Historical Views
Thomas Aquinas and the Catholic Archive: Orthodoxy and Exclusion in Catholic Theo-Politics View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session James Powell
This paper introduces the ecclesiological model of the ‘Catholic archive’. Influenced by Derridean and Foucauldian philosophy, the Catholic archive is attentive to how knowledge is privileged or rejected based on prevailing conceptions of orthodoxy and heterodoxy. It also notes the vanishing point between theological and political discourse as they pertain to ecclesial governance. As an example of the Catholic archive, this paper analyzes the theo-political significance of Thomas Aquinas’s theology within the Catholic archive throughout the papacies of Leo XIII and Pius X (1878-1914) and the Modernist Crisis. As a response to social and political instability in the nineteenth century, Vatican I consolidated power within the ecclesial hierarchy. What the hierarchy lacked, however, was the archival capacity to determine orthodox from heterodox knowledge. Leo XIII provided this capacity in his encyclical Aeterni Patris (1879), where he makes Aquinas an unassailable standard of orthodoxy. This transformation influenced Pius X’s suppression of the Catholic Modernists. In Pascendi Dominici Grigis (1907), Pius X uses Aquinas as a theological litmus test to identify and discipline modernist theologians. The theological renewal of Leo XIII’s papacy became a reign of terror in Pius X’s, in which the hierarchy’s interpretation of Aquinas legitimated archival violence: censorship, excommunication, and religious intolerance. The Catholic archive not only provides a new framing of the theo-politics between the Vatican Councils but can reveal how hegemonic expressions of orthodoxy can be used to suppress and discipline identities that do not conform to traditional notions of Catholicity within the contemporary Catholic Church.
The Revival of the Religious Ideal in Postmodern Social Life through the Symbolic Depiction of Angels View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Eleni Linardou
The purpose of this research is to demonstrate how religion can still exist indirectly in human social life, despite its marginalization in the modern world. A religious contemporary work of art it’s easier to act indirectly educationally in the social life of the individual, it can be found in any exhibition space, even in public spaces. As for the Angels, despite the fact that their depiction has something ideal, non- human in contrast to the industrial world, it’s much more adopted from the postmodern society than the depiction of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. An indicative example is the "Angel of the North" (1994-1998) by Antony Gormley. The Britain artist chose to make an angel sculpture because he hoped it would act as a guardian, or messenger in the Gateshead area, welcoming travelers from near and far. Therefore, Gormley brings the religious symbolism of the Angel into modern social life by making religion something favorable rather than repulsive as it is often treated today. It's a contribution of religion to culture and education. The originality of the research is based on the time frame we are studying, from 1990 to the 21st century. Until today, various researches have been carried out on the hagiographies, the importance of religion in the social life of the Middle Ages etc. The purpose of this study is the importance of religion in the modern world, society, politics through art works that have not been studied earlier, nor have countless essays been published.
