“There is No Such Finis Ultimus”: Liberal Anthropology and Church-State Relations Considered

Peace study is now one of the most debated discourses. In the discourse of peace study, the modes of peace which was based on the liberal western values have long gained supremacy. Three generations of peace study occurred from that liberal tradition. Along with the strengthening – and even the romanticizing- of locality, the liberal peace traditions began to be criticized. Post Liberal Peace presented around the searching for the modes of ideal peace by criticizing the liberal peace traditions that based on liberal values. Post liberal peace or, as Richmond conceptualized, peace formation, was the correction of liberal peace generation and the celebration of the strengthening of locality. Unfortunately, there is theoretical gap, as many theories of that post liberal generation can’t elaborate sociologically how locality involved in peace process and bound as social norms. To fill the gap, the literature study uses Giddens’s structuration to understand how locality becomes the base of peace formation. Based on structuration theory of Giddens, the study found that local actors could act as an agent with capacity to formulate the mode of peace by standing on the local attributes as the ground as well as cultures and social values-norms. In Addition, the local actors had the both reflexive and discursive consciousness in interpreting the purposes of local values conversion as a base of peace formation. 
 Keywords: Agent; Liberal Peace; Local; Peace Formation; Post Liberal Peace; Structuration

"Circa Aetatem Discretionis"A Proposal in Favor of Restored Order Confirmation Joshua Madden (bio) The source for the title of this essay comes from canon 891 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which deals with the age of the recipient of the sacrament of confirmation. It states: "The sacrament of confirmation is to be conferred upon the faithful at about the age of discretion (circa aetatem discretionis), unless the conference of Bishops has determined another age, or there is danger of death, or in the judgment of the minister a grave cause suggests otherwise."1 It will perhaps be helpful to note first what this essay is not and will not do: it will not examine the biblical or patristic evidence for the sacrament of confirmation, but will assume that confirmation is indeed a sacrament of the Church that finds its place within the mysteries of Christian initiation. There has indeed been much written upon the former,2 and the latter is affirmed by countless magisterial pronouncements.3 [End Page 228] The purpose of this essay is to put forth a canonical and theological argument for what has been commonly known as "restored order confirmation," that is, to restore the logical order of the sacraments of initiation: baptism, confirmation, Eucharist. It is my hope that this proposal will make certain things clear: the place which confirmation holds in the process of Christian initiation; its integral connection to baptism; and its fundamental ordering toward the Eucharist. I am convinced that a renewal of the theology of the sacrament will lead to the following conclusion: that confirmation should be conferred upon the faithful in childhood, upon reaching the age of reason, before they have received their first Holy Communion. Further, I believe that the fruit plucked from this investigation is both consistent with the tradition and a faithful outworking of the universal call to holiness emphasized by the Second Vatican Council. I. POINTS OF CONTACT IN THE MAGISTERIUM: LEO XIII AND ST. PIUS X As a preliminary step in our investigation, it will be helpful to examine briefly the teachings of Pope Leo XIII and Pope St. Pius X on the reception of the sacraments of confirmation and the Eucharist, respectively. As the reigns of these two pontiffs span both sides of the turn of the 20th century, their teachings benefit our inquiry in two ways. First, both Leo XIII and Pius X address the sacraments of initiation explicitly, and refer specifically to the benefits they bestow upon the faithful with regard to the age of the recipient. Second, they have the historical advantage of preceding by many decades the numerous contentious debates about the liturgy and sacraments that occurred in the wake of Vatican II. [End Page 229] Pope Leo XIII's Letter Abrogata In a letter to the bishop of Marseilles, Pope Leo XIII praises the decision to ensure that young people receive the sacrament of confirmation "prior to their being refreshed by the divine banquet of the Eucharist (antequam divino Eucharistiae epulo reficiantur)."4 The pontiff goes on to criticize the custom of delaying confirmation and lays out the numerous benefits of the process the bishop has established: We therefore greatly praise your proposal. For that custom which had grown strong where you are, and in other places, is congruent neither with the ancient and constant institution of the Church, nor to the welfare of the faithful. For the elements of cupidity are found in the souls of the young, which, unless they are eradicated most quickly, grow gradually stronger, captivate the inexperienced in things, and drag them headfirst into danger. On account of which, even from a tender age, the faithful have need "to be clothed with strength from on high," which the sacrament of Confirmation was brought forth to bear. . . . Furthermore, adolescents who have been confirmed are made to take hold of precepts in a more impressionable manner, and afterwards of receiving the Eucharist in a more fitting way. . . . Hence we desire those things which have been most wisely established by you to be held faithfully and perpetually.5 Pope Leo's statement against that custom of inverting the order of the reception of the sacraments...

