“The theology of the end of the world” : rethinking theological ethics from the existential peripheries

Abstract

There are many who miss emeritus Pope Benedict XVI’stheological wisdom, but is Bergoglio less of a theologian than Ratzinger? Is histheology shallower? What kind of dialogue does histheology holdwith reality? Forinstance,whenFrancisreferstomercy, he talks aboutthe confessional; whendescribinghowgraceshouldreacheverybody,hetalksabout“customs”; and when he refers to the wounds of the world, he talks about the church as a “field hospital.”Theseexampleslead ustotheanalysis and identification ofthe originalaspects ofFrancis’stheologicalthinkingthatIcall“thetheologyofthe end of the world.” It is appropriate to clarify that the reference to a theology of the end of the world is not made in an eschatologicalsense like parousia, that is, the end time, but rather in a political–geographical–cultural–historical sense, associated with a way of thinking and acting originating in the world’s peripheries, using Pope Francis’sown words on the dayhe was elected: “You know that it wasthe duty ofthe ConclavetogiveRomeaBishop.ItseemsthatmybrotherCardinalshavegoneto the ends of the earth to get one.”1 What is more, this aspect of the theology of the end of the world implies a particular hermeneutics that is essentially pastoral: it is not about theology becomingpraxis,butaboutthepossibilityoffindingpraxisintheologicalcategories and keys.So,to say“theologyofthe end oftheworld” is notjust to point to a geographical place (which could be well expressed by using the preposition from); it refers also to an original understanding, it remarks upon these theological novelties, and it namesits own theological identity. Thisnewtheologicalreading ofrealitychallengestheological ethicstogo beyond mere theories,toward a fundamental aspect ofincarnation derived from the theology of the end of the world set out by Pope Francis...