Roger Haight's Controversial Theology

Abstract

Controversy over Haight’s theology looks at three issues: First, the meaning of the word “symbol” in “Jesus symbol of God.” Haight denies “undialectically” that “Jesus is God” pointing out what was said by the Council of Chalcedon (451), but opponents claim that it is Haight’s reductionist avocation of Edward Schillebeeckx’s neo-Thomist classic, Christ the Sacrament of the Encounter with God (1963) that says Jesus points to God but he is not God. (Lakeland 2007). The second is Luke Timothy Johnson’s contention that Haight is advocating that “historical change and contingency” trumps “revelation and doctrinal authority.” Third, Haight’s embrace of religious pluralism and denying the superiority of Christianity thus denying the need to convert from other religions to Christianity and making Christianity no more than an option of religious beliefs moving into speculative theology and questioning the validity of Christianity. (Lakeland 2007).