Patristic Sources and Catholic Social Teaching
a Forgotten Dimension: A Textual, Historical, and Rhetorical Analysis of Patristic Source Citations in the Church's Social Documents
by B.J. Matz
The fact that over one hundred patristic sources may be found in the documents of Catholic social teaching (CST) would suggest that patristic sources have not been “forgotten” as the title to this book suggests. Yet, this study of every patristic source citation in twenty-one CST documents since the late nineteenth century suggests that just such a conclusion should be drawn. The CST documents in this study largely ignored the historical and literary contexts of the patristic sources, and this had the concomitant effect of limiting appropriation of the fullness of their arguments. In addition, most of the patristic citations do not reflect the socio-ethical concerns of the patristic authors themselves. Even when the patristic citations supported related, theological themes, usually they were relegated to footnotes. This is not a study of themes or of theologies in the CST documents, nor is it a study of the cultural and historical forces at work in the arguments made by those who drafted them. Rather, it is a study of the rhetorical, theological and/or pastoral function of each patristic source citation in the CST documents. In this respect, each CST document stands on its own as a rhetorical tour de force. For that reason, the study concludes with a vision for the “fair use” of patristic sources in future CST documents.
- By (author) BJ Matz
Other Titles in this Series
From Here and There
Speaking about Religion with Adolescents with a Migration Experience to Europe
Volume 86
Religion under Siege II
'Protestant, Orthodox and Muslim Communities in Occupied Europe (1939-1950)'
Volume 56
Theologie als geloofsvertolking
Historische en theologische reflecties over het proefschrift van Piet Schoonenberg
Volume 73
Marriage – Divorce – Remarriage. Mariage – Divorce – Remariage
Challenges and Perspectives for Christians. Defis et perspectives chretiennes
Volume 58
Evaluating Liturgical Reform
Four Criteria Derived from a Theological Concept of Tradition
Volume 84
Volk Gottes in Afrika
Die Rolle der Laien in der pastoralen Erneuerung von Kardinal Malula, Kinshasa
Volume 60
Syncretisme / Syncretism
Echec ou promesse d'inculturation? / Failure or Opportunity for Inculturation?
Volume 75
Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding. Religions, violence et construction de la paix
Realities, Perspectives, and Prospects. Contextes, regards et perspectives
Volume 80
Faith and Culture
The Construction of a Christian Identity in Interaction with the Other World Religions in Education
Volume 54
One Bread, One Body, One Church
Essays on the Ecclesia of Christ Today in Honor of Bernard P. Prusak
Volume 81
Zwarte indianen en hun symbolen
Het magisch-religieuze systeem van de Garifuna van de Baai van Tela, Honduras
Volume 45
Interspaces between Word, Gaze and Touch
The Bible and the Visual Medium in the Middle Ages. Collected Essays on Noli me tangere, the Woman with the Haemorrhage, the Head of John the Baptist
Volume 62
Ongoing Renewal in the Church
Reflections from Patristic Tradition, Vatican II, and Pastoral Practice
Volume 82
Normativity of the Future
Reading Biblical and Other Authorative Texts in an Eschatological Perspective
Volume 61
Similar Books
A Companion to Christianity and Sport in Europe and North America (19th-21st centuries)
Volume 1: Western and Eastern Europe
A Connecting Polemic in the Medieval Mediterranean
The Correspondence of Leo III and ʿUmar II
Volume 6
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
As Messianism Turns to Heresy
The Regenstein Chair Lectures On Lurianic Kabbalah and Shabbatai Tzevi at Hebrew Union College - Cincinnati
Contesting Labeled Identities
The Sociology of Gentilics in Biblical and Northwest Semitic Literature
Creating the Woman in Antiquity
Proceedings of the 16th Melammu Workshop, Innsbruck, 2–3 June 2022
Volume 13
Cultic Kisses
Fruitful Encounters Between Deities and Humans. Festschrift for Angelika Berlejung on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday
De/colonizing Theologies
Glocal Histories, Contemporary Challenges, Theoretical Reflections
Volume 4
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
Epigraphic “Shades” from Hellenistic Thrace
Contextualizing Inscriptions in Greek from Thracian Tombs
Epiphanies of the Divine in the Septuagint and the New Testament
Fifth International Symposium of the Corpus Judaeo-Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti (CJHNT), 14-17 May 2015, Nottingham
