Books are usually written to express one's ideas or opinions or to address some problems or situa... more Books are usually written to express one's ideas or opinions or to address some problems or situations. This is the reason why books must always be read and understood within the intellectual, social, and political contexts during which they were written. But there are books written in the recent or distant past, within different intellectual, social, and political contexts, that continue to be partly or fully relevant because the contemporary context has a continuity and a similarity with the past of the books. I have been thinking about three such books that made an impact on me when I read them in the past, but which I am reminded of because of what is going in the Church, in American society, and in the world.
Pope Fracis issued a motu proprio, Ad Theologiam Promovendam, to revise the statutes for the Pont... more Pope Fracis issued a motu proprio, Ad Theologiam Promovendam, to revise the statutes for the Pontifical Academy of Theology. It is a short document but, unfortunately, it has not yet been translated into English. This is how Paul Lakeland (2024), emeritus professor of Catholic studies at Fairfield University, summarizes it: On November 1, 2023, Pope Francis issued a motu proprio to revise the statutes for the Pontifical Academy of Theology. Not a very exciting sounding development for sure, though hidden in the document is a clear call to all theology "to a turning point, to a change of paradigm, to a 'courageous cultural revolution' that commits it, in the first place, to be a fundamentally contextual theology, capable of reading and interpreting the Gospel in the conditions in which men and women daily live." Francis called on scholars, "like good shepherds," to "smell of the people and the street and, with their reflection, pour oil and wine on the wounds of men." As a synodal, missionary and outgoing church, he proclaimed, we need a correspondingly "outgoing" theology, which will be a product of "an epistemological and methodological rethink." One that adopts an inductive method. Theologians will need to commit to doing theology "in a synodal form, promoting among themselves the ability to listen, dialogue, discern and integrate the multiplicity and variety of the demands and contributions." Not a dismissal of theology, to be sure, but a wake-up call to many.. . .
It is often said, especially by John F. Kennedy in his campaigns, that in the Chinese language, t... more It is often said, especially by John F. Kennedy in his campaigns, that in the Chinese language, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters, one representing danger, and the other, mistakenly according to Chinese linguists, opportunity. If there is a crisis of American Catholicism, is it also an opportunity? Catholicism has always been characterized by differences and contestations in opinions and teachings on doctrinal, moral, and theological matters, to the extent that some of those teachings were considered heretical and those who held them were excommunicated and punished. This was the purview of the infamous Inquisition, often burning at the stake those whom it considered heretics, like Joan of Arc. Its name was changed to Holy Office, also infamously headed by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, whose motto was Semper Idem, always the same. He prosecuted therefore everything that he considered different from what was traditional. Generally speaking, however, since Vatican II, there have not been outright
In 1901, before the official end of the Philippine-American War, the United States sent about 600... more In 1901, before the official end of the Philippine-American War, the United States sent about 600 public schoolteachers to the Philippines aboard the US Army Transport Thomas to establish the Philippine educational system, patterned after that of the United States, with English as the medium of instruction. More teachers followed totaling about a thousand. Today, they are called in Philippine history the "Thomasites." The purpose was to bring the fruits of civilization to a nation benighted by 350 years of Catholic Spanish colonialism. My parents, born around the same time, benefited from the educational system established by the Americans. My father became an accountant, my mother a pharmacist and her two sisters an elementary school teacher and a high school teacher. An uncle who lived with them also became a high school teacher. So, it was very surprising to me when, as I started teaching in the 1980s, students would come to me tell me that they were the first in their families to attend college. There was at home a whole bookshelf of books and textbooks used by my aunts that I loved to peruse growing up.
I received my June-August 2024 issue of Brown Alumni Magazine, and I cursorily turned the pages a... more I received my June-August 2024 issue of Brown Alumni Magazine, and I cursorily turned the pages as usual. But then an article, "Affirmative Action for Rich Kids," by Noble Brigham '24 and Jack Brook '19 caught my attention. They write: The Ivy League and its brethren-the highly selective private institutions known as Ivyplus-have always had the reputation of catering to the wealthy. But a 2023 study by Brown Economic Chair John H. Friedman reveals just how much of an advantage rich kids are likely to get when they apply to one of the eight Ivies or to Stanford, MIT, Duke, or the University of Chicago.. .. Friedman and his colleagues at the Opportunity Insights lab, Harvard's Raj Chetty and David J. Deming, found that children from very wealthy families are getting a clear admissions boost. The net effect: Ivy-plus schools are effective at ensuring rich and powerful families stay that way since leadership roles in the U.S. are disproportionately filled by their graduates.. .. And the study makes it clear that these rich kids are not more academically prepared. They're getting accepted because they have an edge in three key indices: legacy preferences, athletic recruitment, and nonacademic credentials like extracurricular and recommendation letters-none of which predict how well students do afterward. .. The research was based on tax records, standardized test scores, and anonymized internal admissions records from Ivy-plus schools. Participating universities were promised anonymity, and the study does not give findings for any schools individually.. ..
