[This dialog with Jon Sobrino is available on the Internet, https://thefurrow.ie/wpcontent/uploads/2022/05/Furrow-May-2022-Jonathan-W.-Chappell-Article.pdf.]
AUTHENTIC ENCOUNTERS Given the human tendency for distraction, moments of ‘presence’ to self, other, or God are often fleeting. Perhaps educational settings, whether civic or religious, might in future relook at how best to encourage reflection and interiority as integral to responsible living. There may be scope to further explore such in inter-faith dialogue, or with those of a singularly secular persuasion. Foundations may be set in stone, but the search for ever new building blocks (or language) is part, if not the main part in the quest for authentic living. As the Pope says, needed action is urgent!
Sin. “Most people today are uncomfortable with the language of ‘sin’. Our society has a strong moral sense, articulated in terms oJ human rights, mutual tolerance, the imperative to preserve the environment and to care for the vulnerable. But if one talks about sin, some become uneasy. It jars with the contemporary imagination, evoking an unhealthy tendency to wallow in guilt. But in my translation of the Bible, ‘sin: translating a variety of Hebrew and Greek words, occurs almost one and a half thousand times. One cannot engage with a Christian imagination without unlocking the language of sin and forgiveness. – Timothy Radcliffe, Alive in God, (London: Bloomsbury Continuum) p. 120. May 2022