Skip to main content
Religious Formation Conference logo.
EspañolLoginSubscribe
LinkedInTwitterFlickrFacebook
Search
  • About RFC
    • About RFC
    • Mission, Vision, Values
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff / Contact
    • Membership
    • Congregational Members
    • Member Areas
    • Partners & Collaborators
    • Get news & notes
    • News Blog
    • Travel to/from
    • Privacy Policy
  • Programs
    • Attend a Program
    • ForMission
      • Program Cost and Payment
      • Dates and Location
    • ForMission 2.0
    • Life Commitment
      • Program Cost and Payment
    • Compromiso de Vida
    • Orientation to Formation
      • Program cost and payment
    • Webinars
    • Workshops
    • InterCongregational Collaborative Novitiate (ICCN)
    • Together
    • Program Advisory Committee
    • Member Areas
    • Scholarship Funds
    • Calendar
    • Cancellation Policies
  • Congress
    • Congress 2023
    • Congress 2021
    • Congress 2019
    • Congress 2017
    • Congress 2015
    • Congress 2013
    • Congress 2011
  • Resources
    • Resources Portal
    • Webinar Recordings
    • Workshops & Presentations
    • InFormation Bulletins
    • Annual Reports
    • Scholarship Funds
    • News Blog
    • Online Store
    • Cancellation Policies
  • Members
    • Become a Member
    • Member Areas

Becoming Prophets of Encounter: The Culture of Encounter and Religious Life Today

Steve Bevans, SVD

Introduction

“All real living is meeting”

“All real living is meeting” These simple but powerful words are the famous phrase of the renowned Jewish philosopher and theologian Martin Buber (1878-1965), from his 1923 Classic I and Thou. 1 In this amazing book—which has influenced me greatly ever since I first read it over fifty years ago—Buber writes of two basic or “primary” ways in which human beings can live. They can live an existence of being closed in on themselves, the existence of what he calls “I-It,” or they can live an existence of being open to the world, to others, and to Ultimate Reality, the existence that he names “I-Thou.” Certainly, Buber admits, we cannot live the existence of “I-Thou” at every moment of our lives. Such intense living is not possible for finite mortals, and human beings need to go about their daily business with efficiency. But if women and men do not seek to experience and cultivate a life of openness, relationship, respect, awe, and reverence, such a life is not a human life at all. “All real living is meeting.” “Without It [women and men] cannot live,” writes Buber. “But [those] who live with It alone [are] not [human].

Click for entire article

  • twitter
  • facebook
  • linkedin
  • email

The Religious Formation Conference (RFC) is a national Roman Catholic organization serving religious institutes of women and men with programs and services for those in the ministry of initial and lifelong formation, and general congregational membership.

Animated by God’s vivifying presence, the RFC will stand at the forefront of discerning the formative horizon of the emergent in religious life. In concert with members and collaborative partners, the Conference will lead in the areas of initial and ongoing formation and the professional preparation of formators.

RFC Logo.

1525 E. 53rd St. | Suite 716
Chicago, IL 60615
Phone: 773.675.8362
Email: rfc@relforcon.org

LinkedInTwitterFlickrFacebook
Sitemap

About RFC

About RFC

Mission, Vision, Values

Board of Directors

Staff / Contact

Membership

Congregational Members

Member Areas

Partners & Collaborators

Get news & notes

News Blog

Travel to/from

Privacy Policy

Programs

Attend a Program

ForMission

Program Cost and Payment
Dates and Location

ForMission 2.0

Life Commitment

Program Cost and Payment

Compromiso de Vida

Orientation to Formation

Program cost and payment

Webinars

Workshops

InterCongregational Collaborative Novitiate (ICCN)

Together

Program Advisory Committee

Member Areas

Scholarship Funds

Calendar

Cancellation Policies

Congress

Congress 2023

Congress 2021

Congress 2019

Congress 2017

Congress 2015

Congress 2013

Congress 2011

Resources

Resources Portal

Webinar Recordings

Workshops & Presentations

InFormation Bulletins

Annual Reports

Scholarship Funds

News Blog

Online Store

Cancellation Policies

Members

Become a Member

Member Areas

Copyright © Religious Formation Conference | Web design