How Other Religions Influence the Catholic Religion - Literature review Example

Lecturer: Topic: How other religions influence the Catholic religion Introduction The Christian religion teaches that there is only one God that is represented in three divine entities that are equal and distinct in nature which are the father, the son and the Holy Spirit and this is seen as the mystery of blessed trinity that is far beyond the comprehension of the human being. The Christians believe it because it has been revealed in a divine manner in the Holy scripture where by, God the father is responsible for the creation of the earth, God the son is perceived to be the redeemer of the people and God the Holly Spirit is the Sanctifier (Obrien 17). There is a unity of faith that is found in all the catholic churches that are around the world. The mass that the Catholics assist in a particular Sunday would be the same mass that is taking place in Europe, Asia. Africa and all the other places in the globe since the catholic is a huge organization that is present in the whole world that is led by the pope in Role who is the successor of Saint Peter (Obrien 21). The Catholic Church can be considered to the institution that has been able to endure for the longest time in the world and the characteristics of the history that it has are an integral part of the identity that is associated with it. the earliest Christians claim to be witnesses to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and this makes Christianity to be considered to be a religion that is historical that came from Judaism which could also be considered to be a historical religion. While there is no concrete proof that can really convince those that doubt that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples, his resurrection has always been included in all the historical accounts that are related to Christianity. Some people are of the opinion that the main question that pertains to the history of Christianity is why so many people passionately had the belief that Jesus rose from the dead, which is seen to a belief that is very powerful and is hardly understandable when considered in from a literal human point of view (Hitchcock 11). The difference that exists between the Jesus that is considered in history and the Jesus that is considered in faith was developed by certain modern theologians as part of an effort that was aimed at get rid of the myths that surrounded Jesus as the Son of God and the Redeemer of the universe, dismissing the belief as a construct that came from theology and that is so loosely connected or even having no connection to the actual Jesus that existed in history (Hitchcock 12). How other religions influence the Catholic religion All the cultures in the world succeed through the suppression and control of large amounts of the potential and the expression that the human beings have and therefore it can be concluded that the culture of the current era has been able to narrow the role of the superior emotional experiences, sacrifices and the high attainment of the human life. Equally, considerable emotional and personal energy is used in seeking goals that can be considered to be of modest salience. The prevalence of these goals that are trivial in nature therefore makes it understandable that the people cannot see clearly the people that make great sacrifices or even those that have seriously harmed others in the pursuit of goals that are only superordinate such as salvation, the obedience of the commands of the lord or even achieving the conversion of one or many believers can justify the distress incident that characterizes that pursuit (Wynne 9). The emergence of religious pluralism in it various forms confronted the long-standing picture of religious uniformity of many places that were seen to be Catholic societies and the emergence of many new religions and people that were converted to these religions shocked many people in the years when this was still new. There were protestant groups that were very charismatic and at the same time surrounded by a lot of controversy. These groups were mainly evaluated by the mainstream Catholics in was that were negative and some even decide to consider the other religions as sects (Alisauskiene and Schröder 8). In the Christian traditions, religious coping is seen to be more helpful to some denominations than it is to others, it can be said that this coping is more helpful for those that are Evangelicals than those that are Catholics and a higher level of religious coping can be associated with less distress. This does not mean that the Evangelical Protestants are much better than the Catholics even though the former focus on faith and acceptance more during the times that they are in crisis than the latter (Schaie, Krause and Booth 129). The understanding of the politics that are associated with the Roman Catholic is a vital step towards comprehending of the religion and politics that exists in many countries. In the example of America, nearly a quarter of the whole population can be linked to the Roman Catholic Church and this makes the Catholicism the single largest religious tradition that exists in the United States. This gives the catholic a lot of power and influence in the politics of that country and a huge population of them regularly attend mass meaning that a large proportion of them are often exposed to the teachings that might include those that are political that take place in the church (Smith 2). For the Catholics, the meanings and expressions that are associated with the