A ‘divine mission’ to sanctify the laity: French mystic laywomen and the lay apostolate before Vatican II

ABSTRACT

This article explores the ‘divine origins’ and aims of three associations promoting the apostolate of the laity in nineteenth and early twentieth-century France: the Association de prière et de pénitence; the Société des amis des pauvres; and the Foyers de charité. The founders were three mystic laywomen, Édith Royer, Thérèse Durnerin and Marthe Robin, respectively, who promoted apostolates of penance, catechesis and retreat. The article situates their associations within the history of the lay apostolate and discusses the two elements that best characterized them: the alleged ‘divine mission’ that inspired the founders and their aim to sanctify the laity. While encouraging the laity to achieve holiness in worldly life, they contributed to current Catholic concerns about lay sanctity and the lay apostolate advanced by Vatican II.     

论青年马克思对近代西方人权观的批判与超越

近代西方人权思想家对于人权为谁拥有、人为何拥有人权、谁来认可或保障人权问题作出了自己的回答,而青年马克思在批判近代西方人权观的基础上用共产主义理论超越了近代西方人权理论。     

Inward-Looking Policies, Institutions, Autocrats, and Economic Growth in Latin America: An Empirical Exploration

This paper explores the institutionaldeterminants of economic growth in LatinAmerica by taking advantage of recentempirical research that employs subjectiveand objective measures to test for apossible “Northian” explanation that linksinstitutional quality and economic growth.We explore a simple framework that may helpbetter understand the policymakers’ choicesand persistence regarding inward-lookingpolicies that were pursued between the1930s and the 1980s by arguing that in theLatin American case Olson’s (1982) idea ofencompassing interest should be expanded tocover not only the economic stakes of powerholders, but in particular, their psychicincome which includes their politicalstakes, along the lines of recent work byRobinson (1997), Coyne (2002), andothers.     

The “New Look” of German Diplomacy: The West German Foreign Service after the Second World War

When established in 1951, the West German Foreign Office resembled its pre-1945 Berlin Ministry predecessor in many ways. Notably, about 45 percent of Bonn’s diplomats came from the old service. Such continuities raised concerns about a restoration of old diplomatic traditions and attitudes. However, significant changes in German diplomacy—its West German variant—soon became evident, not least in terms of diplomatic style and methods. This analysis explores how the Foreign Office’s staff adopted, promoted, or rejected such changes. It assesses institutional processes of transformation and examines why diplomats were willing to “re-learn” diplomacy after the Second World War. Likewise evaluated are the problems and limits of re-orientation. By focussing on (dis)continuities within the Foreign Service in the 1950s and 1960s, the analysis contributes to the general field of research on processes of transition in West Germany after the end of the Third Reich.