Pope Leo XIII wrote the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891. Rerum Novarum represents the first papal encyclical devoted to Catholic social teaching, or church teachings that address social, economic, and ecological justice. Pope Leo XIII had been trained in Thomistic philosophy and theology (the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas). He thus addressed various matters of contemporary concern from within this framework. There are two major inspirations for his writing Rerum Novarum. The first concerns the injustices that emerged during and after the Industrial Revolution (roughly 1760– 1840). The second has to do with the rise of communism in the 1840s. Leo does not refer explicitly to communism, but he has that in mind when he refers to “socialism,” which is where communism came from. In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the first edition of The Communist Manifesto, which addressed many of the themes Pope Leo XIII would later discuss in Rerum Novarum. Pope Leo XIII felt obligated to provide a Catholic response to the ills that afflicted humanity in the wake of both the Industrial Revolution and the rise of communism. He found the capitalist response and the communist response both wanting. Neither the focus on capital and private property nor the emphasis on the community was sufficient to capture what was at stake with the natural rights that Pope Leo XIII taught were God-given.

NOTES AND COMMENTS Association News The American Catholic Historical Association was represented by its first vice-president, DavidJ. O'Brien, at the Centennial Convocation of Northeastern University in Boston on October 16, 1997. Conferences, Congresses, and Lectures At the conference on "The Friars and Jews in the Middle Ages and Renaissance ," which was held at Saint Louis University on October 26-28, 1997 (see ante, LXXXIII [July 1997] , 544), two of the twenty-five scholars who presented papers were Larry Simon of Western Michigan University ("Mendicant-Jewish Interaction in Mediterranean Spain in the Thirteenth Century") and Thomas Izbicki ofJohns Hopkins University ("Leonardo Dati's [O.P.] Sermon on the CUcumcision ofJesus [1417]"). The 1997 Edward Surtz Lecture at Loyola University Chicago was deUvered on October 28, 1997, by Francis C. Oakley, Edward Dorr Griffin Professor of the History of Ideas inWilliams CoUege, on the topic,"Popes and CouncUs: England and the Latin Church's Constitutionalist Moment (I6th-17th Centuries)." A multidisciplinary conference on "Theodore Roosevelt and the Dawn of the American Century'"wUlbeheld at Siena CoUege on April 18-19, 1998, and the thirteenth annual multidiscipUnary conference on "World War II—A Dual Perspective " wUl be held at the same place on June 4-5, 1998. Inqiuxies about either conference should be addressed to the conference co-deector,Thomas O. KeUy, II, in care of the Department of History, Siena CoUege, 515 Loudon Road, LoudonvUle, New York 12211-1462; telephone: 518-783-2595; fax: 518-7865052 ; e-mail: keUy@siena.edu. The program of the "Internationaler wissenschaftlicher Kongress zum 900jährigen JubUäum" entitled "HUdegard von Bingen in ihrem historischen Umfeld,"which wUl be held at Bingen am Rhein on September 13-20, 1998 (see ante, LXXXIII [July, 1997] , 545), is now avaUable from the dUector of the historical part of the week, AUred Haverkamp. Requests for copies and other information should be addressed to Professor Haverkamp at FB III, Mittelalterliche Geschichte, Universität Trier, 54286 Trier, Germany. The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, in conjunction with Marist College and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, is organizing an taternational confer162 NOTES AND COMMENTS163 ence on the President's relationship with the Roman CathoUc Church, the Holy See, and the American Catholic community during his tenure (1933-1945). The conference wiU be held on October 7-10, 1998, at the Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, NewYork, and at Marist CoUege in Poughkeepsie, NewYork. The organizers wUl welcome proposals on aU aspects of the theme, including Roosevelt 's relationship with the CathoUc Church's ethnic constituencies, its hierarchy, and the Vatican, as weU as on the reactions of the CathoUc Church or community to the New Deal and to the international crises of the 1930's and '40's. Proposals on prominent individuals such as Cardinal Francis SpeUman, Father Charles E. Coughlin, Dorothy Day, and Eleanor Roosevelt wiU also be considered , as wül proposals on such themes as anti-CathoUcism or the legacy of the Roosevelt presidency on Church-State relations. Anyone who wishes to present a paper should send byApril 3, 1998, a one-page prospectus ofit and a curriculum vitae to FDR/CathoUc Conference, ta care of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, 511 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, New York 12538; telephone : 914-229-5321; fax: 902-229-9046; e-maU: jhamrah@idsi.net. The thirty-fourth International Congress on Medieval Studies wUl be held at Western Michigan University on May 6-9, 1999. Proposals for special or sponsored sessions must be submitted by May 15,1998. They should be addressed to the Medieval Institute,Western Michigan University, 1201 OUver Street, Kalamazoo , Michigan 49008-3801 . Saints and Beati In anticipation of the fourth centenary of the death of St. Peter Cañistas, which occurred on December 21, 1597, Pope John Paul II on September 19, 1997, sent a letter to the Bishops of Germany, recalling that Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Militantis Ecclesiae, issued for the third centenary, had rightly honored Peter Cañistas with the title of Second Apostle of Germany. TheJesuit was beatified by Pius LX in 1864 and canonized by Pius XI in 1925,when he was also declared a doctor of the Church...