American democracy, it is now repeatedly pointed out, is fraying. Two political parties that can ... more American democracy, it is now repeatedly pointed out, is fraying. Two political parties that can no longer work together, with one, the Republican Party, simply bent on opposing and destroying the other. The American voting population whose political affiliation has become their political identity, is also bent on following their party in opposing and destroying the other. The country is impossibly polarized, with one significant part riven by hatred, resentment, retribution. Above all else, the Republican Party has been completely captured by a nowconvicted fraudster and felon, who incessantly spews lies and conspiracies to hold the loyalty of his rabid followers.
There have been two great developments in Catholic Social Teaching: the preferential option for t... more There have been two great developments in Catholic Social Teaching: the preferential option for the poor and the idea of social sin. The preferential option of the poor is the vital lens through which to see social ills as primarily affecting the poor, and what it sees are not only personal sins, but sins embedded in social structures that inevitably affect individuals, especially the poor.
I arrived at Brown University in 1978 to earn a Ph.D. in Sociology. In the 1980 U.S. presidential... more I arrived at Brown University in 1978 to earn a Ph.D. in Sociology. In the 1980 U.S. presidential election, one of our professors invited his classes to his house to watch the results of the election. I did not go, but my roommate, a fellow graduate student from Sudan, went. He returned after midnight, and I asked him what happened. Reagan won, he said, but why were some of the students crying? I do not know, I said. Next morning, I went to see the professor to say, "sorry I was not able to come," and to ask, "why were some students crying?" Because, he said, "half of them will not be retuning for the next semester."
My claim is not merely that violence breeds violence, but that a more sinister sort of symbiosis ... more My claim is not merely that violence breeds violence, but that a more sinister sort of symbiosis is at work here. Each party to such conflicts insists with great conviction that its opponents' actions are truly evil, while its own are merely expedient. It's a simple failure, but one that will cause no end of misery as long as each side is certain that the other embodies evil at its core.. . .
The ideology of neoliberalism has ruled the globe for more than forty years now. But what exactly... more The ideology of neoliberalism has ruled the globe for more than forty years now. But what exactly is neoliberalism? What is the essence of neoliberalism, if you will? What is its core element that it spreads across the globe? For me and for many others, neoliberalism is the ideology of free markets propagated by Milton Friedman, which was embraced by Ronald Reagan in the United States and Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom as they decried government and intended to free the market and let its magic work. Neoliberalism became globalized and reach its peak under Bill Clinton, after the fall of the Soviet Union, marking, it was asserted, the triumph of capitalism and the demise of socialism. It was the "Washington Consensus" for the global economy as corporations became its main economic actors, superintended by the international organizations of the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade organization. But it failed and reached a crisis in creating the financial crisis and the Great Recession of 2008, causing banks and companies to bankrupt, families to suffer the loss of their homes, and workers to be fired and lose their incomes. In the wake of the Great Recession, Gary Gerstle (2022), professor of American history at the University of Cambridge, has announced the fall of the neoliberal order, analogous to what he and Steve Fraser (1990) edited to show the end of the New Deal Order. But I now agree with Wendy Brown (2015, 2019), who teaches political science at the University of California, Berkeley, who argues that neoliberalism is not primarily about markets and economics, nor about anti-politics and anti-democracy. In the ruins of the stealth revolution that neoliberalism has undertaken is a form of rationality that has invaded all forms of human activity-economic, social, political, cultural, and even religious-the reduction of everything into commodities that have a price, and that, therefore, can be bought and sold, although she focuses on the undoing of the demos and the rise of antidemocratic politics in the ruins of neoliberalism.
