description:
March 1,1966 THE SKYSCRAPER Page Three Writer Expounds Religious Views The College Theater opened its doors, Feb. 16, to an almost ca pacity audience which bulged out of McCormick Lounge awaiting the appearance of Harvey Cox, spon sored by the sociology and theology departments. Cox, professor of theology and culture at Harvard Divinity School and author of the controversial Secular City, explained that one of said. Fidelity in a mission is not only a result of unity, it precedes it, Cox continued. Aggiornamento, the second con dition Cox spoke of, has become a popular term in modern vocabu lary. Cox defined it as bringing up to date the organizational pat terns of the Church. One facet of this which Cox finds particularly crucial to the develop- by Diane Sargol No longer can theological dis cussions be carried on in silence, Cox asserted, The era of secret diplomacy in theology is gone. The era of open diplomacy is here. The final condition for new spir ituality according to Cox is holy worldliness or Christian secularity. The secular world is the theater of God's action and the church must be present to and in this world. Bonhoeffer says that seeing the world in dark terms must now be firmly set aside, and Cox, in agree ment, pointed out that man must now see the world as a place which God loves. In Jesus Christ, Cox said, God reveals Himself to be present. He is calling us not away from the world, but into the world. Cox then proposed a question. What forms of spirituality do these three conditions require? In answer, the sociologist-theo logian began with the Christian presence. Christians, Cox said, are unconditionally for the world, so when the Christian criticizes the world, as he must, he does so as one who loves it. The second element of spiritu ality with which Cox dealt, was verbal reticence. I think the verbal has an im portant place in Christian life, Cox asserted. But the Christian has made himself one who talks a lot and doesn't do much. He con tinued, the Christian tells you about Christ even when you don't ask. Cox further suggested that perhaps if the church would begin relying more on its actions and less on its words, people would once again begin asking about Christ. Politicality was the final element of spirituality about which Cox spoke. Such things as the brother hood of Christ will have to be worked out with political tools, Cox contended. I don't think Christian spiritu ality can be non-political any longer. This spirituality, Cox explained, will require a new structure of church life. It will need a pluri- form, Cox said, varied facets, whether they be community or re ligiously oriented. 'This means a willingness to trust others, he said. Cox further explained this plu- raform when he asserted, The real problem of ecumenical divi- Skyacrapcr Photo by Nancy Vandenberg STOPPING FOR A MOMEMT after his lecture to a capacity au dience in the College Theater, Harvey Cox autographs a copy of his book. The Secular City, while Sister Mary Anne David, H.V.M., looks on. the most astonishing things he has encountered since publication of the book is the acceptance given both the book and its author in Roman Catholic communities. Plunging immediately into his topic, the witty professor said he would speak on personal spiritu ality. He explained that this is just another name for piety and re ferred to the popular question of what ever happened to piety? In answer, Cox pointed out three conditions for a new spirituality in the modern world. The first, he said, is radical ecu menism. Cox elaborated on this requirement by saying no single denomination will be able to meet the modern world in a modern way. Unity is not a structure we can develop apart from mission, he ment of new factors of spirituality is the fact that people have been able to study what the Council did and to see the prelates disagree. This open disagreement, Cox said, develops spirituality and deep ens it, enabling one to study the acts of his church. Cox here cited as an example the woman who, speaking of birth control, commented that she would not mind if the church would give the people a red light or a green one. But what she objected to was the flashing yellow. Referring again to the church in today's world, Cox, by way of analogy said, We are living in a world of flashing yellow signals. Things now are uncer tain, he continued, and the simple believer will have to take risks in making decisions. Soviets Co-Determine Barta's Class Method by Marybeth Wagner and Brenda Dinneen Dr. Russell Barta, acting chair man, sociology department, has in novated a method for improving teacher-student relationships ham pered by large classes. Small rep resentative groups of students from his two introductory sociology classes meet with Dr. Barta every two weeks for an hour to discuss the problems and progress of the class. Calling these small groups So viets, Dr. Barta explains: The word 'soviet' originally referred to a revolutionary council of workers who had the responsibility of di recting the revolution. This ad mittedly melodramatic term was Seniors Spark Pre-Cox Session; Secular City Stimulates Students In preparation for Dr. Harvey Cox's lecture, Feb. 16, a faculty- student discussion on his book, Secular City, was conducted Feb. 14 at 3:30 p.m. in 405. A student panel, composed of seniors Ann Ellen Berger, Margie Field, Laura Nutini and Mary Reser, led the discussion before about 50 people. The program commenced as Mary read her analysis of Cox's book and presented provocative questions for group discussion. The debate then centered on the role of the church in the modern world. Laura, the chairman, sparked the dialgoue by question ing the need for an organized church if its sole function is to regulate social movements, as Mary's analysis of the book sug gested. Ann Ellen challenged Laura's statement when she proposed that men are confusing terms by using the word cliurch in a traditional sense rather than utilizing Cox's definition of it. As Cox presents it, the church seems to have no function, Mary said elaborating Laura's argument. He sets up a secular city and then superimposes it (the church) in reference to God and the Gospel. Maybe this is the role of the church then, persisted Ann Ellen. The church must indicate a proper social action. I think