taking of the sacrament expanded as a result of the spiritual openness that they acquired and the revitalization that they experienced that was associated with the Vatican. This expansiveness and the openness to innovation that they displayed coincided with the roles that the Catholics were playing as leaders in the American society and as the people that defined the culture of America which were influential which were progressively increasing. As the assimilation of the Catholics in to the culture of the Americans continued in part as a result of the mainstreaming and the middle classing of the Catholics within the American society and the openness that was there to the other religions that were encouraged by the Vatican, the sensibilities that the Catholics had progressively affected the protestants and the Jews. In the context of the Vietnam war that was volatile, resistance which were associated with the sacrament that characterized the reactions that the Catholics had to the war had a huge impact on the people that belonged to the other religions as did the Catholic habit that had developed that had attributes of deep inconsistency towards the culture that was there in America (Porterfield 108). The Catholic Church usually has a rigid attitude towards the other religions while the churches that re protestant in nature are usually more flexible in terms of tolerance of the other religions. These protestant churches accept other possibilities as paths that can lead to God. The Catholics therefore exhibit a higher average when considering a single religion and the Protestants show a higher mean when considering multiple religions. This is basically the characteristic that mainly shows the difference between the two religions (Ziebertz and Kay 45). Despite the belief that the people that are attracted by the doctrines that are nonorthodox would forfeit their souls that are immortal, groups that are characterized by the people that are religiously catholic have adopted attributes that are hereditary to the teachings of their own ideological frames. The Franciscans borrowed main aspects of the vagrant spirituality from the Waldensians and the Humiliati and St. Dominic decreed mendicant poverty for his order as a result of Cather strictness. Later on, the emphasis that the protestants placed on the study if the scripture, the preaching of the word and the Christian responsibility that every person is supposed to have so that he or she can be able to make an informed decision about his or her faith had a great formative impact on the development of Jesuits, the seventeenth century Dominicans and the French filles Seculieres. Unorthodox ideas could not always be adopted by the religious virtuosi and movements that were very strong and successful such as Protestantism often was the catalyst in the development of a siege mentality that was characteristic in Catholicism which led to ecclesiastical authorities becoming suspicious of any changes and making sure that these changes do not take place. At a time like this, it was difficult for the religious communities that had new ideological frames that encompassed suspect unorthodox borrowings so that they could be able to gain ecclesiastical approval for the lifestyle that they led (Wittberg 156). The catholic schools usually present their faith as being the single true understanding of the world and the place that humanity has in it and therefore does not put a lot of emphasis in fostering respect that is genuine for the other faiths even though they do not encourage intolerance. At the level that is basic there is the particular form of isolation from the people that belong to the other faiths that characterize the Fundamentalist schools for instance taking part in activities that are between schools with only other catholic schools. In high schools, the students are allowed to take part in activities that exist between schools with non-Catholic schools but even though they get a chance to interact with the non-Catholic schools in activities like sports, the main focus of their lives remains to be in the Catholic environment of the schools that they attend. Furthermore, the course that they are supposed to take that involves the study of the religions that exist in the world when they get to the eleventh grade treats other religions in a patronizing and cursory manner. This comparative religion course is just a means that is used to make sure that the students look at the catholic doctrines and is what was previously referred to as apologetics. Nevertheless, the catholic clergy and the teachers that teach in their schools do not really vilify people that are of faiths that are not of the catholic faith neither do they forbid any interaction that may take place with them. The catholic moral teaching makes an emphasis on the love for others including the enemies that a person might have rather than condemning those that are of a faith that is different from theirs. Furthermore, in the recent past, parishes and dioceses have tried to somewhat increased the organization of activities that are ecumenical in nature with the members of the other Christian faiths mainly that will involve the members that are adults (Dwyer 36). It is very easy to develop the notion that the costs that are associated with the Fundamentalist intolerance and of Fundamentalist and Catholic inflexibility are borne in whole by the rest of the society and that they have no harmful effects on the children that they are instilled upon. The children might actually be able to benefit psychological from the