Fundamental Theology Research Articles

TOWARD A SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY OF THE SANCTUARY—PART II

This article is part two of an essay that offers some preliminary thoughts regarding the relationship of the sanctuary and systematic theology, focusing on just a few aspects which expose the relationship between the two. The first article considered the nature of theological systems, issues related to an Adventist system of theology, and the relationship between fundamental theology and the sanctuary in particular, with attention to some broad, competing views of the sanctuary that are integrally related to the way one conceives of broader theological principles. The first article set the stage for this second article, which concludes the essay by discussing a number of important systematic elements that shed light on a potential systematic theology of the sanctuary

Joseph Ratzinger as Doctor of Incarnate Beauty

This paper argues that Joseph Ratzinger is a theologian with the stature of a Church Doctor, notwithstanding the fact that he did not develop a theological system in the manner of other ‘big name’ theologians of the twentieth century such as Karl Barth, Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar. The author argues that it is Ratzinger’s manner of responding to the contemporary crisis in fundamental theology that is his outstanding intellectual contribution to the life of the Church, along with his effect of a Christocentric turn in magisterial theology and his defence of beauty within his theology of culture.

Beyond Critique: Just War as Theological Political Theology

AbstractThis article takes up a charge often directed to neo‐Augustinians by neo‐Anabaptists that their defense of just war lacks adequate theological foundations. It is the case that most contemporary just war advocates, even within Christian ethics, no longer embed their accounts within a distinctively theological context, let alone a robust appeal to a doctrine of God or divine providence attentive to the divine One who really entered history, suffered defeat, and conquered death. This development can be seen as a form of self‐denial for the sake of consensus and casuistry. In so doing, however, they confirm the claim of many Christian pacifists that just war reasoning betrays the radical creativity of Christian virtue in the name of some external (often duty‐based) notion of responsibility and retributive justice. My project differs. It taps into resurgent interest in political theology as a way to remedy this neglect at least a little. I focus on two aspects of political theology that bear primarily on the relation of the temporal and the eternal: providence and suffering. They are rooted in fundamental theology, guided by the memory of being grafted as strangers into the God of Israel, the same God who showed compassion for Esau even while blessing Jacob. Just war tradition is an act of compassion rooted in providence and the inevitable suffering faced in history. The point is to re‐theologize a living tradition that generations of the ecumenical church bequeathed to us as an exercise of their Christian imagination within their historical contexts where they took all of history seriously as God’s time. Wary of idolatry, we should strive for more than critique or a disappointing choice between Christendom or Church as the only theological word to the nations.

Los principios del cristianismo: Una Teología Fundamental según Newman by Fernando María Cavaller

Reviewed by: Los principios del cristianismo: Una Teología Fundamental según Newman by Fernando María Cavaller John T. Ford, CSC Los principios del cristianismo: Una Teología Fundamental según Newman BY FERNANDO MARÍA CAVALLER Colección En Diálogo 53. Buenos Aires: Agape Libros, 2018. 542 pages. Paperback: $930.00 (Argentine pesos). ISBN: 9789876405317. Although he never wrote a treatise specifically devoted to "fundamental theology," John Henry Newman, both as an Anglican and as a Roman Catholic, discussed many of the major issues presently treated in works on "fundamental theology." At the outset, it should be noted that theologians differ about which topics should be included under the heading of "fundamental theology." Some or all of the following are included: revelation and faith, tradition and scripture, Christ and the church.1 Newman treated all of these topics at various times during his life. In addition, theologians use different methodologies to elaborate their "fundamental theology." Some prefer a historical-philosophical approach, while others opt for a theological perspective. This book follows Newman in its treatment of all six of these topics from a theological approach. [End Page 110] What Cavaller does so diligently is to organize and discuss the topics of fundamental theology that Newman treated in various publications during his life-time: divine revelation (23–264), Christ and the church (265–368), and faith as the appropriate response to revelation (369–487). Cavaller's detailed discussion and analysis concludes with a helpful synthesis (489–538), which might be read first by those who are not familiar with fundamental theology. Finally, there is a very short bibliography (539–42). Cavaller's treatment of revelation begins with Newman's teenage conversion, which resulted in his sacramental view of revelation. Newman's view of revelation contrasted sharply with the more "historicist apologetics," which characterized most Roman Catholic treatments of the topic during the nineteenth century. Newman, of course, treated such fundamental theological topics as natural and revealed religion—Christianity as the fullness of revelation—and the transmission of revelation.2 Nonetheless, there was an on-going ambivalence in Newman's treatment of revelation: sometimes he emphasized its experiential aspects, and at other times he stressed its expressional (doctrinal) dimension. His theology of revelation could well be enhanced by employing Avery Dulles's "models of revelation."3 Nonetheless, Newman's characterization of revelation as "dogmatic" and his well-known insistence on the development of doctrine were theologically avant-garde, so much so that his advocacy of doctrinal development was somewhat suspect during his lifetime. Newman's treatment of Christ and the church also contrasted rather markedly with that of his contemporaries, who, in response to historicist tendencies emerging in the nineteenth century, elaborated "historical proofs" for the divinity of Christ and the founding of the church. Newman instead viewed the Incarnation as "Fundamental Christology" and emphasized the church's sacramentality. While granting the merits of Newman's incarnational Christology, the need for addressing the numerous questions concerning the "Jesus of History" is critically urgent today. Similarly, while a sacramental ecclesiology may be eminently satisfying for believers, the human defects of the church loom so large that they must be candidly considered in ecclesiological discussions today. Finally, in the manualist treatises of the nineteenth century, "faith" was usually, but incongruously, treated independently of revelation, thereby neglecting to emphasize that revelation calls for the response of faith. Although Newman was very much concerned about the relationship of faith and reason, he also viewed faith as "preparation for the beatific vision" and the contemplation of Christ. Indeed, [End Page 111] Newman emphasized the dogmatic content of Christian belief and considered theology as the explication and development of the teachings of revelation. Cavaller's inclusion of Newman's writings on development is a welcome and indeed necessary addition to fundamental theology; however, there is still a pressing need to expand Newman's view of development by specifically considering the ways in which our understandings of how revelation, tradition, and scripture develop.4 On the whole, one is pleasantly surprised that most of Newman's "fundamental theology" is quite at home in post-Vatican II theology. Nonetheless, there are a couple of areas that Newman...

