Preliminary communication

Ideological Challenges to Understanding of Poverty and Wealth

Nenad Polgar ; Katholisch-Theologische Fakultät, Universität Wien,Wien

Abstract

In order to point out its basis, the author introduces this lecture by posing the question: »Is the wealthy Church allowed to speak about poverty?« While explaining thebackground of this question, the author notices that to provide a direct answer to this question, in terms of either a radical critique or a stubborn apology of the Church, does not achieve much. More precisely, both of these alternatives lead to superficiality, which might be interesting in terms of a certain kind of journalism, but has no other worthy effects. Therefore, this lecture tries to evade such superficiality and to, instead, reach the core of the aforementioned question by allowing it to dictate the structure of this lecture. This basic methodological intention is evident in the lecture’s three mutually related parts. In the first part entitled Defining the Terminology and the Context of the Debate, the author first tries to specify more precisely those terms which are either explicitly mentioned in the introductory question (poverty, wealth) or flow from the context in which this question is posed (ideology). While this part already reveals the complexity of the aforementioned terms/question and, thus, the need for a serious analysis, the second part, entitled Legitimacy of the (Contemporary) Ecclesial/ Theological Discourse on Poverty and Wealth, deepens that complexity by searching for a theological characterisation of poverty and wealth. Apart from that, this part also justifies a theological discourse on poverty and wealth by applying the criterion of faithfulness to the sources of the faith and by invoking the nature of theology (as fides quaerens intellectum). Finally, the last, key part of the lecture, entitled Contextual Credibility of the Ecclesial/Theological Discourse on Poverty and Wealth, looks at the legitimacy of this discourse from a broader perspective of a public discourse, under the presupposition that legitimacy as such is not sufficient. By asking whether any kind of discourse (including a theological one) can escape ideology and what would such an escape mean for theology and ecclesial praxis within themselves and in their relation to the world, this last part reaches a conclusion that the contextual credibility of theology and ecclesial praxis is not a mere appendix to the theological discourse and ecclesial praxis, but the back side of their legitimacy and their faithfulness to the Gospel.

Keywords

poverty; wealth; ideology; theology; legitimacy; contextual credibility; self-critique

Hrčak ID:

129342

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/129342

Publication date:

4.11.2014.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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