Samuel Huntington (1991), professor of political science at Harvard University, discerned three w... more Samuel Huntington (1991), professor of political science at Harvard University, discerned three waves of democracy in the late twentieth century. He defined a democratic wave as "a group of transitions from nondemocratic to democratic regimes that occur within a specific period of time and that significantly outnumber transitions in the opposite direction during that period of time."
As we near the end of the eleventh year of Pope Francis' papacy, and perhaps also near the end of... more As we near the end of the eleventh year of Pope Francis' papacy, and perhaps also near the end of his papacy, ecclesiastical vultures have begun circling around ready to pick on and shred his legacy. I (Litonjua 2024) have written several articles on Pope Francis. From those articles, I want to make clear for myself what the important contents of that legacy are. Vatican II.
University, for me, has written the most insightful, provocative, and challenging book, Christ Di... more University, for me, has written the most insightful, provocative, and challenging book, Christ Divided: Antiblackness as Corporate Vice, to confront the evil of white supremacy. Her first main contention is that the core of white supremacy-the ideas and ideologies, the attitudes and dispositions, the actions and practices, both collective and individual, that positions white people as intellectually, morally, and culturally superior persons-is
For Hugo Rahner, Karl "Rahner's symbol theory encapsulated the whole of his understanding about G... more For Hugo Rahner, Karl "Rahner's symbol theory encapsulated the whole of his understanding about God's presence in the world" (cited by Burke 2002 in his Chapter 4: Symbol and Becoming, page 91, footnote 2). I now seek to understand why.
Being for or against Democrats or Republicans, is no longer just a political affiliation, but has... more Being for or against Democrats or Republicans, is no longer just a political affiliation, but has become a political identity, such that parents, it is said, see to it that their children marry spouses with the same political identity. This is the main reason, according to Ezra Klein (2020: xiv), for our increasing toxic polarization, making our politics and political institutions dysfunctional, and ultimately threatening our democracy. "We are so locked into our political identities that there is virtually no candidate, no information, no condition, that can force us to change our minds. We will justify almost anything or anyone so long as it helps our side, and the result is a politics devoid of guardrails, standards, persuasion, or accountability." But a couple of points first:
Books are usually written to express one's ideas or opinions or to address some problems or situa... more Books are usually written to express one's ideas or opinions or to address some problems or situations. This is the reason why books must always be read and understood within the intellectual, social, and political contexts during which they were written. But there are books written in the recent or distant past, within different intellectual, social, and political contexts, that continue to be partly or fully relevant because the contemporary context has a continuity and a similarity with the past of the books. I have been thinking about three such books that made an impact on me when I read them in the past, but which I am reminded of because of what is going in the Church, in American society, and in the world.
Pope Fracis issued a motu proprio, Ad Theologiam Promovendam, to revise the statutes for the Pont... more Pope Fracis issued a motu proprio, Ad Theologiam Promovendam, to revise the statutes for the Pontifical Academy of Theology. It is a short document but, unfortunately, it has not yet been translated into English. This is how Paul Lakeland (2024), emeritus professor of Catholic studies at Fairfield University, summarizes it: On November 1, 2023, Pope Francis issued a motu proprio to revise the statutes for the Pontifical Academy of Theology. Not a very exciting sounding development for sure, though hidden in the document is a clear call to all theology "to a turning point, to a change of paradigm, to a 'courageous cultural revolution' that commits it, in the first place, to be a fundamentally contextual theology, capable of reading and interpreting the Gospel in the conditions in which men and women daily live." Francis called on scholars, "like good shepherds," to "smell of the people and the street and, with their reflection, pour oil and wine on the wounds of men." As a synodal, missionary and outgoing church, he proclaimed, we need a correspondingly "outgoing" theology, which will be a product of "an epistemological and methodological rethink." One that adopts an inductive method. Theologians will need to commit to doing theology "in a synodal form, promoting among themselves the ability to listen, dialogue, discern and integrate the multiplicity and variety of the demands and contributions." Not a dismissal of theology, to be sure, but a wake-up call to many.. . .
