• La Civiltà Cattolica
  • Newsletters
  • Podcast
  • Contact us
  • Login
  • Register
SUBSCRIBE
LA CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA
Advertisement
  • Home
  • Church Life
    • Faith
    • Mission
    • People
    • Pope Francis
    • Spirituality
  • Church Thought
    • Doctrine
    • Scripture
    • Theology
  • Culture
  • Politics
  • Editions
  • Authors
  • Donate

No products in the cart.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Church Life
    • Faith
    • Mission
    • People
    • Pope Francis
    • Spirituality
  • Church Thought
    • Doctrine
    • Scripture
    • Theology
  • Culture
  • Politics
  • Editions
  • Authors
  • Donate

No products in the cart.

No Result
View All Result
LA CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA
No Result
View All Result
     
Home Edition ‘CRISIS’ THE KEY WORD FOR THE REFORM OF THE CHURCH

‘From Generation to Generation’: History in perspective from the Bible to Pope Francis

Jean-Pierre Sonnet, SJbyJean-Pierre Sonnet, SJ
February 23, 2021
in ‘CRISIS’ THE KEY WORD FOR THE REFORM OF THE CHURCH, 2102, Bible Studies, Church Thought, Edition, Scripture, Subscriber Only Articles, Theology
0
Generation to Generation
3
SHARES
227
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Sit with me at one table / The same for ancestor and grandson / The future is being accomplished now [….] And even now, in these coming times / I stand up in the stirrups like a child.

(Arseny Tarkovsky, “Life Life”)

Biblical faith is based on experience of God in history, although biblical Hebrew, paradoxically, does not have a word to designate “history,” the course of events that is progressively studied and written down. The language of the Bible has two words that allow its readers to think of history from its innermost dynamism: tôledôt, “generations,” and dôr, “generation.” The following pages[1] will show how these two categories overlap in the Bible; however, they will do so after a digression through the humanities. With regard to the phenomena of generations and generation, in their recent developments, sociology, history and psychology have taken paths that the Bible had already set out. Here, for those who still doubt it, is confirmation of the perspicacity of the Bible in anthropological matters.

The double biblical category is also a vehicle for a particularly far-sighted theology of history, whose relevance has yet to be rediscovered. It underlies, in fact, the thought and teaching of Pope Francis, who is attentive to the generational dynamism that runs through history. For him, as for Arseny Tarkovsky in the poem cited, the table of the family and society brings together generations, all those that coexist at any given time; for him, the youngest are called to be visionaries, like the child in the poem, standing upright in the stirrups.

Generation and generation

First, it is important to consider the anthropological phenomenon associated with the word “generation.” A particularly suggestive essay by Astrid Erll, whose research is related to the phenomena of “cultural memory,” will guide this exploration.[2] The essay opens with the following words, “The concept of generation is like the air that we breathe: essential and largely unnoticed. It is constitutive of our understanding of family and society, of biological and historical processes; at the same time, it tends to remain invisible, a cluster of tacit assumptions underlying a ubiquitous formula.”[3]

To untangle the mesh, Erll explains, we need to take note of a fundamental distinction. The term “generation,” in fact, has a twofold semantic character: sometimes it refers to a diachronic axis (generation across time), sometimes to a synchronic axis (the generational group at one point in time). In their ancient and modern evolutions, cultures and humanities have in fact privileged the first of these axes, but recently they have also opened up to the importance of the second.

This article is reserved for paid subscribers. Please subscribe to continue reading this article
Subscribe

Welcome to
La Civiltà Cattolica !
This article is reserved for paid subscribers
Please login or subscribe to continue reading this article
LOGIN
SUBSCRIBE
What is La Civiltà Cattolica?

Tags: 1914 GenerationArseny TarkovskyAstrid Erllcultural memorydôrgonosKarl MannheimPaola MolloRobert WohlThe Motif of Generational Change in the Old Testamenttôledôt
Previous Post

TV Series and Contemporary Lives

Next Post

Luther’s Excommunication: 500 Years Later

Jean-Pierre Sonnet, SJ

Jean-Pierre Sonnet, SJ

Related Posts

Francis’ Vision for a Renewed Theology
Church Life

Francis’ Vision for a Renewed Theology

byJames Hanvey, SJ
May 29, 2023
Don Lorenzo Milani - Priest and Prior of Barbiana - La Civilta Cattolica
Church Life

Don Lorenzo Milani, Priest and Prior of Barbiana

byGiancarlo Pani SJ
May 26, 2023
Children go to school in Tamil Nadu, India. (photo: Jesuit Refugee Service). -church-
Church Life

Renewing and Realizing the Social Doctrine of the Church

byCard. Michael Czerny, SJand1 others
May 22, 2023
A Bridge to Walk: An interview with Msgr. Stephen Chow, Bishop of Hong Kong - LA CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA
2305

A Bridge to Walk: An interview with Msgr. Stephen Chow, Bishop of Hong Kong

byAntonio Spadaro, SJ
May 12, 2023
Demonstrators hold a Lebanese flag, lebanon
2305

Lebanon in Crisis

byGabriel Khairallah, SJ
May 11, 2023
Next Post
excommunication: Martin Luther before the Diet of Worms, Anton von Werner'

Luther’s Excommunication: 500 Years Later

Subscription Offers

Premium Content

Detail of Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin, 1504

Raphael: Lights and Shadows in the Life of a Genius 

May 15, 2020
Mass in the Shrine of Guadalupe for the opening of the ecclesial Assembly (Photo: Vatican Media).

The Latin American Church’s Synodal Conversion: Walking together from blindness to light

March 24, 2023
“Freedom Scares Us”: Pope Francis’ conversation with Slovak Jesuits 

“Freedom Scares Us”: Pope Francis’ conversation with Slovak Jesuits 

October 20, 2021

Browse by Category

BEATUS POPULUS CUIUS DOMINUS DEUS EIUS

The most respected digital Catholic journal from Rome. A must-read on all the present issues alive in the Church. Discover top Church scholars interpreting the history, politics, culture, science and art in the light of the Christian faith.

Categories

  Editions
  Church Thought
  Authors
  Church 
 
  Culture
  Perspective Series
  Politics & Socitey

 

About Us

   Contact Us
   La Civiltà Cattolica  
   China Forum
   Feedback
   Terms & Conditions
   Privacy Policy
    Email : [email protected]
My IP Address : 171.254.10.42
Facebook Twitter Instagram

© Union of Catholic Asian News 2023 | All Rights Reserved.
Except for any fair dealing permitted under the Hong Kong Copyright Ordinance, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without prior permission.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Church Life
    • Faith
    • Mission
    • People
    • Pope Francis
    • Spirituality
  • Church Thought
    • Doctrine
    • Scripture
    • Theology
  • Culture
  • Politics
  • Editions
  • Authors
  • Donate
SUBSCRIBE

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?
Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
  • Login
  • Sign Up
Forgot Password?
Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

laciviltacattolica.com uses cookies and similar technologies to optimize the user experience,  analyze site traffic and communicate with subscribers. To read more about how we use cookies and how you can control them click on settings, or click Accept to start browsing our site.

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
LA CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.