Suchergebnisse

The College Mefcufy. VOL. IV. GETTYSBURG, PA., DECEMBER, 1896. No. 8. THE COLLEGE MEftClPRY, Published each month during the college year by the Students of Pennsylvania (Gettysburg) College. STAFF. Editor: ROBBIN B. WOLF, '97. Associate Editors : LEWIS C. MANGES, '97. ED. W. MEISEN H ELDER, SAMUEL J. MILLER '97. CHARLES T. LARK '98. JOHN W. OTT, '97. CHARLES H. TILP, '98. E. L. KOLLER, '98. Alumni Association Editor: REV. D. FRANK GARLAND, A. M., Baltimore, Md. Business Manager: HARRY R, SMITH, '97. Assistant Business Manager: JOHN E. MEISENHELDER, '97. ".". jOne volume (ten months). . . . $l.no iMiMS-\Siuglecoples, . . .15 Payable in advance All Students are requested to hand us matter for publication The Alumni and ex-members or the College will favor us by-sending Information concerning their whereabouts or any Items they may think would be Interesting for publication. All subscriptions and business matters should be addressed to the business manager. Matter intended for publication should be addressed to the Editor. Address, THE COLLEGE MEHCUKY, Gettysburg, Pa. CONTENTS. EDITORIAL, 114 DE ORATORE, - --. --- 117 AN ADVENTURE (Poetry), --- 118 AN APPEAL, "9 A LULL FROM THE HIVE (Poetry), --- 120 COLLEGE LOCALS, 120 ALUMNI NOTES, -- 122 ATHLETIC NOTES, 125 TOWN AND SEMINARY NOTES, 127 FRATERNITY NOTES, - --- '--128 SUBJECTS FOR "ROMAN LAW" THESES, 129 LITERARY SOCIETIES, --- . - - 129 EXCHANGES, --- 129 EDITORIAL. REVIEWS ! Examinations ! ! Vacation ! ! ! The stereot3rped program is about to be ren-dered. The term, on the whole, has been un-usually pleasant. Seldom has there been a fall session of so much charming weather. This has been conducive to good spirits with the professors as well as with the bo}rs. Sev-eral interruptions broke the monotony of col-lege work—the foot-ball games, the visit of the Columbian Club, Election day, Thanksgiving day, Institute week and several others. The work in the class-room has been very good, and this is somewhat surprising in the face of the great temptation to stay out-of-doors. The moral and spiritual work of the term is shown in the excellent results in the Y. M. C. A., alike in the meeetings, in the efforts among the non-members, and in the continu-ation of the week of prayer during the second week. Neither has athletic activity been neglected. The "gridiron," bowling alleys, gymnasium and tennis courts have been well patronized. After all comes vacation, especially desired by the Freshmen. The MERCURY extends to all its heartiest wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. ' + * * INTER-COLLEGIATE ORATORICAL CONTEST TO BE HELD AT GETTYSBURG.—The annual meeting of the delegates composing the Com-mittee of Arrangements of the State Inter-collegiate Oratorical Union was held at the Windsor Hotel, Philadelphia, on Saturday, Nov. 21st. Fourteen representatives were present from the seven following colleges : Lafayette, Lehigh, Muhlenberg, Franklin and Marshal, Ursinus, Swarthmore and Gettys- "S THE COLLEGE MERCURY. burg. Our delegates were G. F. Abel, '97, from Philo, and R. B. Woll, '97, from Phrena. President Yetter, late of Muhlenberg, called the meeting to order. The unfinished business was then taken up and completed. The re-quest of Susquehanna University for admission was refused on the grounds that the Union is large enough and the University very young. After hearing the delegates, it was decided to hold the contest at Gettysburg on March 27th, 1897. Hon. John Stuart, of Chambers-burg; Hon. J. B. McPherson, of Harrisburg, and Hon. Rob't E. Pattison, of Philadelphia, were chosen to act as judges of the contest. The officers elected are: Pres., R. N. Hood, of Lehigh ; Vice Pres., W. E. Stoeckel, of Muhlenberg; Treas., G. F. Abel, of Get-tysburg; Sec, \V. H. Kready, of Franklin and Marshal ; Executive Committee, Blair, of Swarthmore; Shenk, of Lafayette; Wolf, of Gettysburg, and the Pres. and Sec. ex officio. A rotation system was adopted so as to have the contest held once in every seven years at each college. The contest will be held at Gettysburg, 1897; Lafayette, 1898; Lehigh, 1899; Muhlenberg, 1900; Ursinus, 1901; Franklin and Marshal, 1902, and Swarthmore, 1903. A communication has just been received from Muhlenberg asking Gettysburg to ex-change with her. The following considera-tions make such an exchange desirable : the expense and trouble attending the contest and the fact that our oratorical talent does not promise us the prize. The expense will be from sixty to one hundred dollars, even if we can overcome the trouble; but when Gettys-burg has the contest, she should have a fair prospect of the prize. The only objection to the exchange is that Muhlenburg has already had the contest there, while Gettysburg has never had it. No action has yet been taken on the matter. * * * IT is to be hoped that the article in our last issue, on the Gettysburg Club at New Haven, by Wm. J. Gies, has been thoughtfully read and pondered by the different Alumni. This is at present the only Gettysburg Alumni Club in existence, outside of the general associa-tion. There should be other clubs of this kind at such centres as York, Philadelphia, Balti-more, Harrisburg, Altooua and other places. Such organizations are not only pleasant for the members, but are beneficent to the institu-tion. One of the chief objects of the clubs should be to furnish recruits for the college. No doubt the motive which prompted the New Haven men to form a Gettysburg Club was their interest in their Alma Mater. There are few better ways of showing your interest in the college, than by the formation of such clubs. The New Haven men have already had let-ter heads printed. At the top of the page in large characters are the words, The Yale Get-tysburg Club, while to the left in small type is a list of the officers for i896-'g7. Pres., Wm. J. Gies, '93; Vice Pres., C. F. Kloss, '94; Historian, H. L. M. Hoffman, '95; Sec, A. H. Brown, '96; Treas., D. F. Culler, '93, * * * OUR RELATIONS WITH DICKINSON.—There has been considerable talk, throughout the present term, in favor of contracting friendly relations with Dickinson. Our neighbor has intimated that we ought to come on bended knees and uncovered heads and apologize for all the defeats which she has suffered at the hands of the Gettysburg athletic teams. Get-tysburg has too much dignity to submit to such conditions, but being eager to renew the annual games with Dickinson and desirous of being on friendty terms with her neighbors, the Gettysburg boys held a mass meeting and selected one of the professors to meet with rep-resentatives from Dickinson. So much for Gettysburg. What has been the response of Dickinson ? She sent fifty of her boys to Harrisburg on the day of our game with Swarthmore, who did their utmost to have Gettysburg defeated. The Dickinsonian in their issue of Nov. 7th, recog-nizing the disgraceful character of such be-havior, offers the following by way of apology: THE COLLEGE MERCURY. 116 "There were some men whose behavior at Har-risburg, had they been college men, would have disgraced Dickinson. The}7 were town boys and not students of the college, yet Dick-inson will, in all probability, get a bad repu-tation on account of the incident.'' This sounds plausible. But the facts are in evidence against it. Several of the Gettysburg boys, being fraternity men, went up and spoke with the Dickinson men belonging to their respect-ive fraternities and thus found out that the students had been doing all the mean work for which their Weekly blames the town men. But in glancing over the Dickinsonian, a second article is noticed. This was probably written by one of the associate editors, who was ignorant of the scheme to get out of the trouble. This article says : "Dickinson rooted lustilv for Swarthmore and we do not consider this in any degree objectionable. We do, however, think that the ungentlemanly con-duct and disgraceful language of a few of the students is deserving of the harshest censure. Just such actions as these are the cause of so much talk about college rowdyism." Let the readers form their own conclusions, from the two quotations, as to the attitude of Dickinson towards Gettysburg. * * * WE take pleasure in calling the attention of the readers to the publication of the '98 Spec-trum. The work is being pushed vigorously by the class, and judging from the present prospects, it will be an unusually interesting one. The men on the Staff are the leading members of the class and are exerting all their powers to make it a success. The Alumni department of which Win. J. Gies, '93, has been elected editor, will be one of the import-ant new features. The artist's corps is also very good as was seen in their work on the '97 Spectrum. Many new cuts will supplant the old ones which have been reproduced in nearly all the preceding issues. These and several other features point to a good book, one which deserves support. It comes only once a year. It need not be paid for till May, '96. Send in your subscriptions now and thus give them encouragement in their task. All suggestions which may tend to improve the publication will be very thankfully received by the Staff. * * * EVERYONE desires to enter the coming new year with a clean record for the past year. To this end, kindly pay your subscription fee to the MERCURY. Our treasury is very low and we, .too, would like to enter the new year with everything squared up for the old. If you are in doubt as to the amount of your ar-rears, consult the Business Manager. ' * * * FEVERISH HASTE.—Americans are always in a hurry. Proverbs on the foolishness of haste seem to have no influence. We work with one eye on the clock. Trains move too slow for us. Steamers are regular snails. We can "do" Europe in a month and he is a poor sight-seeing traveler who cannot see Rome in three days. We "run" down to the city. We "run" out west. We "rush" to conventions and "rush" through them as well. Every-thing must have the electric movement, in seeking wealth, in seeking pleasure, in ac-quiring an education and even in prayer and praise. We have gotten beyond the "long" sermon and there is no place in the liturgy of devotion for practical men and women for the "long" prayer. We sympathize with John Foster who longed for the power of touching men and women with the spell of "be quiet." No thorough work can be done in a hurry. No great picture was ever painted by contract against time. The author who writes the book that lives must have leisure, quiet and the seclusion of his stud}7, away from the rush-ing tide of busy life. The old "A B C" method may be slow but it is sensible. He is wise who takes time for thorough preparation for his life-work, who is willing to work and to wait. Feverish haste to get into college, feverish haste to get through and into the business or profession of one's choice is all a mistake, a costly blunder. The old proverb can be wisely applied to one seeking an edu-cation, "Make haste slowly." G. THE COLLEGE MERCURY. WILLING WORKERS.—There is always work awaiting the willing worker. He who puts his whole heart into his work will be success- ! Inl in it. He will always be wanted in his business or his profession. He who goes grumbling to his task will soon find himself going backward in his work until finally he may be "out of a job" altogether. In every business and in every profession we are told there is always "room at the top." Here at the top is where you find the willing worker. What an army of unwilling workers then there must be in the world. There are far too many workmen who throw down their tools where they stand on the instant the bell announces '•quit work" and who will wait next day. patiently for the signal to begin again. Where you find one man who magnifies his office, by throwing his whole soul in his work, and bending every energy to success in it, you must find nine or perhaps ninety-nine who work mechanically. Even in the ministry there are men who are forever haunted with the fear of doing unrewarded work. I sup-pose it is true in every profession that the few willingly work for the work's sake, and the many struggle along merely as a matter of business necessity. This characteristic of will-ingness to work is to be seen in student-life, where habits of work are formed and fixed. Many boys, and girls, too, for that matter, are in college merely to "finish" their education, as if that were a thing possible of achievement, or to get a diploma, to be graduated. The result is they "finish" when they get their diploma. They are at the end of advancement then, and have reached the limit of progress. For the remainder of life, as up to that time work pushes theni, they belong to the great army of Unwilling workers. But he, who comes to col-lege not to "finish," but to fit himself for life work, not to get a diploma, but to get a basis lor future growth and development, will prove himself in all his college work to be a willing worker. When he leaves the college halls he will join the army of willing workers who adorn their profession or their business, and who are a power in the world. May the army of willing workers inc. ease ! G. DE ORATORE. [In anticipation of the coming oratorical contest and in order to arouse more spirit in the society work, we publish in this issue an article, entitled "De Oratore," by Morris W. Croll, '89, Professor in the University School, Cleveland, Ohio. The article was taken from the University School Record^ There has recently been a noticeable revival of public speaking as an art. While we were deploring the decay of oratory, we suddenly found that we had a number of public men be-fore us who, whatever their failings, are at least successful students of eloquence. The platform, with its pine table and its semi-circle of influential citizens, has again become a feature of political campaigns, and the square-jawed orator once more receives, with his hand thrust between the first and second buttons of his frock-coat, the wild greetings of his fellow-citizens. There has been, moreover, whether it is or is not due to the revival of oratory in politics, a similar revival in some of the largest col-leges. Everyone who has read the news-papers must have noticed that the debating clubs of Princeton, Harvard, Yale and "the Tech" have taken a prominent position among the student organizations of their respective institutions. In most large colleges there are now two rival societies, which command the respect and enthusiastic support of the student-body by the direct, simple and convincing ex-temporaneous speaking of their members. In short, it is evident that the old-fashioned de-bate has become popular. This is a consummation which many of us have devoutedly wished. The debating-club was the school in which Americans of the last generation learned statecraft. And they learned not only that, but two yet more desir-able things—the power, namely, of thinking at once rapidly and logically, and the power of putting .thought readily into consecutive language. The=e ends are as desirable, surely, for us as they were for our fathers. It is useless, however, to insist upon the THE COLLEGE MERCURY. 118 profitableness of debating. That is obvious. It is as a form of amusement, as a sport, that debating I think, is not appreciated. "The spice of life," says Stevenson, "is battle." Who would compare the enjoyment of seeing the best horse in the world run against an invisible record with that of seeing six raw-boned trotters striving toward the line at a country fair ? And who would not go further to hear a subject tossed about between affirma-tive and negative than to hear the same sub-ject expounded by its most learned advocate ? There may be some pleasures of which rivalry is not an element, but the sum and substance of all that which we call sport is eager compe-tition. And, with this definition in mind, I venture to say that there is greater striving, closer application of the powers of a man to a desired object, a narrower watch for advantage, and a quicker grasp of opportunity in a lively debate than in a foot-ball match. Consider, for one thing, how much depends upon the manner of marshalling facts. When you have ended you know whether or not each one has fitted into its place and helped to strengthen the whole. You know whether or not they are real, significant facts, and whether, if they are not significant, you have made them seem so. You know, too, if it is a good, fair-and-square extemporaneous debate, what you have forgotten and where you lost your grasp and failed to make your point; and you squirm with eagerness to try again. But it is all over with you. You have had your chance and either won or lost with it. You must await patiently the decision of the judges, who sit, like the fair ladies in the tournaments of old, ready to award the prize to the better combat-ants. Here is sport enough in all conscience, and nothing said of the hundred details of the game—of the skill in anticipating the oppo-nents' plan of attack, of the incidents that oc-cur, so unexpectedly, diverting the fight to this issue and to that, of the fine fencing with the swords of rebuttal and rejoinder which be-gins after the opening speech. Is it not clear that success in the art—or, let us say the sport—of debating requires rare qualities ? Finally, like all good sports, debating demands a fine balance of temper, equal parts of spirit and good humor; and he will be most success-ful and win most judges who is "eager to fight, yet not averse to quarrel." M. W. C. AN ADVENTURE. While the western sun was sinking On that feast-day of the Fall, Through the corridors we wandered Of old "recitation hall." On Professor Bikle's blackboard, As through his room we did pass, We had written our initials For to morrow's I^atin class. We had viewed the halls where students Oft orating, raise their voice, "Phrenakosmian" was quite nice, but "Philomatheau" was our choice. On the walls the shadows, deepening. Plainly marked the close of day. Warning us we'd miss our supper, Should we longer dare to stay. Dearer joys there are than supper, (Leastways on Thanksgiving Day) So we tarried in the "Sweat-box" •Singing, "When I'm far away,'' "Sometimes you may think of me dear." And the old familiar song Had, to me, peculiar meaning As we sang it, lingering long. Groping then adowu the stairway, We were one and all quite shocked, On arriving at the entrance, There to find the door fast locked. We might shout from out a window To some passing boy or man, But, for several obvious reasons, We objected to this plan. In our minds there was strange mixture Of amusement and dismay, When we found to leave this prison There was but one other way. We must stumble up that stairway To the gloomy upper floors, Down the fire escape and exit Through two swinging iron doors. In this pleasant manner, took we, Down through tower dark and tall, Unconventional departure From the recitation hall. I will ne'er forget that visit, Neither do I think will you, To that building of the college Of the "orange and the blue." M. G. IK) THE COLLEGE MERCURY, AN APPEAL TO THE ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF THE COL-LEGE FOR SUPPORT OF THE "SPECTRUM." The Junior class would respectfully call the attention of the alumni and friends of the col-lege to the Annual soon to be issued by its representatives, the '98 "Spectrum" Board. The "Spectrum" idea has always been cordi-ally endorsed by the Faculty ; the students in college are enthusiastically co-operating in the consummation of the special plans designed for the forthcoming Annual ; the class of '98 is unanimously as well as heartily supporting the work now devolving upon its chosen rep-resentatives, and the Staff of editors and man-agers itself is using every endeavor to publish a "Spectrum" that will be a lasting credit to the college and the class. That the Staff will be able to accomplish this desideratum, with the co-operation of the student body and the alumni, it feels entirely confident. Numerous decided improvements over former Annuals have been devised and several entirely new features will be presented. Sta-tistics and historical data in regard to college events of the past year and with reference to the classes, fraternities, societies, athletics, as-sociations, etc., etc., will receive special at-trition. Original literary contributions, of a character suitable for the "Spectrum," will be given the prominence they deserve. ' In order to make the '98 "Spectrum" of particular interest to the Gettysburg graduates a large section of the book will be devoted en-tirely to the alumni. This department will comprise all of the statistics, etc., given in the '93 "Spectrum," revised to date, and, besides, will comprehend many new and additional lads and features of interest and value to all who are in any way interested in the affairs of Gettysburg College. The Staff, in the arrange-ment and compilation of this department, have been fortunate in securing the kind assistance of an able and enthusiastic Gettysburg Alum-nus. The Staff feels assured that this part of the volume will be generally considered of special importance and no labor will be spared to make it the most complete and valuable alumni record issued within recent years. Suggestions in regard to this department as well as to any other matter relating to the book will be very thankfully received. General communications should be addressed to the Editor, E. W. Meisenhelder. The Staff earnestly appeals to the alumni for financial support of the "Spectrum." Prac-tically every student at Gettysburg has favor-ably responded to our solicitation for subscrip-tions and we respectfully urge every alumnus to do likewise. Many graduates have already placed their names on our subscription lists, but we hope to receive many more before the next term opens. Subscriptions given to any of the students during vacation will be promptly transmitted to the Staff. Business communications should be addressed to the Manager, S. M. Lutz. We hope to make the '98 "Spectrum" the very best annual ever published at Gettysburg. To do so, however, it is quite obvious that we must have the united support of the alumni. The student-body is doing its full share to aid us in every way. May we not hope that the alumni will freely give us the material assist-ance we need in order to publish an Annual that will be received by every friend of the college with a feeling of real pride and pro-nounced gratification? We mean to leave nothing undone to perform completely the part expected of us. Will the alumni do theirs ? We make an earnest appeal for unanimous support. May this sentiment now, and al-ways, receive universal approval and adop-tion—" Every Gettysburgian for the 'Spec-trum' and the 'Spectrum' for Gettysburg." THE STAFF. Why don't we have a few class games of foot-ball. Last year these were among the most interesting we had. Surely there is good material in all the classes—especially, the Freshman. THE COLLEGE MERCURY. 120 A LULL FROM THE HIVE. Be earnest forever ! Be this our endeavor ! Be honest, be cheerful, be kind ! Making the spirit the test of our merit, To outward appearance blind. Our memory Will cherished be By teachers and class mates and friends If efforts are made towards these ends- Whenever you roam from the pales of your home In the bright sunny days of a spring, You see the bees gather from forest, from heather, Golden stores while they buzz and they sing. They nectar sip From lilies' lip Which gives to them food and good cheer When days become cold, lone, and drear. In the spring of our life, when earth's joyous and rife, And all things are happy and gay, When song birds are filling the air with their trilling, Your honey, O store, while you may ! When days of gloom And sadness come. The heart and the memory will hold Its treasures more precious than gold. W. H. B. C, '99. COLLEGE LOCALS. EbMUND W. MEiSE.NHEi.niiR and E t,. ROLLER, Editors. Dr. N. (to 190b Cadet who is verj' much in-teiested in something between himself and the board)—Mr. K., you had better take that to the window where you have better light. Mr. S., '99, recently went out after turkeys. After a walk of about four miles and a half, he arrived at the desired place. Cautiously walk-ing along a fence, he is surprised by the owner of the property who immediately begins to shoot. Walton now held up his hands and said, "I surrender." But when three men strive to tie him he makes a brave fight and finally succeeds in gaining his freedom. Now knocking two of the men down he makes a bold dash for the road. The men follow in hot pursuit and Walton falls over a plow. Never losing his presence of mind, he immedi-ately jumps up and runs into a brook. Hav-ing thrown the pursuers from his track by this piece of strategy he proceeds to a neighboring woods where he lies behind a log. till late at night. Finally he makes his way home where he is received with open arms by his worried com-panions. The MERCURY extends its sympathy to Mr. S. for injuries received. Dr. N. (to Mr. D., 1900, who is up at the board and holding a book under his coat), "You might injure your arm.by holding things so tightly under your coat." Mr. E., '99, tells us "many of our presi-dents had a very humble beginning, for in-stance, George Washington the rail-splitter." Prof. Van O., in Prep. Greek, to Mr. M.— "Have you Kelsey's edition?" Mr. M.—"No, sir." Prof. Van O.—"Who's have you?" Mr. M.—"Anabasis'." Mr. D., 1900, says that "James II, of Eng-land, w7as of a weak character because he chewed tobacco." Dr. B.—"Mr. M., what was the Koran ?" Mr. M., '97.—"An officer appointed by—" Class laughs and Mr. M. stops short in his explanation. Mr. R., '99, would like to know who Mr. Hastings is and what position Mr. Hastings is holding in Penn'a. Mr. K., '98, (translating German),—"My hat fell down confused." Prof. K. (to Mr. B., '98, who has been sleeping and has been rudely awakened to re-cite)—" Mr. B. you ought to feel refreshed after your little nap." Dr. B.—"If your eyes were shut how would you recognize Br." Mr. F., '98.—"By its color." Mr. B., '99, (in gymnasium and talking to Mr. L., 1900)—"M. L,. don't get on those mats with your feet." William Harrison Winfield R., of Prep., re-cently jewed a town storekeeper five cents on a broom. After a vain effort to jew him more he asked him, "Wouldn't you just wrap it up since I don't like to carry a broom along the streets ? " Mr. M., '99, (explaining the habitability of the moon)—"The moon revolves around the sun and has its own moon and is inhabited and the inhabitants revolve on their axes. Mr. G. 1900, wishes to borrow a horn, on which he wishes to increase his breathing ca-pacity ; Dr. S. having marked him minus. Every evening, about dark, G. will stick his head out of the window and look around to see if any one is near. If no one is near, he will blow a feeble blast on the horn and quickly withdraw, appreciating the joke hugely. We wish Mr. G. all success in his efforts. Mr. E., 1900, recites with great feeling and with good effect, "God bless the man who first invented sleep." I .'I THE COLLEGE MERCURY. Prof. K (to Mr. B., who is reading an es-say)—" The last sentence is not correct. Can you tell me why ? " Mr. B., 1900—"It is too much like a Soph-omore's writing." Prof. K.—"That's right. Quite a number of pretty words which mean nothing." Overheard at the W. M. R. R. depot from the lips of a young lady : "Well, Mr. A., I think you are the nicest man on earth." Ernie, '97, is strictly in it. Several bright Sophs intending to have some fun paid a visit to "Jess" K. the other night. Cayenne pepper was wafted about the room and burnt in the flame of the lamp. "Jesse" stood the test very well and . the "Sophs," after a short while, were compelled to leave. A more crestfallen crowd would, with difficulty, have been found. It was plainly a case of "the hunter hunted." Josey K., '99, who is a remarkable wit, said that "T., '99, received a ten for night work." Joe had reference to the Prep. fire. "Stocky" recently asked on what date New Year came last year. Mr. F., '98, has a new way of getting off from reciting Greek—he hides his book when the recitation period comes. Prof. Klinger is on to it, however. Prof. K. (in Greek, to Mr. B., '98, who has just flunked)—"Mr. B., I supposed you would have been better prepared to recite after your pleasant little nap." The back row in Lab. of the Classical Jun-iors have suddenly been deprived of the sober-ing effects of the presence of Mr. A. B. B. V. O., who departed for more peaceable climes about a week ago. "How can a fellow do sat-isfactory work, Mr. Stover, when there are a lot of bums banging around ? " The standard of the college is surely being raised, at least the standard of the Sophomore class, when a '99 man discourses fluently upon the Darwin theory—as was heard a few days ago. Truly we have "all sorts and conditions of men" around here, Darwinites, Silverites, Atheists and Preps. Mr. H., 1900, received quite a "moist" re-ception at the rear door of middle division lately. It always pays for a Freshman to "look aloft," especially when he has his Sunday clothes on, for the more moisture greens re-ceive the longer they will retain their verd-ancy. Mr. S., 1900, was lately giving his opinion about a certain "dramist." We suppose he meant "dramatist," but then he's only a Freshman and will learn. Prof. H., in teaching Anglo Saxon, has at last succeeded in impressing upon the mind of Mr. L-, of the Dummies, '98, that we get from the old English gumena our word grootn. "You may have occasion to use it some time." Mr. F., '98, (in Anglo Saxon)—"And he hastened about an ell.'' Prof. H.—"Mr. F., he wouldn't have has-tened very far in that case, would he?" A word about the College Musical Clubs. The very creditable manner in which they fur-nished the music for the recent Adams County Institute has again brought them before the people. The music this year, both of the Glee Club and of the Violin Quartet, has been very much better than any before given— simply the result of diligent and frequent prac-tice. The Glee Club has been rather unfort-unate in losing temporarily its second bass, Mr. Manges, whose larynx was injured in foot-ball practice, but his active and neces-sary work as manager has still continued. The clubs are in good condition now and the stu-dents in general will lose nothing by taking an interest in them—for they represent the col-lege musically, as the foot-ball and base-ball teams represent it in the capacity of athletics. The Juniors are writing plays for Prof. Himes. The whole college is awaiting the re-sult anxiously, for they will no doubt revolu-tionize the whole dramatic science. They range all the way from Adam and Eve to the Judgment Day. One of the sources of pleasure of the last month, was Dr. Everett's lecture on "Our Girls." A fair sized audience greeted him, which, however, should have been considera-bly larger, in view of the frequent announce-ments. The lecture was very entertaining, brim full of humor and anecdotes. We all , want to hear the Dr. again. Overheard in the Shakespeare recitation : T., '98—Say, Nick, what does "Gervinus" mean in the notes to the plays ? Nick, '98—"Why, that's the German for the author of the notes.'' S., 1900, seems to take quite an interest in the establishment of the Battlefield Photo-grapher. If he wants his pictures taken free, he is certainly going to lots of trouble. There i may be other reasons. THE COLLEGE MERCURY. This is about the time when the Sophomores ; are beginning to put on a little dignity. How- ' ever, they cannot overcome their little habit of giving their class yell every time they see a Freshman walk across the campus—just to show him how brave they are. Our society reading rooms are being mis-used by some of the fellows—especially by non-society men. They ought to realize that the rooms are for "reading," and that for this absolute quiet is needed. They were not fitted up for club rooms or places to play foot-ball. If everyone would individually realize this fact and respect the rights of his fellow student, it would certainly be better for all concerned. "Bobby" W., '98, has lately been quite at-tentive to the fair sex—one of them. This is quite surprising, viewed from our past knowl-edge of W., but then it must happen to them all, and Bobby has been captured. Congrat- | illations. During the recent convention of the Adams County Teachers' Institute some of the college fellows—especially those of the musical clubs— had the pleasure of associating with Prof. Park-er, of Binghampton, N. Y., and who conducted the music. He is a jovial good fellow, and took quite an interest in the boys, as did the boys in him. He sang several solos at the In-stitute. "Herbie" F., '98, recently in chapel one morning uttered quite a feminine shriek. It is said he "saw snakes" —one, anyway. The latest capture that the girls of Gettys-burg have made is "Albertus." Well, well, will wonders never cease ? We thought he was hardened. It is said, too, that the young ladies have been also inquiring earnestly after Fv '98. One of the fellows recently in German used the word "compar-able," accenting the second syllable. Dr. M.—"I would pronounce that 'com-par-able.' " "Since when ? Thats the first time I ever heard it pronounced that way." Dr. M.—"Well, you are not so old that you can't learn a few new things. There are many things happening continu-ally in and about college that would make very interesting items among the locals, but which never get there because they never reach the ears of the editors. It is the duty of the fellows, and to the interest of them all, that they hand such things in to the local de-partment, and thus increase its interest. Very few items are handed in and the editors have to do entirely personal work in getting such as do appear. We ask your assistance. The skillful investigation of scientific intel-lect, expanding in every direction, will ever bring to light new and wonderful discoveries. Following close on the disclosures made by the now famous Roentgen, which prove that cer-tain rays of light can be made to pass through even the obtuse head of a Sophomore, the an-nouncement now issues from the Chemical Lab. Dept., that the fruit of the genus Dios-pysos Virginiana of the natural order Ebena-ceae, commonly called "persimmons," may be obtained from the Platanus Occidentalis or syc-amore tree. This startling fact, like so many others in the scientific world, was chanced upon by the "Professor" quite accidentally, but that makes it none the less interesting. Samples of the delicious fruit recently secured, and a full explanation showing with what ease and rapidity it is digested, may be obtained upon application. Be sure that vou are not faked. ALUMNI-I. C. MANGES and CHARLES H. TILP, Editars. '41. St. Paul's Lutheran church, of Steel-ton, Pa., and the new church at High Spire, Pa., are to be formed into one charge. Rev. E. Miller, D. D., will be the pastor. '44. Rev. Peter Anstadt, D. D., of York, Pa., is considering the question of publishing a biography of the Rev. Doctor Ezra Keller, '35- '45. Rev. J. F. Probst has left Asbury Park, and will spend part of the winter at Ashville, N. C. His health has not improved to such an extent that he is able to resume the active work of the ministry. '46. Rev. Conrad Kuhl, D. D., prepared the history of the Central Illinois Synod for the 50 years of its existence, that was read by Dr. Rhodes, at the convention held at Hills-boro, 111., in October. '48. Many requests have come to Rev. P. Born, D. D., especially from former Theolog-ical students, to have his Inductive Bible Study ot the Old and New Testament issued in book form. Now that he has retired from active work as professor the call comes louder than l-?l THE COLLEGE MERCURY. ever. The work will compose a volume of about 300 pages. '50. Dr. M. H. Valentine's new book on "Ethics," will be out before Jan. 1st. The work will be used as a text-book in our col-lege. '52. Rev. Prof. John J. Scherer, of Marion, Va., has returned from a trip to Texas. '54. Rev. John Tomlinson, Dixonville, Pa., has compiled some valuable statistics, which appear in the Lutheran World of Nov. 26th. They are worthy to be read and pondered. '55. Rev. P. Bergstresser, D. D., of Rock-wood, Pa., spent vSunday, Nov. 22, in Alle-gheny City and filled the pulpit of his son, Rev. Fuller Bergstresser. '57. Rev. H. L. Baugher, D. D., has been elected Managing Editor of The Lutheran Wo//,/. The Doctor will give his undivided attention to this arduous and responsible work. This excellent paper is indeed fortunate in se-curing the services of so learned a man. '58. The Lutheran Observer of Nov. 20, con-tains a poem entitled, "Nearer Home," by Rev. B. H. Hunt, that was written and pub-lished in the Observer while the author was a student at college. The song is found in many song books. '59. After nineteen yearsof editorial service, Rev. J. H. Sieker has transferred the editor-ship of Zeuge die Wahrheit, to pastor Stack- In^/., of Paterson, N. J. '60. Rev. Prof. M. H. Richards, D. D., de-livered the first of a series of lectures at the Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pa. His sub-ject was, "An Excursion to Eden." The lec-ture was highly praised and the students and friends are looking forward with pleasure to the second lecture, soon to be delivered. '61. Rev. L. Grab has accepted the call of St. Mark's church, Omaha, Neb., and is at work in his new field. '62. Rev J. B. Keller, late pastor at Smiths-burg, Md., will spend the winter in Georgia. '62. The corner stone for the new Lutheran church at Vandergrift, Pa., was laid on Thurs-day November 12th. The sermon was preached by Rev. M. I,. Culler, president of the Pitts-burg Synod, and the cornerstone was laid by Rev. J. W. Poffinberger, '72 of Leechburg, Pa. '62 Prof. H. E. Jacobs, D. D., LL- D., president of Mt. Airy Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, filled the pulpit of College church, Sunday, Nov. 15. '63. Rev. J. L. Smith, D. D., of Pittsburg, Pa., on Sunday, November 29, organized the St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church of Wilkinsburg, Pa. This is the first Lutheran congregation organized in that thriving town, and was brought about through the untiring efforts of Dr. Smith. '63. The November number of The Luth-eran contains an obituary and cut of the late Prof. Davis Garber, Ph. D. Muhlenberg Col-lege, where he labored for 26 years, has sus-tained a great loss in his death. '63. Rev. E. J. Wolf, D. D., recently at-tended a meeting of the Common Service Com-mittee at Alleutown, which is now preparing a Liturgy. '64. Friday evening, October 30th, the Rev. J. G. Griffith, pastor of the English Lutheran church, Lawrence, Kansas, by request, deliv-ered an address on the Reformation of the 16th century to about 400 Indians at Haskell Insti-tute. '64. The Zanesville, (O.,) Times Recorder of Nov. 30th, contains an account of the 20th anniversary service held in St. John's Evan-gelical Lutheran church of that city. It gives a review of the work done by the pastor, Rev. Frank Richard, D. D., during his long service in this church, and shows that the work has prospered in his hands, during the past fifth of of a century. The ladies of the church gave an elegant reception and reunion at the par-sonage, on Nov. 26, in honor of the occason. '65. Rev. Joseph Hillpot died on October 30th at Quakertown, Pa. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Ministerium. '69. Dr. J. A. Clutz and Rev. H. L. Yar-ger, '83, assisted at the dedication of the First church of St. Joseph, Mo., on November 15. '73. Rev. T. J. Yost, of Cumberland, Md., preached the sermon at the opening of the State Convention of the West Virginia C. E. Union held at Clarkesburg, W. Va. '73. Rev. J. A. Singmaster, D. D., Allen-town, preached the sermon at the dedication of St. Matthew's English Lutheran church, Brooklyn, on Nov. 12. He also presented the chancel windows given by Hon. and Mrs. Schieren. THK COLLEGE MERCURY. 124 '73. Rev. Chester H. Traver, late of Rhine-beck, New York, has taken charge of the Lutheran church at Churchtown, New York, and thus succeeds the late Doctor Marcus Empie. '77. Rev. J. A. West has taken charge of the Lutheran church at Londonville, O. He has been warmly received by the people of his I charge. '77. The congregation of Christ Lutheran | church, of Los Angeles, Cal., of which Rev. j M. H. Stine, Ph. D., is pastor, dedicated a new j pipe organ on Sunday, Nov. 15. Rev. Stine has been very successful as pastor of this church, j '78. The good Lutheran people of Palo, 111., are arranging to care for their pastor, Rev. Holmes Dysinger, right royally. The founda-tion is already laid for a fine $3000 parsonage, to be built of dressed stone in harmony with the church itself. '78. Rev. O. C. Roth, pastor of Grace Eng- ! lish Lutheran church, Broadway and Gough street, Baltimore, Md., commemorated his seventh year as pastor on November 2nd. He preached two sermons on the event. '79. The new Lutheran church in Benders-ville, Rev. U. A. Hankey, pastor, is to be dedicated on the second Sunday in December. Dr. E. J. Wolf and Rev. H. H. Weber will have charge of the services. '80. Rev. M. F. Troxell, D. D., of Spring-field, Ills., preached an eloquent sermon on the Reformation, in Grace Lutheran church of that city. '81. Rev. J. W. Byers, D. D., of Nevada, 0., and the people of his congregation royally entertained the Eastern Conference of Witten-berg Synod, during its 97th convention, which was held in Nevada, O. 82. Rev. Chas. R. Trowbridge will spend the winter in Easton, Pa., where he has taken up work in his new charge. '82. Frank E. Colom, Esq., is one of the best and most active lawyers at the Bedford Bar, and a worthy son of his Alma Mate). He was elected president of the Bedford County Sunday School Association, at its 15th annual convention, held at St. Clairsville, Pa. '83. Rev. W. W. Anstadt has accepted the call to Hollidaysburgh, Pa. He will take charge of his new field on the first Saturday in December. '83. Rev. L. M. Kuhns, of Omaha, Neb., laid the corner-stone for his new church a few weeks ago. Rev. H. W. Kuhns, D. D., '56, was present and participated in the services. '83. Rev. H. L. Yarger assisted Rev. W. F. Rentz, of Atchison, Kansas, in a series of special services, and proved himself a valuable assistant. '84. Rev. L. M. Zimmerman, Baltimore, Md., is preaching a series of sermons on "Pil-grim's Progress." One of the subjects was, "The Pitfalls to Young Men." '85. Rev. A. F. Richardson, of Grafton, Wt Va., was unanimously elected president, for his third term, of the West Virginia C. E. Union, which convened in Clarkesburg, W. Va., Nov. 18. '87. Rev. Herbert C. Alleman will be in-stalled pastor of College Church December 6, Rev. Alleman, D. D., of Lancaster, Pa., and Rev. J. C. Kohler, D. D., of Hanover, Pa., are the committee on installation. '90. On Nov. 8th, the cornerstone of Beth-any English Lutheran church, New York City, was laid by the pastor, Rev. J. Fred. W. Kitzmeyer. '90. Rev. Oscar H. Gruver has resigned as pastor of the First English Lutheran church, San Francisco, California. 91. Rev. Stanley Billheimer, Washington, D. C., was in Gettysburg Thanksgiving Day, visiting his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Billheimer, '91. Rev. S. Gring Heffelbower has been called to Mauheim, Pa. '92. Rev. George Beiswanger, pastor of Calvary Lutheran church, Baltimore, Md., en-tertained the members of the present and retir-ing church councils at the parsonage, Thurs-day night, October 22nd. '92. Rev. Edward O. Keen completed his studies in the Reformed Theological Seminary, Lancaster, Pa., in May last, and is now pastor of St. Paul's Reformed church of Waynesboro, Pa., having begun his work there Aug. 1, '92. Rev. D. P. Drawbaugh, McConnells-burg, Pa., has been doing faithful and thorough work in his field and his efforts have been crowned with excellent results. '93. Rev. Marion J. Kline preached the first of a series of four sermons on "The Life of Joseph" in Bethlehem Lutheran Tabernacle, Harrisburg, Pa., on Nov. 15th. The audience was large and the discourse was exceptionally fine. I •■■ THK COLLEGE MERCURY. •93. Rev. \V. S. Oberholtzer has changed his address from MifBjntown, Pa., to Harbin, Indiana. '93. Rev. F. II. Knubie, of New York city, has accepted a call to begin a new English Lutheran church on the west side of New York city. '93. The English Evangelical Lutheran church, Jersey City, Rev. E. E. Neudewitz, pastor, was the recipient of a very costly pul-pit Bible recently. It was given by a member of the same. '93! Rev. John C. Rowers was installed as pastor of St.'Mark's Lutheran church, Wash-ington, I). C, 011 Sunday, November 15th. The charge to the pastor was delivered by Rev. M. L. Beard, '75. of Middletown, Md., and that to the people by Rev. Geo. S. Bow-ers, of Hagetstown, Md. '93. Rev. G. W, haulers, Jr., of Argusville, N. Y., delivered a lecture on "Normal Train-ing in the Sunday School," before the Sharon Institute, at I.ecsville, N. Y., on November 17th. His address was instructive and well received. '93. On Sunday, Nov. 29th, Rev. Wm. C. 1U finer formally began work in his new field at Fayetteville, Pa. '93, The examining committee of the York Bar'met Nov. 20, to examine P. M. Bortner, who has been reading law with Niles ec Neff. Mr. Bortner passed a very creditable examina-tion, and on the motion of J. E. Vandersloot, Esq., a member of the committee, was admit-ted to practice at the York County Courts. '93. Rev. A. A. Kelley was installed pastor Of the Trindle Springs church, Sunday, Nov. 8. Since he has been pastor of this church the membership has been doubled. Rev. and Mrs. Kelley were visiting friends in Gettysburg, Thanksgiving Day. • '94. Herbert A. Allison is a member of the faculty of Susquehanna University. The Oc-tober "number of The Susquehanna contained a good cut of him. His department is the Greek language. '94. Prank E. Pickinger, principal of Cham-bersburg schools, was manager of the foot-ball team, composed of ex-college players, that played our team Nov. 21, on the new athletic held. '96. W. H. Mengcs was captain of the York V. M. C. A. foot-ball team tins fall. ATHLETICS. CHARLES T. LARK, Editor. Gettysburg, 6—Maryland University, o. Gettysburg, 58—Chambersburg ex-college plavers, o. Gettysburg, 64—Western Maryland Col-lege, o. Maryland University having 700 student from whom to select, as a matter of course, has a strong foot-ball team. This eleven, by its excellency on the gridiron, has won for itself the championship of Maryland. It is com-posed of a set of big fellows, almost all of whom have had years of experience in their respective positions. In spite of the fact that our grounds were wet and soggy, the game between Gettysburg and the above mentioned team, on Nov. 14th, was one of unusual inter-est. The players were about evenly matched as regards weight. The playing was so sharp and close that almost through the entire game it looked very much as though neither side would score. Deuson, the left half-back and Capt. of M. U., although the lightest man oh the team, played a most brilliant game. His three years experience on the University of North Carolina eleven, showed up to a good advantage and his work received merited ap-plause. Too much can not be said in praise of Capt. White and Lawyer for their magnificent play-ing. They always play a good game but in this particular one they excelled themselves. Their runs and tackles were the feature of the daw Had our team made more preparation for this game than it did, we would have won by a larger margin. M. U. kicked off and the ball was downed on our 30-yard line. By an elegant exhibition of team work," our fel-lows took the leather from this point to our opponents' 10-yard line, where it was lost on downs. Through the successful use of a quar-terback kick, and their quarter proved himself an adept at this, they captured the hall on their 30-yard line. The ball changed hands ofteu but we finally forced it to their 2-yard line where, on an account of an unfortunate I fumble, they obtained possession of it and again advanced it somewhat down the field, it being on their 20-yard line when the first half ended. The second half was marked by many fine plays. The ball was kept entirely within the territory of M. U., nevertheless it changed hands frequently. . During the last five min- THE COLLEGE MERCURY. [26 utes' play our men summoned all their strength for one mighty effort and after a series of de-termined, desperate rushes, the ball was taken across the line by Capt. White after a 25-yard run. The crowd yelled itself hoarse. Dale added two more points by kicking the goal— 6 to o. Time was called a few minutes after the ball was again put in play. Among the distinguished spectators present were Congressman-elect Benner and Judge Swope. This was one of the most exciting games of the year and we take great pride in placing it under our list of victories. The line-up follows : MARYLAND UNIVERSITY. POSITIONS. GETTYSBURG. Allen left end Moser Steele left tackle Byers Gauss left guard Koppenhaver Riley centre Stifel McCain right guard Hagerman Lewis right tackle Nicholas Dawson right end (Kite) Doty Riddington right half back Dale Barrow quarter back Lawyer Armstrong full back Sheely Touchdown—White. Goal—Dale. Refree—Kump. Umpire— Kuendig. Linesmen—Steward and Leisenring Time of halves—25 and 20 minutes. Our students had anticipated a closer con-test than that which took place on Nov. 21st, between Gettysburg and an eleven from Cham-bersburg, composed of ex-college players. Although somewhat heavier than the oppos-ing team we should by no means have had the walk-over we had. Fine individual playing but lack of team work tells the tale for Cham-bersburg. Our fellows made gains wherever and whenever they desired. "Willie" Burns, 1901, played the star game and seems to be as much at home on the foot-ball field as in the box. We scored 32 points in the first half and 26 iu the second, making the total 58-0. Dale, 1900, missed but one goal out of ten. ■ The following was the line- up : GETTYSBURG. POSITIONS, CHAMBERSBURG. Stifel centre Sherrod Koppenhaver left guard Plank Hagerman right guard Shaefer Ott left tackle Brown Nicholas right tackle Parrott Doty right end Wragg Young (Loudon) left end Pierson Lawyer quarter Orr Burns left half back Smith Dale right half-back G. Fletcher Sheely fullback F. Fletcher Touchdowns—Burns, 3; Dale, 3; Nicholas, 1; Stifel, 1; Sheely, 2. Goals—Dale, 9, Referee—White. Umpire—Kuendig. Lines-men— Leisenring and Lark. Timekeeper—Wheeler. As a matter of course interest on Thanks-giving Day centers around the turkey, but foot-ball comes in as a very close second. This is the first time for a number of years that our team has played at home on this holi-day, and, as the day was pleasant, an enthusi-astic crowd of 500 people turned out to see us line up against Western Maryland College. This was the best game of the year, at least in one respect —in point of attendance. Western Maryland started the game with a dash, and for the first ten minutes' play held our eleven very nicely. They then lost confi-dence and their playing during the remainder of the game looked to the foot-ballist like the first attempts of a lot of novices, while to the referee it looked like 64 to o. Lawyer, 1900, was, unfortunately, physically unable to be in the game, and his position, quarter-back, was ably filled by Capt. White, whose place at left-half was filled by Burns, 1901. Dale, igoo, did excellent work in kicking ten goals out of eleven. In short each player played his position well. Line up: WESTERN MARYLAND. POSITION. GETTYSBURG.' Stiaugh. Reckford left half-back Burns Johnson left end Fite Joice left tackle Nicholas Little left guard Ott Satlerwight '. center Stifel Warfield right guard Hagerman Baker right tackle Manges Edwards right end Doty Zepp right half back Dale Patton quarter back (Capt.) White Crockett full back Sheely Touchdowns —Dale, 7; Burns, 2; Manges, 1; Hagerman, I-Gials— Dale, 10. Time of halves—25 minutes. Referee— Kuendig Umpire—Murphy. Linesmen—Wolf and Whalen. The feelings of a Gettysburg man, in look-ing over our record in foot-ball for the season which is just now past, can be but those of gratification and pleasure. We have indeed been eminently successful, having won six games out of nine, and to-day stand higher iu the foot-ball world than we have ever stood before. In spite of the fact that we contested with some of the strongest elevens in the coun-try, we have to our credit an even hundred more points than have been scored against us, as is shown by the following: State College, 40—Gettysburg, University of Penn'a, - 32—Gettysburg, F. & M., - 24—Gettysburg, Baltimore City College, o—Gettysburg,' F. &. M., Swarthmore, University of Maryland, Chamb'sbg ex-Col. pl'ys, o- Western Maryland Col., o-o— Gettysburg, 4—Gettysburg, o—Gettysburg, -Gettysburg, -Gettysburg, o. o. o. 50. 10. 12. 6. 58. 64. Totals, 100 200 127 THE COLLEGE MERCURY. Certainly this happy result of a seasons work demonstrates most clearly the value of a coach. We were very fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Best and our success is largely due to his efforts. He did remarkably well iii developing such a team from so many inexperienced players. Koppenhaver, 1900, Stifel, 1900, and Hag-erman, 1901, at left guard, center and right guard respectively formed a center which held like a brick wall against all our opponents. Each member of this trio, averaging 195 pounds of solid muscle, at the beginning of the season was new at at the game, but their de-velopment has been remarkable. They broke through constantly and opened up well for the barks. Ott, '97, Manges, '97, and Nicholas, '98, are the men who efficiently filled the tackle positions. "Pop" Ott is one of our old relia- ' bles and always played an aggressive game. The reputation of Manges as a ground gainer is thoroughly established, while "Nick," be-sides taking ample care of his man and mak-ing gams when called on, kept things lively by his seemingly inexhaustible supply of jokes. Doty, '99, Fite, '98, Young, 1900, and Lou-don, 1901, at the end positions, upheld the orange and blue. Although this is their first year on the team, they played like veterans. Doty, after having been tackled, is fond of shaking the man from him and going on. He is a hard man to down. Eite, besides being a good tackier, is a snappy player and runs well. Young and London each played a steady game and made their presence felt. Lawyer, 1900, as this is his second year at the position, has become quite proficient as a quarter-back. He keeps his wits about him and gets into the interference well. Sheely, '97, made many fine tackles and struck the line hard, besides kicking very cleverly. burns, 1901, Dale, 1900, and White, '97, played at half. The first one mentioned kicks well and runs fast. Dale is adroit at kicking, is a swift runner, a fine tackier and an all around good player. Capt. White seems to be entirely at home in the game. It is quite unnecessary to enumer-ate liis achievements and abilities as a foot-ball player, as he is a heady player, was always in the game, and was a source of encouragement to his men. Perhaps the secret of his ground-gaining, is the fact that he sticks like a leech to his interference. We must not overlook the second team which, under the leadership of Kuendig, '98, turned out so faithfully. Their services were of great value to the first eleven, as they there-by were given sharp, hard practice. The scrub contains many players of promise, among whom are : '98, Kephardt, Tholan, Briner, Kuendig; '99, Herman, Brumbaugh, Trimble, Roehner; 1900, Good, Wisotzki, Brandt, Kohler. As we lose but a very few men, the prospects for next season's team are of the brightest. Our players may now retire from the grid-iron and take merited satisfaction in looking over a season well spent. TOWN AND SEWJINARY NOTES. S. J. MILLER, Editor. TOWN. It seems as if improvement has become the ' adopted watchword of the town. Telephone wires by the dozen have been stretched across the diamond, thus to communicate with all the important neighboring towns in the county. The Water Company has enlarged the water supply by replacing the old pipes with larger ones. Several new and costly buildidgs have been erected, among which is the new school building, known as the Meade High School, and which in all probability will be occupied at the beginning of the New Year. The association of the survivors of the Twenty-first Regiment of Pennsylvania' Cav-alry recently held its seventh annual reunion in this place. About seventy-five members were in attendance. At a business meeting the following officers were elected: President, Major Robert Bell, Adams county; Vice-Pres-ident, Captain E. McMillan, Lancaster; Secre-tary, J. Harvey Cobean. Gettysburg; Treas-urer, Captain Long, Gettysburg. The anniversary exercises of the Women's Bible Society were held on Sunday evening, Nov. 15th, in Christ Lutheran church. Rev. Dr. Huber presided. Prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Richards, of Gettysburg, and ad-dresses were made by Rev. Dr. Jacobs, of Philadelphia, and Rev. Dr. Morrow, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Bible Society, after which a very creditable report of the society was read by Rev. A. R. Steck, pastor of the St. James Lutheran church, this place. THE COLLEGE MERCURY. 128 The semi-annual convention of the Adams County C. E. Union was held in the St. James Lutheran church, this place, on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20th and 21st. The conven-tion opened on Friday at 2 P. M. The ad-dress of Welcome was delivered by Rev. A. R. Steck and the response was made by Presi-dent Longanecker. The sessions were very interesting and were largely attended through-out the whole convention. Rev. C. H. Rockey, of Shepherdstown, W. Va., preached in Christ Lutheran church on .Sunday, Nov. 22. The Christian Endeavor Society of St. James Lutheran church held their eighth anniversary exercises on Sunday, Nov. 22. In the morn-ing Rev. E. F. Jeffers, D. D., Principal of the York Collegiate Institute, preached the anni-versary sermon. At the evening service Rev. A. R. Steck presided. An excellent program was rendered. Rev. Rockey offered prayer and Rev. Dr. Jeffers delivered the address of the evening, his subject being, "Spiritual Power.'' The old tin roof on the Methodist church has been removed and a slate one put on. The St. James and Christ Lutheran congre-gations held a union Thanksgiving service in St. James Lutheran church on Thursday morn-ing, Nov. 26, at 10 o'clock. Services were also held in the Presbyterian and Reformed churches in the morning. SEMINARY. Rev. J. E. Byers preached at Williamsport, Md., on Sunday, November 1. Rev. J. H. Harmes filled the pulpit of St. John's Lutheran church, Hagerstown, Md., on Sunday, Nov. 8th. Rev.' Paul Koller preached at Hagerstown, Md., Shepherdstown, W. Va., on Nov. 15th and 22nd respectively. Rev. W. H. Feldman was sent as a delegate to attend the Inter-Seminary Missionary Al-liance at Chicago, on Nov. 12- 15th. While there he also had the pleasure of attending the Luther League Convention. The pulpit of the Second Lutheran church, Carlisle, Pa., was filled by Rev. Brady on Sunday, Nov. 22. Rev. M. S. Kump preached in Christ Luth-eran church on Sunday evening, Nov. 29. Prof. J. H. W. Stuckenberg will deliver the following lectures in Brua Chapel, beginning with Monday evening, Dec. 7th: Monday—"The Importance and the Method of of the Deeper Study of the Age." Tuesday—"Characteristics of the Age." Wednesday—"The Dominant Ideas." Thursday—"Social Trend." Friday—The New Social Era." Saturday—"Higher Education in Germany." This is a new course of lectures prepared es-pecially for Gettysburg, and we are indebted to the Seminary students for his coming. FRATERNITY NOTES. PHI KAPPA PSI. A. J. Smith, '83, a Professor of the Univer-sity of Texas, recently suffered the loss of his wife. We were pleased to meet Dr. Philips, Presi-dent of West Chester Normal School, who de-livered a lecture before the Teachers' Institute convened in this city last week. J. C. Bowers, '93, made a business trip here a few days since. W. F. Lutz, '94, is engaged in journalistic work at his home in Bedford. A. C. Carty, '96, attended the New York City rally on Dec. 4th. . PHI GAMMA DELTA. Bro. Jacobs, '62, preached in the College church recently. Bro. Knubel, '93, has started a mission in upper New York City. We wish him success in his undertaking. Bro. Roth, '95, of Bucknell, spent a few days in town recently. We were glad to have with us during the past month Bros. Brewer, '83, Garland, '85, Fickinger, '94. Bros. Fite, '98, and Albers, '99, spent a few days with Bro. Stahler, of Norristown, Pa. Bro. Kolb, 1900, spent Thanksgiving at Mechauicsburg. SIGMA CHI. Bruce Trimmer, Kappa, '98, of Bucknell, made us a visit several weeks ago. Leisenring spent Thanksgiving with his parents at Chambersburg. I2CJ THK COLLEGE MERCURY. Win. Hersh, '92, was elected District At-torney of Adams Co., by the largest majority ever given a candidate. Rosensteel was called to his home in Altoona several weeks ago on account of the death of his grandfather. Edwards, Alpha Psi, Vanderbilt University, played end on the Western Maryland College foot-ball team in the game here on Thanks-giving. Munro and Fredericks were at their homes in Lock Haven over Thanksgiving. Frank Hersh, '92, who was home for several weeks, has returned to his work in Braddock, Pa. Keith, '99, paid a flying visit to the Chapter at Dickinson several days ago. Fredericks stopped at Bucknell on his way home on Thanksgiving, and visited the Chap-ter there. Lawyer spent Thanksgiving at his home in Westminster. PHI DELTA THETA. J. A. Singmaster, '98, was initiated Novem-ber 23d. Kain, '97; Meisenhelder, '97, and Beerits, '99, attended the 24th Biennial Convention of the fraternity held in Philadelphia Nov. 25th to 30th. M. F. Holloway, '84, and A. S. Cook, '95, were also in attendance. Chas. Reinewald, '88, spent a few days in town recently. J. C. Moore, Jr., Pa Zeta, paid the Chapter a visit the beginning of the month. ALPHA TAU OMEGO. Saturday night, Nov. 21, the Chapter held a banquet in the meeting hall, which was pro-nounced by those present to have been a very enjoyable affair. Edward Gaines, a member of the U. of Md. foot-ball team, spent Sunday, Nov. 15, with the Chapter. William O. Nicklas, '93, has been admitted to the Chambersburg bar. William H. Menges, '96, visited the Chapter during Institute. Dr. Franklin Menges, '86, was with us In-stitute week. James P. Michler, '97, is at present a stu-dent at Washington and Lee. SUBJECTS FOR "ROMAN LAW" THESES. ABEL—Spread of the Roman Law Through Barharic Invasions. ARMSTRONG—Marriage and Divorce Among the Romans. HIKLE—Influence of the Laws and Organization of the Roman Empire on the Laws and Organization of the Early Church. CLUTE—The Extent and Limitations of the Patria Potestas. COBLE, Sr.—Slavery Among the Romans. DUCK—The Indebtedness of Modern States to Roman Juris-prudence. FRIDAY—The Roman Law of Succession. HUTTON—Roman Citizenship-Different Kinds, How Acquired and How Lost. Miss KEITH—The Nature and Authority of the Jus Respon-dendi. MILLER—The Functions of the Roman Praetor. Miss SIEBER—The Roman Method of Legal Procedure in a Province as Illustrated by the Trial of Christ in Pal-estine. SMITH—The Roman Judiciary System. WHEELER—The Change from Republic to Empire in Rome, a Change to nu Autocracy. WOLF—Influence of Christianity on Roman Legislation. LITERARY SOCIETIES. JOHN W. OTT, Editor. PHILO. Messrs. Baker and Markel were initiated during the past month. On Friday night, Dec. nth, Philo will render her last special program of the term. The program promises to eclipse all others. PHRENA. Messrs. Gilbert and Hitchner. both of 1900, were elected members last Friday evening. On account of the various interruptions 011 the several past Friday evenings, Phrena will not render.her next special program till next term. EXCHANGES. The MERCURY is at present receiving a very large number of exchanges. We mention some of them as follows: The Lafayette, Ursinus College Bulletin, Bucknell Mirror, F. and M. Weekly, College Folio, Phoenix, Wittenburg, Midland, Mer-cersburg Monthly, Roanoke Collegian, Dela-ware College Review, Dickinsoniau, Monthly and Weekly, Occident, Mielensian, Lutheran Ensign, National Educator, Muhlenberg, Ora-cle, Lutheran Observer, Perkiomen Seminary Bulletin, Free Lance, Susquehanna, Western Maryland College, Augustana Journal, George-town College Journal, The Reflector, The Mountaineer, The Crescent, Orange and White. ADVERTISEMENTS. Yale annually buys $7,000 worth of books for her library. Harvard expends $15,000 for the same purpose. Columbia expends$43,000 in the same way. A National University, under government control, is to be established in China. The faculty will consist of foreigners. The first president will be a former tutor of Li Hung Chang. "Age comes to every man, hut fate Is kind to women fair ; For when she reaches twenty-eight, She stops right then and there." FPU. H. WIlNNlCrl at onfeetionmj I OYSTERS Manufacturer, Wholesale and Retail Dealer in peam. ] SEASON. NEWS DEPOT & SUBSCRIPTION AGENGY. IVIaln street, - - Gettysburg, F=a. SOLE MANUFACTURER OF DR. TYLERS COUGH DROPS TIMNTCODORT DEALER IN BEEF, PORK, LAMB, VEAL, SAUSAGE, York Street, Gettysburg. a-Speclal Ratesto Clubs."a R. A WONDERS^ Corner Cigar tParlors. ,.A FULL LINE OF. CIGARS, TOBACCOS, PIPES, &C, Scott's Cor. Opp. Eagle Hotel, Gettysburg, Pa. T« F. HBNSTXG utn\.tR \u BREAD, ROILS, PRETZELS & CRACKERS YORK STREET, GETTYSBURG. 8@TReasonable Rates to Clubs. L. Dm lf|ILLLl\j GETTYSBURG, Qrocer, (^onfeotioneT and fruiterer. Ice Cream and Oysters in season. /,. Foot Ball Supplies. EVERYTHING FOR THE PLAYER, Jackets, SHoos, Stockings, Jerseys, Shin Guards, Etc. Spalding's Official Intercol- A^cj 'Mffift legiate Foot Ball, '*^^F^. Officially adopted by the Intercollegiate Association. COMPLETE CATALOGUE FALL AND WINTER SPORTS FREE. A. G. Spalding: & Bros. NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, CHICAGO. 1108 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA Xl/righi's Qngraving jfeouse 'AS become tile recognized leader in unique styles of COLLEGE and FRATERNITY EN-GRAVINGS and STATIONERY. College and Class-Day Invitations, engraved and printed from steel plates;. Programmes, Menus, Wedding and Reception Invitations, Announcements, etc., etc. Examine prices and styles before ordering elsewhere. 50 Visiting Cards from New Engraved Plate for $1.00. ERNEST A. WRIGHT, 1108 Chestnut Street, PHILADELPHIA Visitors to Settysburg College, Settj/sburg, !Penn'a, Will find the CUMBERLAND VALLEY RAILROAD running in a South-Westerly direction from Harrisbnrg, Pa., through Carlisle. Chambersburg, Hagerstown an I Martinsburg to Winchester, Va., a direct and available route from the North, East and West to Gettysburg, Pa., via. Harrisburg and Carlisle. Through tickets via, I his route on sale at all P. R. R. offices, and baggage checked through to destination. Also, a popular route to the South via. Carlisle. AsK for your tickets via. Cumberland Valley Railroad and Carlisle, Pa. J. F. BOYD, Superintendent. H. A. RIDDLE, Gen. Passenger Agent. ADVERTISEMENTS L M, BUEHLER, SUCOKSSOU TO A. D. BUEHLEK & CO., -HllBoofig st£giS —.A_isr:D— (gO TO ->M0TEL GETTYSBURG* -XBA'RBER SIIOPX-Centre Square. ^^B. M. SEFTON. 2/ou will find a full line of SPure 'Drugs dc J'ine Stationery ^People'a *Druff Store. {Prescriptions a Speci'ctity. Elliott & HOUSGP. H. B.—Stiff Hits mads to Fit the Head is two minutes. (Z>, B. KlTMpLEfJ, HATS, CAPS, —^ ^rr BOOTS* SHOES. CS^3=S=»tisfaiotion GSuara nteed.ii3 No. 6 S. Baltimore Street, GETTYSBURG. PA. por all the latest styles in Suitings and-Trousers, AND FULL LINE OP Cents' Furnishing Goods, CallonD. H. WELSH, York, F>a. ADVKRTISKMKNTS. DURING VACATION GO TO CHAUTAUQUA F~ F? El El FULL INSTRUCTIONS. NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED H. B. WILLIAMS, Secretary, Geneva, N. Y. YOU CAN KAKN Sill To SUM) MONTHLY AND KXPKNSICS IF YOU WORK FOR THE NURSERY CO. Stock sold with a guarantee and replaced. ~R.$H.$REMINGER,~ MERCHANT TAILOR. fH?e Best Work at tJye Lowest Wees. NEXT DOOFJ TO POST OFFICE, UPSTAIRS. Suits from $121 to $40,00, Pants from $4,00 to $12,00, G^Centre Square, gQLLEGE OF PHYSIC&NS 1 SlTftGEONS, -BALTIMORE, W|D.-^ The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Balti-more, Maryland, is a well-equipped school. Four ses-sions are required for graduation. For full informa-tion send for the annual catalogue, or write to THOMAS OPIE. M. D. Dean, Cor. Calvert and Saratoga Sts. <_g^Established 1876.5^^—3 ^iPBNfiOSR MYBfiSjfe- WATGHMAKEE AND JEWELER, Gettysburg Souvenir Spoons, College Souvenir Spoons, No. 10 Baltimore Street, GETTYSBURG, PENN'A. J. A. TAWNEY Is ready to furnish clubs and boarding houses BREAD, ROLLS, &G., at short notice and reasonable rates. Cor.Washington and Middle Sts., Gettysburg. fiSSSS^Si^ m*w^i^^jid^wo^^*a WEiWIilHoNJflS DEALERS IN Fresh Beef, Veal, Lamb, PorkLJ Pudding, Sausage, HAMS, LARD, &c-., GETTYSBURG, l\jr\J'A. JOEKL. SHERDS. NEW CIGAR STORE Next door to W. M. Depot, Gettysburg,