It is often said, especially by John F. Kennedy in his campaigns, that in the Chinese language, t... more It is often said, especially by John F. Kennedy in his campaigns, that in the Chinese language, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters, one representing danger, and the other, mistakenly according to Chinese linguists, opportunity. If there is a crisis of American Catholicism, is it also an opportunity? Catholicism has always been characterized by differences and contestations in opinions and teachings on doctrinal, moral, and theological matters, to the extent that some of those teachings were considered heretical and those who held them were excommunicated and punished. This was the purview of the infamous Inquisition, often burning at the stake those whom it considered heretics, like Joan of Arc. Its name was changed to Holy Office, also infamously headed by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, whose motto was Semper Idem, always the same. He prosecuted therefore everything that he considered different from what was traditional. Generally speaking, however, since Vatican II, there have not been outright
In 1901, before the official end of the Philippine-American War, the United States sent about 600... more In 1901, before the official end of the Philippine-American War, the United States sent about 600 public schoolteachers to the Philippines aboard the US Army Transport Thomas to establish the Philippine educational system, patterned after that of the United States, with English as the medium of instruction. More teachers followed totaling about a thousand. Today, they are called in Philippine history the "Thomasites." The purpose was to bring the fruits of civilization to a nation benighted by 350 years of Catholic Spanish colonialism. My parents, born around the same time, benefited from the educational system established by the Americans. My father became an accountant, my mother a pharmacist and her two sisters an elementary school teacher and a high school teacher. An uncle who lived with them also became a high school teacher. So, it was very surprising to me when, as I started teaching in the 1980s, students would come to me tell me that they were the first in their families to attend college. There was at home a whole bookshelf of books and textbooks used by my aunts that I loved to peruse growing up.
I received my June-August 2024 issue of Brown Alumni Magazine, and I cursorily turned the pages a... more I received my June-August 2024 issue of Brown Alumni Magazine, and I cursorily turned the pages as usual. But then an article, "Affirmative Action for Rich Kids," by Noble Brigham '24 and Jack Brook '19 caught my attention. They write: The Ivy League and its brethren-the highly selective private institutions known as Ivyplus-have always had the reputation of catering to the wealthy. But a 2023 study by Brown Economic Chair John H. Friedman reveals just how much of an advantage rich kids are likely to get when they apply to one of the eight Ivies or to Stanford, MIT, Duke, or the University of Chicago.. .. Friedman and his colleagues at the Opportunity Insights lab, Harvard's Raj Chetty and David J. Deming, found that children from very wealthy families are getting a clear admissions boost. The net effect: Ivy-plus schools are effective at ensuring rich and powerful families stay that way since leadership roles in the U.S. are disproportionately filled by their graduates.. .. And the study makes it clear that these rich kids are not more academically prepared. They're getting accepted because they have an edge in three key indices: legacy preferences, athletic recruitment, and nonacademic credentials like extracurricular and recommendation letters-none of which predict how well students do afterward. .. The research was based on tax records, standardized test scores, and anonymized internal admissions records from Ivy-plus schools. Participating universities were promised anonymity, and the study does not give findings for any schools individually.. ..
American democracy, it is now repeatedly pointed out, is fraying. Two political parties that can ... more American democracy, it is now repeatedly pointed out, is fraying. Two political parties that can no longer work together, with one, the Republican Party, simply bent on opposing and destroying the other. The American voting population whose political affiliation has become their political identity, is also bent on following their party in opposing and destroying the other. The country is impossibly polarized, with one significant part riven by hatred, resentment, retribution. Above all else, the Republican Party has been completely captured by a nowconvicted fraudster and felon, who incessantly spews lies and conspiracies to hold the loyalty of his rabid followers.
There have been two great developments in Catholic Social Teaching: the preferential option for t... more There have been two great developments in Catholic Social Teaching: the preferential option for the poor and the idea of social sin. The preferential option of the poor is the vital lens through which to see social ills as primarily affecting the poor, and what it sees are not only personal sins, but sins embedded in social structures that inevitably affect individuals, especially the poor.
I arrived at Brown University in 1978 to earn a Ph.D. in Sociology. In the 1980 U.S. presidential... more I arrived at Brown University in 1978 to earn a Ph.D. in Sociology. In the 1980 U.S. presidential election, one of our professors invited his classes to his house to watch the results of the election. I did not go, but my roommate, a fellow graduate student from Sudan, went. He returned after midnight, and I asked him what happened. Reagan won, he said, but why were some of the students crying? I do not know, I said. Next morning, I went to see the professor to say, "sorry I was not able to come," and to ask, "why were some students crying?" Because, he said, "half of them will not be retuning for the next semester."
