Abstract

This article reads the papal encyclical as a genre in political thought. As a form, the encyclical authorizes itself through the ontological surety provided by Christian revelation, juxtaposed with...

Highlights

  • In 2015, Pope Francis released his encyclical Laudato Si to extraordinary levels of global coverage

  • The pope’s authority to issue the said encyclical, it goes without saying, was granted to him by the Catholic Church’s investiture of him with the papal crown, which is said to bestow the petrine dispensation, unbroken since Christ said to his disciple Simon, “On this rock, you will build my church”

  • As a form, the encyclical authorizes itself through the ontological surety provided by Christian revelation, juxtaposed with an intervention into contemporary and contested politics

Read more

Summary

Introduction

In 2015, Pope Francis released his encyclical Laudato Si to extraordinary levels of global coverage. In Laudato si, for example, the text reads “Christianity, in fidelity to its own identity and the rich deposit of truth which it has received from Jesus Christ, continues to reflect on these issues in fruitful dialogue with changing historical situations In doing so, it reveals its eternal newness” (Francis, 2015). Rather than repudiating religious thought on empirical or scientific grounds, De Vries and Sullivan suggest that a much more productive approach is to attempt to take its temperature, to make sense of the internal logics that obtain within a religious system This is the spirit in which I offer my thoughts on (a) the reasons that Catholic thought has been so difficult to capture in narratives of the modern, and (b) how we might approach a text such as encyclical as a resource for thinking through what it means to be political in the post-secular

Modern times and the political
Encyclical time
Conclusion
Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.