JMT Newsletter - January 2024
Welcome to the January 2024 Journal of Moral Theology Newsletter.
I think that the beginning of the academic semester is always an opportunity for us to reflect about education: the one we offer as well as the one we receive, whether we are faculty or students, or both. In this moment, I have thought a lot about the attacks against universities initiatives related to DEI and affirmative action in the USA. At the last meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics, I attended a great panel with our colleagues Bryan Massingale from Fordham University and AnneMarie Mingo from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Although both expressed their frustrations related these attacks, they were also hopeful, suggesting that we have an opportunity to focus on the goal that affirmative action alone was not able to achieve, that is, racial equity in accessing higher education. Affirmative actions were a tool, one of the means to help to achieve this goal, but their defense became a goal in itself. They agree with need for affirmative action and DEI in our universities. The challenge is how the goal can now be achieved in a hostile social environment.
I think moral theology has a contribution to offer in this matter. The January issue has a variety of articles from different worldviews that create an encounter among cultures. In the words of our editor, M. Therese Lysaught: “The January 2024 issue of the Journal of Moral Theology exemplifies our ongoing commitment to engaging cultures, broadly construed.” This diversity makes us richer and stronger, creating opportunities for new voices to be heard and improving our way of doing theology. Here I see the hope, offered by our discipline.
This month’s highlights: (1) the January 2024 issue and (2) the growth of the JMT book series.
January 2024 Issue
Theological reflection is therefore called to a turning point, to a paradigm shift . . . which commits it, first of all, to being a fundamentally contextual theology, capable of reading and interpreting the Gospel in the conditions in which men and women live daily, in different geographical, social, and cultural environments and having as an archetype the Incarnation of the eternal Logos, his entry into the culture, into the vision of the world, into the religious tradition of a people
Pope Francis, Motu proprio Ad Theologiam Promovendam
Ad (Synodalem) Theologiam (Moralem) Promovendam, by M. Therese Lysaught
Original Articles
“And You, Africans: Who Do You Say Jesus Is?”: The Legacy of Laurenti Magesa for the Future of African Theology, by SimonMary Asese Aihiokhai
A View from the Dunghill: Learning Forbearance in a Synodal Church, by Christopher McMahon
Blade Runner’s Replicant Humanity: Self-Discovery and Moral Formation in a World of Simulation, by Jean-Pierre Fortin
Afrofuturist Worlds: The Diseased Colonial Imagination and Christian Hope, by Adam Beyt
Moral Exemplarism in the Key of Christ, by Noah Karger
Power Literacy in Abuse Prevention Education: Lessons from the Field in the Catholic Safeguarding Response, by Cathy Melesky Dante, Mark A. Levand, and Karen Ross
Plus, we have 11 book reviews!
Theological Investigations of Artificial Intelligence Book Series
The first volume in the partnership between the JMT and the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See, Encountering Artificial Intelligence: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations is now available. Offered by the AI Research Group of the Centre for Digital Culture of the Dicastery and co-edited by Matthew J. Gaudet, Noreen Herzfeld, Paul Scherz, and Jordan J. Wales, it can be downloaded for free from the JMT website; hardcopies will be available soon from our partners at Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Global Theological Ethics Book Series
The Global Theological Ethics Book Series, a partnership with the CTEWC (Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church), has published four volumes. All of them are available on the JMT website for free download and in hardcopies that are produced by our partners at Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Call for Papers
§ We are accepting manuscripts for the forthcoming JMT issue on Veritatis Splendor Three Decades On: Its Legacy for Our Times. The publication of the encyclical letter by John Paul II on August 6, 1993, marked a pivotal moment in contemporary moral theology. The JMT is interested in gathering contributions from scholars with different theological formations and diverse backgrounds who can reflect on the fruits of the encyclical’s theological proposal, address the tensions that it left standing, and extend or critique its logic in light of today’s debates. (Submissions due May 31, 2024).
§ As always, we also invite you to submit your article for consideration for our open issues (January and July). As a reminder, in addition to articles in the field of moral theology (Catholic and non-Catholic), we also welcome original theological treatments of related topics, including, but not limited to, philosophy, economics, political philosophy, psychology, and contemporary culture.
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Alexandre Martins, Associate Editor
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