The notion of free will, which supports moral responsibility in various accounts of Catholic moral theology, is in a particular way situated at the intersection of theological and non-theological disciplines. Early studies on volition in cognitive neuroscience, inspired by Libet’s experiment (1983), suggested that free will is an illusion because our conscious intentions do not cause corresponding actions: these are initiated beforehand by unconscious brain processes. Although this seems to contradict basic anthropological and ethical assumptions, a closer look at this thesis renders it immature. At the same time, new developments in the multidisciplinary science of human volition draw attention to several aspects of freedom and agency that may be central to the way people take action and control their lives. The implications of this research may provoke some reformulations on the side of theological ethics. They may also point to certain schools and traditions, such as Christian virtue ethics, as theologically preferable.

This paper discusses the contribution of linguistics to theology, taking the specific example of L.-M. Chauvet’s thought. First, the critique of language as a tool is analyzed. According to Chauvet, language can no longer be considered as a tool, but as a mediation, understood as a “matrix” or environment ( milieu). Linguistic mediation is thus explained from the conceptual perspective of symbol and symbolic order: human subjectivity is inseparable from language, and language has a symbolic structure. Theological reflection follows the concept of mediation and symbol as an important anthropological fact. Faith, then, involves rejecting the illusion of direct contact with God and accepting the mediation of the Church and the sacraments as a process of “accepting ourselves” as children of God and accepting one another in Christ as brothers.

After the establishment of the first University Faculties of Missiology (Protestant and Catholic) in Germany, there was a dynamic development of missiology in Europe. In the second half of the twentieth century several academic missiological centers were established in America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. The missiologists of the first half of the twentieth century through their scientific work have proved that missiology is a theological and interdisciplinary science. This was achieved by emphasizing in their publications that the essence of missiology finds its foundations not in references to history and direct missionary practice, but the theology of mission, i.e., the theological justification of the Church’s missionary activity. This trend of missiological reflection was highlighted in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and in numerous papal documents of the post-conciliar period. Teaching on the missionary nature of the Church has become the subject of scientific and interdisciplinary missiological reflection. Unfortunately, up to these days the acceptance of missiology as a theological science, is not yet fully understood and not always accepted.

This paper takes into account questions formulated by the Holy Mother. Her thought and consideration on the revealed word serves as pattern of theological thinking and key to understanding of the relationship between theology and other sciences. This study is based on the Church’s magisterial documents, papal teaching, as well as theological and philosophical statements. The matter of theology determines its principles, start point and methods. Its criteria consider the universal requirements of reason but, unlike in other sciences, are deeply and indispensably enrooted in ecclesial community. The purpose also distinguishes theology in the scientific world and confers particular meaning concerning its pragmatism, benefits and importance.

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the contribution of fundamental theology to meta- theological research. The main considerations are introduced by a brief presentation of the main stages of development of the theory of theology. This renders it possible to indicate at which moment fundamental theology enters the meta-theological research and to present the research in this area. The participation of fundamental theology in these investigations is presented in two parts: (1) fundamental theological research in the area of the general theory of theology and (2) in the area of the theory of fundamental theology. In both areas, fundamental theology has a good number of publications and significant substantive achievements. This is undoubtedly due to the inclusion of meta-theology by many fundamental theologians as being important subjects of their research. Important, too, is the acknowledgement that fundamental theology, more than other theological disciplines, is predestined to carry out this type of investigation.

This paper is an attempt to present the context and the essence of the dispute surrounding the understanding of theology as a science ( scientia) in the Aristotelian sense which took place at European universities in the13th-century. The aim of the text is also to indicate selected threads of the dispute, which also seem to be present in today’s metatheological and cultural discussions. Finally, the paper presents a brief presentation of the main strands of the solution to the dispute about the scientific character of theology as proposed by St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas’s metatheological proposal is presented owing to its completeness and coherence in addition to its inspiring and enduring character which perdures to the present day.