Anales de Teología

The Theological Background of Pope Francis and his Revolution of Tenderness: A Revolution that Transforms Theology

María Claudia Arboleda — 2024-12-21

Pope Francis's theology is characterized by its focus on the “Revolution of Tenderness”, a central concept in his pontificate. This article explores the theological background underpinning the centrality of tenderness in his magisterium. It examines the influence of Ignatian spirituality, the Argentine cultural and social context, and Francis's relationship with contemporary theologians. Highlighted in his encyclicals and apostolic documents, tenderness is presented as a transformative force capable of renewing human relationships and the perception of God. This study aims to demonstrate how the theology of tenderness promotes a Christian practice centered on love and compassion, offering a response to the spiritual and social needs of our time.

A theology of plants: rights, obligations and quasi-rights

Gonzalo David — 2024-12-21

This paper seeks to outline the foundational framework for a theology of plants, drawing on Nicholas Wolterstorff's theory of justice as a conceptual framework and as a Christian alternative to contemporary discourses on ecology, particularly those based on a pantheistic cosmology. For this purpose, the author presents the categories of rights, duties and quasi-rights and the place of these notions in the interaction between God, human beings and the natural world; the attendant metaphysical complexities are considered. Along with this effort, the author deals with the problem of the absence of moral agency in plants and the possible solution by resorting to the mechanism known as active legitimation. Finally, he makes some observations on the possible suspicions generated by discourses on rights in today's democracies and raises some reflections that may help future work on this topic.

Habitar el tiempo. Breves consideraciones sobre el cuidado de la casa común

Maximiliano Yáñez — 2024-12-21

In the encyclical Laudato si' (2015) a diagnosis is made of the main ecological problems we face today, calling to take care of our common home. But how should we take care of it? In this article, we will show the importance of inhabiting time when trying to face the ecological crisis. Specifically, we will reflect on how by becoming aware of the influence of time in our daily lives we can adopt a life more in line with the world around us, and above all with God. In this way, although the relationship between time and God is very present in the history of Western thought, for example, in Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Newton, Leibniz, Levinas, to name just a few, their relationship with the environment is not so obvious, nor is it a common line of argument. For this reason, in this article we will try to show the importance of understanding the nature of time when trying to establish solutions to the ecological issue.

The epistemological foundations of the method of Liberation Theology and Theology of People

Guillermo Salinas — 2024-12-21

Liberation Theology, as a contemporary theology that emerged in the 20th century, is still in the current debate regarding the epistemology and methodology of theology. Its influence continues to have great relevance worldwide, for example, through the Theology of the People, which we analyze here in its main concepts. We make a formal approach to its method based on its epistemological foundations, in order to account for its theory arising from Christian praxis. In the description of its most important aspects, we highlight the role of its relations with philosophy and science. To do so, we focus on the contributions offered by the Brazilian author Agenor Brighenti and the Argentine thinker Juan Carlos Scannone. Finally, we investigate the role played by praxis as a horizon from which theological reflection arises.

Spanish Jesuits musicians in the Austrian and bourbons Spain: some news from century XVI to century XVIII

Juan Jorquera — 2024-12-21

Este texto hace referencia a noticias de jesuitas españoles que realizaron alguna práctica musical entre los siglos XVI y XVIII, ya sea como intérpretes, compositores o teóricos de la música, tanto aficionados como profesionales. Comenzamos nuestro trabajo considerando al propio fundador de la Orden, San Ignacio de Loyola, de quien hay varios relatos sobre su amor por la música y la práctica musical. A continuación, se pasa a hablar de destacados músicos de los siglos XVII y XVIII, con excepción de los llamados jesuitas expulsados: Juan Andrés, Esteban de Arteaga y Antonio Eximeno, figuras que ya han sido estudiadas por distinguidos especialistas. En el siglo XVII, tenemos al Padre Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, un teólogo y pensador prominente de la Compañía, cuyos intereses intelectuales también incluían la música. Después, el padre José de Zaragozá, profesor de matemáticas de Carlos II de Austria y notable teórico de la música, o el padre Bernardo Lozano, director de la Capilla de Música del antiguo Colegio Imperial de Madrid, que en los últimos años se ha erigido como un importante músico de la Orden, con referencias que se remontan aproximadamente a mediados del siglo XVIII hasta 1767, el año de la expulsión de la Compañía de Jesús de todos los territorios de España.

Common Good and Hospitality: A Reading from the Thought of Jean-Luc Marion

Francisco Novoa — 2024-12-21

This article explores the interconnectedness between the common good and hospitality in the thought of Jean-Luc Marion, emphasizing its links to Christianity and phenomenology. Marion proposes a vision of the common good that transcends individualism, highlighting the spiritual and transcendental dimension as a foundation for community life and unconditional hospitality. In this context, hospitality is not merely a response to others' needs but a radical welcome that renounces reciprocity, considering the other as a “saturated phenomenon” that surpasses our categories of understanding. This study invites a rethinking of hospitality and the common good as fundamental components of an ethics that addresses the challenges of social fragmentation, migration, and cultural plurality.

The parish as an expression of synodality

Ricardo Ramírez Basualdo — 2024-12-21

Synodality does not designate a simple procedure, but the peculiar way in which the Church lives and operates. The parish, a community of believers, considered the local cell of the Church. This community should live ecclesial communion, traveling together, in a co-responsible manner, where everyone is equal, making visible the global mission of the Church. Hence the challenge of the parish to live synodality. From which, we will analyze in this work the theological foundations of the parish community, in the face of the challenge of synodality. In the first part, we will try to explain the biblical and theological sources of the parish, in the second part we will address what synodality in the Church consists of; to finally understand the challenge of the parish as a space to promote synodality. The main source will be the work The parish by Enzo Bianchi and Renato Corti, in addition to other secondary sources. Assuming that the ecclesial process that we are experiencing commits a synodal way of doing theology, promoting listening, dialogue, to discern and integrate the different contributions to the reality of the Church.

E. RUMPZA, Phenomenology of the Icon. Mediating God through the Image. Cambridge University Press, 2023, pp. 314. ISBN 9781009317924. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781009317900

Bernardita Linares — 2024-12-21

The book Phenomenology of the Icon: Mediating God through the Image by Stephanie Rumpza, with a foreword by Jean-Luc Marion, explores how the Byzantine icon serves as a medium to mediate divine transcendence, integrating phenomenology, theology, and Christian aesthetics. Rumpza draws on Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutics and Marion’s phenomenology to distinguish between idol and icon, arguing that the icon, far from being a mere visual object, allows for an experience of the divine by exceeding the limitations of human perception. She also emphasizes the importance of the liturgical context in understanding the icon as a window to the invisible and demonstrates how this phenomenological approach enriches the theological understanding of the sensible as a gateway to the transcendent, avoiding both idolatry and iconoclasm.