Issue 53.1 of the Review for Religious, January/February 1994. ; Christian Heritages and Contemporary Living JANUARY-FEBRUaRY 199Zl. - V6LUME ~; ¯ NUMBER 1~o Review for Religious (ISSN 0034-639X) is published bi-monthly at Saint Louis Universi~ by the Jesuits of the Missouri Province. Editorial Office: 3601 Lindell Boulevard ¯ St. Louis, Missouri 63108-3393. Telephone: 314-535-3048 ¯ Fax: 314-535~0601 Manuscripts, books for review, and correspondence with the editor: Review for Religious ¯ 3601 Lindell Boulevard ° St. Louis, MO 63108-3393. Correspondence about the Canonical Counsel department: Elizabeth McDonough OP ¯ P.O. Box 29260 ¯ Washington, DC 20017. POSTMASTER Send address changes to Review for Religious ¯ P.O. Box 6070 ° Duluth, MN 55806. Second-class postage paid at St. Louis, Missouri, and additional mailing offices. See inside back cover for information on subscription rates. ©1994 Review for Religious Permission is herewith granted to copy any material (articles, poems, reviews) contained in this issue of Review for Religious for personal or internal use, or for the personal or internal use of specific library, clients within the limits outlined in Sections 107 and/or 108 of the United States Copyright Law. All copies made under this permission must bear notice of the source, date, and copyright owner on the first page. This permission is NOT extended to copying for commercial distribu-tion, advertising, institutional promotion, or for the creation of new collective works or anthologies. Such permission will only be considered on written application to the Editor, Review for Religious. review for religious Editor Associate Editors Canonical Counsel Editor Assistant Editors Advisory Board David L. Fleming SJ Philip C. Fischer SJ Regina Siegfried ASC Elizabeth McDonough OP Jean Read Mary Ann Foppe Joann Wolski Conn PhD Mary Margaret Johanning SSND Iris Ann Ledden SSND Edmundo Rodriguez SJ Sefin Sammon FMS Suzanne Zuercher OSB Christian Heritages and Contemporary Living JANUARY-FEBRUARYI994 ¯ VOLUME53 '* NUMBER I contents feature Between the Times: Religious Life and the Postmodern Experience of God Elizabeth A. Johnson CSJ relates the stress within religious life to the loss of traditional God images and the search now for the hidden face of the living God. 29 43 58 toward the synod The Consecrated Life in Church and World Bishop Jan P. Schotte CICM explains the synod of bishops, with brief descriptions of previous ones and the 1994 synodal process. Charism, Charisms, and Faddism A. Paul Dominic SJ brings clarity to the Lineamenta treatment of the charism of religious life and the charisms of its many con-crete forms in various congregations. Hopes for the Synod and Beyond Joel Giallanza CSC focuses his attention on the identity and mis-sion of apostolic religious congregations and their relationship to the hierarchy. 64 73 82 mission and ministry Images of Hope in an Inner-City Parish George M. Anderson SJ shows God working in unlikely places, making use of humble and broken people to advance the values for which Jesus died and rose. A Bracelet of Elephant'sHair Jo O'Donovan RSM shares her sabbatical experience of an "outer" and "inner" Africa. The Modern Development of Messianic Prophecy Allen S. Maller presents for our ecumenical consideration a deeply felt Jewish view of Messianic meaning and fulfillment. 2 Review for Religious experiencing the spirit 89 Living in the Womb of God Marion Zeltmann PCPA reflects upon her experience of enclosure and prayer as a Poor Clare. 95 Do I Really Believe that Death Leads to Life? Francis Blouin FIC suggests some practical ways of responding to the current dyings manifest in religious life. 102 A Rite for Those Departing Religious Formation Peter A. Lyons suggests positive and wholesome ways in which individuals departing from religious life and ~he community mem-bers who remain might deal ritually with this reality. 107 120 130 religious life issues Integrating Human Needs in Religious Formation Howard J. Gray SJ suggests ways of viewing human needs as "longings," radical desires to be integrated in the art of religious ministry. Chapters Present and Future Catherine M. Harmer MMS reviews the history of chapters in reli-gious life and raises questions about their future functioning. Religious Life, a Continuum Francis Assisi Kennedy OSF examines, historical beginnings of reli-gious congregations for patterns surprisingly serviceable today. departments 4 Prisms 142 Canonical Counsel: The Conciliar Decree Perfectae Caritatis 149 Book Reviews Jan~mry-February 1994 3 prisms 1994--a year still to be lived, a year yet to pass into history. For most people there is a healthy anticipation of "good things" when new begin-nings are made. Perhaps such "anticipation" should be called, rather, a precious grace which interconnects us with God, the eternal optimist. New evangelization is the most consistently optimistic theme of John Paul II's papacy. While his encyclicals and apostolic exhortations are many and weighty (witness the most recent Splendor of Truth), I suspect that his repeated call to a new evangelization will be the most significant and lasting grace for the church. The call is a beginning similar to the beginning of a year; it is not as if evange-lization is any newer than the parade of days which form any year's calendar. The newness in large part comes from the attitude with which we enter into evangelization, just as it comes from the way we enter into another year. The oft-quoted phrase about this call to evangelization being "new in its vigor, new in its methods, and new in its expression" is grounded in the attitude which we bring to our Christian responsibility as evangelizers. Attitude alone is not enough, but unless the grace of optimism warms our efforts as believers in Good News to share it and explain it and to offer people a challenge, little evange-lization is the result. Do members of religious congregations need to see a more intimate connection between the new evangeliza-tion and their own efforts at renewal? Since all forms of Christian life come from our having the gospels in our blood, it would seem obvious that an evangelization effort promotes effective renewal. The gospels not only have 4 R~,iew for Religio~s inspired the different forms of religious life, but also have helped shape its various expressions and methods. Men and women moved by the Spirit of Christ have gifted the church with at least three prismatic "colors" of Christ-following that look monastic or mendicant or apostolic. The question remains for us today who have been illumined by these various Christ-prisms how our gospel-inspired attitude can reveal the graced mystery of this life-form in terms of new depths of meaning and new ways of expres-sion- in the very heritage we claim. The darkness we feel comes not from Jesus, the light-source whom we follow, but from our own self-chosen, squint-eyed angle of vision having so little to do with grace or gospel. So often our efforts at renewal seem more a vain search for one "tree of life" instead of for the God who gives all created gifts for our creatively discerned use. Optimism marks the effort of anyone who begins something. An evangelical optimism seems almost lacking both in internal reli-gious congregation renewal attempts and in hierarchical control efforts. As we begin this year of the synod on consecrated life, our prayer for ourselves and our church begs again for that grace dear to our God imaged as the prodigal parent who expects the son (and daughter) to be coming up the road--the grace of opti-mism. As we begin this new volume, Review for Religious warmly welcomes Regina Siegfried, a member of the Sister Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Ruma province, as associate editor. She serves currently as assistant professor of historical studies and spiritual-ity at Aquinas Institute in St. Louis. Former editor of Spirituality Today, she is well known for her books Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, edited with Bishop Robert Morneau, and In the Company of Preachers, edited with Edward Ruane OP. Review for Religious accepts graciously the loss of Michael Harter SJ as associate editor. In his new role assignment as direc-tor of novices for the Jesuit Missouri provirice, he can assure young candidates' solid formation through their familiarity with articles from Review for Religious. So in losing an editor, I am sure that we are gaining a number of new subscribers. Just as he leaves this media field, his prayer book, Hearts on Fire: Praying with Jesuits, has been published by the Institute of Jesuit Sources in St. Louis and is already in its second printing. We wish him well and know that we will miss him. David L. Fleming SJ January-February 1994 5 feature ELIZABETH A. JOHNSON Between the Times: Religious Life and the Postmodern Experience of God As the third millennium of the Western, Christian calen-dar approaches, all manner of assessments are being made about what will fade into history and what will newly flourish in the year 2001 and afterwards. It does not take a new millennium, however, to see that religious life in the United States is passing through an epochal change, the outcome of which in terms of fade or flourish is an open question. The research project "The Future of Religious Orders in the United States," conducted by David Nygren and Miriam Ukeritis under the sponsorship of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, and the Leadership Council of Women Religious, sets out fully aware of this moment in history2 The original proposal for this study underscores the rad-icality of the journey now underway. Religious orders, it notes, are in the midst of a process of transformation, defined in categories from the social sciences to mean: The operation of changing (as by mapping or through strategies) one configuration or expression into another in accordance with a rule, a purpose or mission. Elizabeth Johnson csJ is associate professor of theology at Fordham University. This article will be part of a companion book to The Future of Religious Orders in the United States: Transformation and Commitment, (Praeger Publishers, 1993) by David J. Nygren and Miriam D. Ukeritis. Her address is Department of Theology; Fordham University; Bronx, New York 10458-5165. 6 Review for Religious Such change, furthermore, involves: qualitative, discontinuous shifts in organizational members' shared understandings of the organization, accompanied by changes in the organization's mission, strategy, and formal and informal structures. The most basic questions of group and individual identity, involving who religious are, how they are to live, what they are to do, and why, are all at stake. Religious orders in this country, the proposal continues, are in the midst of a transformative process so profound that it will lead to the demise of some, the revitalizing of others, and the birth of new forms of the evangelical life as yet unimagined. The aim of this research project is to identify factors within religious orders themselves that will contribute to a suc-cessful outcome of this major metamorphosis. Recent historical studies have unveiled a heartening picture of how the evangelical following of Jesus in the church, traditionally called "religious life," has been incarnated in a great diversity of forms. From monastic to mendicant to apostolic communities, to mention but a few of the more widespread models, new forms of this living movement have consistently emerged from the insights of individuals and groups responding to the Spirit in the crucible of cultural change. A compelling interpretation of the present sit-uation holds that in the United States, at least, the present crisis of religious orders signals yet another breakthrough in the many-faceted evolution of forms of the evangelical life. If this be true, this is the first time in the history of the church that members of religious orders in a time of transition have been so self-con-sciously aware of their situation and so equipped with the tools of modern research that they can reflect on and even direct the pro-cess of change. The purpose of this essay is to provide a theological context for the data that follows. It is important to note that this essay was commissioned, designed, and largely written before the research project was completed. Therefore it should not be read as an interpretation of the project's findings. Rather, it is intended as an independently conceived reflective piece on this moment in the history of religious life. To .contextualize the report that follows, this essay first surveys the state of the question in contemporary literature on religious life and then identifies a basic shift occur-ring that affects all the rest and that holds great portent for the future, namely, a change in the experience of God.2 January-February 1994 7 Johnson ¯ Between the Times The living tradition of the change of forms of religious life is still alive; the great cycle of death and rebirth is turning once again. State of the Question Starting in the late 1970s, a number of excellent works have contributed to discussion of the meaning of religious life and have expressed the emerging self-understanding of religious them-selves. Written by or available to members of religious orders in North America, the list includes works on the history, sociology, and theology of the life as lived by both women and men in general,3 as well as works that focus on the experiences of women4 or men5 in particular. The imagery and language of these writings reflect the enormous tension in the state of the question, both as lived and reflected upon. There is a prevalence of "re" words: revitalize, refound, rein-terpret, reimagine, reweave, redefine, rebirth. Metaphors point to new creative acts: pouring new wine into new wine-skins; reweaving the threadbare cloth; standing at the crossroads and discerning the way ahead; planting new seeds; mid-wiring a birth; bringing order out of chaos. The focus is consistently on the future: shaping the coming age, strate-gizing for growth, negotiating the challenge of change, claiming identity, being converted. Individual differences of approach in this literature recede when compared with the convergences that these writings dis-play. Virtually all of the authors are seized by the conviction that in the Western democracies the missionary and apostolic mod-els of religious life, prevalent for the last two hundred years, are dying. Relatively speaking and in some cases literally, "there is no one behind us." But this does not mean that religious life itself is dying, for no one form has ever been definitively lasting as the predominant form for every era. What it may well mean, however, is that the living tradition of the change of forms of religious life is still alive; the great cycle of death and rebirth is turning once again,6 The present malaise and decline, if lived through with discernment, fidelity, and courage, can lead to new, yet-to-be-determined forms commensurate with the cultural realities of the third millennium. 8 Review for Religious This being the case, the literature is replete with enlighten-ing analyses of ecclesial and cultural factors at work in the present changes. It also indicates that a strong consensus is taking shape regarding the way forward. A prophetic stance suffused with con-templation is being glimpsed as the crucial spiritual force that seeks expression in coming forms of religious life. Both the anal-ysis and this key proposal are surveyed here as interesting in their own right and as factors that themselves point further to a foun-dational experience of God. Changes in Church and Society The literature agrees that the most important ecclesial factor underlying the shift in religious life's self-understanding contin-ues to be Vatican II's two-pronged theological articulation of the church's identity and mission. Ad intra (internally) the church is first and foremost the people of God, with every member conse-crated by baptism and empowered to life in Christ. The conse-quent universal call to holiness undercuts the traditional notion that religious life is an elite state of perfection whose members are spiritually set above ordinary lay people. Rather, religious live out their call to holiness as a sacrament or sign to the whole church of its Spirit-filled vocation. Ad extra (externally) the church is to turn pastorally toward the world as God's good creation, marred by sin but redeemed by Christ and worthy of attention. The mission of the church in the world undermines the tradi-tional dualism between the sacred and the secular, along with the concomitant idea that religious should be set apart from the world. Rather, they are to live in relation to the world, not over against but ~vith and for, in criticism and compassion. The conciliar shift from a juridical to a more-biblically-based pastoral identity and mission, still being contested and negotiated in the church at large, undergirds the changes in self-understanding, lifestyle, and ministry that now affect traditional forms of religious life. Since the council, additional ecclesial factors have appeared that continue to impinge upon religious life in the United States. The ongoing efforts by religious orders to reinterpret founding charisms is occurring in the context of postconciliar reinterpre-rations of the Catholic biblical, theological, and liturgical tradi-tions themselves. The infusion of insight from these sources is resulting in new and influential understandings, such as the rad- .January-Febrnary 1994 9 Johnson ¯ Between the Times ¯ ical equality of all in baptismal grace. Furthermore, the postcon-ciliar explosion of lay ministries, both ecclesially sponsored and lay initiated, is multiplying the possibilities open to those who wish to serve in the church beyond the confines of traditional religious life. At the same time it creates a situation of shared, collabora-tive ministry between religious and the laity. In these same years, the original immigrant church in this country has reached mainstream status with the majority of its members moving into the middle class. More options for service and advancement have opened up in the civil sector, lessening the church's attraction as the primary field for a dedicated life. In addition, the economic and educational mores of middle-class life coupled with the availability of birth control has resulted in the reduced size of Catholic families, thus shrinking the pool from which candidates for religious life were traditionally drawn. Meanwhile, a new wave of immigration from Latin America and Asia is presently changing the face of the church; one-third of Catholics in the United States are now Hispanic, half of whom are younger than eighteen years of age. Despite outstanding service on the part of some religious of European descent, however, dif-ferences of culture, race, class, and age, if not overt, prejudice, seem to prev.ent the majority of religious orders from making an effective case for their way of life to members of new immigrant groups. Eras do not repeat themselves. All of these ecclesial factors are playing out in the wider con-text of the church .becoming a world church, less European in character and belonging to all cultures; a church of the diaspora, less supported by a homogeneous culture and more a little flock in a pluralist world; and a church in interreligious dialogue, open to the wisdom of other great religious traditions. Social, economic, and political forces at work in the culture of the United States are also contributing to changes in religious life) These forces are many and complex, but several consistently surface in the literature: democracy, which yields a more partic-ipative rather than authoritative style of governance; global aware-ness, which subverts provincialism; growing consciousness of economic and social injustice at home and abroad, which demands action to relieve poverty and promote justice; pervasive violence, which highlights the need for teaching and modeling peaceful resolution of conflicts; materialism, which calls for a countercul-tural witness to simplicity of life and the value of the human over 10 Review for Religious the product; excessive individualism, which cries out for the anti-dote of a genuine community of free and responsible persons; ethnocentrism, racism, and insensitivity to other cultures, which needs the word of the gospel about the fundamental human dig-nity of every person; and feminism, which advocates the equal inclusion of women in that human dignity. The search in the United States for a new, more humane society among ourselves, between all nations, and between human beings and the natural world of this planet contextualizes and begins to inspire the search for new, vital forms of religious life. In a striking way, ecclesial and cul-tural factors have converged in the rise of Christian feminism and its influ-ence in women's religious orders. It is indisputable that women's insights into how to live the evangelical life have never yet been allowed full scope in the course of church history, even now. Perhaps it was the play of prov-idence that unleashed the conciliar reforms at the very moment that the women's movement was gathering force once again in the United States. It is indisputable that women's insights into how to live the evangelical life have never yet been allowed full scope in the course of church history, even now. In any event, while renewing their lives in the light of the gospel and their founding charisms and while strengthening their witness in the world, especially among those depriv.ed of human dignity, women religious became aware of themselves as women in a patri-archal church and society. They .began to notice the systemic absence and silence of women in church pol!cy-making bodies and ministries, its obvious connection with gender, and the result-ing pressures on the way they lived their lives. Contextualized by the women's movement in church and society, they began to find their own voice and to claim, even for themselves, the respect befitting a human person. Women's experience was affirmed as a legitimate if untapped source of knowledge about religious life and its ministry, prayer, community, and governance, and this found expression in their reflection, dialogue, and new constitu-tions. The result of this awakening was a release of energy that bore and continues to bear promise for the future of religious January-February 1994 11 Johnson ¯ Between the Times life. But it also brings conflict as men church authorities refuse to reverence or dialogue with the insights coming from women's experience, insisting rather on conformity to their own under-standing and law. At this point the alienation of legions of women in the church is a matter of public record. Women religious, too, know this darkness. But among women religious in the United States at the end of the twentieth century, the conviction per-dures that the goals of Christian feminism are fully in accord with the gospel. They continue to grapple with issues of identity and mission with the understanding that through their struggle the Spirit of God is offering a transforming grace to the whole church, although, terrifyingly, grace may always be refused.8 In and through all of this analysis of ecclesial and cultural factors that affect religious life today, authors have been seeking clues as to how this life will be able to flourish in the future. The search appears to be narrowing. Glimpse of a New Form: Prophetic, Contemplative Life In books and essays about religious life and in documents generated by religious orders and the national conferences, a new combination of ancient dements is beginning to define the essen-tial character of religious life. The emerging understanding of this life is primarily that of persons and communities called to prophetic ministry embedded in a contemplative relationship to God. Prophecy and mysticism, prophetic witness and contem-plation, will shape the evangelical life of love of God and neigh-bor in its coming age. The two national conferences of men and of women religious place this insight at the head of the list of ten transformative ele-ments they identify for religious life in the future: 1. Prophetic Witness: Being converted by the example of Jesus and the values of the gospel, religious in the year 2010 will serve a prophetic role in church and society. Living this prophetic wimess will include critiquing social and ecclesial values and structures, calling for systemic change and being converted by the marginalized with whom we serve. 2. Contemplative, Attitude Toward Life: Religious in 2010 will have a contemplative attitude toward all creation and be motivated by the presence of the sacred? 12 Review forReligious In a similar way the visioning groups studied in the Futures Project as well as those identified by the research as outstanding leaders consistently and vigorously endorsed the prophetic/con-templative stance. Far from being an esoteric perspective, this stance brings to light what is most basic in Christian faith and what the church itself needs to emphasize in order to thrive in the future. As Karl Rahner foresaw, the spirituality of the future will arise from rela-tion with the living God at the very heart of the world and con-sequently "will be a spirituality of the Sermon on the Mount and of the evangelical counsels, continually involved in renewing its protest against the idols of wealth, pleasure, and power.''t° This is the calling of the church as a whole, and religious life crystallizes and witnesses to this. The two constituent elements, prophecy and contemplation, can be distinguished mentally and examined separately, but in reality they form one living shape, one wholistic form, one gestalt of life. Asking which comes first is a chicken-and-egg kind of question, with no intelligible answer in sight.1~ Contemplation is a way of seeing that leads to union. It arises from an experience of connection with the sacred at the very core of life. Mediated, as always, by created things such as words, images, and actions, this relationship unfolds as persons and com-munities allow these mediations to lead them into the living pres-ence of the holy. Insofar as the created mediations themselves are transcended in contemplation, this experience counteracts the human effort to control the divine and instead delivers the spirit into the bright darkness of God. From one perspective, the con-nection with the sacred is a result of the inflow of the love of God inflaming and awakening the heart. From another, it entails the discipline of becoming fully conscious, journeying to one's deepest self and to the outer limits of the cosmos in order to touch the divine. In the process, the contemplative "knows" God not in an extrinsic, conceptual way but from within, experien-tially. At the very heart of existence one is in touch with holy mystery, a relation for which the I-Thou relationship among human beings is only a remote analogy. As a result, a certain intuition arises by which one begins to know and love the world as God does. This attitude is totally inclusive of all creation. Everything created is precious and sacred within the cosmic ambience of life and is cause for delight and January-February 1994 13 Johnson ¯ Between the Times thanks. But the evident brokenness of the world and damage done persons and other creatures are cause for grief, compassion, and protest. In some unspeakable situations,, the utter depravity of evil occasions the most profound, wordless hope against hope, without any supports, in the risk that God is faithful in judgment and grace. The contemplative attitude is thus not otherworldly but pro-foundly turned toward this world in celebration and resistance, knowing that the Creator is also the Redeemer. The prophetic lifestyle and action that express this way of seeing are not the result of simple humanism (although the world could use a lot more of this too) but of real belief in God. In solidarity with divine purpose for the world, prophetic persons and communities desire to restore right relationships and so to set right what causes pain and suffering. While this has always been the case, the hermeneutic of prophecy in our day with its sophisticated knowl-edge of systems realizes that the wounds of the heart also afflict culture. Thus prophetic witness includes critique not just of per-sonal acts but also of social, economic, and political structures and values in society. Knowing, too, that we are a sinful church always in need of repentance and reform, this witness is borne toward the values and structures of the community itself. The prophetic stance is marked by a number of characteris-tics. These include attentive listening to the creative Spirit of God, connecting with the suffering in a situation and evaluating its causes, naming what is unjust, being empowered to articulate an alternative future based on the dream of God for the world, bringing compassion and hope to the brokenness, and resistance and challenge to the status quo that would maintain it. In the process prophetic persons and communities strive to empower people in their struggle to live and survive, in turn being taught and empowered by them to continue to seek the face of God. In the Christian tradition this witness is shaped by the fol-lowing of Jesus, in whom the compassion of God takes flesh in the world. Contemplation and prophecy were indivisibly connected in his historical life. As Edward Schillebeeckx explains, "In the prophet Jesus, mysticism and healing came from one and the same source--his experience of the contrast between the living God and the history of human suffering." ~2 The reign of God that he announced envisages an end to exploitation or suppression; his ministry in word and deed enacted practical anticipations of this 14 Review for Religious salvation to come. His own drink from the cup of suffering in torment and execution and the seal of God's graciousness in the resurrection ground a hope in human history that has empow-ered discipleship ever since. Remembrance of Jesus through the power of the Spirit guides and informs the life of prophecy and ~ontemplation in the church. This vision of a wholistic con-templative, prophetic shape to reli-gious life in the future, glimpsed in the literature, is already a living, growing reality in some cases. It also stands in contrast to the overall shape of religious life in the present, which has become domesticated by too close an identification with the law, structure, and spirituality of the institutional church. In a particularly eloquent argument, Diarmuid O'Murchu, taking a clue from reli-gious life as it is lived in Eastern religions, contends that religious life in the west needs to reclaim its liminal identity, a move of genuine conversion en.tailing profound change in spirit and structure. Re!igious would then be known as persons and communities who are in touch with the sacred, passionately committed to just and loving relationships, fiercely resistant against exploitation of the earth and of persons, and willing to live countercultural lifestyles with and for the marginalized. They would stand in church and society a.s liminal, archetypal, prophetic persons, articulating and empowering the deepest love.13 To arrive at this goal, religious must confront many chal-lenges and questions. A key CMSM paper muses: People in general probably do not think of us as genuine prophets. What must we do, what price must we pay, if we wish to embrace a prophetic stance? How can we be prophetic without becoming triumphalistic? How can we be prophetic without losing a ministry .to the middle class which is the social origin of nearly all of us? How can we learn to read the signs of the times and discern more surely the thrust of prophecy? What steps must we take to arrive at solid social and cultural analysis? How can we relate our The contemplative attitude is thus not otherworldly but profoundly turned toward this world in celebration and resistance, knowing that the Creator is also the Redeemer. ~anuary-February 1994 15 Johnson * Between the Times traditional institutions to the prophetic role? How can we motivate ourselves, with God's grace, to accept a materi-ally poor standard of living? We have more questions than answers, but we believe that we are on the way to a new, more prophetic presence within the U.S. Church.~4 The Futures Project identifies "fidelity to purpose" and "response to absolute human need" as the two most basic ele-ments for the revitalization of religious life. As this brief survey of the literature shows, the search for the sacred in resistance to what afflicts the world is being fingered as the purpose that will shape the new form of this life. The move toward a contemplative-prophetic stance augurs well for the future insofar as it grapples with the religious heart of the matter in the context of the suf-fering of the contemporary world. Experience of God My own reflection on these matters brings me to a founda-tional area not frequently mentioned in the literature, namely, the idea of God that undergirds the evangelical life. The fasci-nation with the mystery of God is endemic to religious life every-where and at all times. The varieties of structures and self-understandings that have emerged in the course of history only serve to underscore this fact. As Sandra Schneiders observes, "Whatever unites all these people is more interior and spiritual than forms of life or types of behavior."15 The common thread that unites them all is a search for relationship with the sacred, leading to a certain kind of absorption with the religious dimen-sion of life. "Those who are called 'religious' in the technical sense of the word," writes John Lozano, "have decided to adopt a way of life whose intrinsic, underlying explanation is religious experience.''16 This way of life intends to give daily, concrete expression to the experience of God, to empower its further devel-opment, and to manifest its fruits publicly. Put another way by Ladislaus Orsy, the only reason for religious life is the experi-ence of God. This being so, it seems vitally important to inquire about the idea of God that is presupposed at any given moment, for this structures the experience of God that sustains the entire endeavor. As the primary symbol of the whole religious system, the idea of God is a lodestar. It represents what a community takes to be the 16 Review for Religious highest good, the profoundest truth, the most appealing beauty. Thus it is not a neutral concept, but functions powerfully to shape the personal and corporate identity of believers. A religion, for example, which would speak about a warlike God and extol the way he smashes his enemies to bits would promote aggressive group behavior. By contrast, speech about a beneficent and lov-ing God who forgives offenses would turn the faith community toward care for the neighbor and mutual forgiveness.'7 By definition, the One whom people call God is the recipient of absolute human trust, God being "that to which your heart clings and entrusts itself" in the memorable phrase of Martin Luther (OSA).~s Consequently, the idea of God implicitly guides all of a person's and community's principles, choices, system of values, enterprises, and relationships. The symbol of God func-tions. Neither abstract in content nor feeble in its effect, it sums up a people's sense of ultimate mystery, the proper order of the world, and the right orientation of human life and devotion. Along with many others, I sense that a seismic shift is occur-ring in the experience and idea of God in our day and culture. Fully aware that not all people who live at the same time are con-temporaries, I nevertheless think that a certain culturally condi-tioned cast of mind is emerging in our era that yields an idea of God markedly different from the classical model. VChat is emerg-ing is a notion that coherently supports and strengthens prophetic and contemplative consciousness. Thus it is not just the move from a juridical to a pastoral relation of the church to the world, nor the dissolving of the sacred-secular dualism, nor increased global and ecological awareness, nor growing consciousness of injustice, nor any of the other ecclesial and social factors that alone or together are causing the changes in religious life. Rather, at the deepest level what is transpiring, I think, is new experience of God. The Postmodern World The contemporary mind-set in the United States shaped by conditions of the late twentieth century is frequently described as postmodern. First coined in artistic, literary, and philosophical circles, this term is used in a bewildering variety of ways to describe the sentiment that humanity must go beyond the mod-ern. Like the wanderer in Kafka's parable who, when asked where January-February 1994 17 Johnson * Between the Times he is riding to, responds, "I don't know,., only away from here, away from here, only by doing so can I reach my destination,''19. postmodernity points beyond the present to what cannot yet be readily envisioned. Philosopher Stephen Toulmin refers to the world "that has not yet discovered how to define itself in terms of what it is, but only in terms of what it hasjust-now-ceased-to-be," namely, the modern world originating from the seventeenth-cen-tury Enlightenment.2° Modern!ty esteemed at least four dynamic forces: the myth of unending progress, the clear and distinct ideas of universal reason, the power of the self-contained individual directed by his soli-tary ego, and the ascendancy of human control over nature. By contrast, postmodernity is conscious of the end of progress, the limits of reason, the sad isolation of the unconnected individual, and the catastrophe that results when nature is disrespected. Not everything originating in the modern era is to be discarded. One would want to keep the emphasis on human dignity and human rights and their expressions in liberty and equality (fraternity in isolation is suspect). But postmodernity is awake to the egregious failures that the modern ethos has wrought. It wants to go Away- From-Here. Perhaps the most felicitous description comes from David Power, who observes that postmodernism is the sensibility that does not try to pretend that the twentieth century has not hap-pened. Sprung from the disruptive, out-of-control evils of this century, postmodern consciousness is aware of the chaotic, con-tingent, threatened character of existence and the fragility of the human project. Two distinct but related positions have developed within this general description. One, the option for deconstruction, seeks to undo the power and securities that produce such evils. In theory and art it pokes holes through the rationalizations of the victors, unveiling their pretensions to righteousness and order. While in its extreme form postmodern deconstruction leads to radical skep-ticism and nihilism, its bracing insights are powerfully instruc-tive as to what should not be. In tandem with this option, a second, more constructive model has emerged. Suspicious of inherited triumphal truths, it seeks out suppressed voices and sto-ries, risking new interpretations of established tradition "from the margins" in order to enable resistance to the forces of destruc-tion. Its aim, unlike nihilism, is a more just and humane universe. 18 Review for Religious It is this latter type of constructive postmodernism, found in intellectual theory, literature, and art as well as in grass-roots movements, that generates a certain kind of spirituality.21 Its char-acteristics are painted here in broad strokes. Postmodern spiri-tuality notes the ambiguous character of progress itself and takes its bearing not from the dream of untrammeled, irreversible progress fueled by a consumerist mentality, but from the suffering of those on the underside of history, keeping in view the gaps and failures of human advance. It seeks wisdom not in the clear and distinct ideas of what is claimed to be universal reason but is in reality the thought of privileged men; rather, it honors the plurality and ambiguity of human con-sciousness, sensitive to the differ-ence that difference makes according to one's social location in gender, race, and class. The com-pass of postmodern spirituality points not to rampant individual-ism and its violent outcroppings but to the importance of community The compass of postmodern spirituality points not to rampant individualism and its violent outcroppings but to the importance of community and tradition, prizing human solidarity and peace. and tradition, prizing human solidarity and peace. It finds life not in human supremacy over the earth but in affective kinship with the extended family of the cosmos. In a word, it prizes not isolation but essential connectedness; not body-mind dualism but the wholistic, embodied person; not patriarchy but inclusive fem-inism; not militarism but expenditure for the enhancement of life; not tribal nationalism but global justice. Our age is witnessing the shift to a postmodern cast of values, in theory if not always in practice. This constitutes a widespread, if not universal, cultural phenomenon in the United States, even among Christian believers. It may well signal the first phase of an axial breakthrough in human consciousness that will shape the next millennium. If so, that is of no little significance for the future of religious life in this country. For the postmodern sensi-bility in its constructive form has a strong affinity with the prophetic-contemplative stance increasingly envisioned as con- January-February 1994 19 Johnson ¯ Between the Times stitutive for the future of religious life. At the very core of that life is the experience of God. And so we come to the heart of the matter by asking how the postmodern matrix shapes the experi-ence and concept of the sacred. Postmodern Experience of God In our era the concept of God developed by rational En-lightenment theology in the context of modernity has become largely unbelievable. Whether drawn from revelation or philo-sophical inference, this by-now-traditional theism views God as the Supreme Being who created all things and who governs all things with inscrutable providence. Perfect in a way that stands in sharp contrast to the finitude of creatures, "he" (the theistic God is always referred to in male terms) is "infinite, self-existent, incor-poreal, eternal, immutable, impassible, simple, perfect, omni-scient, and omnipotent.''22 Although architect and ruler of the world, it is essential to God's deity that he be essentially unre-lated to this world and unaffected by what happens in it. This view therefore excels at stressing ,divine transcendence and its human counterpart of spirit, while divine immanence along with the importance of matter and the body tend to slip from view. This God of classical theism is modeled on the pattern of an earthly absolute monarch, a metaphor so prevalent that most often it is simply taken.for granted. As a king rules over his subjects, so God the Lord has dominion over his creatures, a view which, as Sallie McFague has shown, is intrinsically hierarchical, whether the divine reign be accomplished through dominance or benevo-lence. 23 In theory such theism adheres to the truth that the mys-tery of God is beyond all images and concepts. Yet history shows how in practice modernity tends to objectify God, reducing infi-nite mystery to an independently existing Supreme Being along-side other beings, a solitary, transcendent power who together with the world can be thought to form a larger whole. This is the idea of God that is no longer seriously imagin-able within a postmodern sensibility. Factors that contribute to its lack of cogency include the evils of this century, contemporary science and its view of the universe, liberation and feminist anal-ysis, the political disparagement of dictatorship, and the encounter among world religions. Any one of these alone would put a large question mark next to the modern symbol of the divine. Taken 20 Review for Religious together within the cultural shift to postmodern consciousness, they all but bury it. The result for people of faith is the radical loss of their famil-iar God image, along with the experience of divine presence that it mediated. Along with this also comes the loss of their sense of place in the order of the universe. As Janet Ruffing comments on the domino effect of loss of the tradi-tional God image in religious communi-ties, "All the ways we had construed our place in the sun and the meaningfulness of our commitment have been gradually eroding.''24 But this experience is not restricted to religious life; it is culture-wide and has attracted a host of com-mentators. For Martin Buber, the loss signals the eclipse of God. For Karl Rahner, it involves entry into the spiri-tuality of a bleaker season. For Constance Fitzgerald, it means the classic mystical experience of impasse and dark night. For Sandra Schneiders, this dark night is not only individual but a corporate purification. For Martin Marry, winter serves as metaphor for this season of the heart. For Michael Bucldey, it is entry into emptiness, silence, the cross in accord with the dynamic of apophatic mysticism,zs For me, this shift is poignantly summed up in the titles of the first and last books of my friend and colleague William Hill OP, now seriously ill. He broke into print with Knowing the Unknown God, an exploration of how the Thomistic category of analogy could lead the mind to God even in the contemporary world. God might be unknown, but we were possessed of some knowl-edge through the judgments we make. Now his recent essays have been collected under the rubric In Search of the Absent God. We are not in possession at all. Enmeshed in history and its suffering, we can but seek the hidden face of the living God.26 The absence of God experienced through the breakdown of traditional mediations of structure and theory does not mean, how-ever, that there is no experience of God at all. In a profound dialec-tic, what has been taken away is encountered in the ache of its loss. Divine absence itself becomes a mode of divine presence. The unknowing beckons to a deeper knowing. Th~ darkness mediates a brightness that the eyes cannot see. The wintry horizon hints at Enmeshed in history and its suffering, we can but seek the hidden face of the living God. .~anuary-February 1994 21 Johnson ¯ Between the Times new life buried beneath the snow. The cry from the depths signals an affirmation of Life deeper than pain, as did Jesus' cry from the cross. As Maura Clarke wrote from E1 Salvador, "In the very absence of God here, God has never been more present to me." 27 It all depends on the character of God. If God be trustworthy, then we hope that we are grounded and enveloped by a Living Presence even here, in the night of the senses and of the spirit. While there is no universal enactment of salvation, the sacred comes in the form of promise mediated through everyday, small fragments of healing, beauty, liberation, justice, and love. This does not remove the darkness, but it allows us to keep on walk-ing. The ice melts but will freeze again: in history there are only relative victories. Lament and celebration are both necessary. Here there are no easy assurances, no props. We know God through hope and, in the face of starkness, even hope against hope, nourished by remembrance and the circle of community. For many years now I have found the prophet of this experi-ence to be Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In his vision God is being edged out of the world and onto the cross, and that is the way, the only way, that God can be with us: "only a suffering God can help.''28 His struggle to believe culminates in the maxim "Before God and with God we live without God.'':9 This is an experience of God in which darkness is an event of disclosure, clearing the decks of a false conception of God and opening contact with the incom-prehensible holy mystery of God who goes beyond all images, all grasping, all ~elling. The manageable God of the modern age who was immediately available and could be counted upon to intervene for our benefit is no longer there. But a new experience of God is already breaking through that intensifies our compassion. Constance Fitzgerald has wisely observed that what is going on in and through this experience is "a progressive hermeneutic of~e nature of God.''3° A full theology of God has yet to be writ-ten in a postmodern context, but the typical spii'itual experience of this age is yielding an unmistakable interpretation.3~ If there be a God at all, then this is absolute holy mystery that can never be fathomed. Not literally a male person writ large, the sacred can be pointed to by any created good: male, female, animal, cosmic. This mystery does not dwell in isolation from the world but encompassesit as the Matrix of its being and becoming. God in the world and the world in God--panentheism describes the mutual relation. Thus related, the Holy One of Blessing is a God 22 Review.for Religious of pathos who participates in the suffering of the world in order to transform it from within. Divine power is the strength of love, rather than raw, monarchical omnipotence. Passionate for justice and peace and compassionate over pain, Holy Wisdom typically self-reveals in the fragmentary breakthroughs of well-being that come about through human partnership with divine purpose. Forever God acts to create a fresh, new future: liberation is her signature deed. A God like this calls for an ethic of critical com-passion. We are impelled so to utter the word of God that the world will be changed and renewed by it. Religious people of all stripes are now in the transitional posi-tion of trying to find words and symbols for this personal and collective experience of God. A common language has yet to come to light. Yet the very way the search is being conducted gives some indication of the outcome. An LCWR paper expresses the efforts of women religious in this regard: God is immanent in creation, in the midst of the web of life. As we bond with the oppressed and marginalized, we know God standing on the side of the poor and oppressed, seeing with the eyes of the poor, leading the oppressed by alleviating oppression. In this context, we see God angry, sad, suffering, marginalized; we see God incarnated in peo-ples of color, in women, in the homeless and battered, the victims of violence and oppression of all kinds. And then the inevitable: Religious find themselves in a "Dark Night." The painful and intense moments of disintegration, which carry the hope for what can break through, characterize our living in this in-between.32 To sum up, the idea of God emerging in postmodern spiritual experience is a contemporary hermeneutic of the God whose reign Jesus preached and embodied: the God of life. If the experience of God is the core of religious life, and if it is this God who is being perceived in contemporary religious experience, then here is a key tt)eological factor shaping the future of religious life in the United States. Conclusion The dialectic between divine absence and presence, in the last analysis, is an experience of the Spirit of God: radically tran- ~tanlmry-February 1994 23 Johnson ¯ Between the Times scendent, like the wind blowing where it will; and at the same time radically immanent, dwelling at the heart of the world to vivify and renew all things. Empowered by the Spirit in our age, people of faith who treasure the living memory of Jesus seek the hidden God of life (contemplation) and live out the passion of God for the world in need (prophecy). It is my sense that religious life is riding the crest of this wave in the postmodern culture of the United States. Internally its forms are breaking down; its interpretive support systems are col-lapsing; rifts with the institutional church exacerbate the dark-ness, especially among women; many members are in distress. Most radically of all, forms of religious life that traditionally medi-ated the experience of God now not only do not mediate this experience but positively block it. At the same time, consciousness of the suffering of poor and marginalized peoples grows; action on behalf of justice continues to attract; women reclaim their human dignity and the voice that goes with it; the vivifying power of God is experienced in and through the human power to chal-lenge, cherish, and set free; the divine mystery is named in new ways. Here and there religious persons and communities begin to articulate the prophetic-contemplative identity coherent with these experiences and act in mission accordingly. For religious life in the United States it is now Advent, the most honest season of all. In my judgment, the times do not call for return to the securities of a previous age. In fact, the very effort to keep alive forms of religious life that have for the most part run their historical course may well be counterproductive to the evangelical following of Jesus. Rather,what is needed is vig-ilant patience, profound prayer, and the ability to act boldly toward that future where new forms of evangelical life will develop. Notes ~ See summary by David Nygren and Miriam Ukeritis, "Future of Religious Orders in the United States," Origins 22, no. 15 (24 September 1992): 257-272. Hereafter cited as the Futures Project. Also in Review for Religious 52, no. 1 (January-February 1993): 6-55. 2 1 would like to thank the following colleagues and friends for pro-viding me with materials for this essay: Mary Ann Donovan SC, Patricia Lucas CSJ, Thomas McKenna CM, Janet Ruffing SM, and Clara Santoro CSJ. My deep gratitude also goes to Mary Catherine Hilkert OP, John W. Padberg SJ, David Power OMI, and Sandra Schneiders IHM for read-ing and critiquing the manuscript in outline or finished form. 24 Review for Religious 3 Among the works that have made significant contributions are: Gerald Arbuclde, Out of Chaos: Refounding Religious Congregations (New York: Paulist, 1988). ~. Strategies for Growth in Religious Life (New York: Alba House, 1987). Marcello Azevedo, Vocation for Mission: The Challenge of Religious Life Today (New York: Paulist, 1988). Leonardo Boll, God's Witnesses in the Heart of tbe World (Chicago: Claret Center for Resources in Spirituality, 1981). Lawrence Cada et al., Shaping the Coming Age of Religious Life (New York: Seabury, 1979). Robert Daly et al., eds., Religious Life in the U.S. Church: The New Dialogue (New York: Paulist, 1984). Barbara Fiand, Living the Vision: Religious Vows in an Age of Change (New York: Crossroad, 1990). David A. Fleming, ed., Religious Life at the Crossroads (New York: Paulist, 1985). Mary Jo Leddy, Reweaving Religious Life: Beyond the Liberal Model (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1990). John Lozano, Discipleship: Towards an Understanding of Religious Life (Chicago: CCRS, 1983). ¯ Life as Parable: Reinterpreting the Religious Life (New York: Paulist, 1986)¯ Johannes Baptist Metz, Followers of Christ (New York: Paulist, 1978). Diarmuid O'Murchu, Religious Life: A Prophetic Vision (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1991). Sandra Schneiders, New Wineskins: Re-imagining Religious Life Today (New York: Paulist, 1986). Jean Marie Tillard, A Gospel Path: Religious Life (Brussels: Lumen Vitae, 1975)¯ The Way Supplement 65 (summer 1989): "Religious Life in Transition," pp. 1-152. Patricia Wittberg, Creating a Future for Religious Life: A Sociological Perspective (New York: Paulist, 1991). Evelyn Woodward, Poets, Prophets and Pragmatists: A New Challenge To Religious Life (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1987). 4 Works include: Mary Ann Donovan, Sisterhood as Power: The Past and Passion of, Ecclesial Women (New York: Crossroad, 1989). Nadine Foley, ed., Claiming Our Truth: Reflections on Identity by United States Women Religious (Washington, D.C.: Leadership Conference of Women Religious, 1988). January-February 1994 25 Johnson * Between the Times Marie Augusta Neal, Catholic Sisters in Transition: Front the 1960s to the 1980s (Wilmington, Delaware: Glazier, 1984). --. From Nuns to Sisters: An Expanding Vocation (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1990). Lora Ann Quifionez and Mary Daniel Turner, The Transformation of American Catholic Sisters (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992). Ann Patrick Ware, ed., Midwives of the Futttre (Kansas City, Missouri: Leaven Press, 1985). s "Hope-Filled Deeds and Critical Thought: The Experience of American Male Religious and Their Need to Reflect on It," paper pre-pared for the Third Inter-American Conference on Religious Life and printed in David A. Fleming, ed., Religious Life at the Crossroads, pp. 20- 50; John W. O'Malley, "Priesthood, Ministry, and Religious Life: Historical and Historiographical Considerations," Theological Studies 49 (1988): 223-257. The dearth of works in this category is due, I think, to the fact that for most men authors until recently, male experience, given its normative status in church and society, is simply presumed. Thus gendered experience has not become a major category of interpre-tation as it has among women. 6 L. Cada et al., Shaping the Coming Age of Religious Life, is the ground-breaking study that brought the notion of cycles to present-day awareness. See the excellent fine-tuning of this thesis b~; Philip Sheldrake, "Revising Historical Perspectives," The \¥ay Supplement 65 (summer 1989): pp. 66- 77. 7 Here I have found the following particularly helpful: Howard Gray, "Shapes for the Fut.ure," pp. 289-295, and Helen Flaherty, "Religious Life in the U.S.--A Guess at the Future," pp. 296-309, in R. Daly, Religious Life in the U.S.; Anne Clifford, "Women Missioned in a Technological Culture," pp. 37-55, in N. Foley, ed., Claiming Our Truth; the address by Robert Schreiter, "The Environment of Religious Life in 2010," to CMSM/LCWR Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky, August 1989; and the videotape "Religious Life: The Constant Is Change," IHM Sisters, Monroe, Michigan, which is an analysis of societal trends by Amata Miller, Margaret Brennan, and Sandra Schneiders. 8 See Anne Carr, Transfo~wting Grace: Christian Tradition and I, Vomen's Experience (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988). 9 Joint Meeting of the CMSM and the Lcv~rR, Louisville, Kentucky, August 1989. ,0 Karl Rahner, "The Spirituality of the Church of the Future," Theological Investigations, vol. 20, Concern for the Church (New York: Crossroad, 1981), p. 145. ~ One of the best contemporary treatises on contemplation remains William Johnston, The Inner Eye of Love (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1978); and on prophecy, Walter Bruggemann, The Prophetic Imagination (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978). 26 Revieva for Religious 12 E. Schillebeeckx, Christ: The Experience of Jesus as Lord (New York: Seabury, 1980), p. 821. ,3 D. O'Murchu, Religious Life: A Prophetic Vision, passim. ,4 "Pilgrims and Prophets," paper drawn up by the Religious Life and Ministry Committee of the CMSM for the Fourth Inter-American Conference on Religious Life and printed in D. A. Fleming, ed., Religious Life at the Crossroads, pp. 51-64; quotation at p. 57. is S. Schneiders, New Wineskins, p. 32. 16 j. Lozano, Life as Parable, p. 9. 17 See Gordon Kaufman, The Theological Imagination: Constructing the Concept of God (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1981), pp. 187-189. Kaufmann argues here for the importance of the great symbol of Jesus Christ who, as the image of the invisible God, manifests a God who does not act in a violent way but rather creates a community of love and equality in a peaceable and free way. !8 Martin Luther, "Large Catechism," The Book of Concord (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1959), p. 365. 19 Franz Kafka, "My Destination," Parables and Paradoxes (Berlin: Schocken, 1975), p. 189. I am indebted for this reference to Catherine Keller, "Toward a Postpatriarchal Postmodernity," in David Griffin, ed., Spirituality and Society: Postmodern Visions (Albany: State University of New York, 1988), p. 65. 20 S. Toulmin, The Return to Cosmology: Postmodern Science and the Theology of Nature (Berkeley: University of California, 1982), p. 254. For further descriptions of postmodernity, see Frederic Burnham, ed., Postmodern Theology: Christian Faith in a Pluralist World (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1989); and Paul Lakeland, Theology and Critical Theory (Nashville: Abingdon, 1990), chap. 7, "Catholicism and Postmodernity." 21 The essays in the Griffin collection are enlightening, especially his own "Introduction: Postmodern Spirituality and Society," pp. I-31. 22 H. P. Owen, Concepts of Dei~y (New York: Herder and Herder, 1971), p. 1. 23 Sallie McFague, Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), pp. 63-69. 24 Janet Ruffing, "Seeing in the Dark: The Present Moment in Religious Life," address to regional meeting of LCWR, Sparkill, New York, September 1991, p. 10. This address, somewhat edited, appears in Review for Religious 51, no. 2 (March-April 1992): 236-248. 2s M. Buber, The Eclipse of God (New York: Harper and Row, 1952); K. Rahner, see note 10; C. Fitzgerald, "Impasse and Dark Night," in Tilden Edwards, ed., Living with Apocalypse: Spiritual Resources for Social Compassion (New York: Harper and Row, 1984), pp. 93-116; S. Schneiders, see video-tape, note 7; M. Marry, A Cry of Absence: Reflections for the Winter of the Heart (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1983); Michael Bucldey, "Atheism and Contemplation," Theological Studies 40 (1979): 680-699. January-February 1994 27 Johnson ¯ Between the Times 26 William J. Hill, Knowing the Unknown God (New York: Philosophical Library, 1971), and In Search of the Absent God, Mary Catherine Hilkert, ed. (New York: Crossroad, 1992). 27 Quoted in Mary Catherine Hilkert, "The Experience of Impasse and the Roots of Wisdom," address to Dominican Leadership Conference, October 1991, p. 11. 28 D. Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison (New York: Macmillan, 1953), letter of 16 July 1944, p. 220. 29 Ibid, p. 219. 30 C. Fitzgerald, "Impasse and Dark Night," p. 112. 31 For a profound analysis see Peter Hodgson, God in History: Shapes of Freedom (Abingdon: Nashville, 1989); and Wendy Farley, Tragic Vision and Divine Compassion: A Contemporary Theodicy (Louisville: Westminster, 1990). 