the Gospel does give us very basic things to go on, Ann Ellen continued. Perhaps the church could be the implementer of human actions on the basis of the Gospel. Dr. Russel Barta, acting chair man of the sociology department, then suggested, It's the believer who's got the problem, not the non-believer. This is why Cox ad dresses the believer. Cox, himself, is a man of faith, Dr. Barta said, and Margie added that in the kind of city Cox posits, you don't have to be a believer. Mary questioned these state ments which indicated that the secular man does not have to be a believer and also the fact that Cox says one can be secular and Christian simultaneously. Dr. Barta explained that perhaps Cox is seeking a new relationship be tween God and man. Sister Kevin Mary, B.V.M., the ology department, suggested that this relationship might be as one between a father and son, for here the two speak to each other as friends. It is a friendship rela tionship we share with God, she said. Laura continued the discussion by asserting that today man does not need God to put meaning into his life because he accepts an after life. Biological life can explain it self through science, so man no longer needs to use God as a cratch. chosen by the professor because of the revolutionary principle in volved. The principle, said Dr. Barta, is that students have the right and the responsibility to co-determine their education and their intellectual development. Co-determinism gives emphasis to the idea of teacher and student equally sharing the classroom experience. At the first meeting Jan. 19, Dr. Barta noted, I learned a great deal about my students and about my teaching. The experiment will lead to a deeper, mutual communication be tween teacher and student and re move the last vestiges of pater nalism and maternalism in this relationship, Dr. Barta added. While the meetings are informal, Dr. Barta asks the Soviets their primary concerns and uses these as a loose agenda for the hour-long meeting. Unwieldly size of classes was an influencing factor in the problems discussed at his Feb. 9 meeting- Tests, term papers, class discus sions and need for more thought stimulation were the main topics. Dr. Barta answered one Soviet's question Why are the classes so large? in terms of the student's orientation to the 3-3 system. Now, he explained, depart ment chairmen are by-passed at registration and confronted with a list of students. Under the old system, he said, courses could be closed out and enrollment regu lated. That should happen or classes become too large. Some Soviets considered the group discussions, half of each class meeting twice a week every other week, too large and imper sonal, but they agreed that the meetings were more conducive to individual participation. sion we'll have to face in the next decades ... is between traditional forms of church life and forms so radically new we won't recognize them as forms of church life. Cox went on to point out defi ciencies in the church structure to day, as evident in the liturgy and architecture, and indicated areas where improvements might occur. He emphatically pointed out, We need a small, mobile type of church life. Most of our churches today seem diabolically designed to keep us from encountering anyone. Why can't they be designed so we en counter each other? This will mean smaller congregations and more lay responsibility. There should be congregations formed around particular issues, he said, specialized congregations not geographical parishes. Cox continued all of us will need communities of orientation be cause one Christian is no Chris tian. Indicating the close relationship between the quality of spirituality and the congregation, Cox said, I do not think the church exists . . . to cultivate Christian spirituality. Rather, he insisted, it exists to re late Christ's redemptive action to the world. To fulfill this purpose, he explained that the church must be a community where Christians can work in the world so all of man's resources and attention are focused on God's intention. Cox concluded his lecture by pos ing a question to the audience. He asked if man will be able to mature sufficiently to enable himself to live with this verbal reticence, poli tically and a life unconditionally for the world to allow himself to live with God's redemptive action in the secular city. When the session opened to ques tions, Cox was asked to compare the role of the layman to that of the clergyman. The ministry of the church, he said, is the min istry of the entire body of Christ. All are called into this ministry so in this sense all are priests. Some are given gifts different from those given others and therefore serve their priesthood in different fields. I see an almost totally func tional view in which certain people are set apart and called to a cer tain part of the ministry, Cox ex plained. So, the clergyman is the minister to other ministers, pre paring them for their roles in the world. As soon as the minister believes himself superior to the lay man, Cox commented, he has lost something of the New Testament. Cox referred, then, to a major discussion in the Anglican church today regarding the part women play in the church. Sex has utterly nothing to do with it, Cox said, but this doesn't mean women should beccome sec ond-rate men. The final question directed to Cox asked how man could find God in the world, how man could know in which political movements one encountered God. The professor explained that the life, passion, death and resurrection of Chi-ist are the criterion for knowing where God is at work in the world. God is hidden, Cox continued, in that we never truly know where He is, but our faith enables us to discern his whereabouts. For this reason, a Christian can never be without faith, he said.
title:
1966-03-01 (3)
publisher:
Women and Leadership Archives http://www.luc.edu/wla
creator:
Mundelein College
description:
Student newspaper for Mundelein College
subject:
Newspapers
subject:
Religious communities--Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
subject:
Students
subject:
Universities and colleges
subject:
Women's education
relation:
Mundelein College Records
type:
Text
language:
English
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Chicago, Illinois
coverage:
Mundelein College