Joseph Ogbonnaya – författare

At once prophetic, pastoral, and personal, this book applies the symbols of 'salt' and 'light' as ecclesiological images for reimaging the African Church for today and tomorrow. The proposal of this book is to reconsider the path towards abundant life for God's people in the challenging context of African continent, and through the agency of African Christianity. The contributors stress the necessity of de-Westernizing African Christianity and ask these fundamental questions: What is the face of Jesus in African Christianity? What is the face and identity of the Church in Africa? What positive imprint is Christianity leaving on the lives and societies of African Christians? Does the Christian message have the potential of positively affecting African civilization as it once did in Europe? What is the relevance and place of African Christianity as a significant voice in shaping both the future of Africa and that of world Christianity?

Secular contemporary development discourse deals with the problems of societal development and transformation by prioritizing the human good in terms of vital and social values with the aim of providing the basic necessities of life through social institutions that work. While such an approach is profitable by promoting economic growth, it does not take note of other dynamics of social progress and development. Also, it fails to notice the consequences of development strategies on human flourishing, well-being, and happiness.Ogbonnayu argues for an integral approach to development by engaging in a fruitful dialogue between Bernard Lonergan''s philosophical anthropology with contemporary development discourse, as represented in select theories of development, and in select principles of Catholic social teaching. It makes a case for social progress and transformation as emanating from human understanding. Also, it highlights the parts of Lonergan''s theory that contribute to an understanding, specifically of his treatment of bias, and of the shorter and longer cycles of societal decline. In view of the reality of moral impotence and limitations, it considers the reversal of societal decline as possible through the supernatural solution of God''s grace.

Today’s overlapping social and ecological crises portend Bernard Lonergan’s memorable remark that “the world lies in pieces before us and pleads to be put together again.” The calls of Catholic social teaching for a ‘humane globalization’ and, more recently an ‘integral ecology’ only heighten the urgency of this task. Inspired and aided by Lonergan’s thought, this volume presents an array of essays that collectively aspire to answer these pleas. Engaging theology, philosophy, the social sciences, and the natural sciences, the volume’s authors hope to show how in fact ‘everything is interconnected’ in the church’s ongoing task of caring for our common, though fragmented, home. This volume stands as the first publication of the International Institute for Method in Theology. Launched in 2017 by Fr. Robert Doran, S.J. — and through the joined efforts of the Marquette Lonergan Project, the Lonergan Research Institute at Regis College (University of Toronto), and the theology faculty of the Gregorian University (Rome) — the Institute aims to implement Bernard Lonergan’s ‘generalised empirical method’ across disciplines through global collaboration.

The interview, held between September 17 and October 1, 2020, gives a rare insight into the life and times of Fr. Bob. It explains in his own words the background to his reading and interpretation of Bernard Lonergan, especially his inclusion of psychic conversion to Lonergan's intellectual, moral, and religious conversion. It tells the story of Fr. Bob's ministry among people with HIV\/AIDS in Toronto, Canada, his leadership of the Lonergan Research Institute in Toronto, his movement back to Marquette in 2006, his founding of the Marquette Lonergan Project, the setting up of Lonergan Resource, a digital platform that made Lonergan's archival papers available to people all over the world, and more.

With this volume, Robert Doran completes his three volume work The Trinity in History, aimed at showcasing the relevance of the doctrine of the Trinity in concrete history. In addition to the analytic and synthetic steps toward theological understanding, the author proposes a more distinct and comprehensive theological synthesis grounded in the impact of the Trinity in history.

In the face of recent economic shocks, the interconnected world developed by the hegemonic structures of post–World?War?II globalism is forced to adapt. But how will it react to uncertainties resulting from changes to the structure of free trade, disruptions to supply chains and just-in-time inventories, and increasing national calls that question the benefits of migration? Will there be a united response to check financial crises, climate disruptions, and structural imbalances in world trade as people seek to better their lives outside of their birthplace? Or will the responses intensify the conflicts and crises surrounding immigration policies today? Written by scholars who take interdisciplinary approaches to these challenges, the essays in this volume explore what a new international economic order could look like. Bringing together philosophical, spiritual, sociological, theological, and ethical treatments of the issues, the chapters address how globalization either supports or destroys life; how we measure income and understand structures that will either perpetuate or overcome the systems exacerbating inequality; and, finally, how, with philosophical grounding, we can better understand globalization from the perspectives of history, ethics, and regional development studies.

The study of Christianity in the non-Western world reveals a demographic shift in the center of Christianity from the Northern Hemisphere to the South. But the contradictory aspect of the massive African conversion to Christian faith is the grinding poverty level in Africa. This condition raises important theological and ecclesiological questions that demand urgent answers. Therefore, the research objectives of this book are to examine African Catholicism''s involvement in human promotion and to seek a new way of theologizing Christianity that moves sub-Saharan African peoples to action against the massive injustices that keep them poor. Drawing on Africae Munus, the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of the Second African Synod (2011), and Bernard Lonergan''s notion of culture, African Catholicism and Hermeneutics of Culture argues that to truly be "the spiritual ''lung'' of humanity," African Catholicism must appropriate the Christian message to transform African attitudes and personhood and so foster a self-reliant commitment to integral African development.

This book is an attempt at a critical, constructive, and creative theological praxis of social transformation in Africa. The authors apply a multi-disciplinary approach to examining how Christianity in Africa is engaging the problems of Africa''s challenging social context. This is a prophetic work that applies the symbols of salt and light as ecclesiological images for reenvisioning the path towards procuring abundant life for God''s people in the African continent through the agency of African Christianity. The contributors to this volume ask these fundamental questions: What is the face of Jesus in African Christianity? What is the face and identity of the Church in Africa? How can one evaluate the relevance of the Church in Africa to African Christians who enthusiastically embrace and celebrate their Christian faith? In other words, what positive imprint is Christianity leaving on the lives and societies of African Christians? Does the Christian message have the potential of positively affecting African civilization as it once did in Europe? What is the relevance and place of African Christianity as a significant voice in shaping both the future of Africa and that of world Christianity?