Review article
The Theological Meaning of Reading the Signs of the Times
Tonči Matulić
orcid.org/0000-0003-3419-9938
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The author strives to explain in detail the theological significance of reading or recognizing and interpreting the signs of the times. He begins his reflections with a brief analysis of the initial decree recently formulated by the Blessed Pope John XXIII in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, which stands inseparable from Jesus’ fundamental evangelical decree. For this reason, the theological significance of reading the signs of the times has nothing to do with one-sided glorification of social progress and its modern scientific and technical achievements, but stems from discovering the forgotten eschatological dimension of faith, which keeps the tension to God’s own Kingdom between the “already yes” of the First Coming of Christ and the “not yet” of His Second Coming. In this “penultimate” time or the time of the Church, the theological significance of reading the signs of the times puts into focus a steadfast evangelical vigilance as a prerequisite for staying true to the person and the message of Jesus Christ. Therefore, there is no question about the naive enthusiasm for social progress and its achievements, but only about taking seriously the demands of faith and testimony in history. To emphasize the importance of theological reading of signs of the times the author continues his reflections by shedding some light on the meaning of Jesus' conception of time, which is true to the overall biblical concept of time as an eminently qualitative category that reveals God's interventions in history. The author continues by pointing out the important dimension of Christian faith in the coming of the Kingdom of God which sets free from the unilateral attachment to the dominant western quantitative notion of time as an empty space filled with events. The fundamental requirement imposed by faith in the coming of the Kingdom is the Christian vigilance in the world as a precondition for recognizing and interpreting the signs of the times, that is, the signs of God's nearness and commitment. In the concluding deliberations, the author seeks to reinforce the prior theological arguments for the unpostponable mission of the Church and its theology to recognize and interpret the signs of the times in the light of the Gospel, which is one of the important decrees of the Second Vatican Council.
Keywords
the Church; Gaudium et Spes; the signs of the times; the Kingdom of God; faith; eschatological sign; Gospel; vigilance
Hrčak ID:
99618
URI
Publication date:
5.4.2013.
Visits: 2.768 *