32 "Reflections upon the Religious Life of U.S. Women Religious," paper prepared for the Fifth Inter-American Conference on Religious Life, 1985, and printed in N. Foley, ed., Claiming Our Tmtth," pp. 173-181; quotation at p. 177. Cana, Meaning Uncertain Wine flowed until there was no more at a wedding in Galilee; Mary, seeing this, turned to her son, one till then like any other, a brother, a carpenter who measured what he said and did. "They have no more wine," she said. He hesitated, questioned her, stirred up feelings between them. In the end Jesus acquiesced, six stone jars, water into wine, a fine line crossed, spirit revealed. Yet the uncertainty remains, was it not a mother's prompting that disrupted heaven's intent or is love so strong even God can be swayed by its openness? Neil C. Fitzgerald 28 Review for Religious JAN P. SCHOTTE The Consecrated Life in Church and World: Toward the Synod On 30 December 1991 the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, called for the gathering in autumn 1994 of the Ninth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to treat the topic: "The Consecrated Life and Its Role in the Church and in the World." But what exactly is a synod of bishops? What are the various theological elements connected with this institu-tion? What are its pastoral aspects? Practically speaking, how does the synodal process work? And in what way does the treatment of specific topics bring benefit to the whole church? toward the synod A Synod of Bishops Etymologically speaking, the term "synod," derived from the elision of two Greek words, syn meaning "together" and hodos meaning "road" or "way," literally means "together on the way" or "sharing a journey." This idea immediately calls to mind the Vatican II image of the church as the people of God "on the move," always on pilgrimage, led and guided by the Holy Spirit through history to its ultimate fulfillment when the Lord shall Jan P. Schotte CICM serves as the general secretary of the Synod of Bishops. This presentation of his to the May 1993 Meeting of the International Union of Superiors General in Rome was orig-inally published in the UISG Bulletin, no. 92, 1993, pp. 68-78. Bishop Schotte may be addressed at Office of the General Secretary; Piazza Pio XII, 3; 00193 Rome; Italy. January-February 1994 29 Scbotte ¯ The Consecrated Life in the Church come again (see Lumen gentium, §6). The term also calls to mind some biblical associations. For example, in John's Gospel Jesus calls himself the "Way" (see Jn 14:6), and St. Paul makes reference to Christianity as the "Way" (see Ac 22:4). The term's rich theological and biblical associations can be saidto culminate in the concept of the church as communion. As quoted in Cbristifideles laici, "communion speaks of a double, life-giving participation: the incorporation of Christians into the life of Christ, and the communication of that life of charity to the entire body of the faithful, in this world and in the next, union with Christ and in Christ, and union among Christians in the church." Therefore, "communion" should not be looked upon as something static, but an active and dynamic reality which is both a hallmark of the church and the divine force continually enliven-ing her. This mystery of the church's communion is reflected in an unlimited number of ways in the church's life, from its most sub-lime aspect in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, to the var-ious encounters both personal and communal experienced by Christians everywhere. One instrument for celebrating the communal nature of the church on the local level is through archdiocesan and diocesan synods, which are becoming more frequent an occurrence. In convoking such a synod, a local bishop gathers around himself, as the source and foundation of communion or unity in his partic-ular church, various representatives of the church community-- lay, clerical, and religious--to pray and reflect in common and, using the eternal truths of the faith as set forth in the teachings of the church, to seek pastoral approaches and solutions to living the Christian life as a community and as individuals. The church's communal nature on the particular and univer-sal level also exists in the authority over the church which was established by Christ and subordinated to the task of preaching the gospel (see LG, §20 and §21). Therefore, where the synod of bishops uses the same word as that applied to celebrating the communal nature of the particular church, there is a basic theo-logical difference. The synod of bishops celebrates the mystery of church communion on the hierarchical level, that is, among the bishops. The Second Vatican Council describes this unity in the fol-lowing manner: "Just as, in accordance with the Lord's decree, 30 Review for Religious St. Peter and the rest of the apostles constitute a unique apos-tolic college, so in like fashion the Roman pontiff, Peter's suc-cessor, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are related with and united to one another'~ (LG, §22). This fundamental unity of the episcopate is the basis for the teaching on the collegiality of bishops (see LG, §22 and §23), which is like-wise an essential element in understanding the synod of bishops. The highest and fullest expression of this mystery of hierarchical communion is manifested and celebrated in an ecumenical council where the whole .episcopal college is convoked by the Holy Father. On various occasions the doc-uments of the Second Vatican Council refer to the episcopal gathering as a "synod" (see LG, §54; Christus Dominus, §36; etc.). But in this sense the word has the same meaning and theological significance as "council." Where the "synod of bishops" might resemble a "minicoun-cil," there is a fundamental qualitative difference between the two. For example, a synod convenes only a representative por-tion of the world episcopate, and unlike an ecumenical council, the synod of bishops is convened by the Holy Father for consulta-tive and not deliberative purposes. Nevertheless, despite the dif-ferences, "the synod of bishops," according to the Holy Father, "expresses collegiality in a highly ifitense way." The institution of the synod over twen.ty-seven years ago was inspired by the collaboration among the bishops at the Second Vatican Council and its beneficial effects for the whole church. Pope Paul VI on 15 September 1965 in the motu proprio Apostolica sollicitudo, establishing the synod of bishops, used these words: "With the aim of providing for a continuance after the council of the great abundance of benefits that we have been so happy to see flow to the Christian people during the time of the council as a result of our close collaboration with the bishops [and] because The institution of the synod over twenty-seven years ago was inspired by the collaboration among the bishops at the Second Vatican Council and its beneficial effects for the whole church. January-February 1994 31 Schotte ¯ The Consecrated Life in the Church of our esteem and regard for all the Catholic bishops and with the aim of providing them with abundant means for greater and more effective participation in our concern for the universal church, on our own initiative and by our apostolic authority we hereby erect and establish here in Rome a permanent council of bishops for the universal church, to be directly and immediately subject to our power." Much more than a structure inspired by the Second Vatican Council, the synod of bishops has proven itself to be an apt instru-ment for the implementation of conciliar doctrine and the appli-cation of its pastoral directives. At the same time it has also been the forum for the interpretation and further development of the teachings and spirit of the council. An Instrument of Continuous Pastoral Renewal Though each session is called to respond to unique pastoral situations, no synod is ever an isolated event, but has a relation to other synodal gatherings. Because each synod calls together a representative portion of the episcopate with its head the pope, each synod has a relation to the whole church. At the same time, because the synod is a unique response of the episcopal college to the mandate or mission entrusted to it by the Savior, each synod has a relation to the fundamental salvific mission of the church through history as well. A brief look at the various synods which have taken place to date is evidence enough of the importance of these episcopal gatherings for the church and their value in bring-ing about the reforms intended by the council. Pope Paul VI stated the goals for the First Ordinary General Assembly, held in the fall of 1967: "the preservation and the strengthening of the Catholic faith, its integrity, its force, its development, its doctrinal and historical coherence." One result of this meeting was the eventual establishment of the International Commission of Theologians to assist the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and to broaden a discussion on approaches to theological research. The same assembly provided the stimu-lus for the 1983 publication of the revised Code of Canon Law and also made recommendations to the Holy Father on various pastoral questions. Two years later, in 1969, the First Extraordinary General Assembly was convoked to seek and examine ways and means of 32 Review for Religious putting into practice the collegiality of bishops with the pope. This meeting opened the door to greater collegiality in the pas-toral care of the universal church and in episcopal conferences and the relations between individual bishops. In 1971 the Second Ordinary General Assembly treated two subjects: "The Ministerial Priesthood" and "Justice in the World." In the former, treatment was centered on the theological nature of the priesthood with the intention of addressing certain diffi-culties experienced by priests in the course of their ministry. On the subject of justice, the bishops stated the need to relate the gospel to existing worldwide and local circumstances. "Evangelization in the Modern World" occupied the work of the Third Ordinary General Assembly held in 1974. At this assem-bly the bishops reemphasized the essential missionary character of the church and the duty of each member to bear wimess to Christ in the world. The bishops' recommendations and proposals sub-mitted to the pope were used in the formulation of the apostolic exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi. At the Fourth Ordinary General Assembly, which took place three years later, in 1977, the discussion of the bishops centered on "Catechesis in Our Times," with special attention given to the teaching of the faith to children and young people. Shortly after the synod, Pope John Paul II issued the apostolic exhortation Catecbesi tradendae, which utilized a great many of the bishops' insights and proposals. The First Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, popularly known as "The Dutch Synod," was convoked in 1980 to examine more thoroughly the teachings of the Second Vatican Council on the mystery of church communion and its practical implications on the universal and local level, and the figure of the bishop and his ministry. In this way the synod sought at that time to address its designated topic, "The Pastoral Situation in Holland." The Fifth Ordinary General Assembly in 1980 reaffirmed the church's teaching on the family, in particular defending marriage and the contents of Humanae vitae. From the discussion and the proposals of the assembly, the pope issued the apostolic exhorta-tion Familiaris consortio. In 1983 the Sixth Ordinary General Assembly, held during a specially called Holy Year commemorating the 1950th year of Redemption, appropriately discussed the need of applying the fruits of Christ's passion, death, and resurrection to the individ- January-February 1994 33 Schotte ¯ The Consecrated Life in the Church These different synodal gatherings which have taken place in the course of the synod's history appear more and more clearly as a continuous process of pastoral renewal. ual and society. The bishops' work during the synod served as the basis for the apostolic exhortation Reconciliatio et paenitentia, which for the first time was designated a "postsynodal" docu-ment. The Second Extraordinary General Assembly in 1985 com-memorated the "Twentieth Anniversary of the Conclusion of the Second Vatican Council" and assessed the state of church renewal according to conciliar teachings. The recently published Catechism of the Catholic Church was the result of a proposal by the bishops at this episcopal assembly. "The Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church and in the World" was the topic chosen for the Seventh Ordinary General Assembly in 1987. Through a con-sideration of vocation and mission in the context of church commu-nion, the bishops sought to empha-size the distinctive nature of the lay faithful in the church's life and her work of evangelization in the world. The fifty-four proposals of this assembly were used in the formulation of the postsynodal apostolic exhortation Christifideles laici. In 1990 the Eighth Ordinary General Assembly again took up the subject of priesthood. However, where in 1971 the bishops focused on the theological nature of priesthood and its implica-tions, this assembly's attention was more pastoral in tone, cen-tering. upon priestly formation and the "person" of the priest himself-both religious and diocesan--before and after ordination. The forty-one proposals from this assembly were used by the Holy Father in the formulation of the postsynodal apostolic exhor-tation, Pastores dabo vobis. The Special Assembly for Europe was called in the follow-ing year, 1991, to help discern the kairos of the situation on the European continent created by the historic fall of communism and to consider the role of the church in the various programs of renewal and construction. 34 Review for Religious In preparation are two other special assemblies. In his recent apostolic visitation to Africa last February, the Holy Father announced, in conjunction with the release of the assembly's Instrumenturn laboris, that this special assembly will take place in Rome in 1994, just after Easter. In March the Lineamenta of the special assembly for Lebanon was published, initiating the con-sultation phase of the preparation for that synod. These different synodal gatherings which have taken place in the course of the synod's history appear more and more clearly as a continuous process of pastoral renewal, giving opportunity through prayer and reflection to deepen a sense of the church's mission and to stimulate all the people of God to participate in this mission, each according to his or her state. Perhaps our under-standing of the synod of bishops can be further enhanced by fol-lowing the synod process which has taken place thus far in the preparation for the 1994 synod on "The Consecrated Life and Its Role in the Church and in the World." The 1994 Synodal Process The principles governing the synod of bishops and the synodal process are set forth in three basic documents: the motu proprio Apostolica sollicitudo of Pope Paul VI establishing the synod; Ordo synodi episcoporum celebrandae, or the Constitutions of the Synod of Bishops; and the Code of Canon Law, canons 342 to 348 inclusive. For the purpose of our presentation I will limit myself to those aspects of the process which immediately affect the synod topic, its documentation, and the various preparatory phases leading to the synodal gathering. Before the conclusion of the Eighth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, the synod fathers were asked to elect from their number, according to synod regulations, the required fifteen-member council to assist the general secretary in the follow-up work of the assembly and to work on the prepa-ration of the Ninth Ordinary General Assembly. At the same time the synod fathers were invited to make suggestions on a topic to be treated at the next general assembly. There is a certain value to this initial exchange on the topic during the general assembly because the responses are spontaneous and unprepared. In making their suggestions the bishops were asked to keep in mind the following general criteria in selecting a synodal topic: (1) January-February 1994 35 Sctsotte ¯ Tlse Consecrated Life in rise Church that the topic have a universal character, that is, a reference and application to the whole church; (2) that the topic have a con-temporary character and a certain urgency, that is, have the capa-bility of exciting new energies and movement in the church towards growth; (3) that the topic have a pastoral focus and appli-cation as well as a firm doctrinal basis; and (4) that treatment of the topic be feasible, in other words, that it have the potential actually to be accomplished. In retrospect it is interesting to note that even in the initial consultation during the synod itself a con-vergence of ideas was evident regarding the treatment of some aspect of the consecrated life. Shortly after the conclusion of the general assembly, the gen-eral secretariat continued the consultation process by preparing a letter with the above criteria and sending it to the patriarchates, bishops' conferences, heads of offices of the Roman Curia, and the Union of Superiors General--the normal participants in the synod process. This communication requested the submission of three topics in order of preference. The suggestions coming from this consultation were then analyzed and discussed by the members of council of the general secretariat at one of its regularly sched-uled meetings, and a series of formulations of the theme in order of preference was submitted to the Holy Father. Until now the Holy Father has always selected the council's first choice, con-vinced that the consultation process provides a true indication of the desire of the universal church to treat a given subject. Such was the case for the topic of the 1994 synod. The general consultation process revealed a remarkable con-vergence of ideas indicating a preference for the topic of the con-secrated life. Initially some persons made a rather shallow interpretation to explain the choice, insisting that since the laity and the priesthood were treated in the two previous synodal assemblies, it was only logical that the consecrated life should receive attention. The truth of the matter is that in the course of the consultation a great number of reasons were given for calling a synod to treat the topic of the consecrated life. Many argued in the following manner. 1) With the importance of the consecrated life in the church today, there is necessity to reaffirm its true nature in various new social contexts and in the world at large. 2) The flourishing of vocations in some parts of the world 36 Review for Religious and the crisis of vocations in others requires a thorough exami-nation of the consecrated life. 3) After the Second Vatican Council, various efforts have been made to rewrite constitutions, to propose anew the charism of the founder, and so forth, and consecrated life in general has been subject to an overall renewal. Therefore, the time seems right to engage in an evaluative process. 4) The question of the relationship of those in consecrated life to bishops deserves renewed consideration as well as the sub-ject of the greater participation of women and men religious in the overall pastoral plan of a diocese, particularly in light of the unique charism proper to each. Where the document Mutuae relationes has been fruitful and productive on the whole, certain episcopal con-ferences have given indications that there remain some areas still needing attention. 5) The new forms of consecrated life appearing in many parts of the church require evaluation and proper guidance. The nature of religious institutes, secular institutes, and the societies of apos-tolic life needs to be clarified and their role in the church more clearly defined. Many of the new forms of unions and confrater-nities are appearing with the false notion that they are part of the consecrated life according to the evangelical counsels. 6) Some developments and interpretations have caused the common life for religious to be questioned. In some countries there are situations which deserve attention. 7) The prophetic character of consecrated life in certain cir-cumstances needs to be more clearly defined. How is a person in the consecrated life to respond in faithfulness to his or her voca-tion in the face of secularization, the crisis in culture, and the decline in moral values? 8) In some countries religious congregations have abandoned the work proper to them in favor of individual attempts at apos-tolic work. Such a situation raises the concern of religious con-gregations as well as bishops, requiring them to seek the proper pastoral approach to such situations. The above sampling of reasons underlying the choice of topic for the 1994 synod sufficiently indicates its universal appeal, pas-toral relevance, timely character, and feasibility. At the same time, it can be seen that they have a general inter-est for the entire church. In virtue of the church's unity, every part and every member will be affected by the exchange and out- January-Fetrruary 1994 37 Schotte * The Consecrated Life in the Church come. In this sense the synod will not simply treat a topic, but make suggestions to the Holy Father regarding the future. What does the consecrated life have in store for the future? How are those in consecrated life to live out their consecration in the apos-tolic mission of the church? What courageous and bold steps are required to meet the unique challenges made on consecrated life by the present state of affairs in the church and society? Before these questions can be faced by the bishops in syn-odal assembly, the church at large will have time to reflect on them and other aspects of the topic and be invited to make their observations known through the proper channels so that those required to make official responses on the topic to the general secretariat will have current information with which to work. The 1994 Lineamenta The synod process can be divided into four great moments: the Lineamenta, the Instrumentum laboris, the synodal assembly, and the postsynodal document. We logically pause to devote some time to explaining the Lineamenta document, the present stage of preparation for the Ninth Ordinary General Assembly. After the Holy Father's choice of topic, the council of the general secretariat at a regularly scheduled meeting held a roundtable discussion with the secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and with representatives from the various groups associated with con-secrated life, that is, women and men religious, members of sec-ular institutes, and members of the international organizations of consecrated life in the church, namely, the Union of Superiors General for Men and the International Union of Women Superiors as well as the International Congress of Secular Institutes. The observations resulting from this meeting were fur-ther discussed and developed in subsequent council meetings, and with the help of theologians an outline and texts of the Lineamenta were drafted and studied, before a definitive text was submitted to the Holy Father. As its Latin name suggests, the Lineamenta is an "outline" or general presentation of the synod topic followed by a series of questions intended to direct the prayer and reflection of the whole church on the subject. The information resulting from this stage will provide the raw material for the synod's Instrumentum laboris 3 8 Review for Religious or "working document," intended to present a composite picture of the present situation and prevailing attitudes in the church on consecrated life and its role in the church and in the world. The Lineamenta document is divided into three major parts, each treating a specific aspect of the topic: (1) "The Nature and Identity of the Consecrated Life"; (2) "The Consecrated Life in the church and in the World of Today"; and (3) "The Role of Consecrated Life." The document's initial pages immediately address the prob-lem of terminology. Strictly speaking, the term "consecrated life" in Canon Law refers to religious con-gregations and secular institutes only. What, then, is to be done with soci-eties of apostolic life? Since canon 731, § 1, states that the societies of apostolic life are "comparable to the institutes of consecrated life," it was agreed that the synod topic would also include their treatment. Therefore, when the term is used in the Lineamenta, it is meant to be all-inclusive. After a brief introduction, Part I begins with an explanation of the essential characteristics of the conse-crated life, namely, vocation, conse-cration, mission, the evangelical counsels, the common life, eschato-logical witness, its essential values, and the commitment to the spiritual life. The section then proceeds to speak of the charismatic nature of the consecrated life, as wit-nessed in its variety of charisms and multiplicity of forms. In this regard attention is given to the charism of the founder or foundress, the various forms of consecrated life, institutes of con-templative life, brothers, secular institutes, societies of a.postolic life, and the new forms of consecrated life emerging today. The second part of the document describes the present situ-ation of the consecrated life in the church and in today's world, seeking on this basis to suggest various subtopics which merit consideration, for example, the direction to be taken by the con-secrated life with the approach of the third millennium, the fruits of renewal, new values and aspects of the consecrated life, nega- The synod process can be divided into four great moments: the Lineamenta, the Instrumentum laboris, the synodal assembly, and the postsynodal document. Jam~ary-February 1994 39 Schotte ¯ The Consecrated Life in the Church tive aspects (even these must be addressed), the necessity of a clear witness in responding to the challenges of modern society, and finally the situation in various countries and cultures (Africa and Asia come especially to mind). This section ends with a call to those in consecrated life to continue the renewal begun after the Second Vatican Council. The third section speaks in practical terms of the role of the consecrated life in the church and society, beginning with a pre-sentation on the ecclesial dimensions of the consecrated life, its relation to the church hierarchy, its coordinating structures in fostering communion, its place on the level of the local church, and its communion with the lay faithful. With this in mind, var-ious topics related to the role of the consecrated life within the universal church community are treated, including the new evan-gelization, authentic apostolic creativity, acceptance of the call to evangelization, remaking the fabric of society, promoting the unity of all the baptized, and the dialogue with followers of other religions. The concluding portion of Part III turns its attention to the church's mission in the world, emphasizing features associ-ated with the consecrated life, for example, its specific witness to God's love through the works of mercy; its attention to young people and their needs; its presence in schools, hospitals, and social programs; its dedication to work on behalf of the poor; its role--past and present--in the transmission and formation of cul-ture; and its part in the church's work of safeguarding the values of nature and conscience in today's world. The closing pages of the Lineamenta then offe~ a brief look at Mary as the model and mother of the consecrated life and a reflec-tion on the consecrated life in terms of a renewed presence of Christ in the world of today. The presentation concludes with a section containing the document's endnotes, followed by a table of contents. Incorporated in the Lineamenta text and appearing at the con-clusion of each section is a series of twenty-five consecutively numbered questions which are meant to focus the prayer and dis-cussion of the universal church on various aspects of the synod topic. At the same time, these questions and numbers are to pro-vide an orderly structure for the responses from various individ-uals and church bodies which will be formulated and submitted in the lively exchange on all levels of the church community dur-ing the consultation period. 40 Review for Religious Official responses are expected to be filed with the general secretariat by those normally involved in the consultation pro-cess, that is, patriarchates, episcopal conferences, offices of the Roman Curia, and the Union of Superiors General for Men. Given the synod topic, the International Union of Women Superiors and the International Congress for Secular Institutes are also to submit responses. All responsible for such responses are to work on the best possible manner of facilitating the reading of the document by individuals and groups associated with them, and of seeking information from them so that the responses may be truly complete and reflect the richness of the exchange on the various levels of the local church community. With the publication of the Lineamenta on 20 November 1992, a significant and important stage in the preparation for this synodal assembly was initiated. I would even go so far as to say a most critical phase, because the richness and depth of the Instrumentum laboris, the reference point and source of discus-sion during the actual synodal assembly, depends on the widespread participation of the whole church and a thorough-ness in answering the series of questions posed in the Lineamenta. For this reason, it is incumbent upon each individual in the church, no matter what his or her state or circumstance, to con-tribute through the accustomed channels in this presynodal prepa-ration period, thereby providing the necessary information which will be eventually used in the official responses to be sent to the general secretariat. From my experience over the years I am becoming more aware and convinced of the very real contribution and impact of synodal assemblies in the life of the church. These beneficial results come about not simply from a month-long meeting, but from the whole synodal process, from the consultation regard-ing the theme, the prayer and reflection period, the actual cele-bration of the synod, and its follow-up. Not only do the reflection and prayer which are a part of the Lineamenta phase assist in setting the agenda in the Instrumentum laboris or "working paper," but the process itself taps and exer-cises the dynamism of church communion in the listening, shar-ing, and stirring up of new energies on various levels of the church community. And after the synodal assembly, where there is a con-centrated effort at intensely living the communion which has come beforehand, the effects make themselves felt years later. January-February 1994 41 Scbotte ¯ The Consecrated Life in the Church The Lineamenta itself makes reference to this fact when it states that the occasion of this synod will provide the opportunity for "all members of the church, particularly the institutes of con-secrated life, to reconsider the subject of their own renewal in light of the challenges and the opportunities of the present moment," based on the church's appeal in these days "for a renewed endeavor towards evangelical life, towards a profound spirituality, and towards a generous presence in the new evange-lization" (§33). This time of synodal preparation, then, is an occa-sion for hope, a hope that this profound examination of the status of renewal and the prospects for future growth of the consecrated life in all its aspects will be a moment of grace and revitalization, and bring great benefits to all those in consecrated life and to the church as a whole. Message from a Coreopsis Lanceolata (Daisies Do Tell) Some of us are past our prime, And one of us has lost a few petals; Another--will never see the sun. Yet we all rejoice That we reflect our Maker And celebrate a loving God Who signs each one of us With his own life's Blood. Joann Stuever, ASC postulant 42 Review for Religious A. PAUL DOMINIC Charism, Charisms, and Faddism d sexagenarian religious superior who keeps abreast of the times asked me if I had read the recent document on reli-gious life produced by the council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops. I said yes, adding hesitantly: "But it is not very interesting." Without hesitation she agreed completely. The Point of Departure: The Lineamenta Surely the Lineamenta, the preliminary agenda on "The Consecrated Life and Its Role in the Church and in the World" prepared in view of the forthcoming Ninth General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, is not a particularly charismatic piece of writing. After all, it is not from the pen of a theologian like Rahner, or a biblicist like Elsa Tamez, or a feminist like Ruether, or a third-world figure like Amalorpavadass, or a cardinal like Martini. On the contrary, it is an official document with its strengths and weaknesses, treating the topic "in a complete organic manner, indicating the topic's precise content and its necessary limits''1 and touching upon "only the essential points of doctrine" (§4).2 As such, therefore, it would read somewhat like a protocol without the charismatic cadence or resonance of your fa~,orite author. However, considering that the document is the product of the pastoral office of the church, we would not be wrong if we rec-ognized in it the charismatic teaching included by Paul in his lists A. Paul Dominic SJ can be addressed at Satyodayam; S. Lallaguda; Secunderabad 500 017; India. .~anuary-Felrruary 1994 43 Dominic * Charism, Cbarisms, and Faddism of charisms. And so what it says about religious life as a charism that includes many a charism can serve for our mental nourish-ment and impart to us a spiritual gift (Rm 1:11). It can set us thinking about religious life as a matter of charismatic experi-ence, that is, an experience of living a fundamental charism through as many different charisms as there are societies of"con-secrated" or "apostolic" life. Any serious reflection on this mat-ter will prove to be relevant, for the prevailing confusion in religious life concerns partly the lack of clarity about charism and charisms.3 Religious Life as Charism Religious life, like all life, is best observed in its relationships. On the one hand, it is a part of the church; and, on the other, it is itself the church and so serving, like the church, the rest of the world (§3, §25, and §44). In the first perspective, religious life is one of the many charisms of the church; in the second, it is, as we said earlier, a fundamental charism giving rise to a wide variety of expressions of itself. The religious state of life is a "particular gift in the life of the church" (Lumen gentium, §43). As such it can be properly appre-ciated only when we see it in place, beside many other similar gifts enjoyed by the church. That is why the Lineamenta begins the consideration of charisms (§14-§17) recalling the mystery of the church as the Mystical Body of Christ endowed with many gifts, quoting Paul: "There are many different gifts, but it is always the same Spirit; there are many different ways of serving, but it is always the same Lord. There are many different forms of activ-ity, but in everybody it is the same God who is at work in all" (1 Co 12:4-6). By the parallelism of the verses, the different ways of service or activity are all to be understood as gifts in a variety of forms. Paul goes on to list such gifts in the immediate context (i Co 12:8-10, 28) and also in other letters (Rm 12:6-8 and Ep 4:11). A look at all the lists can give us an idea of the wide range of gifts enjoyed by the growing church. Though it would be anachronistic to look for the mention of religious life among the listed gifts of the Spirit bestowed on the church, note that celibacy is proposed as a special gift (1 Co 7:7). In the course of time the church came to recognize many more gifts in its ongoing life, gifts like asceticism, monasticism, vir- 44 Review for Religious ginity, choice of poverty, and social virtues, to speak only of those that have an obvious reference to religious life.4 As the church grew in self-awareness, it came to discover many elements that we now associate with religious life as its specific gifts; and so today we can speak about "the charism of the consecrated life" (§14), that is to say, the consecrated life itself viewed as a gift or charism. However various and heterogeneous the different charisms may be in the manner of their working, they are one and homo-geneous in intent and purpose. They are all meant to build up the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is built up when the mem-bers are well nourished and so live to the full, reaching unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God and forming the perfect Person fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself (Ep 4:13). This fullness of Christ is the same as the life permeated by the Spirit ever filling us or even overwhelming us with all her gifts and charisms. Such a life energized by the working of the Spirit is spiritual and holy. M1 the charisms of the Spirit nourish the life of the church, making it ever more holy with the life of Christ himself. Situating religious life thus in the sphere of the church's life of holiness and recognizing in it a universal reality in the church's makeup, the Lineamenta concludes: "With this in mind one speaks of 'the charism of the consecrated life'" (§14). Here is surely an echo of the approach to religious life taken by Lumen gentium, §39-§47. Such an affirmation of religious life, however, is slightly marred by the way the Lineamenta, following of course Vatican expresses it. After describing the way of holiness of religious life marked by vows that establish a special bond to God, Lumen gen-tium concludes: "Thus, although the religious state., does not belong" to the hierarchical structure of the church, nevertheless it belongs inseparably to her life and holiness" (see L §1; see also §14 and §36). One can discover a patronizing voice here, rightly or wrongly. Anyway, what a difference it would make if the state-ment were to read towards the end: "nevertheless, like the hier-archy, the religious state too belongs inseparably to her life and holiness." Does not Vatican II after all state in the chapter on universal holiness, "In the various types and duties of life, one and the same holiness is cultivated by all who are moved by the Spirit of God" (LG §41), and further go on to describe the way of holiness of the different classes of persons and finally end with a clear reference to the life of the religious (LG §41 and §42)? January-February 1994 45 Dominic ¯ Charism, Cbarisms, and Faddism There is a good reason why we can parallel religious life and hierarchy in this way. Of all the charisms enumerated by Paul-- who, incidentally, developed the terminology of charisms--the pastoral office of the hierarchy is the only one that concerns a state of life. This idea gets all the greater force because the pas-toral letters signal a development in the idea of charism which continued to prevail in postapostolic times. Paul's reminder to Timothy, "You have in you a spiritual gift which was given to you when the prophets spoke and the body of elders laid their hands on you" (i Tm 4:14), a reminder repeated again in 2 Timothy 1:6, certainly refers to Timothy's charism as one of grace of state or office. If we add to this way of looking at the hierarchical charism the reference to the charism of married life in 1 Corinthians 7:7, where there is a simultaneous reference to the charism of celibacy too, we can discern a line of thinking in which the various particular vocations in Christian life can be considered charisms establishing people in different states of life. So we can now speak in particular of the charism of religious life as the grace of the religious state of life; contributing to the holiness of the church in a particular way. In this context it is enlightening and inspiring to recall an old nomenclature of the religious state of life, namely, the state of perfection, proclaiming visibly the prophetic office of Christ wit-nessing to the kingdo~n here and hereafter. What is basic about states of perfection is the perfection to be acquired by way of the evangelical counsels in a community set-up. The function of any particular way of religious life, contemplative or active, lies. in this: that religious, by their very striving after holiness, call upon all Christians to do the same in their own way. So remarking, Bernard H~iring quotes papal authority in support: "The church would not fully respond to the mind of her Divine Bridegroom, men would not fix their eyes on her as on the 'the signal unto the nations'., if they did not find in her men who reflected the splendor of the gospel more through the example of their life than by means of words.''s All this is not so old-fashioned. A few years ago America carried an article describing religious as those who, unlike the laity, make religion their very career with its own particular structures that not only favor and promote it but also witness to it.6 The charism of religious is to be identified with striving for perfection, as the Lineamenta often repeats (§3, §5, §8, and §16). 46 Review for Religious To speak of the state of perfection is perhaps not a post-Vatican practice. However, in avoiding the falsity of perception possible in the expression, one need not altogether abandon its right use. Rather, we need to rediscover in the correct meaning of the phrase some essentials of religious life. Here is one: "It is not so much we who profess as others (the church, the community) who recognize that we. at least have received an explicit call and have come to a state of commitment to pursue it relentlessly, wholeheartedly; and radically.''7 But even in so reflecting on religious life as a state of perfec-tion, one should beware of a dan-ger. If one were to emphasize the personal pursuit of perfection that religious undertake, one is liable to overemphasize all their many undertakings on the path to perfection, thereby forgetting that any and every charism is a pure and simple gift of God. The story of Peter is apt here, as Bonhoeffer tells it. "Three times Peter heard himself proclaim that Christ is his Lord and God--at the beginning, at the end, and at Caesarea Philippi. Each time it is the same grace of Christ calling Peter to follow, and revealing itself to him in his confession." To reiterate the idea with Bonhoeffer: "This grace was certainly not self-bestowed. It was the grace of Christ himself.''8 Quoting all this, J.M.R. Tillard concludes; "Now, this costly grace., is for Simon Peter and for every religious the charism which makes existence as such a sign of the gospel. This charism comes from the Lord's Spirit . It is truly a gift made by the risen Lord, through his Holy Spirit, to his people. The Lord passes by. his grace seizes certain men and women. Poor sinners, they are nonetheless of those who will say to . . . the world: 'We have found what we were looking for! Come and see!' This is their charism.''9 One may, then, delve into the experience of religious life and discover in its depths not so much a for but a because of. No one enters religious life primarily for some thing or some work, but rather because of the One Who calls. "The for will come later, nec-essarily, but in the radiance and as the evangelical fruit of the No one enters religious life primarily for some thing or some work, but rather because of the One who calls. ~tanuar2/-Febrttary 1994 47 Dominic ¯ Charism, Cbarisms, and Faddism because of," as Tillard says.~° Can anything be clearer than this? Yet in the culture shock that religious were exposed to after Vatican Council II, not a few sought their identity in their works and tasks, in their of religious life. But the more they did so, the more elusive they found it. For their real existence as religious was concentrated in the call of Christ to which they had once com-mitted themselves because of the altogether new experience of being seized by the Lord's power. Their existence, therefore, became, or ought to have become, a new existence, a charismatic existence, a charism. Such a vision of religious life as the charism in itself appears distinctly, though in a less charismatic expression, in the Lineamenta when it speaks of the profession of the gospel as the supreme rule for all institutes, whatever their particular ministries may be (§8; see also Perfectae caritatis, §2). The Charisms of Religious Life Once religious life is understood in terms of one unique exis-tential charism underlying all forms of it, one may be able to appreciate the more familiar experience of the particular charisms that at once characterize and distinguish the various institutes. It is in this way that the Lineamenta would seem to interpret the charismatic nature of religious life as taught in the conciliar and postconciliar documents (§ 14). Logically and theologically, the consideration of the charism that constitutes religious life leads to that of the many charisms of religious life. It is the one charism of religious life that begets many a charism in it. Are not the latter "like branches sprouting out wondrously and abundantly from a tree growing in the field of the Lord"? (LG §43, quoted in L §16). Historically, however, what attracted the attention of people was the variety of charisms and not the one charism beneath and beyond all charisms. So, tracing the beginning of religious life from the very infancy of the church, Perfectae caritatis could point out: "Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, many., pursued a solitary life, or founded religious families . And so it happened by divine plan that a wonderful variety of religious communities grew up" (§ 1, partly quoted in L § 16). The mention of solitary life and religious families obviously refers to the twin charisms of original religious life, namely, 48 Review for Religious eremiticism and cenobitism (§9 and §19c). Cenobitism itself in the course of history developed two other charisms, namely, divine contemplation and human service. These in turn became spe-cialized in their ways of focusing on God and on people. In what-ever century religious live out their days, they adopt or develop distinct varieties of direct service of God and humanity, in imita-tion of Christ. Through them, therefore, Christ comes to be shown "contemplating on the mountain, announcing God's king-dom to the multitude, healing the sick and the maimed, turning sinners to wholesome fruit, blessing children, doing good to all, and always obeying the will of the Father" (LG §46, quoted in L §15). Often enough, charisms are considered, or even identified with, graces meant for the common good. Such a consideration is incomplete because it misses something important, namely, the source of the power of service. Charisms are particular graces imparted to us by which we bear or image or reflect or even become Christ in ourselves in a particular limited way, and so are able to render appropriate service in a specific context in a par-ticular part of the world in the manner of Christ himself. So they highlight in us "a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ" (§ 17). However, the gospel, or for that matter Christ himself, if under-stood with proper nuance, is not apart from the church. So the Lineamenta does well in describing charisms as bearing upon a specific aspect, not only of the mystery of Christ, but also of the church's life, and thus manifesting in the makeup of the Mystical Body the multiform grace of Christ (§15). One should not miss here how charisms are at once incarnational and ecclesial (§46). Charisms and Service Once it is grasped that charisms have to do primarily with a fundamental religious way of being, one cannot go wrong in insist-ing that charisms are out-and-out oriented towards service, "des-tined for service of the kingdom" (§3); for surely charisms have an inalienable reference, not only to the way of being, but also to the way of doing. The Lineamenta spells out the nexus between charism and service forcefully thus: "Each charism . . . brings with it a particular manner of faithfully and intensely living the evangelical counsels. In addition, it implies a particular and con-crete style of spiritual life, a determined form of apostolate, a .~anuary-February 1994 49 Dominic ¯ Charism, Cbarisms, and Faddism specific experience of community life, and a particular involvement in the world" (816 [emphasis added]; see also $8). What, then, are the specific paths of service in the building of the earthly city (§44)? Not forgetting the contribution of the contemplatives to society through their divine service of worship (§2)--the first permanent foundation of women in the United States was Carmelites~l--the Lineamenta illustrates the service of active charisms thus: "Today the consecrated life is present in our society through the multiplicity of apostolic services rendered to others, each according to its diverse charisms, in one magnificent expression of the charity of Christ on behalf of the integral for-mation of persons; in the education of children and young people, in the care of the sick, the suffering, the elderly, and those in want; and in aid to persons with special needs and those marginal-ized by society" (§44a). What do all such services intend except "to make operative the gospel of the beatitudes and the works of mercy" (§44a)? One particular element of service rendered by charisms con-cerns life of communion within the church. Different forms of religious life characterized by their different charisms do not con-stitute exclusive churches within the church, but, forming part of the one church, ought to feel themselves to be the church and so identify themselves with her (~3 and ~35; see also Perfectae car-itatis, §2c). The charisms of the different religious families, with their charismatic and yet ecclesial-minded founders, belong as much to the whole church as to the religious themselves (~16, §26e, and §46). For not only are they meant for the growth of the chhrch, but they also have their origin, regulation, guarantee, and approval in and from the church (§6, §15, and §16). Therefore, far from being closed in upon themselves, religious offer a rich fare for communion, reflecting ideal church commu-nion (§9). There is every reason, then, to identify the religious living together by the term community. Incidentally, the hierarchy as such can only contribute, in terms of sociology, to the culture of societas with role differentiation; but the religious as such plunge themselves into the heart of society with their charisms of ser-vice (§3, ~42, and §44) and break through segmentations in soci-ety and initiate the culture of communitas in our world.~2 In bringing about this new culture of communion in the world church, the religious, as "experts in communion" (§35), have nec- 50 Review for Relig~otts essarily to act locally in the particular church, but with their hearts spanning universally in the global church (§27a). The exercise of religious charisms "assists everyone--clergy and faithful--to open themselves to the universal and missionary dimension of the church, and., makes the particular churches an image of the uni-versal church" (§39). For a con-crete example of communion resulting from the enduring charisms, the Lineamenta points out the flourishing of lay third orders, lay associations, and lay-volunteer groups "whose mem-bers are bound under different titles to the spirituality and apos-tolic work of various institutes" (}41). Where the charisms do not serve the cause of church com-munion, they are likely to become mere means of some service or religious themselves. other without the underlying spirit. The Lineamenta warns of the danger of reducing the pres-ence of institutes to parochial ser-vice "without encouraging and welcoming the richness of the spirituality and their proper charismatic service" (~40). More plainly, in the church Body each part can do only the service it is meant for. As charisms are vivifying and beautifying graces of the differ-ent members of the Body of the church (§46), they complement one another; and so they cannot healthily coexist without mutual encounter and influence. Perhaps, in the pre-Vatican "ghetto" church, religious congregations developed their own ghettos, pos-sibly without even knowing it. But the time has come, especially in the era of ecumenism, for % better understanding of the sense of communion among foundational charisms" (§27b). It is high time, therefore, for religious to realize how a particularly har-monious communion among themselves, sharing one another's charism, "can and should contribute to express better the full-ness and richness of Christ" (§46), not only in his Body the church, but also in his extended body, the world in need of union. The charisms of the different religious families, with their charismatic and yet ecclesial-minded founders, belong as much to the whole church as to the Jan~ry-Febrz~ry 1994 51 Dominic ¯ Charism, Cbarisms, and Faddism As charisms serve the cause of communion in the church, so do they contribute to the unity of the separate congregations them-selves. It is unthinkable that a religious family could maintain its unity of life amid all its committed involvement in the world if it failed to cling to its essential charism for nourishment (§32b). Each particular charism, bringing with it a particular manner of intense eyangelical life, makes the presence of the one Lord pres-ent in space and time (§46) and thus "enriches the legacy of life, history, and spirituality characterizing each family identity, shared in common through the spirit of the founder or foundress" (§16). Keeping Charisms Alive The dynamism of religious life in its variety depends on the vitality of its true charisms. Once charisms turn false, they lose their vitality and spell the ruin of institutes. Present-day insti-tutes can continue their existence faithfully only if they recog-nize, recover, retain, and renew their particular charisms in their past originality and present timeliness (~ 17). What, then, can we say about the renewal of charisms? "In keeping with their proper charism" (§40) and similar phrases recur in the Lineamenta, as in the Code of Canon Law, emphasizing that the charisms are to be preserved with fidelity and continued without alteration, avoiding all subtle deviation from the original spirit (§16). This supposes in religious a healthy appreciation and pride in the early traditions of their congrega-tion, as advocated by Perfectae caritatis. Given the evangelical inspiration of all charisms, one can say more, drawing a compar-ison between keeping to the purity of the gospel and maintaining the primitive charism. As Paul insisted on an anathema for those who dare preach a different gospel (Ga 1:8-9), religious founders and foundresses could do likewise, enjoining their followers to abide by the spirit of their constitutions without any dilution or dissimulation on their part.13 In this spirit, while expressing appre-ciation of the general progress in the awareness of the separate charisms in the different congregations in the postconciliar era, the Lineamenta adds affirmatively: "This consciousness ought to find expression in a spiritual commitment and a working pres-ence which effectively enlivens and makes operative for the good of the church the spirit of the founder orfoundress and the legacy of each institute" (§3 lc). 52 Review for Religious Two modern experiences with regard to charisms are note-worthy. One, the preferential choice for the poor, which has been "a constant feature of charisms in the apostolic life, often inspired by the words and actions of the Lord" (§44c; see also §27d), is becoming more and more a serious concern for religious life, leading communities to share the very life of the poor and the marginalized with all their risks, trials, and problems. Second, reminiscent of the early successes of many a congregation, there is the geographical spread of extant charisms in the younger churches of the third world and in the newly liberated Eastern European countries (§27c), giving rise to new cultural expres-sions of them (§32c). The above-mentioned experiences are two fine examples of how charisms rise to the occasion and serve their purpose today, provided they are ever deepened and constantly developed (Mutuae relationes, §1 i; L ~16) according to the signs of the times (Perfectae caritatis, §2; L §17). The sign today is the oncoming of the third millennium, throwing up opportunities and challenges (§33) and giving rise to the sprouting of new charisms and new forms of evangelical life (§24 and §27c). One aspect of this deepening and developing of surviving charisms lies in the direction of their "being called upon today-- inspired by the spirit of the founder or foundress--to serve as the basis for making new commitments and responses in Christian charity to the new and old expressions of poverty in our world" (§29g) and, more generally, to the changed atmosphere of the world "because of the social and cultural happenings which have rapidly come about in modern society" (§25). This is reminiscent of the call of Mutuae relationes to be innovative enough for bold enter-prising initiatives (§12; L §42). Which persons are inspired enough and thus inspiring enough to make new initiatives and refound their congregations, warding off the subtle temptation to be wise in their own eyes? Only fer-vent people (§29e). Only they can update discerningly for today the expressions of their original charism. But in the absence of such people "a certain leveling in behavior and in the tenor of the spiritual and communal life has brought a certain loss of prac-tical identity in charism and works" (§28b)--as surely happened in India, for instance, when some religious working with the masses wanted no public association whatever with their congre-gation. So the apparently clever and outspoken members certainly ~tammry-February 1994 53 Dominic ¯ Charism, Cbarisms, and Faddism need to be cautioned, against tendential postures, theoretical and practical, regarding charisms that go against their.genuineness (§3 lc). A case in point was that of a Jesuit who spoke of the need to rewrite the Ignatian rules for thinking with the church, to the applause of the gathering of course, with scant awareness of their foundation in the mystical union of the church and Christ that inspired Ignatius's Eharacteristic service of the church. While there have been new, positive, and worthy initiatives-- the switch of women religious in the United States from the ser-vice of the clergy to frontier ministries should be hailed as one such measure though grudged by not a few men even in the highly progressive United States of Americal4--there have also been negative, unworthy, and false initiatives--which brings me to the discussion of faddism. Faddism Faddism, the cultivation of fads, has to do with "a rapid, sud-den, and ephemeral collective adoption of novel behavior which affects only superficial or trivial areas of life.''s It was certainly the fad of hasty paradigm shifting when some persons clamored for implementing changes in religious life at a faster pace than peo-ple could cope with. Even when people were willing to change, it was not without the grief of losing the familiar past or the fear of the unknown future. So whoever rushed their fellow religious into the world of Vatican II without at the same time providing them time to grapple with their fear or to grieve over or even rage about their apparent loss were carried away more by an itch for change (2 Tm 4:3) than by the breath of the Spirit, for whom there are times for everything. It was also a fad whenever an opinion gained ground that this or that particular individual was the resource person for renewal. To venture an example, it would seem that a certain fad of what may be called spiritual consumerism surrounded Anthony de Mello of Sadbana fame, for numbers of people kept looking to him alone for renewal, almost as if he were the director of world-wide renewal. In any case, whenever one individual looms too large in some endeavor, the result tends to be superficial, whereas all renewal worth the name happens deep within people, where the creative Spirit works in the innermost recesses of hearts. Another similax: fad, which coflld be called hybridization, was 54 Review for Religious the adoption of a celebrated model as the sole means of renewal, whether or not it squared with the blueprint of one's own origi-nal charism. If the one-month retreat according to the Spiritual Exercises appeared to be such a fad some twenty years ago, today in certain circles external dialogue--whether with native tradi-tions or modern situations--would seem to hold sway more than inner dialogue within one's own charism. Among all those who were "zealous" about reforms in reli-gious life, precious few resorted to a real praxis. Not only did individuals and small groups indulge in the fad of stylized ideo-logical talk.~6 Even entire provinces, if not whole congregations, could be all talk, adopting popular phrases about the poor, for example, rather than making sincere options for them. How pro-ductive can all this exercise be except for inviting occasional out-right condemnation. A bold village woman responded to a group of young religious whose actions were not as forthcoming as their words, "These are not the kind of shepherds who will save the sheep; they swallow the sheep." What is absent in feverish talk, namely, action, can itself become a fad and go beyond all proportion. The slogan (not the idea itself) "formation for mission in mission" suits such a fad, giving the go-by to minimum privacy and seclusion for necessary growth in maturity and personalization. Showmanship and one-up- manship feed this fad, causing each one's action to be largely unproductive. These things are the very opposite of prophetic action. They may have the imaginativeness of the prophets of old, but not their soundness of inspiration. The craze of using anything and everythin

