Spirituality of the Universal Church: Rediscovering faith. Commemorative volume marking the 70th birthday of Sebastian Painadath SJ

305 Pages·2014·5.309 MB·English

by  Klaus Krämer, Klaus Vellguth, (eds.)

Spirituality of the Universal Church
REDISCOVERING FAITH
One World Theology
(Volume 4)
OWT vol.4 (Spirituality of the Universal Church) 305pp.indd 1 5/29/14 2:01 PM
OWT vol.4 (Spirituality of the Universal Church) 305pp.indd 2 5/29/14 2:01 PM
Spirituality of the Universal Church
REDISCOVERING FAITH
4
Commemorative volume marking the 70th birthday of
Sebastian Painadath SJ
Edited by
Klaus Krämer and Klaus Vellguth
CLARETIAN PUBLICATIONS
Quezon City, Philippines
OWT vol.4 (Spirituality of the Universal Church) 305pp.indd 3 5/29/14 2:01 PM
SPIRITUALITY OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH
Rediscovering Faith
(One World Theology, Volume 4)
Copyright © 2014 by Verlag Herder GmbH, Freiburg im Breisgau
Printed by Claretian Publications
A division of Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
U.P. P.O. Box 4, Diliman 1101 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: [phone] • Fax: [phone]
[email protected] • [email protected]
www.claretianpublications.com
Claretian Publications is a pastoral endeavor of the Claretian Missionaries that brings the
Word of God to people from all walks of life. It aims to promote integral evangelization and
renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowearment and total liberation in response
to the needs and challenges of the Church today.
It is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the
Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai,
Macau, Madrid, Manila and São Paolo.
Cover design by Jayson Elvin E. Guevara
Layout design by Ma. Myreen Q. Gayos
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means without written
permission from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-971-9952-79-4
OWT vol.4 (Spirituality of the Universal Church) 305pp.indd 4 5/29/14 2:01 PM
Contents
Preface ......................................................................................... ix
Dedicated to Dr. Sebastian Painadath on his 70th birthday
Dr. Sebastian Painadath SJ - a two-page portrait ............... 1
Norbert Nagler
Theology of Prayer
Interplay of salvation and health in prayers for healing:
theological places in Africa .................................................. 9
Anne Béatrice Faya
Theology of Prayer .............................................................. 25
George Gispert-Sauch
Prayer and Engagement as the Basis of Theology ............. 37
Thomas Fornet-Ponse
“Pleasure in Prayer”? ........................................................... 47
Hans Waldenfels SJ
Encounter between Spirituality and Theology
Mystic Penetration and Prophetic Dynamism
What kind of spirituality is appropriate for our age? ............ 61
Boniface Mabanza
Spirituality and Theology ..................................................... 71
Michael Amaladoss, SJ
Cross-fertilisation of Spirituality and Theology ..................... 81
Luiz Carlos Susin
v
OWT vol.4 (Spirituality of the Universal Church) 305pp.indd 5 5/29/14 2:01 PM
vi Spirituality of the Universal Church
Thoughts on a Theology of a
Universal Church Spirituality................................................ 95
Klaus Krämer
Spirituality and Christology
How justifiable is it to speak of a Christ-centered spirituality
from an African perspective? ............................................... 107
Fr. Roberto Turyamureeba MCCJ
Spirituality and Christology .................................................. 119
P. Dr. Sebastian Painadath SJ
Love is not loved:
Towards a complete spirituality ............................................ 127
Ángel Darío Carrero
Spirituality: Ways of Walking with Christ
and of Coming to Christ ....................................................... 139
Klaus Vellguth
Inter-Spiritual Encounter
Inter-Spiritual Encounter: Igbo (West African)
Indigenous Religious Search for Harmony
and the Christian Mediation of the Sacred .......................... 155
Elochukwu E. Uzukwu
Is Intercultural Spirituality Necessary?
The Goal of the Encounter of Cultures ................................ 175
Francis X. D’Sa SJ
Reflections on the potential for interreligious
and interspiritual dialogue in a context of cultural
and religious colonialism in Mapuche territory ....................... 189
Ramón Francisco Curivil Paillavil
Dialogue between Christianity and Hinduism ...................... 201
Martin Kämpchen
OWT vol.4 (Spirituality of the Universal Church) 305pp.indd 6 5/29/14 2:01 PM
Contents vii
Mission Spirituality
Mission Spirituality:
The Centrality of Christ in the Catholic University ............... 215
Pius Male Ssentumbwe
Asian Missionary Spirituality ................................................ 245
Jacob Kavunkal
How can we speak of God today? ....................................... 255
Víctor Bascopé Caero
What is the essence of modern Eucharistic spirituality?
Liberation theology aspects ................................................. 273
Hermann Schalück
Appendix
Index of authors ................................................................... 285
