In Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose, the blind monk Jorge of Burgos, quoting John Chrysostom, argues that “Christ never laughed.” Such a strong statement seems not only to categorically exclude the possibility that Jesus of Nazareth could laugh, but also questions his humanity, a humanity that implies an ability to participate in the totality of experience, including the possibility of experiencing the full range of affections and emotions. On the contrary, as the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et...
The journalist Robin Wright, writing in The New Yorker (September 8, 2020, online), asks, “Is America a Myth?” a myth that no longer holds the country together. Unlike other countries united by blood and soil, the United States, social scientists have told us, has been held together by a set of ideas — the self-evident truths in the Declaration of Independence: that “all men are created equal” and that “they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights ......
Our universe seems made for life; it has the right characteristics to make it possible, to let it prosper and evolve.[1] It hosts biological activity, perhaps with a certain waste of space, for today we can observe a total extension of about 92 billion light years, or about 9 x 1023 km (= 9 followed by 23 zeros, 900,000 billion km). Anyhow, life is present here. Even if life exists only on this small planet orbiting around a star at...
Father Giandomenico Mucci, an emeritus writer of our magazine, died in Rome on November 23, 2020. He was born in Benevento on December 2, 1938, and having completed high school, went to university to study chemistry, before entering the Society of Jesus on September 4, 1958. After completing the usual training as a Jesuit, he was ordained priest in Naples on June 29, 1968. On July 2, 1975, he made his solemn profession in the Society. He obtained a doctorate...
For decades now the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been in the news and on our minds. It is certainly not the most harrowing conflict that humanity has known since the end of the Second World War, nor is it the most deadly or atrocious. Nevertheless, countless pages of geopolitical reflection and narrative have been written about it. Meanwhile, it has evolved, year after year, as national identities, as well as narratives built around conflicts, keep changing over time. To underline only...
Nuraghes S’Arena is a 2017 short film, conceived, written and directed by Mauro Aragoni. It stars the Italian rapper Salmo. To enjoy the ancient and wild environment of Sardinia and its nuraghes (ancient stone structures) this film is a fine place to start as it portrays the Nuragic civilization on the big screen for the first time. But this is only the latest work to be inspired by this extraordinary civilization. La Civiltà Cattolica’s interest in nuraghes dates back to...
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