Fighting in the Ukraine war has persisted well into the third year, with hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides. For more than two years, the West has been stoking Ukraine's hopes — with funding, military advice, and more and more advanced weapons — that it could push Russia out to its pre-2014 borders. This is an imaginary outcome that words of fiction will do nothing to achieve. Equally misguided is the contention by Western leaders that if Putin is not defeated in Ukraine, he will gobble up more and more of Europe, beginning with Poland and the Baltics. Not only is there no evidence to support this assertion, but also the notion that a Russia that can barely defeat Ukraine would go to war against NATO simply defies logic.These developments do, however, push Washington into spending more on "defense," which enriches the arms manufacturers. Earlier this month, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg trumpeted an 18 percent increase in military spending across Europe and Canada in 2024, "the biggest increase in decades," two-thirds of which goes to U.S. manufacturers.Meanwhile, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons announced that global spending on nuclear weapons rose 13 percent in 2023, with the U.S. again leading the way. This is happening even though the U.S. already spends almost five times as much as China, its nearest competitor. U.S. nuclear weapons spending over the past five years has increased by 45 percent, trailed by the U.K.'s 43 percent.The spending announcements coincide with news about the planet sweltering and little is being done to combat global warming. Clearly, we're too busy fighting each other and spending money on ways to end humanity far faster than global warming will.As NATO leaders realize that throwing more money into Ukraine alone is not enough to change an increasingly desperate battlefield equation, they have been finding other, more dangerous ways, to escalate in recent weeks. They have not only permitted Ukraine to attack sites within Russia with advanced NATO weapons, they have also assisted in those attacks and have openly discussed sending NATO troops, trainers, and targeters on the ground. The recent attacks on two Russian nuclear warning radar facilities have been particularly irresponsible, bringing us closer not only to full out war, but to nuclear war. And if that is not enough, Stoltenberg recently told the Telegraph that NATO is debating taking additional nuclear weapons out of storage and placing them on standby to prepare for all contingencies.Russia has responded to these escalations with a series of explicit warnings about the imminence of a broader war and by carrying out provocative tactical nuclear war exercises on its territory bordering Ukraine, with Belarussian participation. The Foreign Ministry said the exercises would send a "sobering signal" that would "cool the hot heads in Western capitals," making them understand "the potential catastrophic consequences of the strategic risks they are generating." Russia then sent warships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, to Cuba, which Western commentators dismissed as a "bluff," though the U.S. and Canada promptly sent warships into the region. Next, Putin visited Pyongyang and signed a "mutual security" pact with North Korea, committing both nuclear-armed nations to come to each other's defense if attacked.These developments heighten the urgency of finding a political settlement for the Ukraine war.In a recent book titled "Nuclear War: A Scenario," author Annie Jacobsen details the 72 minutes that unfold after the U.S. detects a North Korea launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile heading for Washington, DC, until the end of the world as we know it. The hypothesized North Korean attack quickly turns into a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia, a possibility made even more likely by the Putin-Kim Jong Un agreement. In Jacobsen's book, the two countries proceed to use a thousand or more warheads to level the other, a prospect that terrified millions of people throughout the Cold War, but which had more recently faded from the public's consciousness.Nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia today would bear little resemblance to the American atomic bomb attacks on Japan. Rather than killing a couple hundred thousand people, as Fat Man and Little Boy did in 1945, today's weapons could kill and injure millions of people, and possibly hundreds of millions. Add to this count the billions around who would starve to death as a result of nuclear winter and subsequent crop failures and you have a recipe for the end of human civilization as we know it.The concern that Russia could decide to use nuclear weapons if threatened with defeat in the Donbas or Crimea or in a direct war with NATO should not be dismissed lightly. While the U.S. would be less likely to initiate nuclear war given NATO's conventional superiority, it may respond in kind to Russian use of tactical nuclear weapons. Alternatively, a conventional war between Russia and NATO could turn nuclear.Arguably, an even more likely scenario than a deliberate start of a nuclear war is a blunder into oblivion, an accidental or miscalculated strike as either side wrongly assumes that it is already or will imminently be under a nuclear attack. This can easily arise due to the "launch on warning" policy that both countries have. Moreover, neither the United States nor Russia has a "no-first-use policy" that would abjure first using nuclear weapons in a crisis, making the miscalculation more likely.MIT Professor Ted Postol, a former scientific adviser to the chief of naval operations, has warned that Russia's missile detection capabilities are not as advanced as the ones that the United States has, which he described as a "terrible and dangerous technology shortfall." Especially, he warns, if nuclear radar facilities are under attack, as they were recently, Russia could falsely assume it is being targeted by nuclear weapons and could unleash the full power of its 5,500+ warhead arsenal. Make that partial, it's still enough to not only destroy the United States, but the whole world. Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan jointly stated in 1985 that "nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought." Despite leaders of the five original nuclear weapon states explicitly reaffirming this in January 2022 prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many of those same leaders seem to have forgotten these wise words and have recklessly pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war. As former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev poignantly stated in the aftermath of the greatest previous nuclear crisis, "Peace is the most important goal in the world. If we don't have peace and the nuclear bombs start to fall, what difference will it make whether we are Communists or Catholic or capitalists or Chinese or Russians or Americans? Who could tell us apart? Who will be left to tell us apart?"It's time to change policy on Ukraine and to stop the escalation escalator before it is too late. A Swiss peace conference without Russia or China has done nothing to advance that goal. Nor have the recent G7 meetings in Italy, the NATO pronouncements, or, for that matter, the grandiose war games being conducted by both sides in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.Brazil and China recently issued a joint statement, declaring that "dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis." Their proposal includes a six-point plan for peace, with "no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting, and no further provocation." China says that the proposal has now received backing from at least 45 countries. This is a good place to start, as would be an emergency meeting of world leaders that the U.N. General Secretary Antonio Guterres could call for. Continuing to play nuclear roulette is not an acceptable path forward.

