Being Faithful: Christian Commitment in Modern Society

Judith A. Merkle is Professor at the Faculty of Religious Studies at Niagara University, New York, USA.

'Many Catholics today are alienated from the Church, yet feel their identity is tied up with it. They are conscious that their world has changed radically; and so have they. They want to be faithful disciples and know they cannot do that alone. Merkle helps readers to wrestle with their personal and Christian identity in this new context. Using the anthropological insights of Mary Douglas and others, she explores the many-layered and sometimes conflicting dimensions of the personal, social, cultural and ecclesial contexts in which Christians have to be faithful disciples today. The wide vistas she opens out have profound implications for spirituality as well as for moral theology. Being faithful involves saying a firm; to whatever is perceived as inhuman in order to express a fuller; to the many positive dimensions of our secularised world. Merkle takes moral theology a million miles from its earlier incarnation of helping confessors assess the gravity of particular sins. She offers a path to healing the earlier divorce between moral and spiritual theology. This book is as relevant reading for a retreat as it is for a course in moral theology and social ethics. Catholic laity are often referred to as "the faithful". Merkle examines in depth the meaning of "being faithful" intoday's world. It involves an awareness of and involvement with the whole multiplicity of contexts in which we live out our lives in today's world. Living out of context makes us displaced persons, feeling lost in midst of our globalised world. Merkle invites us to conversion (being in love) at personal, community, ecclesial and sociallevel. Like all loving, there is a self-emptying of false identity to make room for the fullness of living community. The Catholic route to this is through mediation, sacramental life and communion. This book offers intoxicating reading. It makes accessible the fruits of Merkle's wide-ranging reading, made all the more valuable by the way she draws it all together into a coherent whole. Her expertise developed through long years of teaching experience adds to the rich mix, while her own faith commitment is unobtrusive but all-pervading. A book which demands sustained attention from the reader but in return offers a profound understanding of the meaning of being faithful in our exciting but confusing 21st century world.' Kevin T. Kelly, Emeritus Research Fellow, Liverpool University UK

• Part One: Foundations of the Christian Life in the World Chapter One: Living into a New ParadigmChapter Two: Toward a Theology of the World Chapter Three: Understanding Grace and Sin in the World Chapter Four: Acting in the World: Finding the WayPart Two: Developing the Talents of a New Age Chapter Five: Church and Family: A Spirituality of EngagementChapter Six: Groups of Particularity and Profession: Speaking and Hearing the Truth Chapter Seven: Postmodern Discipleship: Autonomy, Initiative and Mysticism Chapter Eight: Taking a Position: Advocacy, Identity and Pluralism Part Three: Toward the Future of the Christian LifeChapter Nine: A Way Forward: Evangelization, Inculturation and Liberation Chapter Ten: The Scaffoldings of the Future: Prayer, Community and Engagement.