Theological Colloquium
Rethinking Theology with Michel de Certeau
The work of Michel de Certeau, French Jesuit and student of Cardinal Henri de Lubac, has often been characterized as the work of a traveller. He is renowned in the historical as well as in the cultural sciences. His studies on Modern mysticism are exemplary in the section of spiritual theology, while his books and articles on anthropology and psychoanalysis tend to challenge and subvert the discussions of the experts. Likewise, Certeau profoundly interrogates the common ways of doing theology, both in a direct way that characterizes the Christian tradition – when he speaks of the absence of God –, and with his style of writing, which does not allow a disciplinary classification. The explicit theological reception of his works has so far remained on a moderate level, although they offer a variety of challenges for theological reflection not fully taken on board. His provocative interpretation of the relationship between the believer and tradition especially stimulates a series of theological re-readings. A constitutive rupture regarding the accessibility of the origins characterizes this fundamental relation, which is of high relevance in the face of today’s pastoral situation. Thus, Certeau’s works not only provide perspectives to rethink singular theological topoi, but also stimulate a meta-discussion on the options of theological reasoning in general as comprehension of Christian everyday life. This meta-discussion is crucial for thinking about the truth of Christianity in the current contexts of the Western Church marked by profound processes of “exculturation” of Christianity, pushing us to reweave the relation of Theology and Human Sciences as well as the one between theory and practice, i. e. between Theology and lived spirituality, including the dimension of spiritual experience (mysticism). In the horizon of Certeau’s diverse fields of research, the colloquium analyzes and displays the potential of Certeau’s perspectives for a contemporary theology.
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Organized as an inter-university collaboration by
Dr. Carlos Alvarez, S.J.
ITER-Universidad Alberto Hurtado Santiago de Chile
Prof. Dr. Isabella Bruckner
Pontificio Ateneo Sant’Anselmo, Rome
Prof. Dr. Stella Morra
Pontificia Università Gregoriana, Rome
Monastic Institute of Sant’Anselmo
The Theological Colloquium is sponsored by the Institut Français Centre Saint-Louis
Thursday 12 October 2023
AULA XI (SANT’ANSELMO)
Welcoming
03.00 p.m.: Greetings
03.10 p.m.:
Introduction
I. The boundaries of absence
03.30 p.m.:
Les langages chrétiens
et la communication culturelle.
Les problémes, questions et défis
que Michel de Certeau pose
au langage théologique
Carlos Alvarez, S.J.
ITER-Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Santiago de Chile
04.00 p.m.:
Une épistémologie cachée.
La déterritorialisation de la théologie de L’écriture de l’histoire (1970-1975)
Andrés Freijomil
Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, Buenos Aires
04.30 p.m.:
Michel de Certeau et l’épistémologie
de la “science des choses divines” : de l’école française de spiritualité
à la tradition de ‘l’étude du mystère’ (xuanxue) en Chine
Benoit Vermander, S.J.
Fudan University, Shanghai
05.00 p.m.:
Discussion
05.30 p.m.:
Coffee
break
06.00 p.m.:
Certeau le lecteur-auditeur
des mystiques. A la recherche
d’un murmure de l’Absent
Yu Watanabe
The University of Tokyo, Tokyo
06.30 p.m.:
The Oral Other: A Psychoanalytical Attempt with Michel de Certeau
Martin Eleven
Universität Wien, Vienna
07.00 p.m.:
Discussion
Friday 13 October 2023
AULA MAGNA (PUG)
Welcoming
09.00 a.m.:
Greetings
09.10 a.m.:
Introduction
II. Experience and practice of the absent real
09.30 a.m.:
L’événement du quotidien
Claire-Anne Baudin
Centre Sèvres, Paris
10.00 a.m.:
Théologie et pastoral à partir
de la perspective de la théorie
du quotidien chez Michel de Certeau
Geraldo De Mori, S.J.
Faculdade Jesuíta de Filosofia
e Teologia, Belo Horizonte
10.30 a.m.:
Discussion
11.00 a.m.: Coffee
break
11.30 a.m.:
Practices of Mystical Theology according to Michel de Certeau
Inigo Bocken
Titus Brandsma Instituut, Nijmegen
12.00 p.m.:
Comment penser (théologiquement) notre pratique? Michel de Certeau
and practical theology
Christian Bauer
Universität Münster, Münster
12.30 p.m.:
Discussion
III. Picking up the absence
03.00 p.m.:
In search of the rules of dance:
de Certeau and the monks
Bernard Sawicki, O.S.B.
Pontificio Ateneo Sant’Anselmo, Rome
03.30 p.m.:
La blessure de l’autre: la vulnérabilité comme clé anthropologique
et théologique dans la pensée
de Michel de Certeau
Tiziano Ferraroni, S.J.
Pontificia Facoltà Teologica dell’Italia Meridionale, Naples
04.00 p.m.:
Pratiques spirituelles et prière
incarnée chez Michel de Certeau.
Margit Eckholt
Universität Osnabrück, Osnabrück
04.30 p.m.:
Discussion
05.00 p.m.:
Coffee
break
05.30 p.m.:
Les ressources théologiques
de la pensée de Michel de Certeau pour imaginer une Église synodale
Christoph Theobald, S.J.
Centre Sèvres, Paris
06.15 p.m.:
Discussion with doctoral students
Saturday 14 October 2023
AULA XI (SANT’ANSELMO)
Welcoming
09.00 a.m.:
Greetings
09.10 a.m.:
Introduction
IV. Living the absent body in the future
09.30 a.m.:
Tra un cadavere assente
e un corpus vivente: la questione
dei corpi istituzionali
Stella Morra
Pontifica Università Gregoriana, Rome
10.00 a.m.:
Il corpo del mondo. Ripensare la sacramentalità con Michel de Certeau
Isabella Bruckner
Pontificio Ateneo Sant’Anselmo, Rome
10.30 a.m.:
Discussion
11.00 a.m.:
Coffee
break
11.30 a.m.:
La Cristologie implicite
de Michel de Certeau
Pierre Gisel
Université de Lausanne, Lausanne
12.00 p.m.:
Michel de Certeau: Secularism
and Christian Apologetics
Graham Ward
Christ Church, Oxford
12.30 p.m.:
Discussion
01.00 p.m.:
Conclusions