Russia's military assertion and direct interventions in its near-abroad have become one of the defining features of the 21st century. After years of being on the back foot in the aftermath of the Soviet Union's breakup, Moscow has been making a seemingly ever-expanding series of dramatic moves to reestablish some form of its lost security posture. It is worth asking whether behavior like this on the part of powers suspicious of the United States and its allies is an outlier or likely to increasingly become the norm, and why this might be so.Sumantra Maitra's recently published book 'The Sources of Russian Aggression: Is Russia a Realist Power?' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024) seeks to make sense of the motivations for this increasing turn to interventionism by Russia towards its neighbors. Preferring to focus on Stephen Walt's Balance of Threat theory, Maitra shows how Moscow came over time to the conclusions that currently fuel its policies today and how that decision making process was a logical outcome to the radical uncertainty of international politics, regardless of how one feels about the wisdom of specific Russian actions.According to Balance of Threat theory, the overriding security concern of states is less about the global balance of power (though this is a factor) than it is the situational relationship between countries and the specific threat, often in the form of attempts to change the status quo, posed by one to the other. Proximity, the state of relations, and historical grievance therefore combine to dictate what the primary counterbalancing position of a state will be. Russia, for example, sees the continuous expansion of the NATO alliance ever closer to its borders as an existential danger since the proximity of potentially hostile forces shows no sign of limiting its advances. On the flip side, but still in accordance with Balance of Threat theory, European states generally find the closer location of the Russian state far more threatening than the more distant but more powerful United States.Most Western audiences are probably used to Balance of Threat theory being deployed in a U.S.-based or North Atlantic-based context, but the interesting part of Maitra's work here is to show just how well its theories work for the largely land-based security concerns of the Russian state. As he writes, "Security considerations take precedence over ideology and ideological alliances survive longer when interests align." While China could, one day, threaten Russia, the constant alterations to the balance of power that is NATO's growth is seen as the more immediate danger. This danger, then, produces a desire to view Russia's vulnerable land borders and near abroad in zero-sum terms, particularly on its western and southwestern flanks. Maitra uses this understanding — that Balance of Threat is a mostly defensive posture (at least as seen by domestic Russian elites) — to emphasize an important and unique element of Moscow's calculations: the danger posed by "color revolutions." A sudden break with the past and the start of a new or revolutionary regime can always raise suspicions of its old allies due to its conscious break with established order. It is this insecurity, and the danger that a new regime may be able to appeal for support from abroad, that stokes fears of encirclement in Moscow. Thus, the threat of foreign influence over smaller nations bordering Russia is viewed as a direct attack on the Russian ability to maintain a secure frontier. Russia's first militarized strike abroad after relations broke down with the Western powers came in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008. Georgia's turn towards Western nations in the aftermath of the Rose Revolution saw the rise of the Saakashvili government and its push to overhaul much of Georgian politics at home and abroad. The Kremlin-backed government of Autonomous Republic of Adjara was replaced, and Moscow feared that Tbilisi intended to do the same to the other two autonomous regions in Georgia. Its influence already on the wane in Georgia proper, the Kremlin concluded it was better to salvage two regions rather than potentially lose it all. More important, however, was the calculus that creating an active conflict zone would scare NATO away from Georgia and deter other countries in the Russian orbit from making similar changes to their foreign policy. Though the war was a victory for Moscow, it exposed many problems in the Russian ability to project power far afield.Despite the fact that much of Maitra's text was written before the outbreak of full scale war in Ukraine in 2022, the nature of that country's position in Russian strategy is a major theme of the book, and the strategic assumptions about Russian denial strategy in their near-abroad made by the author hold up. Going back to the Orange Revolution in 2005 and on through the Maidan and Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russian activities in the country have taken on the aspect of "strategic denial." This follows as a sequel to the events in Georgia. The overriding fear among the Russian elite was that shrinking influence in Ukraine would mean the entire country could become a NATO proxy where nothing, not even perhaps the primary anchorage of the Black Sea fleet, could be salvaged. And with this fear came a certainty in Moscow that every domestic upheaval in the country was a plot designed to bring about the loss of any sphere of influence whatsoever. Better, the Russians came to think, to retain part of a country than to see a loss of influence over the whole.Maitra leaves his readers with a warning: rhetoric about the specific nature of the Putin government is unhelpful since the issues of Russia's desire to retain predominance in its near abroad are geographic. This means they are effectively timeless and not limited to one regime. A Russian state under a more open or democratic government is still a Russian state with a desire to retain strategic autonomy in its own neighborhood as a way of maintaining its position against the other great powers. These issues are not going anywhere anytime soon, so it is worth understanding the actual motivations behind the Russian foreign policy establishment as opposed to framing the conflict as something that can be dealt with in short order with moralistic rhetoric about the clash of the "authoritarian" and "democratic" worlds. The failure to account for the well-established fact that great powers seek spheres of influence shows a disconnect with many in the North Atlantic alliance with the actual motivations of statecraft as it is practiced in much of the world.What delving into this one specific example while using an international relations perspective – that of balance of threat theory – makes clear is that intentions do not matter when large security alliances expand. What ends up expanding is the uncertainty they bring ever closer to a rival power's center of gravity. Should the alliance network emphasize a values conformity among its members, the chances that a government would radically reorient its traditional, regionally rooted diplomatic orientations in a way other powers located nearby might interpret as hostile increases. Indeed, this process of action-reaction has other applications beyond Russia, The logic of NATO, both as a security and as an almost missionary-like alliance seems to be repeating in other parts of the world where the United States seeks to shore up its security arrangements. By invoking the idea of permanent commitments around shared values, the avenues of diplomacy are reduced rather than increased, and the risk of offensive action by rival powers escalates.