authoritarian and chauvinistic instructions that they receive. If the factors that direct religion changes are to be comprehended, then the factors that affect the religious leaders must be considered. Sociologists that are concerned with religion are using organizational theory but the efforts that they are putting in have not been fully incorporated into explanatory framework that is offered. If the Vatican II is analysed, then it is imperative that the presence of other religions is examined as well as the political institutions that exist in the catholic organizational field while considering the relationship that is there between the church and those institutions in order to come up with the different priorities that the bishops. This is so because the other religious organizations are greatly affected by concerns about legitimacy while also having to contend with concerns that are associated with efficiency. (Wilde 55). The Catholic Church’s openness to the other religions was initiated by the Second Vatican Council and this development has made the Roman Catholic Church to deal with exclusivists, inclusive characteristics and opinions that can be considered to be of a pluralistic nature as far as the other religions are concerned. It experienced a change from the pre-conciliar exclusivist view to one that was post-conciliar position which could be said to be inclusive. One way that the church has been able to proclaim the gospel while maintaining dialogue with the other religions that is open and genuine is recognizing and encouraging interreligious dialogue even though this is sometimes looked at as a method that the church uses in its evangelizing missions. The church also gives warnings that are supposed to deter theological perspectives that are characterized by religious relativism that makes people have the notion that a particular religion is better than the other. These are the situations that continually affect how the Catholic Church is able to carry out its catechetical mission (Kravatz 141). The catholic had maintained the view on the other religions that stated that outside the church there was no salvation until when the exposure to other religions progressively increase and there were significant efforts that were applied that were supposed to soften the tension that existed between the desire that God had for salvation of all of mankind and the perception of the necessity of the church for salvation. Although there are some clear indicators of perspectives that are more open among some leading Roman Catholic theologians earlier, it was not until Vatican II that the real fundamental changes occurred within the Roman Catholic Church itself. Karl Rahner who was at the Vatican II developed the theory of the anonymous Christian when he proposed that under certain conditions, a Buddhist or Hindu that was sincere can be regarded as an anonymous or implicit Christian and therefore be saved even though this person did not have any contact with the preaching of the gospel or even the church and this possibility came to be acknowledged by the Vatican (Netland 43). The post-Vatican II Roman Catholic Church has been able to adopt a remarkably open perspective on other religions even though it clearly still thinks of Christianity as the only religion that is the true religion. Different religions allow different form of birth control for the people that follow these religions. The Catholic Church only allows natural birth control as a form of contraception for the members of its church and all the artificial methods of contraception are banned. This therefore means that the only way that a catholic couple can avoid having children is to employ the natural means of family planning so that they can be faithful to the church. Many catholic disobey these guidelines that cause a breech between the laity and the church establishment and decide to use the artificial forms of contraception that are allowed by the other religions without restrictions. Works cited Alisauskiene Milda and Schröder Ingo. “Religious diversity in post-Soviet society.” Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Pub., 2012. Print. Dwyer, James.“Religious schools v. childrens rights.” Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998. Print. Hitchcock, James. “History of the Catholic Church.” San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012. Print. Kravatz, Marylin. “Partners in wisdom and grace.” Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2010. Print. Netland, Harold. “Encountering religious pluralism.” Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2001. Print. Obrien, John. “The faith of millions.” Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor, 1974. Print. Porterfield, Amanda. “The transformation of American religion.” Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print. Schaie Warner, Krause Neal and Booth Allan. “Religious influences on health and well-being in the elderly.” New York: Springer Pub. Co., 2004. Print. Smith, Gregory Allen. “Politics in the Parish.” Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2010. Print. Wilde, Melissa. “Vatican II.” Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. Print. Wittberg, Patricia. “The rise and decline of Catholic religious orders.” Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994. Print. Wynne, Edward. “Traditional Catholic religious orders.” New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books, 1988. Print. Ziebertz, Hans-Georg and Kay Williams. “Youth in Europe.” Munster, Germany: Lit Verlag, 2005. Print. Read More