Avery Dulles

The Catholicity of the Augsburg Confession

The researches of the past few years converge in understanding that the CA [Confessio Augustana] as the basic Lutheran confessional document was drawn up as it was not only for diplomatic reasons, that it might be possible to interpret it under the laws of the empire as a catholic confession; it was also drafted with inner conviction as a searching for evangelical catholicity-as a painstaking effort to filter the bubbling cauldron of the early Reformation movement in such a way that it might give it the shape of a catholic reform. Accordingly, efforts are under way to achieve a Catholic recognition of the CA or, more correctly, a recognition of the CA as catholic, and thereby to establish the catholicity of the churches of the CA, which makes possible a corporate union while the differences remain.1

Newman on Infallibility

70HN HENRY NEWMAN ran the gamut of practically all the positions tß on infallibility that are compatible with a sincere acceptance of a once-for-all revelation of God in Christ. In his Anglican days he attacked infallibility as the fundamental flaw of the Roman Catholic system. In his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, composed as he was transferring to the Roman allegiance, he answered his previous objections and argued for the necessity of an infallible teaching authority. In his Apologia pro vita sua, as a seasoned Catholic, he stoutly defended the principle of infallibility, with applications to the dogmatic teachings of Trent and the papal definition of the Immaculate Conception. But during Vatican Council I he nervously expressed his opposition to the proposed definition of papal infallibility. When the dogma was defined in 1870, he initially hesitated as to whether it was binding on Catholics. Soon, however, he overcame his doubts and became a leading apologist for the definition. At that stage he confined the dogma within narrow limits, glorying in his own minimalism. Several years later, in a new introduction to his original Anglican attack on infallibility, he maintained a surprisingly broad theory, extending the popes infallibility to matters not contained in the original deposit of revelation. In view of all these variations, theologians of almost every stripe can find support for their positions somewhere in the Newman corpus. In trying to present Newmans teaching on infallibility, one must take account of this complex history. One must consider not only the date but also the exact circumstances of each writing and its intended audience. Newman was frequently writing as a controversialist or as a spiritual director. Sometimes he was writing against the Catholic Church, sometimes against liberals and Protestants who denied infallibility altogether, sometimes against extreme ultramontanists who recognized no safeguards. Many of Newmans most interesting observations on infallibility are found in personal diaries or in private correspondence. In some cases he was tentatively exploring positions that he did not definitively accept. In other cases he was attempting to comfort anxious Catholics or prospective converts who were troubled by the extravagances of militant infallibilists. A number of authors have surveyed Newmans views on infallibility in

Faith, Church, and God: Insights from Michael Polanyi

Michael Polanyi can scarcely be reckoned as a theologian in his own right, but he has had a great and increasing influence in theology, especially since his death in 1976. Among prominent theologians, Thomas F. Torrance, Polanyis literary executor, has probably made the most extensive use of Polanyi, but his influence is apparent in the work of numerous other theologians and philosophers of religion in England and the United States. Polanyis writings have, moreover, been studied in a vast array of doctoral dissertations in the field of religious studies. Although it would be profitable to explore the secondary literature, I have chosen in this paper to discuss themes in Polanyis own work that have engaged, or deserve to engage, the attention of theologians. I shall divide my presentation into three main parts: faith and revelation; community and tradition; and the doctrine of God. Under the first heading I shall discuss theological epistemology; under the second, ecclesiology; and under the third, theological ontology.

Paths to Doctrinal Agreement: Ten Theses

B ALL ACCOUNTS one of the major achievements of Vatican II was that of involving the Catholic Church officially in the ecumenical movement. In the 20 years since the Council, the relations among the separated churches have vastly improved, but the major divisions between Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox show no signs of disappearing. Since these divisions are generally thought to rest primarily on disagreements about doctrine, a great part of the ecumenical effort has been focused on doctrinal reconciliation. In the past few years distinguished authors such as Yves Congar, Heinrich Fries, Karl Rahner, Joseph Ratzinger, and George Lindbeck have published important books with the aim of helping to overcome the doctrinal impasses. In the present paper I shall attempt, with some reference to these works, to set forth a number of guiding principles in the form of ten theses.

Fundamental Theology and the Dynamics of Conversion

La theologie fondamentale ne peut etre une methode externe, mais doit argumenter a partir des verites memes de la foi chretienne.

Symbol, Myth, and the Biblical Revelation

truth, mystery cannot be described or positively defined. I t can only be evoked. Religious language must contrive to point beyond itself and to summon up, in some fashion, the gracious experience of the mystery with which it deals. The Bible employs a great variety of literary forms. It is a small library containing historical records, poetic effusions, theological meditations, dramatic dialogues, hortatory epistles, etc. But in practically every biblical book we find exceptionally vivid and imaginative speech. The inspired imagery of the Bible may surely be reckoned as one of the main sources of its spiritual power. The biblical images astonish our expectations, grip our attention, challenge our receptivity, haunt our memory, stir our affections, and transform our attitudes. While the Bible is not lacking in doctrine, its language suggests far more about God and His ways with man than it conveys by express concepts. From the crude anthropomorphisms of Genesis to the luxuriant visions of the Apocalypse, the Bible proves itself a treasure house of vivid and

Method in Fundamental Theology: Reflections on David Tracy's Blessed Rage for Order

