Re-thinking Solidarity as a Principle of Catholic Social Teaching: Going Beyond Gaudium et spes and the Social Encyclicals of John Paul II

Abstract

The tradition of official Catholic Social Teaching, which emerged within the context of the European social question, has since expanded to incorporate developmental issues of the Two-Thirds World. This is shown in the social encyclicals of Pope John XXIII, but more significantly in the Vatican II Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et spes, and the social documents of Popes Paul VI and John Paul II. In these writings, the principle of solidarity is a significant feature—both for discussions of the European social question, and in engaging with the problems of poverty and underdevelopment in the Two-Thirds World. This paper accepts that the principle of solidarity occupies a central position in Catholic social thought. It argues, however, that the ever-increasing poverty, exploitation and despair in the Two-Thirds World challenges our ethical and theological conceptualizations of solidarity. This paper intends to examine the use of the solidarity principle both in Gaudium et spes and in the social encyclicals of John Paul II. It will also raise the question whether their formulations and insights are adequate in confronting the ever-expanding challenges of international poverty and underdevelopment.     

Paul Broca’s search for Basque skulls: The full story

Paul Broca surmised that the short and broad—brachycephalic—skulls of the earliest European settlers had become longer and narrower—dolichocephalic—in modern populations due to the blending of different races. Swedish anatomist Anders Retzius had two brachycephalic skulls said to be from contemporary Basque individuals, a claim suited to test Broca’s hypothesis. Broca worked with fellow anatomist and surgeon Pedro González Velasco, the founding father of Spanish anthropology, to gather a large number of Basque skulls. In its time, this was the most fascinating collection owned by the Anthropological Society of Paris. This article explains how Broca and Velasco were able to gather such a sizeable array of specimens, which they had collected at a location known at first by the code name of “Z.” Although Broca finally concluded that the origin of the Retzius skulls could not be determined, his research was to spark anthropologists’ interest in the language and origins of the Basque people.     

Sir Edward Grey,France, and the Entente: How to Catch the Perfect Angler?

ABSTRACT

This article will focus on the nine-year relationship between British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey and the French Ambassador at London Paul Cambon, principally during the years 1912 to 1914. It will show how the French perceived Sir Edward Grey himself, his foreign policy, and his understanding of the Entente. It will analyse the means by which Cambon in particular, and through him the French in general, sought to coax from the Foreign Secretary some form of Franco-British alliance. It will do so by analysing three things: first, what Paul Cambon hoped to obtain from Sir Edward Grey and how; second, the Anglo-German Haldane Mission in which Grey's manoeuvring got the better of Cambon; and third, the Grey-Cambon letters of November 1912, when Cambon got the better of Grey. More broadly the article might be seen as an example of how ambassadors seek to secure policies from the country to which they are accredited and how foreign ministers attempt to parry them.     

对《马可波罗游记》Bangala史实的考释

《马可波罗游记》对Bangala的记载多有疏漏讹误之处,国内外学者对Bangala的考释众说纷纭,而在马可波罗出使云南时是否到过Bangala问题上尚有较大争议。笔者发现《马可波罗游记》并未记载缅城至Bangala的日程,从而对学界较为流行的马可波罗出使Bangala说提出了质疑。本文以《马可波罗寰宇记》及《马可波罗注》为主要参考依据,在前人研究的基础上考证出Bangala即孟加拉,而马可波罗并没有到过其地,并指出了《〈马可波罗行纪〉云南史地丛考》所谓马可波罗1287年出使Bangala说值得商榷之处。     

高地亚洲三年探险记

伯希和亲口叙述了他于1906～1908年在新疆喀什、库车等地进行长时间勘察、发掘．收集了大量文物,尔后又到甘肃敦煌,通过诱骗等手段,获取大量敦煌宝藏并顺利运走的过程。法国朝野各界因此把它视为“英雄”,举行了盛大欢迎会。本文就是伯希和在欢迎会上的汇报演讲。     

论柯文的"中国中心观"

柯文《在中国发现历史》一书所提倡的“中国中心观”,不仅仅是一个史学方法论问题,更是一个深层次的史学理论问题;尽管它仍存在着明显的缺陷,但对于克服美国中国史研究领域中的“西方中心主义”弊端,具有重要的意义。