The latest addition to PBS's American Masters series — "The Incomparable William F. Buckley, Jr." — makes for engrossing viewing, which isn't surprising since Buckley himself was compulsively watchable (and readable).The story of Buckley's life and career has been well and often told, not least by the protagonist himself. A much anticipated biography two decades in the making by Sam Tanenhaus is expected early next year. A globe-trotting journalist, editor, author, television personality, friend of Ronald and Nancy Reagan (among many others), and founder of the conservative magazine National Review, Buckley was, in the estimation of the late Dartmouth professor and longtime National Review senior editor Jeffrey Hart, "the most important journalist since Walter Lippmann." "In fact," continued Hart, "Buckley's career was more impressive."Maybe so — after all, what started in 1955 as a niche magazine with 16,000 subscribers, transformed over the ensuing decades into a big business, which came to be known colloquially as Conservative Inc., replete with multi-million dollar think tanks, obscenely well compensated radio and TV personalities, and presidential candidates seeking its imprimatur. There is of course no question that Lippmann and Buckley's respective audiences were immense. But the comparison to Lippmann has its limits. Of the two, Lippmann had an embarrassingly better track record on U.S. foreign policy, for example, particularly when it came to the Vietnam War and the Cold War.National Review's coverage of the Cold War was colored, and not for the better, by a roster of ex-Communists and intellectuals with ties and sympathies that extended beyond the Iron Curtain, to what became known as the Captive Nations. The philosopher Hannah Arendt observed that the postwar brand of anti-Communism "was originally the brainchild of former Communists who needed a new ideology by which to explain and reliably foretell the course of history."One of the things the documentary does well is demonstrate why the Vietnam War was the principal reason the now-infamous televised "debate" between Buckley and the novelist and critic Gore Vidal turned so ugly so quickly. After all, as the documentary notes, "Buckley was absolutely convinced that Vietnam was a crucial battle in the Cold War against Communism."And within Conservative Inc., no myth has been as unassailable as the idea that the Cold War was not only "won" by the United States but that it was "won" by Buckley's hearty band of conservatives. The columnist (and former Washington editor of NR) George Will summed up the prevailing view this way:"…Without Bill Buckley, no National Review. Without National Review, no Goldwater nomination. Without the Goldwater nomination, no conservative takeover of the Republican Party. Without that, no Reagan. Without Reagan, no victory in the Cold War. Therefore, Bill Buckley won the Cold War."But Will's reasoning suffers, as Buckley himself might have put it, from the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy.The triumphant reaction by NR to the end of the Cold War was noted with distaste by the great Hungarian-American historian John Lukacs in a letter to the man generally recognized as the "father" of containment, George F. Kennan, in September 1991,"Buckley gloats in the last number of his magazine: 'We won!" "We won!' He repeats that all over again, etc. etc."The idea that "We won, we won," was no doubt sincerely believed by Buckley and his followers, but it is, alas, an idea that is both ahistorical and dangerous — as we have come to see in the more than three decades since the end of the Cold War.***Once the Cold War ended, Buckley and his movement might have done well to reconsider the utility of continuing their alliance with the neoconservatives — after all, the rationale for so doing pretty much evaporated with the Soviet menace. By 1992, it was clear that a conservative alternative to the Cold War policy of global hegemony was emerging thanks to the insurgent candidacy of Patrick Buchanan. From the vantage point of 2024, it seems clear that for many conservatives, Buchanan's was the path not taken — tragically so. Instead of tending to our own garden after 1989, Washington, with the enthusiastic support of Conservative Inc., embarked on a frenetic campaign of ruinous overseas misadventures from which we have yet to disengage. For the conservative movement, the first post-Cold War decade saw fusionists continue their stranglehold on domestic policy, while the neocons grabbed the initiative on foreign policy. All the while, Buchanan became a prophet without honor in his own country.The American Conservative magazine co-founder Scott McConnell noted in a talk given in 2014 that as the Cold War was reaching its denouement, Buckley decided, thanks to the influence of the neocon power couple Norman Podhoretz and Midge Decter, "To allow neoconservatives to regulate the terms of Mideast discussion in his own magazine, National Review." The consequences for the magazine and the movement were profound. Thereafter, noted McConnell, "…The neoconservatives essentially won the right to supervise Israel-related discussions in National Review…Thereafter, any young Conservative knew the rules - you'd best be sufficiently pro-Israel to satisfy Midge and Norman if you wanted to advance."PBS ignores this history, making it seem as though the most interesting thing about Buckley in his final decade was his admission, made on the Charlie Rose Show, that he wanted to die. Whatever the (questionable) novelty of such sentiments by someone who had a) just lost his wife of 57 years and b) an advanced case of emphysema, Buckley's politics toward the end of his life became far more interesting than one might come to understand if they relied solely on PBS.Writing shortly after his death in 2008, Buckley biographer John Judis observed that, "Buckley chided conservatives or neoconservatives who refused to recognize that circumstances had changed — who invoked the old bogeymen or invented new ones." After visiting Cuba in 1998, Buckley even praised that great hero of foreign policy restrainers, John Quincy Adams, who, according to Buckley, "[r]eminded us that though we are friends of liberty everywhere, we are custodians only of our own."Indeed, thanks to the Iraq War and the mendacity of his old allies, the neocons who promoted it so ardently, the scales appeared to have fallen from Buckley's eyes. As Jeffrey Hart wrote in the American Conservative, "Buckley had expressed doubts about the Iraq War from the beginning ... During the last two years of his life, Bill Buckley understood the facts about Iraq and their implications." An exchange with with George Will on ABC in 2005 offered a sense of Buckley's thinking post-Iraq:Will: Today, we have a very different kind of foreign policy. It's called Wilsonian. And the premise of the Bush doctrine is that America must spread democracy, because our national security depends upon it. And America can spread democracy. It knows how. It can engage in national building. This is conservative or not?Buckley: It's not at all conservative. It's anything but conservative. It's not conservative at all, inasmuch as conservatism doesn't invite unnecessary challenges. It insists on coming to terms with the world as it is…The story of Buckley's tenacious engagement with the war and his break with the neocons is a fascinating one, though one that PBS either missed or left on the cutting room floor.As Tanenhaus recounted in The New Republic in 2007:"Buckley has faulted Bush for trying to go it alone in Iraq and chided neoconservatives who"simply overrate the reach of U.S. power and influence."….When I asked him recently if Iraq is the Republicans' Vietnam, he said, 'Absolutely.'"It is arguable that on matters of war and peace Buckley ended up holding positions closer to those held by his nemesis Gore Vidal than the Republican standard bearers in 2008 and 2012. Which is to say that by the end of his life, with regard to U.S. foreign policy, Buckley was getting it right.

