Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/91993
Title: Prophetic role in religious life
Authors: Zammit, Claudia M. (1990)
Keywords: Religious life
Prophets
Christian life
Monasticism and religious orders
Issue Date: 1990
Citation: Zammit, C. M. (1990). Prophetic role in religious life (Bachelor’s dissertation).
Abstract: Thomas Merton in the letter in which he accepted the invitation to speak at the Congress in Bangkok where he was to die, wrote: "The great problem for monasticism today is not survival, but prophecy." In the Old Testament, the prophetic attack on social systems was framed in the language of oppression, fornication and rebellion. Grinding the faces of the poor, playing the harlot, refusing to hear the Word of the Lord: anti-poor, anti-chaste, anti-obedient. Our society, like the people of Israel, is more than anything else an idolatrous society. In this society we see the antitype of the conventual and monastic community with its anti-vows. The religious vows, at every point, represent a rejection of, and a witness against, the values and idols of our society. What is the role of the Religious Orders in such a society? In the famous letter mentioned above which Merton gave at Bangkok, he claimed that "the monk is essentially someone who takes up critical attitude towards the contemporary world and its structure". Today one has to keep in mind that we no longer speak of a 'fuga mundi', but rather of a penetration of the world, in order to induce it to return to its Creator, and transcend itself. Besides this, Merton saw the role of the modern monk to be that of social critic, questioner, one who is concerned essentially with the 'unmasking of illusion [...].
Description: B.A.RELIGIOUS STUD.
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/91993
Appears in Collections:Dissertations - FacThe - 1968-2010

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