Rite and Reason: A number of recent books show that theology is alive and well and thriving in Ireland, writes Seán Freyne
We may be experiencing an anti-institutional backlash in the Irish churches, but if anybody doubts the feasibility of rehabilitating theology as an important voice in contemporary public discourse in Ireland, a perusal of some of the recent offerings by and for Irish theologians may provide a different perspective.
Collections to honour Enda McDonagh and Gabriel Daly represent a kind of passing of the guard in post-Vatican II Irish theology. Both are tributes from former students, colleagues and friends for lifetimes of engagement with pressing ethical and philosophical problems, reflecting the distinctive contributions and interests of each.
Between Poetry and Politics (Columba Press) encapsulates Enda McDonagh's abiding interest, namely, an exploration of the tension between two poles of Christian existence - the contemplative and the active. It has proved fruitful ground for his most stimulating essays.
The editors of this volume are to be commended for assembling a diverse and distinguished list of contributors to reflect on various aspects of that tension. A concluding essay by a well-known American moral theologian, Charles Curran, evaluates Enda's signal contribution to the field of moral theology in a sympathetic but illuminating manner.
One of Gabriel Daly's concerns has been the relationship between religious faith and other aspects of human culture combined. The title of this collection, The Critical Spirit. Theology at the Crossroads of Faith and Culture (Columba Press), indicates that the treatment will be neither pedantic nor apologetic. The editors summarise Daly's own contribution to theological discourse as "living on the boundaries of society, academy and church" where he has played a pivotal role "in interpreting their respective rights and responsibilities to one another."
The essays too are located on that boundary, and make for stimulating reading. Eminent international scholars combine with colleagues at Trinity College and the Irish School of Ecumenics on a range of topics, engaging the faith/culture issue in a variety of challenging ways.
The editors of Religion and Politics (Columba Press), honouring Garret FitzGerald, have ensured the essays provide a coherent and comprehensive discussion of key issues that continue to have a resonance for Irish society. Other areas of potential conflict - bio-ethics, economics and immigration - are treated with an eye to the concerns that should inform policy makers, highlighting the significant contribution that the various religious traditions can make to these debates. It is typical of the honoree's passion for serious discussion that the book should end with Garret's own reflections on each of the 13 essays in the volume!
Two other highly significant studies deserve a full review in their own right. John D'Arcy May's book, Transcendence and Violence: The Encounter between Buddhist, Christian and Primal Traditions (Continuum), addresses in a cross-cultural and comparative way the much-debated question of violence and religion.
It does so by examining the respective encounters of Christianity and Buddhism with the primal religions - the Aboriginal religions of Australia and the Cargo Cults of Melanesia in the case of Christianity, and the religious cultures of Japan and Thailand in the case of Buddhism.
This is a study of global ethics at its very best.
Sean McDonagh's continued engagement with ecological topics is reflected in his new work Dying for Water (Veritas). Given the conditions of many of our own lakes and rivers, it should not be a surprise that water is a matter of life and death for many on our planet, as McDonagh documents.
As a Columban missionary priest, McDonagh knows at first-hand the devastating impact that the multinationals have had on the marginal peoples of the Philippines and South America in the name of development. We cannot claim that we have not been informed after this balanced but concerned treatment of the issues.
On the evidence of these books, Irish theology is alive and well and engaged in serious and important debates on both local and global issues. One would wish that these works receive the readership they deserve as genuine contributions to the dialogue required for a genuinely pluralist Ireland.
Seán Freyne has recently retired from the Chair of Theology at Trinity College Dublin.