Annua Nuntia Lovaniensia – serie

The many numbers of divorces and remarriages today seem to place in question the concept of marriage as being «till death do us apart». How should we evaluate this development? Are the foundations of society being shaken to their core or does perhaps the great number of people remarrying indicate precisely that «conjugality» continues to be a fixed element in the human lifecycle? Scientific insights and loyality to the Christian tradition bring this multi-disciplinary theological reflection to a double movement: on the one hand, a re-appreciation of Christian marriage in terms of its evangelical roots, on the other a theological and pastoral dialogue with the several current forms that conjugality assumes upon a marriage's failure. We furthermore give special attention to the position of the children. From a faith perspective, marriage continues to be a pre-eminent path of salvation as a community of life and basis for family. La fréquence actuelle des divorces et des remariages remet en question la vision d'un «mariage pour toujours». Comment apprécier cette évolution? Faut-il dire qu'est ainsi atteint le fondement même de la vie commune? Ou bien le grand nombre de remariage confirme-t-il que la «conjugalité» reste une composante ferme de l'existence humaine? Les recherches scientifiques et la loyauté envers la tradition chrétienne orientent la réflexion théologique multidisciplinaire dans une double direction. D'une part, une redéfinition du mariage chrétien à partir de ses racines évangéliques. D'autre part, un dialogue théologique et pastoral avec les multiples formes actuelles de conjugalité, succédant à un échec du mariage. Dans ce contexte, nous accordons une particulière attention à la situation des enfants. Pour le chrétien, le mariage reste une exceptionnelle voie de salut, si du moins il est conçu comme une communauté de vie et le fondement de la famille.

This third volume of Understanding What One Reads includes forty-two studies of the New Testament. The three volumes cover 1992-2003 (I); 2003-2011 (II) and 2011-2014 (III). Though for the most part the content of this third volume falls under the category of responses to recent scholarly books or articles, some conference papers directed toward more general audience are included. In this volume Professor Lambrecht continues his defense of the thesis of Mark's dependence on Q. In addition, a major subdivision reflects on Paul. At the end of this third book there is provided a canonical list of his English articles written between 1992-2014 from Collected Studies on Pauline Literature and the Book on Revelation (Rome, 2001) as well as those in the three volumes of Understanding What One Reads. These additional features will facilitate endeavors to follow the chronological development of Professor Lambrecht's thought.

The essays in this volume, dedicated as a Festschrift to Prof. Dr. Mathijs Lamberigts (KU Leuven), are scholarly reflections on the ongoing renewal in the Church, as articulated mainly against the background of research on Augustine and Vatican II studies. The volume discusses the views of Augustine on grace and free will, deification, and the theology of marriage. With regard to Vatican II, this book offers lasting contributions in the area of liturgy, interreligious dialogue, Catholic social teaching on the family and human ecology, and the role of women. In some essays systematic theology and pastoral practice are placed in mutual critical tension, so that both become more creative and mutually enriching. This tension is studied in relation to Scripture, the Church fathers, liturgy and particular issues such as eco-theology, methods of participatory pastoral leadership, and the common good.

This volume consists of several contributions to a refined understanding of religious experience in view of contemporary theological epistemology. Diverse sample studies taken from the extensive field of religion, theology and religious studies reveal that 'religious experience' is today clearly a pivotal issue. More specifically, this is made evident in modern theological hermeneutics and in the anti-modern and/or post-modern reactions thereto, the theology of world religions and inter-religious dialogue, the contemporary resurgence of religiosity in Western society and culture, and the so-called turn to religion in contemporary continental philosophy. It would appear from such studies that the category of 'religious experience' is frequently called upon to clarify or explain the phenomenon of religion and religiosity on the one hand and to support and legitimise religious positions or the critique thereof on the other.Because of the loss of plausibility of tradition-bound religiosity and of foundational, so-called onto-theological schemes, 'religious experience' has come to constitute, for many, the last (or latest) point of departure and anchor for religion and religious thinking. This is certainly the case with respect to tendencies within contemporary Christian traditions and theological reflection. In a multitude of ways and from a variety of different perspectives, 'religious experience' and 'experience of transcendence' or 'of the divine' have gained a prominent place in philosophical and fundamental-theological conceptual schemes. In reaction to this, other authors have denied the very primacy given to religious experience in reflecting upon faith, pointing to the constitutive role of tradition and narrative without which there is no religious experience. From all this follows that the category of religious experience is in great need of reconceptualisation, not least from a theological point of view. On the one hand, religious experience is all too easily called upon to legitimise religious claims (often against 'tradition') and on the other hand, the category has become misleading in so far as it is tainted by the modern scientific understanding of experience - in reaction to which 'tradition' is then easily invoked to protect the core of religion.Both young scholars at the preceding junior conference and senior scholars during the conference's paper sessions presented from diverse perspectives new ways to conceive of religious experience in view of today's challenges of secularisation, religious plurality, the aestheticisation of religion, etc. The selected contributions have been arranged in four thematically oriented parts: 'Approaching Religious Experience in a Postmodern Age', 'Modern (re)Thinking of Religious Experience', 'Liberating Religious Experience', and 'Challenges for Spirituality'.