This chapter presents a different understanding of the rule of law, one which is also well within the traditions of liberalism and American constitutionalism, but which is considerably less hostile to the broad understanding of positive rights at the heart of international human rights discourse. It examines the role of law in Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan. It discusses that Paine argued for a vision of law and constitutionalism that would enhance, rather than limit, both the democratic underpinning and the reach of political states. It concludes that neither liberal theory itself, nor the idea of American constitutionalism, at least as articulated by one of the fathers of liberalism and one of the most important American patriots, lend support to the view of the rule of law and of rights that constitute it, which has alienated the American community from the expansive conception of rights at the heart of public international law.

IN THE FIRST of the modern social encyclicals expressing the mind of the church on societal problems and in the letter of reply to the Pontiff by the American social philosopher, Pope Leo XIII and Henry really do not communicate with one another.' Leo XIII's approach to political reform draws heavily on classical and medieval political philosophy. Henry George, on the contrary, belongs to the tradition of modern political philosophy, with close ties to the thought of John Locke. Following Locke, argues that one has a property in his or her person and, therefore, is entitled to all the fruits of one's labor. Both Locke and further contend that there is an unlimited right to wealth one produces or acquires by exchange, and defend unlimited acquisition by one's labor as socially beneficial. differs from Locke in denying the right to own land. George's denial of the right to own land stems from the instincts of a generous heart, even from a strong moral fervor. If land rent were to accrue to the State by means of the Single Tax, he believed, there would never again be poverty amidst progress. Not only scarcity would be overcome, but also unjust behavior. Wilson Carey McWilliams explains, George believed that an abundant love for his fellows would emerge in man were economic scarcity once banished from the earth.2 From Pope Leo XIII's perspective on people and society, George's expectations from restrictions on land ownership, coupled with the unlimited right to accumulate all other kinds of wealth, are utopian to say the least. believes that these two reforms would abolish scarcity and thus injustice and render unnecessary Leo's stress on the role of religion, voluntary associations and the State in solving social problems. In Leo's mind the problem of social

In term of the development of liberal democracy in postwar Taiwan, most of us would accept that liberalism is one of the important propellers. In this paper, Ⅰ discuss the tripartite interpretations of liberalism, exemplified by three liberal scholars, Chang Fo-Chuan, Yin Hai-Kuang and Chu Chien-Chang. Ⅰindicate that Chang criticizes Chinese traditional political thought for the confusion of distinction between public and private life. He interprets liberalism from an Anglo-American tradition perspective, which distinguishes state from society, law from morality, and identifies liberties with rights. Furthermore, Ⅰ point out Yin adopts a similar approach to interpret liberalism like Chang, and under the influences of F. A. Hayek, he constructs a system of liberal thought based on the concept of ”negative liberty”, and accordingly to oppose the authoritarian dictatorship of government. By contrast, Chu's interpretation of liberalism stresses the point that liberty, reason and responsibility are congruent under the rule of law. He analyzes Hobbes's conception of liberty, and further develops his discourse to reconcile Locke's conception of toleration, Christian Golden Rule and Confucian principle of reciprocity (shu). In conclusion, Ⅰ indicate, with the exception of some different expositions, all of them interpret liberalism from an Anglo-American tradition perspective, which seems to be the main impulsion in ideological aspect to push the realization of liberal democracy in postwar Taiwan. It may be worth pointing out, though in theory their interpretations of liberalism originate from Western culture, but in action they seem to be influenced deeply by Chinese cultural tradition.

