God's Pathos in the Modern Catholic Church

CHAPTER ONE

1. A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE MYSTERY OF GOD'S PATHOS FROM THE JEWISH INFLUENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES TO OUR CONTEMPORARY

1.1 GOD'S PATHOS: CRISIS, DISPUTE AND CONCORD BElWEEN ORTHODOX AND NEO-ORTHODOX IN CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT

1.1.1 God's Pathos in the Modern Catholic Church

Itis evident that in the era of Vatican

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(1962-1965) to the present day, Pope John XXIII (cf Abbott 1966: 4) has concerned himself with only one ecumenical matter. Pope John declares: "Since we are shepherds, we desire that all may have their longing satisfied who seek God". He adds, "perhaps they might find Him as they grope after Him, though indeed He is not far from each of us" (cf Abbott 1966: 4). Healey (1997:138)18 recalls that Pope John

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since the beginning of Vatican

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agreed with Heschel on God's

pathos. Healey (1997: 138) says that Pope John XXIII, in an address to a general audience at the Vatican, remarked on the nature of human's quest for God. He cited a familiar theme of Heschel and reminded his hearers "even before we have moved in search of God, God has come in search of us". For this Catholic ecclesiastic authority, as for Pope Paul VI (cf. Abbott 1996: 660-668), the theological idea of an apathetic God is false and, indeed, incompatible with the God of the Bible. If we analyze Pope John XXIII's statement "God is in search of man" we may say that perhaps this Pope wanted to bring to his audience's attention God's care or concern for human beings (cf. Merkle 1984:

151). God shared in human tragedy to prevent the global death of the Humankind. It is, thus, possible to thinkthat Pope John XXIII shared the idea of God's pathos and would have wished to suggest also that God is paradoxically both a tragic and a non-tragic Person. The tragic person, like the human beings of our time, is willing to stand alone (cf.

Bassett 1975: 101-102) if society imposes it on him but the affective person will if possible avoid standing alone (cf. Heschel 1951; Berdyaev 1961: 25-70; Bassett 1975:

101-102). We could, thus, believe that Pope John XXIII demystified the myth of the Invulnerability of God in the Church's Theology. Here as the initiator of protest in the modern Catholic Church, Pope John XXIII agrees with Heschel that human being was never alone. This point of view can justify the Pope's fervent claims for ecumenism in the light of the eternal God's desire to share His pathos with all humans (cf. Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Yves Congar, an eminent theologian and one of the key men of VaticanIT, opposes the idea of an apathetic God, as do the defenders of the idea that God is the male gender. The

notion of God as male is, of course, embedded in Christology. Congar (cfCongar in Acebo 1990: 45), saysitpropos the concept of the Logos or Word:

Se nao corressemos 0 perigo de cm em antropomorfismos, diriamos ... que, na gerayao do Verbo, deus faz as funyoes de pai e mae, engendrando-o em si mesmo e levando-o em si mesmo^19.

It is known that Congar had the intellectual ability to overcome some difficulties of the problems presented by the metaphor and anthropomorphism. Congar is, in a sense, opposed to the dogma of the existence of a male God. He defends the idea of a pathetic God, who is able to face the poverty and injustice in our world, despite criticism of his writings. Karl Rahner (1983) and Boff (1989) share the same vision of God. Teilhard de Chardin (1965 and 1971), before Congar and Rahner, established the concept of the cosmic Christ, which is echoed in the Panentheism of Process theology. Furthermore, in the Catholic Church, the contribution by Pope John Paul IT, some decades after Vatican IT is not to be overlooked. Pope John Paul IT, with his determination and willingness to challenge affective theology, uses Hosea's terms

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^and

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to express both the male and the female pathetic reality of the compassionate God. In the encyclical Dives In Misericordia, for instance, Pope John Paul IT (n.d.: 21-22) says that:

In describing mercy, the books of the Old Testament use two expressions in particular, each having a different semantic nuance. First there is the term 'hesed', which indicates a profound attitude of 'goodness' ... since 'hesed' also means 'grace' or 'love', this occurs precisely on the

basis of this fidelity. The fact that the commitment in question has not only a moral character but also almost a juridical 'one makes no difference. When in the Old Testament 'hesed' is used of the Lord, this always occurs in connection with the covenant that God established with Israel. The second word, which in the terminology of the Old Testament serves to define mercy, is 'rahamim'. This has a different nuance from that of 'hesed'. While 'hesed' highlights the marks of fidelity to self and responsibility for one's own 'love' (which are in certain sense masculine characteristics), 'rahamim', in its very root, denote the love of mother (rehem-mother's womb).

He proceeds to use as an analogy the gratuitous love of the mother for the child:

From the deep and original bond-indeed the unity-that links a mother to her child, there springs a particular relationship to the child, a particular love. Of this love one can say that it is completely gratuitous, not merited, and that, in this aspect, it constitutes an interior necessity: an exigency of the heart. It is, as it were; a 'feminine' variation of the masculine fidelity to self-expressed by 'hesed'. Against this psychological background, 'rahamim' generates a whole range of feelings, including goodness and tenderness, patience and understanding, that ^IS, readiness to forgive.

The question is: could this perception of

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serve to emphasize Mariolatry? The critics of the Catholic Church may say this, but we do not. Pope John Paul II is a fervent defender of Mariology, as is well known, but Mariology is not to be confused with Mariolatry. We believe that the Pope's intention is to emphasize God's pathos and, above all, to recognize God's affective attribute as both male and female, overlooked by theologians, scientists and philosophers. It seems, also, that Pope John Paul IT is one of those rare Popes who incarnated

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manly feelings, and

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womanly feelings.

His comprehension of God's pathos is extraordinarily profound. John Paul IT's ideas are similar to those of Pope John

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and Pope Paul VI, both of whom encouraged theologians, scientists, and philosophers, and people of the church, to participate actively in the incarnation ofthis divine affective dimension in worship and social work.

The advent of the Charismatic renewal in the Catholic Church reinforces the revolutionary vision and emphasizes the need for recognizing affectiveness in God. In addition, this Catholic charismatic renewal movement, which is rooted in the early chUrch's experience of Pentecost, demonstrates three important steps: firstly, challenging the conscience of the Catholic Orthodoxy Church to seek a balance between the medieval and the modern practice of worship; secondly, making explicit that the socio-political and economic realities are related to the global oppressive system. Hence, the church's duty to liberate the oppressed through the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit (cf Jose Comblin 1987); thirdly, proclaiming the God of the Bible as being closest to His devotees, and that He is not only the geos of the clergy. The God of the charismatic movement is a Theopathetikos. He shares His pathos with His devotees by giving them the charismas, which display His own presence in their lives. The persistent negation of this aspect of God's affective reality could be disastrous for the future ofthe church.

1.1.2 Barth, Moltmann and Brunner: Modern Protestant Orthodox and neo-