During a speech in Beirut on Friday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that Iran will surely retaliate for last week's attack, presumably by Israel, on its consulate in Damascus that led to the death of seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including senior Al-Quds commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi. In a televised address marking "Quds Day," Nasrallah described the attack as a "turning point," warning that any scenario was possible in its aftermath."Everyone must prepare themselves, arrange their matters and be careful when the Iranian side responds to the targeting of the Iranian consulate and to the Zionist enemy's possible response to the Iranian response," he said. Nasrallah's statements are significant in that they indicate a readiness for the first time since the Gaza war broke out after Hamas' October 7 attack to intervene massively should a wider war erupt between Iran and Israel, a message which appeared directed at the United States as much as Israel itself."Sayyed Nasrallah's statements were also intended for the Americans," according to Ali Murad, a columnist with the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, in remarks to RS. "The message is that Washington must rein in its Israeli ally after Iran's response, otherwise Hezbollah will take action without constraints should Israel attack Iran." That Hezbollah will intervene should a broader conflagration between Israel and Iran erupt appears to be a given. The Lebanese movement is by far Iran's closest ideological ally. Given that it relies on Tehran for its funding and weapons, Hezbollah also sees ties with the Islamic Republic through a strategic and even existential lens.More importantly, Hezbollah is Iran's most powerful military ally, hence its intervention — should a wider war be waged on Iran — will likely have a major impact. According to a recent report published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the movement can easily be described as world's most heavily armed non-state actor, with some estimates pointing to up to 200,000 missiles and rockets in its arsenal.The Lebanese Israeli frontNasrallah also appeared to respond to recent Israeli threats of escalation against Lebanon, warning for the first time since the outbreak of the latest round of fighting along the Israeli-Lebanon border that Hezbollah has used only a fraction of its capabilities."We have not used the main weapons nor the main forces and we have not called in the reserves," he noted.These remarks followed the announcement by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of the start of a new phase in the military operations against Hezbollah. During a tour of the Israeli northern front, Gallant outlined a pivot towards a more offensive tempo, promising to strike Hezbollah "wherever the organization operates, in Beirut, Damascus and in more distant places." The Israeli minister's statements came as Israel has upped the ante in its operations against the Lebanese movement. Israel announced this week the assassination of a Hezbollah commander whom it said was a member of the movement's elite Radwan forces. An air raid also targeted what Israel said were Hezbollah air defense positions in the Eastern city of Baalbek. The attack came after the group shot down an Israeli drone.According to experts, Nasrallah's apparent response to Israeli escalation on the Lebanese front aims to maintain a relative level of deterrence. "Hezbollah continuously and gradually reveals its military capabilities and its high level of readiness to strengthen deterrence against the Israeli military," Lebanese researcher Hussam Matar, told RS. Matar is close to the Shiite movement and author of the book "The Soft Power War Between the US and Hezbollah." He added, "Hence the reference to capabilities not yet used are a message which aims to shape the perceptions of the enemy regarding the costs of escalation."While Israel's latest military operations clearly mark an escalation, they remain below the threshold that would essentially force Hezbollah's hand. They largely continue to be characterized by targeted strikes against foot soldiers and field commanders from the movement.Such military action remains a far cry from the Dahiya Doctrine according to which Israel would launch a large scale offensive designed to destroy civilian infrastructure, a tactic employed during its 2006 war against Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut and again in its latest war against Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. As long as Israel continues to operate below this threshold, any escalation on its part is likely to be met with the kind of calculated retaliation that has characterized Hezbollah's strategy in the current conflict."The pattern of attacks and counterattacks over the past six months clearly demonstrates that Hezbollah is not seeking a broader war with Israel," explained Beirut based analyst with the Atlantic Council Nicholas Blanford in an interview with RS. "At present it is mainly Israel that is setting the escalatory cycle."However, a "Dahiya Doctrine" scenario against Lebanon cannot be entirely ruled out, particularly given the Israeli government's recent escalatory operations, notably the attack on the Iranian consulate. But its implementation faces serious challenges given that Hezbollah will almost certainly respond in kind. The firepower unleashed by the Lebanese movement's missile arsenal could overwhelm Israel's air defense capabilities, as impressive as they are, and cause severe and unprecedented damage to Israel's homefront. Israeli officials have recently warned of such consequences amid the latest escalation. According to Yoram Laredo, the head of Israel's National Management Emergency Authority, a full-scale conflict with Hezbollah would cause great damage to the Israeli economy, in addition to nation-wide power outages. Given the relationship between Hezbollah and its allied militias in Syria and Iraq, a full-blown conflict between the Lebanese movement and Israel would also likely spread to these countries, both of which are home to U.S. bases, thus increasing the risks of Washington being dragged into such a conflict."With the possible spread of any Hezbollah-Israel confrontation into Syria and Iraq, the U.S. might find itself more deeply involved at that time," senior adviser at Gulf State Analytics Theodore Karasik told RS. Washington, he added, will be "challenged about which steps to take next."Hezbollah's allies in Iraq and Syria form part of a broader network of ideological Shiite allies which also includes the Houthis in Yemen. Given this ideological affinity, the actions these players have taken in support of Hamas and other factions fighting Israel in Gaza will likely pale in comparison to what they may do should the Israeli military resort to a Gaza-like war plan against Lebanon. "In case a full-scale war was to erupt between Hezbollah and Israel, Yemen and its leadership will stand with the party (Hezbollah) militarily, politically and economically," said a Houthi source who requested not to be named in a statement to RS. "The military intervention will be without limits and according to what the party requests, and may include missile and drone attacks, along with the sending of foot soldiers."Such statements mean that Israel will likely not only face additional firepower to the already formidable arsenal in Hezbollah's possession but may also face more manpower. This latter factor would represent an especially acute concern for Israel should it carry out a land operation in Lebanon, given the shortage of troops within its own ranks.Against this backdrop it's possible that the Israeli military would be unable to withstand such a war without the United States becoming an active participant. This is supported by U.S. intelligence assessments warning that the Israeli military will be overstretched should a full-fledged war with Hezbollah erupt, making it unlikely that Israel will succeed in such a conflict.Should the U.S. intervene directly to support Israel under such scenario, American military bases and personnel would likely become targets in places like Iraq and Syria.

"America was ready for renewal. The world was there to remake. There were at least two more years to get it done."So concludes Alex Ward's recent book "The Internationalists: The Fight to Restore American Foreign Policy after Trump," a detailed account of President Joe Biden's first two years in office. Ward's deeply reported narrative ends in late April of 2023, with national security adviser Jake Sullivan delivering a speech at the Brookings Institution that symbolically brought the neoliberal era to an end.The story that Ward — national security reporter at Politico — tells is a compelling one. Biden's foreign policy team — led by consummate DC insiders who dubbed themselves "the A-team" — understood their mandate as working to bring Washington out of the abyss of the Trump years. Watching Donald Trump win the White House had led to a soul-searching moment for Democrats in the foreign policy establishment, pushing those who eventually became Biden's braintrust to embrace a new paradigm. "Sullivan had changed during the Trump years after working to define a progressive foreign policy, one that would appeal to denizens of the heartland as well as the well-heeled and well-intentioned urban elites," writes Ward. "The Democratic candidate, having watched his opponent in the Oval Office and the campaign trail, had also come to the conclusion that the usual message on foreign policy needed a first-page rewrite." The party would work to overturn what they perceived as the ills of Trumpism by re-embracing international allies and partners, and restoring American global leadership of the global "rules-based order." But, Ward writes, "force would be used only when the foundations of the world that the United State had helped build since 1945 were at risk. Otherwise, the guns would be holstered." The theme that Sullivan and others settled on to define Biden's foreign policy was "a foreign policy for the middle class." At times, Ward treats this approach with a critical eye, pointing to a number of inconsistencies in administration policy. But the ultimate narrative arc in the book is more clean: After a rocky start, with the nadir being the courageous but poorly managed conclusion to the United States' two-decade war in Afghanistan, the Biden administration recovered its mojo with its response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Despite some bumps in the road, Biden and his team had begun to rebuild U.S. foreign policy, with a renewed focus on working with allies, upholding democratic norms, and protecting the so-called rules-based international order.That story has changed dramatically since the book's conclusion, which brings the reader up to April 2023, nearly a year ago. A lot has happened since then, and not so much in favor of Ward's narrative arc. If it were a classic VH-1 Face the Music episode, this is the exact point where the clouds roll in on our A-Team and everything goes careening off track, perhaps forever.And so, the response to the war in Ukraine is presented by Ward as a success. The methodical and comprehensive preparations in the months leading up to the invasion serve as a foil to the haphazard approach that marked the withdrawal from Afghanistan. According to Ward, the Biden team prepared for many possible contingencies, even though the political leadership in Ukraine was doubtful of U.S. intelligence that suggested an invasion was likely.The final chapter of "The Internationalists," before the epilogue that lays out Sullivan's speech at Brookings, features Biden's triumphant visit to Kyiv. During his address in the Ukrainian capital, says Ward, the president "wanted to prove that Bidenism worked — and the world just needed more of it." For Biden, Russia's invasion had served as a global test of democracy, and democracy had prevailed. Over the last year, however, the war has reached a "stalemate" — others say a war of attrition, with Moscow winning it. Despite these changing realities, the Biden administration has proven unwilling and unable to shift its strategy or messaging away from an understanding of the war as a fight for democracy that can only be won through military means. The message is losing favor in Washington, particularly among congressional Republicans, and politics in Washington have moved slowly against continued aid for Ukraine.Meanwhile, in its reaction to the Hamas incursion into Israel on October 7, the Biden administration has squandered any global legitimacy and consistency it had built in its first two-plus years in power, and undermined its message on the war in Ukraine. In just over five months, the White House has laid bare the hypocrisy and inconsistency of its stated commitment to human rights and the international order and left Washington isolated on the world stage. Things were different in May 2021 when war broke out in Gaza. Just like today, Biden chose to fully back Israel's war publicly while reportedly pressuring the Israeli prime minister behind closed doors. Biden chose to negotiate "methodically and quietly" with Benjamin Netanyahu and opted against playing a significant public role. The White House, according to Ward, welcomed the pressure from their left flank that played a role in the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, reached after 11 days of conflict. It was, according to the author, indicative of Biden's broader foreign policy vision: "Core issues that challenge the world order or America's leadership get his full effort. Everything else, the United States will help if it can."The response to that war is treated by the administration as a success, as it helped keep the conflict relatively short and contained. The opposite has resulted from that strategy today. Biden continues to publicly back Israel's war, both rhetorically and materially. Despite a breathless string of reports that Washington has privately expressed its "frustration" or "concern" with Tel Aviv, Israel's war continues seemingly without restriction as the Palestinian death toll surpasses 30,000. The White House has been largely dismissive of progressives calling for a sustainable ceasefire, and the risk of a regional conflagration persists.The Biden administration's response to what is happening in Gaza has also blatantly betrayed any ostensible commitment to human rights and international law, which had been so important to the White House when it came to Ukraine. "The reason the administration was set to dive headfirst into intense preparations was to defend the rules-based international order," Ward writes about Biden's mindset after receiving intelligence that Russia might go into Ukraine in late 2021. "If Putin succeeded in wiping Ukraine off the map, the world America helped build would crumble on this administration's watch." The White House has consistently made the case that the stakes of Russia's invasion of Ukraine are the future of democracy itself. The Biden administration has lambasted Moscow's violations of international law. In April 2022, Biden even accused Vladimir Putin of committing genocide in Ukraine. Yet when the International Court of Justice ruled earlier this year that it was "plausible" that Israel was carrying out a genocide in Gaza, the White House called the accusation "unfounded." Administration officials have consistently refused to condemn alleged Israeli war crimes, including the bombing of hospitals and the forced displacement and starvation of the civilian population. Instead of pushing for a ceasefire, the U.S. has continued to support Israel's war. Biden himself often ties the wars in Ukraine and Gaza into one larger, global project, including the ongoing effort to pass a spending package that combines $60 billion in aid for Kyiv with $17 billion for Tel Aviv.In addition to Joe Biden's campaign slogan of "a foreign policy for the middle class," Ward tries to tack on a few more principles that could define the president's approach. "He had developed a doctrine of sorts over two years in office," Ward writes. "Stand true with allies. Defend democracy. Avoid escalatory conflict. Preserve the rules-based order." On almost every count, he has failed to live up to those lofty goals.

In his seminal 1957 book "The Copernican Revolution," Thomas Kuhn writes that Copernicus' "astronomical innovation" was characterized by a "plurality" that "transcends the competence of the individual scholar." Studying the Copernican Revolution, he said, provides an "ideal opportunity to discover how and with what effect the concepts of many different fields are woven into a single fabric of thought."There is a similar plurality of thought present in "How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare" (Stanford University Press) by Narges Bajoghli, Vali Nasr, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, and Ali Vaez. Like astronomy, the study of sanctions transcends the competence of the individual scholar. The four authors bring diverse expertise to the task of understanding the workings of sanctions. Bajoghli is a sociologist, Nasr is a political scientist, Salehi-Isfahani is an economist, and Vaez trained as a nuclear physicist before turning towards security issues.Studies on the efficacy of sanctions policies tend to focus on policy design — are they unilateral or multilateral measures, are they are primary or secondary sanctions, and what sectors, entities, or individuals do they target? In these studies, the country imposing sanctions is placed at the center of the system, exerting forces on the sanctioned countries in its orbit. The Copernican aspect of "How Sanctions Work" is its insistence that a true understanding of sanctions efficacy arises not from an analysis of the policies, but rather from an analysis of the society and economy on which they are imposed.Setting out their aim for the book, the authors declare that "policymakers and pundits" inquiring "do sanctions work?" are asking the wrong question. That question fixates on the power of the sanctioning country and has an obvious answer. "When a country with the size and economic power of the United States imposes harsh sanctions on a country, of course they 'work': sanctions create massive disruptions in the everyday lives of citizens, impact the political culture of the targeted state, and induce shocks in the economy."The better question, the authors contend, is "do sanctions work the way they 'should'?" This inquiry puts "behavioral changes in targeted states" at the center of the model. It also allows for a more sensitive examination of how sanctions may harm ordinary people, an insight no doubt furnished by the authors' personal connections to Iran.Until recently, Western policymakers have maintained a dogmatic belief in the efficacy of sanctions despite the fact that they had clearly failed to achieve their intended policy outcomes in most countries on which they had been applied, most notably Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, and Russia. But, like St. Augustine, who counseled against trying to understand the workings of the heavens, policymakers committed to sanctions policy felt it was "not necessary to probe into the nature of things."In 2018, the Trump administration unilaterally imposed "maximum pressure" sanctions on Iran, raising new concerns about the abuse of sanctions. But even as many former sanctions practitioners warned about the overuse of economic coercion, it was clear that sanctions would remain a mainstay of U.S. foreign policy. As Dan Drezner has observed, "two decades of war, recession, polarization, and now pandemic have dented American power. Frustrated U.S. presidents are left with fewer arrows in their quiver, and they are quick to reach for the easy, available tools of sanctions."In 2021, spurred by the Trump administration's brazen use of sanctions, which had frustrated allies and provoked adversaries, the Biden administration undertook an interagency review of its sanctions policy with the aim of ensuring that "economic and financial sanctions remain an effective tool of U.S. national security and foreign policy now and in the future." The review set out steps to "modernize sanctions," including by ensuring that sanctions policy is informed by "rigorous economic analysis, technical expertise, and intelligence to ensure that they are the right tool in our national security arsenal to pursue the identified objective." In May 2023, the Treasury Department Office of Foreign Asset Control hired a chief sanctions economist for the first time. Belatedly, policymakers in Washington are beginning to probe into the nature of their sanctions policies.A similar effort to better understand sanctions is also underway in sanctioned countries themselves. Despite the tremendous impact of sanctions on economic and social circumstances in Iran, it is only in the last few years that sanctions have been studied on their own terms. Prominent think tanks in Iran now have dedicated sanctions experts whose task is to understand how U.S. sanctions work and assess the costs borne by Iran's economy.For the analysts in Washington and Tehran newly evaluating sanctions and their effects, How Sanctions Work is a valuable resource. By centering the targeted country in the discussion of sanctions efficacy, Bajoghli, Nasr, Salehi-Isfahani, and Vaez demonstrate what a case study on sanctions should look like. To answer the question of how sanctions should work, it is necessary to describe how they are perceived in the target country.The book's first chapter does not begin with a discussion of what sanctions are, how they are designed, or their economic effects. Instead, we read about Fariba, a retired teacher, who recounts the precarious position she faces in Iran's sanctioned economy. Fariba once "led a solidly middle-class life in Tehran" but now constantly worries about how to get her diminished income to "stretch as far as possible."When in the third chapter we finally turn to the impact of sanctions on Iran's economy, we can interpret the assembled statistics with greater sensitivity. For example, when we read that "between 2011 and 2019, some 9 million people lost their middle-class status and joined the ranks of the lower-middle class and perhaps even the poor," we think back to Fariba and her struggle to make ends meet. This is the formal innovation that makes "How Sanctions Work" an important contribution. The authors are not presenting a great deal of new information, but rather presenting existing research in a new way. The book emerges from a series of research papers commissioned by the authors and published by Johns Hopkins SAIS (I was the author of one of those papers). The book also draws on eighty "long-form oral history interviews," including with Iranian researchers studying sanctions impacts. The authors weave together the findings of these papers and interviews with insights from the growing body of sanctions research, creating a first-of-its-kind cosmology of sanctions—a description of their forces, the bodies acted upon, and the orbits and trajectories altered.Again, a parallel can be drawn between "How Sanctions Work" and Copernicus' "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres," which Kuhn describes as a "relatively staid, sober, and unrevolutionary work." For Kuhn, the book's significance lies "less in what it says itself than in what it caused others to say. In other words, Copernicus had written a "revolution-making rather than revolutionary text." Kuhn's later scholarship established how the application of new "paradigms" advances scientific knowledge. Without the right paradigm, those who wish to innovate, whether scientists or policymakers, will not even know the right questions to ask."How Sanctions Work" concludes by calling for a paradigm shift in our appraisals of sanctions policy. "With the United States sanctioning larger economies such as Russia, and threatening more punishing sanctions on a country like China, it behooves us all— as scholars, policymakers, and concerned citizens — to critically examine economic sanctions. Put another way, it is time to understand how sanctions really work."

The Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and their missile and drone launches toward Israel have gone a long way to restoring a sense of national pride among many Yemenis. This, combined with growing support from other political groups within Yemen, and in the region, mean attacks will not likely end soon — despite sustained U.S. airstrikes against them.Since January 13, the U.S. and the UK have carried out eight rounds of strikes on targets in Houthi-controlled northwest Yemen. This followed multiple warnings by Washington for the Houthis to end their attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. There are now indications that the Biden administration is preparing to carry out airstrikes for an indefinite period whilst expanding the target list.Sustained airstrikes will slowly degrade some of the Houthis' military capacity, especially their ability to launch anti-ship missiles. However, they will do little to stop the groups's use of one-way attack drones (OADs) and marine mines to target ships. The OADs and the facilities used to manufacture and assemble them are spread across northwest Yemen. Most of these facilities are either underground or located in dense urban areas. Even with a continued air campaign against them, the Houthis are in a position to keep menacing international shipping with OADs and mines for months if not years.Most significantly, Western airstrikes risk strengthening the Houthis' grip on power. Many of the Houthis' former enemies are openly and covertly expressing their support for the group now. The Houthi attacks on what they describe as Israeli and U.S.-vessels resonates with many Yemenis, and indeed, many people around the world who are decrying the Israeli actions in Gaza. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Yemenis routinely gather on Fridays in the capital of Sana'a to protest the Israeli invasion of Gaza and, more recently, U.S. and UK airstrikes. From the perspective of many Yemenis, the Houthis possess the moral high-ground, and the power of that narrative, regardless of its veracity, should not be underestimated. The Houthis' determination to lift the siege of Gaza of course is replete with irony given that they persist in blockading the Yemeni city of Taiz.However, the Houthis' domestic enemies are not making the mistake of underestimating the power of the Houthi narrative. There are indications that oppositional figures, from members of Islah to tribes and sections of tribes in contested areas, are aligning with them. Multiple Yemeni analysts and former government officials speaking to this author indicated that some factions within Islah are now providing material support to the Houthis in the form of weapons transfers. Arms smuggling is big business in Yemen. Almost all armed groups regardless of their political alignment are involved in facilitating the movement of arms and materiel into, around, and out of Yemen. It is noteworthy that the majority of the Houthis' imported weapons, as well as parts and components for their missile and drone programs, transit territory under the nominal control of Yemen's internationally recognized government (IRG). Endemic corruption and incompetence among the Houthis' primary domestic foes have, more than any other factor, contributed to their rise to power and to their continuing grip on power. The IRG's inability to grapple with corruption, including the arms trade, and provide predictable levels of security consistently undermines its authority.By comparison, Houthi-controlled areas are generally more secure and enjoy greater levels of predictability. However, this comes at a cost. The Houthis' various security services are harsh, they routinely arrest and torture opponents, and they often act with impunity. The Houthis also routinely seize businesses and property and are also engaged in illicit trade of all kinds. However, in comparison with many of their foes, corruption within Houthi-controlled areas generally serves the Houthi organization as a whole rather than particular individuals.While U.S.-led airstrikes may be justifiable, they do nothing to address the fundamental and growing power and reputational imbalances between the Houthis and their domestic rivals. Instead, airstrikes risk exacerbating these imbalances by compelling more militias to align themselves with the Houthis who are increasingly viewed as victors over not only Saudi Arabia, but also over much of the West.The Houthis' major rivals in Yemen are struggling with how to align themselves against what are viewed as Israeli atrocities in Gaza and now U.S./ UK airstrikes, while maintaining their opposition to the Houthis. The IRG, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), and Tariq Saleh's National Resistance Forces (NRF) are all finding it difficult to create narratives can simultaneously condemn Israeli actions in Gaza and the Houthis' attacks on shipping.U.S.-led airstrikes on targets in Houthi-controlled Yemen have greatly complicated matters for all of the Houthis' domestic rivals. The acceptance of U.S. military aid—nothing remains secret in Yemen for long—much less the covert or overt presence of U.S. soldiers or contractors in areas controlled by the STC, IRG, and or the NRF could lead to them being painted as Washington collaborators and, by extension, linked to Israel. The only long-term answer to mitigating the threat posed by the Houthis are measured, monitored, and carefully designed programs that slowly build the capacity of viable IRG-linked forces to check the Houthis with both better governance and effective well-led fighting forces. But such programs are exceedingly difficult to execute in the current environment.Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates both provided hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, arms, and training for the various armed groups aligned with the IRG. In some cases, especially in the Hadramawt and in parts of Yemen's southern Red Sea coast with the NRF, effective fighting forces were developed. However, by and large, there is little to show for Saudi and Emirati efforts. This is why both countries, but especially Saudi Arabia, have curtailed funding and support for their various proxies. In fact, Saudi Arabia has moved away from any kinetic involvement in Yemen. This is partly the result of Saudi Arabia's inability to get the IRG and aligned militias to fundamentally reform. It is also partly due to the Houthis' ability to target Saudi Arabia with drones and missiles. Instead of pouring more money into the black hole that is a war in Yemen, Riyadh is returning to its tried-and-tested policy of appeasement, tribal engagement, and the cultivation of long-term assets in Yemen. The Saudis have already effectively made their peace with the Houthis. It is notable that the Houthis are no longer launching cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia is not allowing its airspace to be used for any attacks on Houthi targets. Saudi Arabia's intervention in Yemen achieved none of the stated aims, and the Saudis, indeed the world, are now grappling with the blowback. Military engagement alone will not defeat the Houthis. Their ancestors fought off the Ottoman Turks multiple times, the Egyptians, the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the Saudis. They possess an innate understanding of what T.E. Lawrence came to understand: Maximum disorder is its equilibrium.Mitigating the threat posed by the Houthis will take years of careful engagement with communities and groups that oppose them, while also forcing the IRG and aligned forces to develop cohesive chains of command, counter corruption, and to meaningfully build governmental capacity. If the IRG and the other opposition groups do not reform and develop the capacity to consistently govern, no amount of support from external backers will prevent them from being defeated by the Houthis and their growing list of new allies in the years ahead.

One
reason the nearly-now-concluded 2024 First Extraordinary Session of the
Louisiana Legislature failed was Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and the
GOP-supermajority in each legislative chamber scored an own goal in
congressional reapportionment that, instead of ending litigation, only will
increase it with them in a weaker position.

The main reason for the session Landry stated as congressional
reapportionment, in response to a Middle District of Louisiana court case
where, at present, the presiding judge said that unless the state acted to
change its current distribution of one-out-of-six majority-minority districts,
in a state where the population is about a third identifying as black, a trial
on the merits of the existing map would occur and likely end with the judge voiding
it and imposing her own plan. That configuration likely would have followed
closely the preferred plan of the special interest plaintiffs which would have
created districts more in violation of traditional principles of reapportionment
than any from the past 30 years which almost certainly would see GOP Rep. Julia Letlow ousted in favor of a
black Democrat.

Landry and his two main water carriers for his
plan SB 8,
its author Republican state Sen. Glen
Womack and House and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Beau Beaullieu,
surrendered to this viewpoint of judicial inevitability. Braying over and over
that it would be better to pick their own poison, SB 8 capitulated to the two
M/M scheme but instead reconfigured districts to put Republican Rep. Garret Graves at risk, who is
on the outs with Landry by working behind the scenes to put up an opponent
against him in last year's election and with other members of the state's GOP
congressional delegation because he worked against the eventual process that
brought on a Louisiana Speaker of the House.

They and the GOP majorities that passed SB 8 didn't
need to do any of this: with at
least two contestable avenues that could have had higher courts overturn the
extant ruling – that the basis of that decision was ripe for reversal because
of the Kavanaugh
concurrence, which the state actually is employing to defend itself in a similar
suit concerning the state's legislative districts, and because of circuit court
disagreements, one of which came from the Fifth Circuit's handling of the case
about the use of a private
right of action. Indeed, there wasn't even an imperative under law, despite
the assertions of Landry, Womack, and Beaullieu as well as legislative Democrats
and the plaintiffs, to create two M/M districts, as not only does Section 2 of the Voting
Rights Act instruct that it does not require the proportion of M/M seats to
match roughly the racial distribution of the population, but also as no court
in the country has ruled that a plan that didn't create roughly equal
proportions had to do that, with the operative language from a panel
of Alabama-based circuit and district judges used to date as the judicial
guidepost for cases like Louisiana's reading "any remedial plan will need
to include two districts in which Black[sic] voters either comprise a
voting-age majority or something quite close to it" (emphasis added).

But they did it. This leaves the ball in the court
of the plaintiffs, who can decide to accept the plan and dismiss the case, or
if they don't then the court likely steams ahead by bringing into effect by
fiat their desired plan anyway and neuters the entire effort by the majority of
Republicans.

However, if the plaintiffs do accept, then the
2024 boundaries become that plan, and the GOP gives away a seat to Democrats,
even if contested by a private party, for the same reason the current
boundaries otherwise would have stayed in place if left unchanged: the
judiciary is reluctant to alter electoral boundaries through litigation too close
to an election. Basically, by this action Landry et al. gave away a
congressional seat for Democrats in 2024, as opposed to if they had they passed
a plan with a single M/M district and another opportunity district – one that
has a plurality-minority population distribution which is the "something quite close
to it" – or with two opportunity districts, as HB 14 by
Republican state Rep. Mike Echols
offered. In that instance, Republicans could have had a shot at winning one or
both districts.

Of course, the plaintiffs would have turned that
one down. But that then would have led to the state challenging the subsequent imposed
map, and on the basis of the Kavanaugh concurrence and no private right of
action where the former stands a decent chance of prevailing, that would have
overturned the plaintiffs' victory. And this likely would have happened in
2025, keeping the additional Republican district. Yet Landry and most of the
members of the GOP legislative party stubbornly asserted that the district
court's ruling was sacrosanct, set in stone, and had to be followed.

And, not only did the GOP throw away this
possibility of an eventual ruling on the merits preserving the current map, the
SB 8 map created itself likely is unconstitutional. That was drilled home in testimony
to members of H&GA by Paul Hurd, the lawyer who actually was involved
in early 1990s legal actions that ended up twice invalidating Louisiana plans where
race unconstitutionally played too large of a role in mapping. He estimated
that the new M/M district was about 90 percent similar to the one struck down,
and similarly infirm.

Expect if the plaintiffs accept the new map for a challenge
to it to come on the same basis – don't be surprised if allies of Graves are
involved – and succeed, although it likely would mean a 2024 cycle under SB 8.  If by then another challenge from somewhere else
springs successfully the Kavanaugh concurrence, that would invite the GOP
Legislature to remap again back to a single M/M – although this possibility itself
is a little uncertain because of the evolving jurisprudence around the concept
of "retrogression,"
or drawing fewer M/M districts than existed before and whether that is
constitutionally permissible.

Keep in mind, however, that the state has
handcuffed itself in restoring a single M/M map because of the result of the
session, and in fact put itself in the absurd position of a GOP governor,
attorney general, and Legislature defending a map putting their party at a
disadvantage. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs have a decision to make: take a two M/M
map even if not their preferred and much like one previously declared
unconstitutional for at least one cycle but hope it survives, or turn it down
to suffer a one M/M map in 2024 but roll the dice that the Kavanaugh concurrence
doesn't flip the previous decision and they get their preferred two M/M map in
2026.

In summary, absent a desire to ensure Graves rather
than Letlow was put at risk even as either being put at risk was far from
certain under the current plan or HB 14, there was no good reason for the GOP
governor and legislative majorities to give away a congressional district to Democrats
as early as 2024. Forcing a court's two M/M plan imposition in fact would have increased
the chances that map would be overturned eventually, compared to forging ahead
with a constitutionally-questionable volunteered two M/M plan that may get
rejected anyway.

Unless the plot all along was to offer up an infirmed
plan ripe for ruin as a way to buy time to the jurisprudential landscape to
shift, but that gives away 2024 and is riskier than outright resistance. If so,
it was a reckless brinksmanship with a result at present that should discourage
conservatives' hopes for propagation of their agenda in Louisiana that they
thought was a slam dunk to come into fruition over the next four years.

