Christianity highlights certain dogmas during Lent. These dogmas relate to Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. However, one Lent theme—though not a dogma—needs to be set aside; namely, the substitute atonement theory. Christians rightly believe that Jesus’ redemptive suffering, death and resurrection is the world’s salvation. The substitution theory says that for some reason God needed Jesus’ suffering and death. This widespread notion is often harmful and in its casual expression it can be heretical. The substitution theory has a... Read more

The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (www.kul.pl/21.html) just published The Catholic Social Ethic by St. John Paul II (1920-2005). This two-volume text of 500+ pages dates from the 1950s, when Fr. Karol Wojtyla was a young parish priest/teacher. Scholars have long known about the text. In fact, about 300 copies were circulated among students and others in the 1950s. Jonathan Luxmoore, an expert on Catholicism in Eastern Europe, reported on the text a dozen years ago. He recently... Read more

Name any social policy and there is sure to be a religious leader who has an opinion. The religious leader states his or her position in absolutes. For the religionist, the issue is a matter of high morality; no alternative position is acceptable. These religious leaders and the general public routinely fault the daily give-and-take in partisan politics for putting opportunism, gridlock, grandstanding, obstinacy and hypocrisy above moral principle. The legislative process is a moral endeavor, says President John Kennedy... Read more

This month’s celebration of Rev. Martin L. King (1929-1968) is of course about more than King. The civil rights era is about more than the Montgomery boycott that began in December 1955. It obviously includes Rosa Parks (1913-2005), who courageously refused to give up her seat on a bus. Keep in mind, Parks’ disobedience was not a momentary impulse, but was the outcome of much preparation. In recent times several scholars have drawn attention to “the longer civil rights movement.”... Read more

As early as the mid-1800s, novelists, artists, philosophers, essayists and prophets questioned the great promise of modernity. Does progress always mean improvement? Can production and technology cause poverty? Is science always good? Is the rat race inherently unhealthy? Is there any meaning to life? Is truth anything more than a temporary construct? Fr. John O’Donohue (1956-2008) succinctly summarizes the downside of modern life: “The traditional shelters no longer offer any shelter. Religion often seems discredited… Politics seems devoid of vision... Read more

It says “legal tender for all debts private and public.” But cash is out. Indeed, some businesses now refuse cash, including a hair salon in Los Angeles, a few pretentious chain restaurants and several small shops. Visa has declared “a war on cash,” reports New York Times (12/6/18). Other credit companies are implicit allies in that war. Only 30% of transactions by one survey currently involve cash, says Wall St. Journal (12/30/18). Most cash transactions are in small amounts; 55%... Read more

“Even if it is not factual, it is too good a story not to be true.” Thus spoke a student. The conversation in class was about the Virgin Birth and more generally about approaches to Scripture. For most of Christian history Scripture was unquestioned; certainly not questioned in the way it is nowadays. The taken-for-granted approach to Scripture changed in the modern age, beginning let’s say in 1500. Modernity means that opinions ought to be verified through exploration, experimentation and... Read more

Advice columns are exercises in deconstruction. Dear Abby and Ask Amy must intuit or impose a context for the short query. The newspaper reader, in turn, puts the question and answer into their own context—often comparing the situation to that of their dysfunctional relatives. Smile. Advice columnists in Catholic newspapers or on Catholic websites (usually priests) must likewise deconstruct the question and the reader must imagine some applicable situation. A fair number of the questions are personal (Should I forgive... Read more

Not so long ago strikes were deemed counterproductive, says Commonweal magazine (3/26/18). That was until this past February when 20,000 teachers in West Virginia walked off the job. This job action, Commonweal notes, initially occurred “without collective bargaining powers or the legal right to go on strike.” Yet it was “well-executed [and] wide-scale… Its size and scope proved critical.” With visible public sympathy and sufficient solidarity, the West Virginia teachers were successful. Credit goes to “a decentralized rank-and-file made up... Read more

Violent language keeps company with violent behavior. The former does not usually cause the latter directly, but in due time violence can follow. To be clear by way of an example, the rhetoric of Sarah Palin did not incite the January 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others, six of whom died. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate in 2008, had an advertisement that put some Congressional districts (not individual candidates) in a mock crosshairs during the 2010 midterm campaign,... Read more