Charles Mills’s Liberal Redemption Song

This chapter confirms Jose Casanova's contention that modern secular states have not always treated religious communities with fairness and impartiality. It focuses on the interconnections between the churches and the British and New Zealand state between 1830 and 1870. New Zealand was formally incorporated into the British Empire in 1840, less than a decade after the United Kingdom's constitutional revolution of 1828-1832 eclipsed the old confessional state by giving Protestant dissenters, Roman Catholics, and secularists greater equality and freedom in state and civil society. During the 1830s, New Zealand lay outside the British empire. The Colonial Office was reluctant to incur the cost and trouble of annexing new colonies. In Britain's southernmost colony, racial politics and church-state relations cannot adequately be understood except by taking indigenous religious and political agency seriously and refusing to assume that after the Enlightenment religion simply retreated into the private sphere and political irrelevance. Keywords:British empire; church-state relations; New Zealand racial politics; secular colonial states

The political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes is one of the cornerstones of modern liberalism. Resting on controversial doctrines of freedom, perception, human nature, and history, the foundations of Hobbesianism presuppose an emergence of reason from matter-in-motion that Hobbes never adequately explains. In this paper I explore the motivations and consequences of his neglect of fundamental philosophical problems through a series of ambiguous uses of key terms manifested his work: nature, necessity, and God in metaphysics and theology; freedom in politics; intelligible unity in epistemology; and imagination in ethics. These show up, respectively, in his doctrines of naturalism, political science, phenomenalism, and the state of nature. While it may be that Hobbes’s metaphysical ideas are finally incoherent, this only raises a further question: Might Hobbes have recognized that the goal of a liberal state—a common human war against death—can only be grounded on sketchy and inadequate metaphysics, to be suppressed and avoided so far as possible? Primarily through a reading of the Leviathan , I explore this question and tentatively propose that an affirmative answer is warranted.

Fawcett, Edmund. Liberalism: the life of an idea. Priceton Universiy Press: 2014, 488p Any study of the liberal tradition must set out by addressing the perennial problem of polysemy. On the one hand, common sense states that what characterizes a liberal is a defence of the free market, low taxes and restricted government. On the other, it entails a belief in tolerance and social concerns together with a scepticism of the authority in power. Some of these principles overlap, while others are unable to coexist at the same time. In “Liberalism: The Life of an Idea”, Edmund Fawcett seeks to make the history of the liberal tradition intelligible by examining some of its intellectual exponents. In fact, one of the reasons why this work has attracted so much interest is the narrative/ analytical approach adopted by Fawcett in focusing not only on the key figures in the liberal tradition but also on names that are not quoted so often (although they are just as interesting as, or even more interesting than, those who are well-known).Fawcett characterizes liberalism as a “modern practice of politics with no foundation myth” (xii). As a political practice, its origins date from the post-1815 era, although it can be argued that its intellectual roots may well stretch back much earlier than this. Even though the liberal narrative often invokes an idea of universality and timelessness, Fawcett recalls that it involves a practice (and a discourse) embedded in a “Euro-Atlantic” world, with its own peculiar historical essence

ABSTRACTThis article examines liberal political theory’s limits and possibilities in relation to indigenous self-determination. It shows that while the liberal tradition has provided theoretical rationale to the colonial project it is also equipped to rationalise a politics of substantive indigenous inclusion. The article introduces the recourses that exist within liberal theory for non-colonial interpretations of citizenship, democracy and sovereignty. It shows how these concepts may be interpreted to contribute to a liberal theory of indigeneity as a theory emphasising independent indigenous authority on the one hand and culturally contextualised and substantive participation in the politics of the state on the other.