As the country enters into the third century of its independent existence, we have to confess that in spite of many calls for an American Catholic theology, no such thing yet exists. Although there is perhaps no need for a theology that is distinctively national, one might hope that at least some systematic works published by Catholics in this country might be of such a nature that European readers would regret being deprived of an opportunity to read them, as is rarely now the case. Tracys Blessed Rage for Order is a happy exception to this somber generalization. As a piece of creative scholarship, it should command wide interest all over the world. It is an American book not only in the sense of having been written in this country, but in the further sense that it could hardly have been written anywhere else. The authors concerns and outlooks are characteristically American; he draws for the most part on philosophical currents, exegetical trends, and religious questions that have been especially lively on this continent. In his philosophical orientations he is still heavily influenced by the transcendental Thomism of his master, Bernard Lonergan, but this influence is now overshadowed by that of the process philosophy of Whitehead and Hartshorne. Tracy grapples extensively with language analysis in the Anglo-American tradition and comes generally closer to the moderate positions of Frederick Ferré, Max Black, and Ian Barbour, who have worked in the United States, than to the harder line pursued by their British confreres Ayer and Flew, Hare and Braithwaite. He shares the concern for the autonomy of science voiced in this country by Paul Tillich and Van Harvey. He makes use of the studies of Peter Berger, Robert Bellah, and Clifton Geertz in the sociology of religion. His interpretation of the New Testament is influenced by Robert Funk, John Dominic Crossan, and Dan O. Via. Above all, Tracy reflects the influence of four recent or present colleagues at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He accepts Schubert Ogdens process doctrine of God, Langdon Gilkeys commitment to modernity, Paul Ricoeurs hermeneutical theory, and the exegetical principles of Norman Perrin. So closely does Tracy hew to the ideas of these colleagues that his work reads in some respects more like the Programmschrift of a school than like the speculations of a private individual. The main theme of the book is theological method, and more specifically the method of fundamental, as contrasted with confessional

Book Review: The Concept of Faith: A Philosophical InvestigationThe Concept of Faith: A Philosophical Investigation. By LadWilliam Sessions. Cornell Studies in the Philosophy of Religion. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University, 1994. pp. x + 298.

have not been able to stifle art, some of compelling depth and tragic beauty like Chen Kaiges Yellow Earth, King of the Children, and Farewell My Concubine, worldwide-acclaimed films critical of Chinas authoritarian tradition. Utopian absolutes crafted during the failed great leap forward and Cultural Revolution movements have been eroded by technology. Fax machines and satellite dishes prove that the ideological certitudes of a closed system exhaust neither the complexities of modernization nor transcendence. Beijings bureaucrats thought that they could control Chinas population growth by technology, but only recently they banned the sex-screening of fetuses by ultrasound machines because of a threatening imbalance in the ratio of men to women. Commentators have pointed out that there exists a climate of self-doubt in China, and one has even suggested that because of Deng Xiapings internal reforms, Chinese leaders have learned to negotiate and compromise among themselves, thus ending the vicious cycle of vengeful power plays. The two books under review do not address or even mention all of the above or similar issues, but they should have. Works on religion in China tend to be too parochial in focus and scope; the aroma of sacristy or chancel dust is much too strong. Both books are good, but incomplete. Writers on religion in China would give a better understanding of Chinese society if they crossed over into other fields, particularly art, film, music, and literature, to show how a considerable number of post-Mao Chinese today struggle to understand and to create those symbols of transcendence for which they deeply hunger. Many Chinese know that beyond the soul-enervating politicized tribalism of homo sinicus maoensis there exists a new extended international family not locked in cement by blood and jingoism, but one which preserves history and yet does not become entombed by it. The issue of ChinaVatican diplomacy also needs addressing in depth. Chinas negotiators are tough, and so are the Vaticans, and with good reason, because the fundamental human right of religious freedom is at stake. In the history of church-state relations China has a long memory, but the Church has a longer one. A greater power exists than the one which comes from a gun barrel. Their subject being religion, both books, however, address an important lacuna in China scholarship, a subject about which most China scholars have little knowledge, or which they trivialize or benignly neglect.

37.

If there is no longer a self-evident morality supported by traditional forces of habit and custom, there is ample room for a morality resulting from a higher degree of awareness and discernment. In this context the Holy Spirit is free to operate, particularly through the sacraments of confirmation and matrimony, which set up a permanent relationship of secular life to the world beyond this. M. has written a demanding book; the sweep of his interpretation and the grasp of facts alluded to in support of his theories are dazzling. Yet one must agree with Dom David Knowles in his Foreword that opinions such as M.s are not demonstrably true. The value of the book must be found in its ability to aid the reader in understanding the world situation in which he finds himself; if he gains insight into and greater comprehension of his own milieu, then the book is a good one. What M. would give us is an interpretation, based on various historical moments in the Church, of the Churchs relation to the world. By nature a suprahistorical entity, one which will achieve its completion only at the end of the world, the Church yet exists in time, responding to the various (and limited) possibilities allowed by a given situation. As the Church has progressed through history, the relative yet necessary relationship of the Church to the world has moved her inevitably to her present situation vis-à-vis the world: post-European, postChristian, posthistorical, but with roots in the European, Christian, historical past and a future resting on mans ability to act freely and responsibly under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is in relation to the attitudes now having their influence at Vatican II that we can perhaps best see the value of M.s thesis, for it is there that a new alliance of Church and world is being formed. It is there, too, that a new appreciation of the Churchs past relation to the world is growing, as is evident in the juridico-historical rather than theologico-metaphysical approach to the religious-liberty question. M.s interpretation of the past sheds light on the present and renders the future less obscure in a stimulating, even provocative manner; with this, its value is assured.

Book Review: Unity in Freedom: Reflections on the Human FamilyUnity in Freedom: Reflections on the Human Family. By BeaAugustin Cardinal. Religious Perspectives 11. New York: Harper & Row, 1964. Pp. 272.

material for those wishing to do research in this area. His expository style is in places weighted down by facts, something to be expected in a work of such scholarly worth; nevertheless, at times the reader will find himself caught up in the excitement of the events described. In brief, G. has produced a notable work, and the scholarly world can count itself doubly blessed if the second volume of this history achieves the outstanding merit of the first.