10/07/2025 08:30
- 16:15
HALL: Audimax
Proponent:
Tautz S.,
Witherington D.
Chair:
Tautz S.,
Witherington D.
Speaker:
Adolphs M.,
Diaz M.,
Doherty C.,
Elberskirch J.,
Mendoza L.,
Nuelle J.,
Rodewald N.,
Tautz S.,
Witherington D.
Western societies face crises of politics, identity, and polarization, with social engagement often reflecting partisan divides. Churches, grappling with their own crises, are called to proclaim the Kingdom of God as a vision of justice, peace, dialogue, and unity. As the "sacrament of unity" (Lumen Gentium) and "sacrament of dialogue" (E. Schillebeeckx), the Church is uniquely positioned to model unity through diversity in a fractured world. How can the Church become a force for transformation?
Building on K. Rahner, J.-B. Metz, D. Sölle, M. de Certeau, and B. Morrill, the Church must sacramentally proclaim the Kingdom while discerning the "signs of the times" for glimpses of the Kingdom at work in history. The sacramentality of the world expresses creation's transformation toward the Kingdom. Using spiritual and ecclesial discernment, grounded in the symbolic-sacramental network of the Church (L.-M. Chauvet), the Church can evaluate societal trends and movements for their Kingdom potential. These trends, in turn, can act as sacramental "interruptions," challenging and enriching the Church's practices as it strives for a synodal and dialogical approach.
This panel explores these themes and welcomes contributions from sacramental theology, ethics, aesthetics, ecclesiology, political theology, liberation, feminist, and postcolonial theology. Topics include:
1. Sacramental theology's intersections with political theology or philosophy.
2. Social transformation movements through sacramental perspectives.
3. Liturgical inculturation incorporating marginalized and non-Western experiences.
4. Challenges to sacramentality in late (post)modernity.
5. Ecumenical and interreligious perspectives linking sacramentality with engagement.
6. Sacramental-political models for discerning the "signs of the times" in social transformations.