The Houthis are creating a global shipping crisis as they draw support and tribute from other Muslim countries and peoples for standing up for Palestinians in Gaza. But how far will it go before the West punches back in defense of "world trade" and regional security?On December 18, the Department of Defense announced the formation of Operation Prosperity Guardian. The ten-nation force aims to ensure maritime security in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb, which is a shipping chokepoint between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Since October 7, the Houthis have launched more than a hundred armed drone and missile attacks — including several aimed at US warships on Saturday — claiming that they are targeting any and all vessels with links to Israel.These threats have caused global shipping companies to divert away from the Red Sea. Many are now sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, which can add over a week to sailing times and as much as 20% to shipping costs. The diversions are also impacting Egypt's fragile economy. Tolls from the Suez Canal are a significant source of hard currency for the Egyptian government. Additionally, the Israeli port of Eilat has seen its revenues decline by 80%. While the global costs of the Houthis' attacks on shipping are steadily increasing, the attacks are paying hefty political and even strategic dividends for the Houthis, who appear to be winning on the public relations front both in and outside Yemen. In Yemen, support for the Houthis, even among some enemies, has increased. In many other Muslim nations, the Houthis are viewed as being "the only Muslim group standing against Israeli aggression." The high profile attacks, including the hijacking of the Galaxy Leader, have stoked national pride among many Yemenis. The Houthis' sophisticated strategic communications operations draw all of these attacks to the attention of domestic and international audiences. According to Yemeni sources who spoke to this author, this has supercharged recruitment for the Houthis and has also led to an influx of donations to the war effort from Yemeni businesses and individual citizens. The attacks are also a demonstration of the Houthis' geographical reach and of their emergence as a regional power.The only negative consequence of the anti-Israel campaign, at least so far, has been a reduction of the number of ships docking in the Houthi-controlled ports of Hodeidah and Salif. Yemen imports well over 90% of its food and a majority of the imports arrive via Hodeidah. Duties and taxes arising from the port are an important source of revenue for the Houthis. Reduced dockings at Hodeidah and rising maritime insurance costs will begin to bite, too.However, it is the Yemeni people who will pay the heaviest price. The Houthis enjoy multiple revenue streams which include everything from a range of efficiently collected taxes, the seizure of businesses and properties, to interests in illicit activities that range from human and arms trafficking to the manufacture and distribution of various drugs.The Houthis are hardwired for resilience and adaptability. Nearly two decades of war have honed the Houthis' war fighting capabilities. After the effective fall of the Yemeni government in September 2014, the Houthis further enhanced these capabilities by grafting their organization into what remained of the Yemeni military and intelligence services. Since 2014, the Houthis have systematically taken over almost every aspect of civil governance, security, education, and the economy in northwest Yemen.While the Houthis were and remain one of the finest guerrilla fighting forces in the region, if not the world, their success on and off the battlefield in Yemen has been aided by the ineptitude and disunity of their enemies. Yemen's Internationally Recognized Government (IRG) and the cobbled together Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) have consistently failed to unify the dozens of militias that operate in those areas outside Houthi control. Additionally, the IRG has failed to reign in endemic corruption. A considerable portion of the Houthis' arms and materiel comes from what Saudi Arabia and the UAE provide to their proxies in Yemen. Many of these Saudi and Emirati supported militias sell weaponry into Yemen's thriving arms market where the Houthis or their agents buy the weapons. This is not to argue that there isn't corruption within the Houthi organization. There is. However, the corruption is managed and largely limited to senior members of the organization. The Houthis exercise tight command and control over their arsenals, weapons assembly facilities, government ministries, and a burgeoning economic empire in Yemen. Northwest Yemen has never had a more efficient or brutal government than the current Houthi-led regime.Since October 7, the U.S. and its allies have focused on defensive measures aimed at intercepting the Houthis missiles and drones. The costs of these measures are steadily increasing. The U.S. and its allies cannot easily continue to expend large numbers of scarce multimillion-dollar missiles to take out drones that can cost as little as a thousand dollars. The Houthis have factories, many of which are located in hard-to-target dense urban areas, which can manufacture — supplies permitting—dozens to hundreds of low-end drones per week. More sophisticated drones are produced at a slower pace, but the Houthis can still assemble several hundred of these over the course of a few months. While the Houthis have and continue to receive assistance and materiel from Iran, almost all the Houthis' drones and missiles are assembled in Yemen. The Houthis are also increasingly focused on modifying and adapting Iranian designs for missiles and drones to suite their own particular requirements.To date, the Houthis have only used a fraction of the armed drones and missiles that they currently possess. Nor have the Houthis made use of their more sophisticated longer-range drones and missiles. The Houthis also possess large numbers of naval mines, including hard to detect influence mines.The U.S.-led collation of ships that is now assembled in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, combined with the on-shore assets in neighboring countries, possesses enough firepower to degrade the Houthis' military capabilities, at least over the short term. However, such a campaign will need to be sustained for what could be months and will come at a tremendous cost for all involved. The Houthis are masters of asymmetric warfare—as clearly evidenced by their Red Sea campaign—and will respond to U.S.-led strikes by attacking energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The Houthis will also deploy more sophisticated missiles and armed drones. While U.S. and coalition warships will likely be able to defend themselves against these weapons, commercial shipping, especially tankers, will be increasingly vulnerable. The Houthis have already effectively closed the Bab al-Mandeb to many global shipping companies. Higher-intensity conflict in and around the Bab al-Mandeb could mean that Red Sea shipping traffic is diminished—or even stopped altogether—for months. The Houthis have largely achieved their objectives: impose costs on Israel and its allies, demonstrate their regional reach, and bolster domestic support. The U.S. and its allies have no good options when it comes to dealing with the Houthis. Apart from acting to constrain Israel's unrelenting offensive in Gaza, the only way of avoiding entering an escalatory loop is for the U.S. to continue to support Saudi and Omani led efforts aimed at reining in the Houthi's threats and attacks. Yet, at the same time, the Houthis only respect force. The current U.S. response is viewed as toothless by the Houthis, and many other nations and non-state groups will view the response or lack thereof in the same way. The conflict in the Red Sea is a harbinger of what the future holds as the diffusion of low-cost but increasingly capable weapons systems continues. The U.S. and its allies are inevitably going to face more and more situations in which there are no good options as the asymmetry between high and low-cost weapons systems increases.

United States policy toward Israel's war in Gaza was neatly summarized by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on November 30: "Israel has one of the most sophisticated militaries in the world. It is capable of neutralizing the threat posed by Hamas while minimizing harm to innocent civilians. And it has an obligation to do so." This posture — destroy Hamas but do so in observance of the laws of war — is not that of the administration alone. It has been widely embraced by official Washington. A key defense of what would emerge as the hallmark of the Biden administration's Gaza outlook came from Jo-Ann Mort and Michael Walzer in the New Republic on October 18. "A just war requires the defeat of Hamas," they wrote. "It is a maxim of just war theory that the rules of war cannot make it impossible to fight a just war. There has to be a way to fight."In their view, the best way was "to fight with restraint, to reject indiscriminate bombing and shelling, to respect enemy civilians (many, many Gazans are opposed to Hamas), and take necessary risks to reduce their risks, and finally to maintain a clear goal: defeat for Hamas. Nothing more."Walzer is the author of Just and Unjust Wars, a hugely influential treatise on morality in war that has gone through successive editions since its publication in 1977. Walzer's meditation on the just war was especially impressive for taking on a wide range of historical examples, but it was written under the shadow of the war in Vietnam. Walzer condemned that war not only as an unjustified intervention but also as one that was "carried on in so brutal a manner that even had it initially been defensible, it would have to be condemned, not in this or that aspect but generally." In his treatise, Walzer closely considered both jus ad bellum (the right of going to war) and jus in bello (the law governing its conduct). As Walzer noted, "considerations of jus ad bellum and jus in bello are logically independent, and the judgments we make in terms of one and the other are not necessarily the same." But in the case of Vietnam, he argued, they came together. "The war cannot be won, and it should not be won. It cannot be won, because the only available strategy involves a war against civilians; and it should not be won, because the degree of civilian support that rules out alternative strategies also makes the guerillas the legitimate rulers of the country." Do not these strictures apply to Israel's war in Gaza? Hamas hides behind civilians, or is rather closely intermingled with them, as the Viet Cong once were. It has enjoyed an equal or greater amount of support from the local population. Its acts of assassination and terrorism fall far short, numerically, of those committed by the VC. Walzer was rightly shocked by the civilian toll in Vietnam, which saw a civilian-combatant fatality ratio of approximately two to one. In Gaza, the proportion of civilian-to-combatant deaths is at least five to one and probably much greater. Israeli leaders have made clear that their war is on the whole population. Their criteria for when to bomb, aided by AI, has blown past previous restraints. Another case taken up by Walzer in Just and Unjust Wars was America's atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The decision was justified at the time as the only way to avert the far larger casualties likely to ensue were the United States to have attempted an invasion of Japan. Walzer rejected this argument. "It does not have the form: if we don't do x (bomb cities), they will do y (win the war, establish tyrannical rule, slaughter their opponents)." Instead, the U.S. government in effect argued that "if we don't do x, we will do y." The real problem, Walzer argued, was the policy of unconditional surrender — that is, it had to do with U.S. war aims. Walzer approved the policy of unconditional surrender when applied to Germany — Hitler's regime represented a "supreme emergency" — but not when applied to Japan. "Japan's rulers were engaged in a more ordinary sort of military expansion, and all that was morally required was that they be defeated, not that they be conquered and totally overthrown," he wrote. Walzer's treatment of Vietnam and Hiroshima suggests that there are imperative reasons to stop short of total victory as a war aim, if the result of pursuing it is a moral enormity. If you have to commit wickedness on a titanic scale in order to achieve total victory, you should accept limited war and seek the containment of the enemy, not his obliteration. This is especially so, one might add, if the enemy one aims to annihilate elicits widespread sympathies elsewhere, making probable some kind of over-the-top retribution in the future. There are 2.2 million Gazans. There are 1.8 billion Muslims. Germany and Japan were friendless in 1945. It is obvious that Israel's war in Gaza bears no relationship to the war that Mort and Walzer recommended on October 18. Israel has not fought with restraint, has not rejected indiscriminate bombing and shelling, has not respected enemy civilians. Operation Swords of Iron has been instead the most elaborate and twisted application yet of the Dahiya Doctrine, Israel's longstanding war plan that makes a virtue out of wildly disproportionate retributions. That Israel intended to do this was apparent from the outset — 6,000 bombs were dropped in the war's first six days — but went strangely unnoticed by Mort and Walzer when their piece appeared. The authors stressed the need to get humanitarian aid into Gaza but didn't mention the Israeli blockade on all things requisite to life, a radical policy totally opposed to laws of war and imposed by Israel on the war's first day. In a subsequent interview on October 30, Walzer conceded that there was no justification for Israel's blockades of Gaza's electricity, water, and food supply, but also questioned the idea that a humanitarian pause would be justified before Hamas was defeated. "Acts that shock the moral conscience of mankind" was one of Walzer's most resonant phrases in Just and Unjust Wars. He meant by that "old-fashioned phrase" not the solipsistic prevarications of political leaders, but "the moral convictions of ordinary men and women, acquired in the course of their everyday activities." Clearly, Israel's war in Gaza has entailed a profound shock to these sensibilities. It is this revulsion, not sympathy for Hamas, that explains world-wide public opposition to what Israel is doing. From the beginning of the crisis, the Biden administration's approach to the war ran closely in parallel with the course recommended by Mort and Walzer. Eliminate Hamas. Do so while sparing civilians as much as possible. Then be sweet to the Palestinians and give them an independent state. Israel was happy to take the first part of this formula and to contemptuously reject the rest. Meanwhile, alongside these homilies to humane war, the United States has undertaken a vast effort to resupply Israel's stock of bombs. Confronting the escalating death toll, U.S. policymakers are dazed and confused. They're still on autopilot in support of Israel's war aim, while ineffectually shrieking in horror at the cost to Gaza's civilians. The truth is that there is no way to destroy Hamas without destroying Gaza. Contrary to Secretary Blinken's words (and Walzer's advice), Israel does not know how to destroy Hamas while minimizing harm to innocent civilians. Monumental harm to civilians follows from Israel's war aim of destroying Hamas, which the Biden administration and Walzer continue to endorse. That war aim stands in urgent need of reconsideration.Dear RS readers: It has been an extraordinary year and our editing team has been working overtime to make sure that we are covering the current conflicts with quality, fresh analysis that doesn't cleave to the mainstream orthodoxy or take official Washington and the commentariat at face value. Our staff reporters, experts, and outside writers offer top-notch, independent work, daily. Please consider making a tax-exempt, year-end contribution to Responsible Statecraft so that we can continue this quality coverage — which you will find nowhere else — into 2024. Happy Holidays!

Welcome to the first issue of IASSIST Quarterly for the year 2023 - IQ vol. 47(1).
The last article in this issue has in the title the FAIR acronym that stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. These are the concepts most often focused on by our articles in the IQ and FAIR has an extra emphasis in this issue. The first article introduces and demonstrates a shared vocabulary for data points where the need arose after confusions about data and metadata. Basically, I find that the most valuable virtue of well-structured data – I deliberately use a fuzzy term to save you from long excursions here in the editor's notes – is that other well-structured data can benefit from use of the same software. Similarly, well-structured metadata can benefit from the same software. I also see this as the driver for the second article, on time series data and description. Sometimes, the software mentioned is the same software in both instances as metadata is treated as data or vice versa. This allows for new levels of data-driven machine actions. These days universities are busy investigating and discussing the latest chatbots. I find many of the approaches restrictive and prefer to support the inclusive ones. Likewise, I also expect and look forward to bots having great relevance for the future implementation of FAIR principles.
The first article is on data and metadata by George Alter, Flavio Rizzolo, and Kathi Schleidt and has the title 'View points on data points: A shared vocabulary for cross-domain conversations on data and metadata'. The authors have observed that sharing data across scientific domains is often impeded by differences in the language used to describe data and metadata. To avoid confusion, the authors develop a terminology. Part of the confusion concerns disagreement about the boundaries between data and metadata; and that what is metadata in one domain can be data in another. The shift between data and metadata is what they name as 'semantic transposition'. I find that such shifts are a virtue and a strength and as the authors say, there is no fixed boundary between data and metadata, and both can be acted upon by people and machines. The article draws on and refers to many other standards and developments, most cited are the data model of Observations and Measurements (ISO 19156) and tools of the Data Documentation Initiative's Cross Domain Integration (DDI-CDI). The article is thorough and explanatory with many examples and diagrams for learning, including examples of transformations between the formats: wide, long, and multidimensional. The long format of entity-attribute-value has the value domain restricted by the attribute, and in examples time and source are added, which demonstrates how further metadata enter the format. When transposing to the wide format, this is a more familiar data matrix where the same value domain applies to the complete column. The multidimensional format with facets is for most readers the familiar aggregations published by statistical agencies. The authors argue that their domain-independent vocabulary enables the cross-domain conversation. George Alter is Research Professor Emeritus in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, Flavio Rizzolo is Senior Data Science Architect for Statistics Canada. Kathi Schleidt is a data scientist and the founder of DataCove.
The format discussion in the first article is also the point of the second paper on 'Modernizing data management at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics'. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has a focus on time series and Daniel W. Gillman and Clayton Waring (both from the BLS) view time series data as a combination of three components: A measure element; an element for person, places, and things (PPT); and a time element. In the paper Gillman and Waring also describe the conceptual model (UML) and the design and features of the system. First, they go back in history to the 1970s and the Codd relational model and to the standards developed and refined after 2000. You will not be surprised to find here among the references also the Data Documentation Initiative's Cross Domain Integration (DDI-CDI). The mission is: 'to find a simple and intuitive way to store and organize statistical data with the goal of making it easy to find and use the data'. A semantic approach is adopted, i.e. the focus is on the meaning of the data based upon the 'Measures / People-Places-Things / Time' model. Detailed examples show how PPT are categories of dimensions, for instance 'nurse' is in the Standard Occupational Classification and 'hospital' in the North American Industry Classification System. The paper – like the first paper – also refers to multidimensional structures. The modernization described at BLS is expected to be released in early 2023.
The third paper is by João Aguiar Castro, Joana Rodrigues, Paula Mena Matos, Célia Sales, and Cristina Ribeiro where all authors are affiliated with the University of Porto. Like the earlier articles this also references the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) with a focus on the concepts behind the FAIR acronym: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. The title is: 'Getting in touch with metadata: a DDI subset for FAIR metadata production in clinical psychology'. Clinical psychology is not an area frequently occurring in IASSIST Quarterly, but it turns out that the project described started with interviews and data description sessions with research groups in the Social Sciences for identifying a manageable DDI subset. The project also draws on other projects such as TAIL, TOGETHER, and Dendro. The TAIL project concerned the integration metadata tools in the research workflow and assessed the requirements of researchers from different domains. TOGETHER was a project in the psycho-oncology domain and family-centered care for hereditary cancer. As most researchers showed to be inexperienced with metadata, they concentrated on a DDI subset that meant that FAIR metadata would be available for deposit. Support for researchers is essential as the they have the domain expertise and can create highly detailed descriptions. On the other hand, data curators can ensure that the metadata follow the rules of FAIR. This was achieved by embedding the Dendro platform in the research workflow, where creation of metadata is performed in an incremental description of the data. The article includes screenshots of the user interface showing the choice of vocabularies. The approach and the adoption of a DDI subset produced more comprehensive metadata than is usually available.
Submissions of papers for the IASSIST Quarterly are always very welcome. We welcome input from IASSIST conferences or other conferences and workshops, from local presentations or papers especially written for the IQ. When you are preparing such a presentation, give a thought to turning your one-time presentation into a lasting contribution. Doing that after the event also gives you the opportunity of improving your work after feedback. We encourage you to login or create an author profile at https://www.iassistquarterly.com (our Open Journal System application). We permit authors to have 'deep links' into the IQ as well as deposition of the paper in your local repository. Chairing a conference session or workshop with the purpose of aggregating and integrating papers for a special issue IQ is also much appreciated as the information reaches many more people than the limited number of session participants and will be readily available on the IASSIST Quarterly website at https://www.iassistquarterly.com. Authors are very welcome to take a look at the instructions and layout:
https://www.iassistquarterly.com/index.php/iassist/about/submissions
Authors can also contact me directly via e-mail: kbr@sam.sdu.dk. Should you be interested in compiling a special issue for the IQ as guest editor(s) I will also be delighted to hear from you.
Karsten Boye Rasmussen - March 2023

Collaborative innovation become one of the most strategy decision across firms and a well-defined phenomenon that became popular among practitioners and researchers (A. S. Cui O'Connor, 2012; Liu et al., 2017). Many theories were considered to explain collaboration phenomena such as resources-based view, organization theory, strategy, information processing theory, the economic theory of complementarities among others (Barney, 1991; Cassiman Veugelers, 2006; Daft Lengel, 1986; Milgrom Roberts, 1995; Tushman Nadler, 1978). However, technology advances provide new variations in collaboration to innovativeness. For example, collaborative activities with suppliers and customers (Karhade Dong, 2021), community source projects (Liu et al., 2017) or collaboration with distant partners (T. Cui et al., 2020), corporate engagement with startups (Shankar Shepherd, 2019), innovation networks (Aarikka-Stenroos et al., 2017), and innovation ecosystems (Granstrand Holgersson, 2020).Collaborative innovation takes over the existence of an inter-organizational activities executed by people that together perform with high level of interdependence something innovative (T. Cui et al., 2020; Davis Eisenhardt, 2011). Some authors (Adner Kapoor, 2010; T. Cui et al., 2020; Rico et al., 2008) highlight that this interdependence is characterized along two dimensions: technological and behavioral. Technological interdependence is linked to knowledge and the exchange of resources for research and development, and behavioral interdependence is associated with the field of communication, social interaction between collaborative actors and the coordination of these relationships to innovate.Other perspectives in the literature explain and theorize about collaborative innovation as knowledge-sharing trajectories (Majchrzak Malhotra, 2016; Trkman Desouza, 2012), or multi-actor collaboration (Torfing, 2019), or building collaborative capabilities (Swink, 2006) among other approaches. In this editorial, we bring some thoughts and idea about collaborative innovation under a technological perspective to incentive researchers to go beyond in innovative technologies research embedded in collaboration.Collaboration efforts also became a common way of firms to enhance innovations and its technological development with clear determinants about their beneficial effects, and therefore, the literature is well stablished in this subject (Pereira et al., 2018). However, collaboration only succeeds when technological resources and capabilities are combined, and parties define jointly how to enhance and use them accordingly (Snow, 2015).Collaborative innovation as a new technological paradigm refers to a network innovation model supported by interactions of multiple parties such as enterprises, universities and research institutions as core elements and government, financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, intermediaries as auxiliary elements (W. Zhang et al., 2021). Notwithstanding, collaboration networks operating in different organizational levels are present in various patterns and characteristics of evolution, they require different actors and capabilities in the network composition to become a remarkable asset in developing technologies to be patented afterwards in some cases (Gomes et al., 2017).In facing of risks of failures during innovative trajectories, firms invest in collaborative initiatives as an attempt to mitigate cost impacts, share responsibilities and greater technical performance in the process of technology lifecycle development. Thus, technological alliances are useful means to attend these goals (Kim Song, 2007). Technological alliances are critical to enable digital transformation and innovation. Briefly, Zhang et al. (2021) highlight technological alliance as a voluntary interfirm cooperation involving codeveloping technologies through sharing and exchanging of these technologies to meet business needs (W. Zhang et al., 2021).The collaborations in various technological domains help to bring heterogenous knowledge, complementary resources, and capabilities for a better innovation performance (Swink, 2006; W. Zhang et al., 2021). Under the perspective that innovation is essentially knowledge creation (Nonaka, 1994), collaborative innovation through a technological perspective may be configured by different activities, processes, or routines of generation, sharing, integration, and utilization of knowledge produced during the innovation process lifecycle (Nonaka, 1994; W. Zhang et al., 2021). Further, this configuration of activities, processes, or routines support the development of evolutionary technological capabilities (Sampson, 2007).In the field of technological innovations, the evolution now is more collaborative in nature (J. Zhang et al., 2019). Collaboration is a trend for technological prosperity. Analyzing collaborative innovation in the literature is a great challenge even if the focus on technologies is defined because various aspects and applications of collaboration to innovate invade the academic literature in many forms. For instance, Zhou and Ren (2021) analyzed low-carbon technology collaborative innovation in industrial cluster; Shen et al. (2021) studied collaborative innovation in supply chain systems; Wan et al. (2022) highlight that blockchain application intensify collaborative innovation through distributed computing, cryptography and game theory; Li and Zhou (2022) researched on the mechanism of Government–Industry–University–Institute collaborative innovation in green technology; and Fan et al. (2022) pointed out that collaborative innovation also may act as a driver to mobilize and coordinate scientific and technological resources within a city, further promoting innovative development among cities.On the other hand, technological collaborative innovations has its own dark side for firms: it has been costly, it demands money, efforts, and time (Torugsa Arundel, 2016; Wegrich, 2019), and, further, it provokes operational adjustments, technological reconfiguration, and legal barriers to overcome to be effective for innovation (McGuire Agranoff, 2011; Vivona et al., 2022). To address this side of collaborative innovation, Vivona et al. (2022) developed the cost theory to systematize all insights from the literature in four main factors: governance, compactness, reliability, and institutionalization to shed light on a broader range of costs for innovation incurred by collaborative arrangements. Governance refers to relationships in hierarchical level and the number of collaborators involved, reliability refers to relationships' quality; compactness is about the degree of formality in relationships that connect collaborators; and institutionalization that measure what the extent the relationships in practice have been pre-established. This cost perspective may be explored empirically.The decentralization of technological collaborative innovation, its nonlinear, globalized, and networked form transformed its process to more collaborative approaches among entities (Fan et al., 2020). Lopes and Farias (2022) showed that technology tools support the establishment of relationships of trust promoted by leaders committed to well-established goals, being a characteristic of governance that has a positive influence on collaborative innovation processes. Hwang (2020) mentioned that several countries have implemented policies to facilitate technological convergence by supporting collaborative innovations. The author also mentions that collaborative innovation is a crucial strategy to facilitate technological convergence. In sum, firms have been increased collaboration in technological activities and collaboration works as an enabling to learn about turbulent technological change and uncertainties to enhance the ability to deal with innovations (Dodgson, 1993).Technological collaborative innovation is considered essential to promote the flow of resources, knowledge, and technology among entities, considering that innovation is no longer a closed and isolated system. The main premise is technologies do not exist in isolation. Only by exchanging materials, energy, and information with the environment the innovation system be renewed and developed. Therefore, the integrator condition of technological collaborative innovation is also conducive to a more comprehensive disclosure of the collaborative mode and overall performance of technological innovation activities (Fan et al., 2020).Technological collaborative innovation is not a merely coordination of an orderly arrangements of efforts to pursue a common technological purpose (Mooney, 1953), or a merely cooperation to join agreed-on goals into a share comprehension about design systems or reconfigure technological resources (Gulati et al., 2012). It merges cooperation (commitment towards same end) with coordination (complexity to work together effectively) (Vivona et al., 2022). This view may be much more explored by the researchers to enhance the practical aspects of this perspective.In general, collaboration itself does not survive in the face of inevitable behavioral problems which requires an establishment of trust characterized by receptive organizational cultures, community of interest, and continually supplement knowledge for the purpose of collaboration in highly successful technological innovations (Dodgson, 1993). Thus, this can be a new chapter for technological collaborative innovations.

More than 100 years have elapsed since the discovery of the Japod necropolises in the Una valley, south of Bihać. The Jezerine and Ribić necropolises were excavated in the late 19th century (K. Kovačević, P. Mirković 1890: 330-337; V. Radimsky 1892: 301-310) and another, smaller necropolis in Golubić was systematically excavated in the 1960s (I. Čremošnik 1956: 126-138; B. Raunig 1968: 81-98). The third necropolis is not dealt with here, since the amber artifacts are identical to those from Jezerine. A total of 553 graves were excavated in Jezerine, of which 228 contained skeletons, 298 cinerary urns, 28 cremated remains without urns, and two containing cinerary urns in which the skull of the deceased was laid over the lid. The pre-Roman and early Roman necropolis in Ribić had only six graves with skeletons, 296 containing cinerary urns, and one containing crematedremains with no urn. V. Radimski (V. Radimsky 1982:301-310; 1893: 37-92; 237-308; 369-466; 575-623) and V. Ćurčić (V.Ćurčić 1898: 625-656) have written about the findings of the excavations of the Japod necropolises in the Una valley, and many archaeologists have been engaged in analyzing the archaeological material. The fullest scientific treatment is that of Z. Marić,dating from the 1960s, (Z. Marić 1968: 5-79) while more recently the issue has been seriously addressed by B. Raunig (B. Raunig 2004), while B. Tessmann deals with the Jezerine burial ground as part of her doctoral thesis with new absolute chronological.There is no doubt that Z. Marić has produced the most complete chronological and cultural definition to date of the archaeological material from these necropolises while, in so doing, stressing that the chronology of the Japod region is a problem not easily solved, given the great many specific features of local significance. Quite simply, Japod material does not readily fit into the formative cultural circles of neighbouring regions, and is characterized by a very pronouncedconservatism, as a result of which some forms survive for a decade or more, or even as much as a century. Despite these remarks by Z. Marić, in this paper we adhere to his relative chronology, while taking a more relaxed position in regard to the absolute chronology, as the author recommends. We have not given a detailed overview of all the archaeological artifactsmade of amber, but have selected those that are typical of certain stages of the burials in the necropolises; these artifacts also vividly illustrate the aesthetic needs and economic strength of the Japod population of the Una valley. By analyzing and tracing these artifacts, century by century, from the distant past right up to the arrival of the Romans in this part of the world, wehave obtained a clear picture of the distinctiveness of the culture, art and religion of the prehistoric world in the Una valley. Japod art is highly diverse in both content and expression, though it belongs almost solely to the applied arts, with the majority of its products consisting of jewellery or associated with clothing (B. Raunig 2004). An overall consideration of the jewelleryin the graves reveals that these are heavy, solid artifacts, even in the case of fine material such as amber: amber beads in necklaces, or combined with bronze in fibulae, have a diameter of 4-5 cm or even more. It can fairly be said that one of the principal features of Japod jewellery is the abundance and diversity of the application of amber. Amber beads, usually leftrough or very simply finished, were used mainly for necklaces and fibulae, but also for bracelets, earrings and pendants. Fibulae were the most common and, for Japod costumes, the most important decorativecum- utilitarian artifacts. This type of jewellery was favoured by the Japods in the Una valley more than anywhere else, and thus came in a wide range of designs;the Japods wore them as part of their folk costume right up to the time they lost their independence, and even in the first century CE, under Roman rule (R. Drechsler-Bižić 1987). The general characteristics of the amber grave offeringsin the Una valley can be reduced to a few basic observations. In the second stage, it was very unusual to find an amber bead or two in cinerary graves, whereas they were quite common in skeletal graves, usually by the head or around the neck, as worn inlife. Since there are other differences between these two basic types of burial, Z. Marić hypothesizes that the skeletal graves belonged to the female members of the local population and the cinerary graves to the male incomers from Pannonia. In stage three, amber features in greater quantities in cinerary graves as well, although skeletal graves still contain much morenumerous and richer artifacts; only in stage four does the ratio of such artifacts become equal between the two types of burials. During stage five, the number of amber artifacts in cinerary graves increases sharply, and it is from this very period, as already noted, that the two most richly equipped graves date, with the remains of incineration and numerous amber artifacts:grave 278 from Jezerine and grave 10 from Ribić (Z.Marić 1968:5-79; B. Raunig 2004). We can only guess at the routes by which amber reached the Japods in the Una valley (N. Negroni- Catacchio 1972: 1-18). The highly decorative dark reddishamber of outstanding quality used to make many of the artifacts found in the graves of the Una valley distinguishes these necropolises from all others of the same period in Europe as a whole. The number of artifacts and, it is fair to say, the coarse workmanship on the amber, suggest that one of the amber routes from the Baltic to the south ran along the Una valley,and that the Japods were intermediaries in the amber trade as well as using these goods. In the 7th century BC this route could have been of major importance, since this was one of the periods of severe cold that rendered the Po valley unsuitable for trade with the distant Baltic region in the north, passing as it did over the Alps, which were impassable, even over thelower passes, during periods of extreme cold. During the 4th century BC the Japods in the Una valley came into direct contact with the Celts, who already dominated the cultural stage in much of Europe. There is no doubt that there was considerable trade between these peoples over a long period, and it would be normal for the Celts to control the amber routes, so thatthis material reached local Japod workshops by way of exchange, in unworked form (A. Palavestra 1988: 205-217; A. Palavestra, V. Krstić 2006). Another type of amber, of poorer quality, translucent and light yellow in colour, from which the triangularand trapezoid beads from the later periods of the necropolises in the Una valley were made, undoubtedly came from a different source from the dark red amber. This type of bead is found in considerable quantities in these necropolises in the 1st century BC, at a time when trade from Hellenistic centres was already widespread. The major centres for the amber trade were then in the northern Black Sea regions (B. Srebrodolski 1984). It is interesting to note that forms of triangular amber beads were known as early as the late Mesolithic in the northern regions of Russia (M. Gimbutas 1985). This form was perhaps dictated bythe actual quality of the raw material from various sites in north-eastern Europe (B. Srebrodolski 1984; A. Palavestra 1993). Finally, it can be said that to confirm, at least in part, these observations on the routes by which amber was imported to the Una valley, a serious and wideranging study of the contemporary cultures would be needed, going well beyond their relationships with their immediate neighbours, along with some more detailed observations of historical facts. Espacially interesting is their relatios with the Celts and Veneto, which for now remains unclear, which directly affects to the different oppinions about ethnic identity Japodes.