Why the Church?

From its beginnings, the Church has presented itself as a human phenomenon that carries the divine within it. As a social fact, its reality given form by men and women, the Church has always affirmed that its existence surpasses the human reality of its components and that it stands as the continuation of the event of Christ's entry into human history. Why the Church?, the final volume in McGill-Queen's University Press's trilogy of Luigi Giussani's writings, explores the Church's definition of itself as both human and divine and evaluates the truth of this claim. Contents Preface BOOK ONE: THE CLAIM CONTINUES PART ONE 1 How to Enter into an Understanding of the Church 1 A Fundamental Presupposition 2 Being in Tune With the Phenomenon 3 Training the Focus on the Originality of Christianity 4 The Heart of the Church Problem 2 The First Premise: How to Attain Certainty about the Fact of Christ Today 1 The Rationalistic Attitude 2 An Inner Enlightenment 3 The Orthodox-Catholic View 4 A Gaze That Values the Other Positions 3 The Second Premise: The Contemporary Difficulty in Understanding the Meaning of Christian Words 1 Becoming Aware of a Difficulty 2 The Middle Ages from the Point of View of Disseminating a Mentality 3 Humanism From the Point of View of the Disarticulation of a Mentality 4 The Renaissance: A View of Nature as the Ultimate Source of Human Energy 5 Rationalism: The Difficulty of Man Conceived in the Abstract 6 The Common Denominator of the Three Factors 7 Conclusion PART TWO: THE CONSTITUENT FACTORS OF THE CHRISTIAN PHENOMENON IN HISTORY 4 The Continuity of Jesus Christ: Root of the Church's Self-Awareness 1 The Path We Will Follow 2 The Link with Jesus Christ 5 The Three Constituent Factors 1 The Reality of a Sociologically Identifiable Community 2 The Community Invested by a "Strength from on High" 3 A New Type of Life Conclusion BOOK TWO: THE EFFECTIVE SIGN OF THE DIVINE IN HISTORY Introduction PART ONE: THE CHURCH'S SELF-DEFINITION 6 The Human Factor 1 Through Human Reality 2 Implications 7 A Mission of the Church: Towards Earthly Man 1 The Definitive Word on Man and History 2 A Continuous Reminder 3 The Best Position for Facing Human Problems 4 The Problems of Man 5 The Church's Task is Not to Resolve Human Problems 6 Facilitating Aspects of a Truly Lived Freedom 7 The Work of Every Man 8 Religiosity Will Never Be Wholly Lived in History 9 The Christian's Moral Tension 8 The Divine in the Church 1 The Self-Communication of Truth: Community, Tradition, Magisterium 2 The Self-Communication of a Divine Reality PART TWO: VERIFYING THE PRESENCE OF THE DIVINE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH 9 The Locus of Verification: Human Experience 1 What the Church Demands as the Criterion of Judgment 2 On the Use of a Criterion of Judgment in Its Utmost Expression 3 Openness of Heart 10 "The Tree Can Be Told by Its Fruit" 1 Unity 2 Holiness 3 Catholicity 4 Apostolicity Conclusion Notes Index Subject Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z Name Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Z "Giussani begins by focusing on the Church as a community composed of people who are aware of themselves as defined by the gift of the Spirit, from which they derive a new conception of existence, the fruit of conversion. He then describes the Church's developing self-awareness of its dual elements of the human and divine. Concerned with verifying the Church's claim to embody Christ, Giussani situates the locus of verification in human experience, arguing that a different type of life is born in those who try to live the life of the Church." "Why the Church? is a seminal study that will engage both the scholar and the general reader."--Résumé de l'éditeur From its beginnings, the Church has presented itself as a human phenomenon that carries the divine within it. This book is the final volume in McGill-Queen's University Press's trilogy of Luigi Giussani's writings, and explores the Church's definition of itself as both human and divine and evaluates the truth of this claim.