Volume 10, Issue 1 (2017)

This volume is the 2017 edition of Obsculta, and we are aware of the significance and import of listening as we acknowledge the 500th year since the Protestant Reformation. In recognition of our continuing efforts to understand and listen even to non-Catholic Christians, this volume includes a piece from our archives, from the year 1971, which attempts, however imperfectly, to listen with an ear attentive to truth, wherever it might be. After all, Truth has God as its ultimate source.

As the rest of the contributions to this year’s Obsculta attest to, the aim for understanding, is very much present still. This year we have attempts to listen accross various boundaries, not only with Protestants, but with Hindus, and with Catholics who we may be tempted to discount without further question, whether because their challenges are too unsettling, or because we forget they exist. And yet we listen, we hope with the love and patience intended. We try to understand. We see that the views of others matter, and that we can listen without abandoning our own identity.

Here in these pages is a space in which we strive to listen honestly to one another, to scripture, to God, and yes, even to “the other.” We hope you enjoy our explorations as you enter these pages and join in the advise of Benedict, “obsculta.”