This chapter focuses on the Catholic Church's transition to modernity, which did not initially occur by way of theological reform. It came about through pastoral and missionary praxis as well as the rise in power of lay Christian actors: between two popes known for their intransigence, Pope Leo XIII, without compromising on any religious dogma, opened the way for the Church to engage with secular politics. Moreover, Pope Leo XIII took into account the ‘social question’, acknowledging that people were no longer living in a traditional society. The issue was no longer to bring the faithful back to church. The Church now had to reach out to secular society, which meant organizing open, socially oriented pastoral work and using secular political instruments—in other words what was to become Christian democracy—which no longer required religious observance but simple adherence to secularized Christian values. Ultimately, for global Catholicism, the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) hailed the adaptation of theology and ritual to modernism, ending a decades-long fight. Some have described it as a Protestant approach, or a Catholic version of the self-secularization of religion.

As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms the global landscape of labor and power, this paper reexamines Rerum Novarum (1891)— Pope Leo XIII’s foundational social encyclial—as a normative framework for addressing ethical dilemmas in the digital age. The study argues that the encyclical's principles—human dignity, just labor, solidarity, and the common good remain urgently relevant as AI-driven automation disrupts traditional employment structures. Drawing on Catholic Social Teaching (CST), magisterial texts, and AI ethics literature, this paper explores how theological moral reasoning can inform the development of ethical, human-centered digital systems and policies. Using a qualitative doctrinal method, the study synthesizes Thomistic natural law, CST principles, and contemporary philosophical reflections to propose a moral vision for justice and human dignity amid technological change. The findings suggest that Rerum Novarum provides an enduring ethical foundation for fostering a just, human-centered AI future.

Introduction (1) ANNOUNCED FOR 2007 to mark fortieth anniversary of Populorum Progressio (1967) of Pope Paul VI and twentieth of Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987) of Blessed John Paul II, Caritas Veritate (2) was originally intended to celebrate memory of these two encyclicals, especially for their treatment of human development. It would turn take up issue of development new and changed situation of a globalized world, for social issues that beset humanity days of Popes Paul and John Paul had now become global. The economic crisis of 2008-09 prompted Pope Benedict XVI to treat ethics of economics greater detail context of human development. somewhat delayed promulgation of encyclical; but on feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (June 29, 2009), Pope signed new social encyclical, and month of St. Benedict (on July 7, 2009) it was promulgated just before meeting of G-8 L'Aquila, Italy. Like many others beginning with Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum of 1891, Caritas Veritate is a social encyclical. (3) In it insights of theology, philosophy, economics, ecology, and politics have been harnessed to formulate a coherent social teaching that places human person with his total and integral development at center of all world systems of thought and activity. Man and his salvation were at center of mission and ministry of Jesus Christ as revelation of love of Father (Jn 3:16) and truth of man's creation God's image and of his transcendent vocation to holiness and to happiness with God. is setting of two concepts, love and truth, (4) which drive encyclical. Lying at heart of mission and ministry of Jesus, love and truth correspond with and describe essential character of life and activity of man on earth. The human person receives God's love as a gift and is furthermore endowed with a vocation to become a gift and a source of love return. This dynamic of charity received and given is what gives rise to Church's social teaching, which is caritas veritate re sociale: proclamation of truth of Christ's love society (Civ 5). The res socialis (human society) forms contextual reference of Church's social teaching, and it has evolved dramatically over past 120 years. Pope Leo XIII was concerned about misery of workers days after industrial revolution and influence of Marxism; Pope Pius XI addressed crisis of 1929; Popes John XXIII and Paul VI dealt with decolonization and emergence of third worldism; Pope John Paul II faced issues stemming from fall of Berlin Wall and political changes Eastern Europe; and now Pope Benedict XVI is addressing globalization, underdevelopment, and recent financial, economic, moral, and anthropological crises (cf. Civ 75). To these changing situations, social encyclicals steadily reapply basic principles of Church's social teaching. So the Church's social doctrine illuminates with an unchanging light new problems that are constantly emerging. (5) It was this sense that Pope Pius XII believed that papal encyclicals, even when they are not ex cathedra, can nonetheless be sufficiently authoritative to end theological debate on a particular question. (6) The issuing of encyclicals indicates a high papal priority for an issue at a given time; but they are not only means available to popes to teach on social issues. It is pontiff who decides under what circumstances an encyclical should be issued (7) in order to shed light of Gospel on social questions of his time. (8) And this is precisely what Caritas Veritate seeks to do our day. Thus Caritas Veritate continues tradition of popes exercising their prophetic and teaching office order to provide guidance for way Church lives accord with Gospel's message and virtues. …