My claim is not merely that violence breeds violence, but that a more sinister sort of symbiosis ... more My claim is not merely that violence breeds violence, but that a more sinister sort of symbiosis is at work here. Each party to such conflicts insists with great conviction that its opponents' actions are truly evil, while its own are merely expedient. It's a simple failure, but one that will cause no end of misery as long as each side is certain that the other embodies evil at its core.. . .
The ideology of neoliberalism has ruled the globe for more than forty years now. But what exactly... more The ideology of neoliberalism has ruled the globe for more than forty years now. But what exactly is neoliberalism? What is the essence of neoliberalism, if you will? What is its core element that it spreads across the globe? For me and for many others, neoliberalism is the ideology of free markets propagated by Milton Friedman, which was embraced by Ronald Reagan in the United States and Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom as they decried government and intended to free the market and let its magic work. Neoliberalism became globalized and reach its peak under Bill Clinton, after the fall of the Soviet Union, marking, it was asserted, the triumph of capitalism and the demise of socialism. It was the "Washington Consensus" for the global economy as corporations became its main economic actors, superintended by the international organizations of the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade organization. But it failed and reached a crisis in creating the financial crisis and the Great Recession of 2008, causing banks and companies to bankrupt, families to suffer the loss of their homes, and workers to be fired and lose their incomes. In the wake of the Great Recession, Gary Gerstle (2022), professor of American history at the University of Cambridge, has announced the fall of the neoliberal order, analogous to what he and Steve Fraser (1990) edited to show the end of the New Deal Order. But I now agree with Wendy Brown (2015, 2019), who teaches political science at the University of California, Berkeley, who argues that neoliberalism is not primarily about markets and economics, nor about anti-politics and anti-democracy. In the ruins of the stealth revolution that neoliberalism has undertaken is a form of rationality that has invaded all forms of human activity-economic, social, political, cultural, and even religious-the reduction of everything into commodities that have a price, and that, therefore, can be bought and sold, although she focuses on the undoing of the demos and the rise of antidemocratic politics in the ruins of neoliberalism.
Samuel Huntington (1991), professor of political science at Harvard University, discerned three w... more Samuel Huntington (1991), professor of political science at Harvard University, discerned three waves of democracy in the late twentieth century. He defined a democratic wave as "a group of transitions from nondemocratic to democratic regimes that occur within a specific period of time and that significantly outnumber transitions in the opposite direction during that period of time."
As we near the end of the eleventh year of Pope Francis' papacy, and perhaps also near the end of... more As we near the end of the eleventh year of Pope Francis' papacy, and perhaps also near the end of his papacy, ecclesiastical vultures have begun circling around ready to pick on and shred his legacy. I (Litonjua 2024) have written several articles on Pope Francis. From those articles, I want to make clear for myself what the important contents of that legacy are. Vatican II.
University, for me, has written the most insightful, provocative, and challenging book, Christ Di... more University, for me, has written the most insightful, provocative, and challenging book, Christ Divided: Antiblackness as Corporate Vice, to confront the evil of white supremacy. Her first main contention is that the core of white supremacy-the ideas and ideologies, the attitudes and dispositions, the actions and practices, both collective and individual, that positions white people as intellectually, morally, and culturally superior persons-is
For Hugo Rahner, Karl "Rahner's symbol theory encapsulated the whole of his understanding about G... more For Hugo Rahner, Karl "Rahner's symbol theory encapsulated the whole of his understanding about God's presence in the world" (cited by Burke 2002 in his Chapter 4: Symbol and Becoming, page 91, footnote 2). I now seek to understand why.
Being for or against Democrats or Republicans, is no longer just a political affiliation, but has... more Being for or against Democrats or Republicans, is no longer just a political affiliation, but has become a political identity, such that parents, it is said, see to it that their children marry spouses with the same political identity. This is the main reason, according to Ezra Klein (2020: xiv), for our increasing toxic polarization, making our politics and political institutions dysfunctional, and ultimately threatening our democracy. "We are so locked into our political identities that there is virtually no candidate, no information, no condition, that can force us to change our minds. We will justify almost anything or anyone so long as it helps our side, and the result is a politics devoid of guardrails, standards, persuasion, or accountability." But a couple of points first:
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