In The Midst Of Our World by Bishop Paul Josef Cordes

Author:Bishop Paul Josef Cordes [Cordes, Bishop Paul Josef]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9780898702088
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2010-11-19T06:00:00+00:00

2. Social Commitment

A further aspect of our discussion of experience as an aid to faith concerns the world of work. It should at least be mentioned that important and far-reaching teachings of the Church and of our present Holy Father exist on this theme; indeed, hardly any of the major Church documents in our time fail to touch on it. One of the most significant is John Paul II’s papal encyclical Laborem Exercens of September 14, 1981.

The purpose of our present investigation is to examine whether it is possible to experience the truths of the Faith in the field of social commitment and how far the data of Revelation are capable of being experienced in it. To this end, the theological aspects of social commitment and service to our fellowmen need to be elucidated. This means that we need to pursue our examination of the questions we raised at the outset: namely, whether it is possible to relate the truths of the Faith (for instance, the New Testament commandment of love for our neighbor) to the Christian’s social and political commitment and whether, by being experienced in such commitment, they can become certitudes for us.

No biblical text has made a deeper impression on the modern public conscience, or had such far-reaching consequences, as the words spoken by Jesus: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). Perhaps no other New Testament text has been the subject of such exhaustive discussion as this commandment to practice brotherly love. At all events, this is the impression one gets if one lives in Germany; no doubt the same applies to public opinion in other Western countries. The mass media of all kinds and organizations of whatever ideological origin all show a strong concern for humanitarian action. Even though this does not necessarily mean that brotherly love is actually being practiced, it is a sure sign that there is popular support for the general theory. If one loves one’s neighbor, one recognizes and theoretically accepts the implications of this love in the sociopolitical sphere: the defense of human rights.

There is no doubt that Christians may often experience in their private lives what the New Testament commandment to love one another actually involves. In encountering a needy neighbor or the victims of poverty and destitution, they discover what Jesus meant when he spoke of “the least of these my brethren”. Yet if the scope of the new commandment is restricted merely to the sphere of the individual, its biblical sense is likely to be watered down or wrongly understood.

The claims recently made by the so-called liberation theology make any such limitation quite impossible. In support of such claims, mention may be made in the first place of the political and social teachings of the Old Testament writings that speak of the progress and liberation of the chosen people. But in the New Testament, too, brotherly love is not

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