Index of translators .............................................................. 289
OWT vol.4 (Spirituality of the Universal Church) 305pp.indd 7 5/29/14 2:01 PM
OWT vol.4 (Spirituality of the Universal Church) 305pp.indd 8 5/29/14 2:01 PM
Preface
“O Lord, our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” “Inquietum
est cor nostrum, donec requiescat in te, Domine” was how Augustine
described a basic human condition to which people respond by
developing a deep spirituality. Mindful of this, the fathers of the
Second Vatican Council described the restlessness people feel, the
questions they have and the existential search they conduct as an
anthropological constant (NA 1). Now, too, at the onset of the third
millennium in the age of post-modernism many people in Europe
experience a longing for spirituality. Sensing that the material world
cannot quench their thirst for life, they set out on the road to spirituality.
For many people in Germany the Indian Jesuit Sebastian Painadath
has become a spiritual mentor. It is to him, on the occasion of his
seventieth birthday, that this commemorative volume in the One
World Theology series is dedicated. It offers theologians from Africa,
Asia, Latin America and Europe an opportunity to put forward their
views on different aspects of spirituality within the universal Church.
The authors’ varying perspectives produce what might be called a
“theological kaleidoscope”. Their thoughts complement each other in
a host of different ways as they attempt to find answers to various
questions relating to a universal Church spirituality.
This fourth volume in the One World Theology series consists of
five chapters, in each of which four theologians from different con-
tinents set out their thoughts. The first chapter deals with the theology
of prayer. Anne Béatrice Faye from Africa looks at the interplay
between salvation and health in prayers for healing. Taking the sig-
nificance of ancestors in traditional African religions as her point of
departure, she looks first at the pastoral / ecclesiological challenge
posed by revivalist churches and their ambiguous spiritual practices.
She then goes on to apply the works of Jesus as a criterion and to
map out perspectives for a theology by the side of the crucified in
Africa. Faye is convinced that prayer assumes the face of poverty and
ix
OWT vol.4 (Spirituality of the Universal Church) 305pp.indd 9 5/29/14 2:01 PM
x Spirituality of the Universal Church
that commitment to the poor has a deep spiritual dimension. George
Gispert-Sauch from India examines what people in his country
understand by prayer, under which he subsumes the morning sun
salutation, statements from the Bhagavad Gita and the prayer vocali-
sation “Om”. He establishes that, with respect to prayer, there is “a
greater convergence between the Eastern and the Christian tradition”
at the level of discursive theology and understanding of the world. In
close adherence to the theology of Gustavo Gutiérrez and Ignacio
Ellacuria, Thomas Fornet-Ponse describes prayer and engagement
as the basis of theology. Starting with Gutiérrez’ dictum whereby “any
true theology is also spiritual theology”, he says that active discipleship
comprises a combination of contemplation and action. Fornet-Ponse
describes the main characteristics of Latin American spirituality as
being solidarity, repentance, the experience of God’s unmerited love,
spiritual childhood through active engagement against inhumane
poverty, and the fellowship of the Church. These characteristics
are crucial because “prayer and the people’s life of faith must take
priority over theology. There must be a connection between contem-
plation and action, between orthodoxy and orthopraxis.” Finally, Hans
Waldenfels looks at the issue of “Pleasure in Prayer”. He begins by
distinguishing between religion, on the one hand, and religiousness or
spirituality, on the other. He then presents some thoughts on spiritual
animation in Germany before examining the main characteristics of
the spiritual animation offered by Sebastian Painadath. The body, the
breath and the word are three starting points for seekers trying to find
the path to their inner selves. Waldenfels stresses that the spiritual
practices Sebastian Painadath offers do not lead the practitioner out
of the world but towards a changed attitude to the world.
In the following chapter the authors examine the relationship
between spirituality and theology. Boniface Mabanza analyses the
current global challenges facing society and asks what kind of spiri-
tuality is appropriate for our time. In the light of consumerism he sees
the need for comprehensive processes of change so that “the image of
mankind, which is characterised by excessive consumption and com-
petition, can be transformed into a new awareness”, thus enabling a
good life to be enjoyed by all. Michael Amaladoss also draws attention
to the connection between orthodoxy and orthopraxis. He points out
that, in the various periods theology went through, orthopraxis initially
held sway, after which it was the turn of orthodoxy, whereas now
OWT vol.4 (Spirituality of the Universal Church) 305pp.indd 10 5/29/14 2:01 PM