Sex,gender, and intersex: anthropological,medical, and ethical critiques and proposals

ABSTRACT

The problems of intersex have received little attention from both Catholic Magisterium and theologians. Early in 2019, the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education issued a document intended to be a pathway for a dialogue on the issue of gender in education. This essay responds to that document as a contribution to filling theological gaps in the consideration of intersex. It first explains and critiques the theological anthropology underlying the Vatican document and then analyzes and critiques Western cultural, medical approaches to intersex persons. It dialogues with the experience of intersex persons and the social sciences that document it and concludes by proposing ethical principles to guide intersex persons, their parents, and their physicians in the care and treatment of intersex.     

The continuance of gender culture amid change in Mexican–American immigrant Catholic contexts

The acceptance and implementation of Roman Catholic teachings on marriage, sexuality, and the family vary both at the individual and at the parish level. While overall, there is a dialectical relationship between gender and religion in the way they inform and mold each other, the majority of research has focused on how religion has shaped gender in communities. We use qualitative data from a Latino immigrant Catholic context in the United States to show the opposite movement: how a Mexican–American gender culture of machismo and marianismo shapes the religious culture in the arenas of marriage and religious authority. The process of incorporating immigrant Mexicans into the dominant culture of the United States takes place in part in these religious centers through the interaction and mixture of Latino gender norms with the therapeutic egalitarianism of the white middle class, through the mediation of priests. Through this, we suggest that there are contexts, times, and places where the gender culture of a community shapes the reception and practice of religion.     

The Adoption of Humanism in Catholic Spain (1470-1520)

This article re-evaluates the role and impact of Italian humanism in Spain, where scholars trained in Italy occupied the most important teaching posts of Latin in universities and schools from the 1470s. As a result, within one or two generations the entire educational system in Spain had been transformed by humanism. By reconstructing what humanism meant for different groups in society, its successes, as well as its limitations, are explained. Latin was important for the academic and governing elites. Additionally, humanism provided them with a cultural code, which – primarily in its aesthetic dimension – enabled them to differentiate themselves from others. However, the humanists’ aspiration to be on a par with nobles and equal in authority to lawyers and theologians was rejected. Noble blood, traditional legal attitudes and religious orthodoxy stood firm against a culture based on classical language and letters. Theologians in particular rejected the humanists’ interest in pagan mythology.     

Revisiting interreligious relations: The convergence of global context and ecclesial developments

Following the important work of the 1980s and 1990s by the US churches and ecumenical bodies in developing interfaith statements and policies, significant events in both the US and international arenas were coincidental and motivational for US Christians to reconsider their interreligious engagement in a new context. This article examines the major contextual factors, as well as ecumenical developments with particular attention to the United Church of Christ and the National Council of Churches, which also will consider new statements in 2019.     

Our Journey Ahead

This text is an edited version of a keynote address given in Paris on 12 March 2019 to a colloquium on “Justice and Justification” organized by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Ecumenism (ISEO, according to its acronym in French) to mark the 20th anniversary of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) between Catholics and Lutherans in 1999. The article explores the origins and the reception of the JDDJ, as well as the opportunities it offers for Christians of all denominations today. It goes on to remember the Joint Commemoration of the Reformation by Lutherans and Catholics in 2016 in Lund and Malmö, Sweden, and how this was influenced by the insights gained from the Lutheran–Mennonite dialogue. The address notes how since the signing of the Joint Declaration in 1999, three other Christian World Communions have joined the declaration and highlights various upcoming anniversaries, including the 500th anniversaries of the Diet of Worms in 2021, and of the Augsburg Confession in 2030.     

The conscience debate: resources for rapprochement from the problem’s perceived source

This article critically evaluates the conception of conscience underlying the debate about the proper place and role of conscience in the clinical encounter. It suggests that recovering a conception of conscience rooted in the Catholic moral tradition could offer resources for moving the debate past an unproductive assertion of conflicting rights, namely, physicians’ rights to conscience versus patients’ rights to socially and legally sanctioned medical interventions. It proposes that conscience is a necessary component of the moral life in general and a necessary resource for maintaining a coherent sense of moral agency. It demonstrates that an earlier and intellectually richer conception of conscience, in contrast with common contemporary formulations, makes the judgments of conscience accountable to reason, open to critique, and protected from becoming a bastion for bigotry, idiosyncrasy, and personal bias.

The ELCA at Twenty: A Young Church that Works

Abstract : This assessment, from a pastor who has served in all three of its ‘expressions' (congregation, synod, churchwide), and now heads one of its 8 seminaries, celebrates both major achievements as well as the interdependent ‘churchstyle’ exhibited by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America during its first 20 years.     

Bowling Alone but Working and Worshiping Together

Abstract : The following article reviews both the strengths and weaknesses of the ELCA on the anniversary of 20 years of existence. The article emphasizes the increased diversity in the denomination, particularly the increased participation of women both in scholarship and leadership in the church. It also lifts up the importance of the strong ecumenical work that continues to take place, both nationally and internationally, which is evidenced in the ELCA's full communion agreements. Commitments to social justice, global connectedness and economic stewardship are also discussed.     

Roman Catholic Clericalism,Religious Duress,and Clergy Sexual Abuse

Since 1984, sexual abuse by Catholic clergy has captured public attention and resulted in a stream of criminal and civil lawsuits. The hierarchy has been defensive in the face of constant accusations and criticism. This study examines selected key aspects of the clergy sex abuse phenomenon including historical precedents and the impact of clericalism on the development of psychological and emotional duress in victims and others closely associated with sexual abuse.     

The Usefulness of the Lutheran Confessions in the African World

Abstract: The Malagasy Lutheran Church is one of the fastest growing churches in Africa. Maturing after having been seeded by Western missionaries, the confessional bond to Lutheran history is flowering differently within (1) the development of African contextual theologies and (2) ecumenical dynamics involving Lutherans and other Christian traditions.