Archdiocese of Westminster / Public Lecture – Westminster Cathedral / 19 November 2013 / 7:00 pm
ContemporaryChallengesToProclaiming the Catholic Faith
Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia, O.P.
Adjunct Secretary, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Introduction: Challenges to faith in a secular age
⦁ Addressing these challenges as an apologetic task
⦁ The audience
⦁ Apologetics without apologies
1. Why we need the Savior and not just any savior
Christ as unique mediator: a challenge?
The culture of pluralism
Religions and the human quest for God
Salvation = communion with the Blessed Trinity
Christ makes this communion possible
Empty universalism
Christ is the Savior of all humankind
2. Why we need Christ to become authentically human
Suppressing the uniquely human: a challenge?
The culture of authenticity
Conformity to Christ and participation in trinitarian communion
Christ as the model for authentic human realization
3. Why the moral law is good for us
Avoiding the forbidden, doing the permitted: a challenge?
The culture of legalism
Good and evil as the basis of right and wrong
Becoming good by seeking the good in every action
The sanctification of desire
Conclusion: Why the emotional sense Christianity makes is not enough
Selected Bibliography
(additional publication details available at Amazon.co.uk)
Callum G. Brown (2009) The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding Secularization 1800-2000 (2nd edition)
Romanus Cessario, OP (2001) Introduction to Moral Theology
Owen Chadwick (1975) The Secularization of the European Mind in the Nineteenth Century
Nancy Christie & Michael Gauvreau, eds. (2013) The Sixties and Beyond: DeChristianization in North America and Western Europe, 1945-2000.
J. A. Di Noia, OP (1998) “Is Jesus Christ the Unique Mediator of Salvation?” in R. Thiemann & W. Placher, Why Are We Here? 56-68.
------(1999) “Veritatis Splendor: Moral Life as Transfigured Life,” in J.A. Di Noia & R. Cessario, Veritatis Splendor and the Renewal of Moral Theology, 1-10.
------(2004) “Imago Dei-Imago Christi: Theological Foundations of Christian Humanism,” Nova et Vetera 2, 267-77.
Avery Dulles, SJ (2005) A History of Apologetics
Mary Eberstadt (2013) How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization
Scott Hahn (2007) Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain and Defend the Catholic Faith
Philip Jenkins (2003) The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice
C.S. Lewis (1952) Mere Christianity (classic)
Hugh McLeod (1981) Religion and the People of Western Europe 1789-1989
------(2000) Secularization in Western Europe 1848-1914
------(2007) The Religious Crisis of the 1960s
Hugh McLeod & Werner Ustorf, eds. (2003) The Decline of Christendom in Western Europe, 1750-2000.
Hugo A. Meynell (1994) Is Christianity True?
Livio Melina (2001) Sharing in Christ’s Virtues: For a Renewal of Moral Theology in the Light of Veritatis Splendor
Richard John Neuhaus (2006) Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy and the Splendor of Truth
Aidan Nichols, OP (1999) Christendom Awake: On Re-energizing the Church in Culture
------(2008) The Realm: An Unfashionable Essay on the Conversion of England
Edward Norman (2002) Secularisation
Servais Pinckaers, OP (1995), The Sources of Christian Ethics
Jonathan Sacks (2012) The Great Partnership: God, Science and the Search for Meaning
Dorothy L. Sayers (1947) Creed or Chaos? (classic)
Rupert Shortt (2012) Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack
Francis Spufford (2012) Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense
Charles Taylor (1992) The Ethics of Authenticity
------(2007) A Secular Age
Alan Torrance (2001) “Being of One Substance with The Father,” in C. R. Seitz, ed. Nicene Christianity: The Future for a New Ecumenism, 49-61.
George Weigel (2004) Letters to a Young Catholic
------(2002) The Truth of Catholicism: Ten Controversies Explored
N.T. Wright (2006) Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense