Theology in Troubled Times

Posted on 01. Feb, 2018, in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Politics1 Comment

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Michael Kirwin SJ is a visiting professor of theology at the Loyola Institute in Dublin – giving a paper – “Stand Upright and raise your head -doing Theology in troubled times.”

He says we times are turbulent and that the biggest challenge we face today is how to combat Fascism. He points to the rise in intolerance in society which has left the world feeling increasingly unstable – ‘the centre cannot hold’ as the extremists seek to pull it apart, he says.

He references another contemporary philosopher, Slavoj Zizek – a Marxist atheist – who insists that the Christian legacy is simply too important to be left to evangelical fundamentalists. For Zizek, the world is faced with an unsavoury choice between two false ‘religions’- the narcissism of a commodified ‘spirituality’, or the herd-like fascistic nationalism. In which case, Zizek concludes that it may be wiser to stay with the Judaeo-Christian tradition.

Pat Coyle began by asking if Theologians have been hanging their heads in recent years and how they can get their voices back.