by Lorenzo Fazzini
February 5, 2010
Cettina Militello : witnesses and innovative ways to undermine the indifference - Elena Loewenthal : pettiness defeat by the big questions
Cettina Militello: witnesses and innovative ways to undermine the indifference
"Dialogue is something deep in our being Christians and people. And when we talk about this dimension, we must think of something not born yesterday, but since Vatican II, John XXIII and Paul VI. "Cettina Militello, theologian, directs the Chair" Woman and Christianity "at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Rome Marianum. For her, the heart of the exchange between lay Catholics and religious indifference is now "standardized."
Just the Council spoke of "Christ reveals man to himself." That is still the word?
"She cites the number 22 of Gaudium et Spes. But this statement, which we believe should be overwhelming, is now archeological. The problem is how many more do not experience the problem of life, the node of Christ, the comparison with the Church. Gaudium et Spes denounced the atheism of the twentieth century and today we are faced with widespread indifference. My anxiety is to see He no longer of interest to this huge mass of people. The indifference threshold was reached in our dramatic Italy, outside of small Christian communities. "
What would you like to suggest that non-believers - and I quote Pope Benedict XVI - 'look to God as a stranger "?
"But the true node is the mass of sleeping, which replaced the value with no value, the present with the ephemeral, the project with no project, meaning the \u0026lt;+ italic> nonsense \u0026lt;+ round> . It does not arise any question. "
On what grounds to challenge this indifference radical?
"Just the way witnesses counts. Only the face of evidence of a coherent faith, indifferent you can ask the question: why do you behave like this? With the systematic atheist can also discuss, with only indifferent to the real experiences of a totally Other is causing concern. But today, as Catholics, we can no longer disturb anyone. "
What signs can put believers in this environment indifferent?
"Just consistency and family: a family that understands the reasons for the hope that a professional or civic penalty are situations that call. The way of testimony is plausible only if the other is accepted, recognized and condemned. First, then, does it welcome. Also, as believers we are not places to live: the vacuum youth spaces and extreme exteriority in a society where everything is becoming stage. It is easy to sympathize with the exclusion but not a life that you think satisfied. "
What arouses the intellectual believer this "mass of indifferent '?
"It represents an appeal requires us to object to the faith in new ways. I am part of the Italian Society of theological research: a bit 'we reread the deposit of faith, namely the basic concepts of faith such as paternity establishment, child, incarnation. We must find new ways language because the old ones do not reach more people. The most fascinating discovery is a multidisciplinary needs that come into play the physical sciences and experimental. The past examples are many qualified and I am thinking of Clement of Alexandria he read that the key mystery in theology, Thomas Aquinas, who exaggerated accounts of theology as a science. They were understood by their contemporaries. It takes courage in undertaking this work, because otherwise the Christians remain a small group without significance. How is it possible that, given the extreme concreteness of God do not try to field a pedagogy capable of discovering our humanity? That in the end, says S. Augustine, is a longing for God that He has put within us? ".
Elena Loewenthal: pettiness defeat by the big questions
'For Catholics, I would not ask to live with the pettiness that society gives us and not take refuge in petty issues. I'd like to ensure that Catholics on the total loss of sense of those states, for example, that the drug is beautiful. We have to make people think that there is something more in life. " Elena Loewenthal, an expert on Judaism, translator and writer (with Count the stars if you can, published by Einaudi, was a finalist last Campiello), sees the drama that indifference must ask believers and non-believers' thinking. "
"Awaken in our society openness to the transcendent dimension." So the Pope during his visit to the Synagogue of Rome. What do these words evoke?
"This is the crucial instance. Today the problem is the chasm between small and big things. To me faith is not only ask questions but be certain to reality. I note, however, an attachment to the petty things, so it is urgent to make this leap to the transcendent: Just open a newspaper to understand it. For example, there is a barrage on drug use, o altri temi che riempiono la testa della gente. Al punto che quando i cuori sono occupati da tematiche simili, non c’è più spazio per gli interrogativi grandi. Capita che questi vengono visti un’intrusione antipatica».
Lei fa parte della tradizione ebraica: cosa porta tale appartenenza al dibattito tra credenti e laici?
«Io ho un’identità "decisa", sebbene me ne sia appropriata tardi, quando sono arrivata all’uso della ragione. Sono nata, come tanti ebrei italiani, in un contesto di assimilazione quale possibilità di sopravvivenza dopo la Shoah. Quando mi chiedono se sono più ebrea o italiana, rispondo così: tutti abbiamo identità diverse dentro di noi, io I for one Jewish woman, a mother, a translator. Conceive of the Jewish faith as my loyalty to my past and the future they are called. By the faith I feel a tangle of emotions, a love, a sentimental attachment. I reach my identity through an argument but a feeling. This is "very Jewish, very logical and rational, even though it feeds from the study of texts."
God and non-believers who see it as Unknown. How to introduce them to the Hebrew-Christian God of Scripture?
"It may seem trivial but I answer this way: questioning the other. I think listen to the views of others may give rise to something more. The dissent helps us understand ourselves better. Personally, for my narrative project, I'm attending the Cottolengo of Turin. Live the experience of confrontation with a transcendent reality different from mine. For me it is fantastic this exchange daily with the sisters ending every sentence with "Deo gratias". Almost like a conditioned reflex. This shook me to talk to me because it is not instinctive. This does not mean that if I'm moving to their positions, but I dare say that this comparison can be useful and educational. So for me this remains essential listening neutral, not directed at convincing the other. "
The Pope speaks of the "court of the gentiles." What raises the this figure?
"I answer with an example. For us there is Torah Jewish physics, that God gave to Moses at Sinai, the Torah and oral tradition on the first, including the Talmud, the Midrash, and so on. And as for the Jews over the millennia, physical geography is gone, and they have been rebuilt for the spiritual. At its center is the physical Torah, surrounded by the oral as a hedge. This fence separates and protects the Jewish identity. The "court of the gentiles" is a metaphor rather the opposite because you meet the most diverse nations. It is comforting image. "
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