, S.J.

Arts & CultureBooks
Still Struggling
Franklin Freeman
Anne Lamott strews many bitter and distracting political asides throughout her new book of essays Plan B Further Thoughts on Faith but her honesty and humor rescue the book from being a polemic As she did in Traveling Mercies Lamott shares her day-to-day struggle to live as a Christian and the
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
James Martin, S.J.
Here are two ways God works. First, God seems to clear a path so obviously that you can’t doubt God’s activity. As St. Paul wrote, All things work together for good for those who love God. Second, God seems to make achieving something so difficult that you realize that the struggle is pa
Columns
Dumping Arms
Terry Golway
The Irish Republican Army’s recent announcement that it would dump arms and end its decades-long campaign against the British seemed oddly anticlimactic. Save for a brief episode in the mid-1990’s, the I.R.A. has been on a cease-fire since 1994. So its dump-arms order received only passi
Faith in Focus
A Healing in Haiti
Karen Rushen
Fifteen minutes after landing in Haiti, I was having serious doubts as to whether or not this trip was a good idea. I had come to Haiti accompanying another Catholic college group at the request of my own school, to see about the possibility of setting up a joint yearly immersion trip. Our guide, a
FaithThe Word
How Often Must I Forgive?
Dianne Bergant
Some say that a unique feature of the Christian religion is its insistence on forgiveness. Today’s reading from Sirach shows that this is not true.