By What Authority?: Foundations for Understanding Authority in the Church (Revised and Expanded Edition) by Richard Gaillardetz

Reviewed by: By What Authority?: Foundations for Understanding Authority in the Church (Revised and Expanded Edition) by Richard Gaillardetz Eric Lafferty By What Authority?: Foundations for Understanding Authority in the Church (Revised and Expanded Edition) BY RICHARD GAILLARDETZ Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2018. Pages: xviii + 246. Paperback: $24.95. ISBN: 9780814687888. This newly revised edition of Richard Gaillardetz's 2003 publication adds content from the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis with the aim of offering an up-to-date treatment of authority in the Roman Catholic Church. Beyond new content appended to the original chapters, this edition includes two new chapters: "What Is the Role of Power and Authority in the Church?" [End Page 167] and "How Did the Magisterium Develop Historically?" It is a relatively slim volume, given its scope, with content touching on a vast array of topics pertaining to authority, including, revelation, the biblical canon and inspiration, tradition, the magisterium, dogma, doctrine, the sense of the faithful, assent and dissent, and the relationship between it all. Each is a lofty theological topic, the finer details of which are sometimes glossed over. This is understandable and excusable inasmuch as the author intends the text to serve as a basic introduction. Happily, the inclusion of suggested further reading for each topic provide some starting points for readers seeking more detail. One cannot deny the erudition required and effort put forth by the author to assemble such a concise introduction to complex and often ill-understood topics. The scrupulous reader, however, will quickly pick up on the author's theological slant. To be clear, this text is not a mere handbook on what the Roman Catholic Church teaches on authority, but a theological argument with its own proclivities. Notable elements of Gaillardetz's approach include his self-proclaimed allegiance to "the spirit of Vatican II," enthusiasm for Francis's pontificate, and a general downplaying of dogma. This final point deserves closer examination. The author argues for the primacy of the Christian life over dogma. For Gaillardetz, certain dogmas are no longer central to Christian living. He elaborates on this using the example of Constantinople III's dogmatic teaching that Christ possessed two wills, writing, "It is not that Constantinople III was wrong; it is just that its Christological formulation is no longer central to the faith consciousness of Catholics today" (168). Where one might expect a call for catechesis, the author asserts that whether a group of Catholics believes Christ had one will or two wills, "This would mean nothing regarding the orthodoxy of one group or another" (168). He defends this relegation of certain dogma to a lesser status through an appeal to Vatican II's teaching on the hierarchy of truths. Shifting the focus to more Newman-centric matters, scholars and enthusiasts will find some disappointment that references to Newman are often little more than the author employing some of the prolific saint's most memorable and popularized sayings to introduce other content and ideas. The one area of focus with some pertinence to Newman studies is the author's treatment of the sense of the faithful. Gaillardetz rightly notes Newman's contribution to this topic, and Newman scholars interested in how recent scholarship appropriates that contribution may find the author's overview helpful. As an introductory text focusing more on breadth than depth, the intended audience is wide. The author expresses hope that it finds use in academic, ecclesial, and other professional contexts. On the one hand, the author has achieved what eludes many scholars: a text that showcases knowledge of major and diverse sources combined with an approachable writing style that communicates [End Page 168] key points in clear language and demands little prior knowledge. In this regard, Gaillardetz's updated text would seem to lend itself to wide application. On the other hand, how one judges its suitability for various contexts will largely depend on one's own theological disposition. Undoubtedly the text contains a wealth of helpful foundational content in fundamental theology and ecclesiology, but intertwined throughout are points of contention and disputable guiding narratives that serve more as kindle for theological debate. The author clearly recognizes the value of such debate as...

The Indissolubility of Marriage: Amoris Laetitia in Context by Matthew Levering

Reviewed by: The Indissolubility of Marriage: Amoris Laetitia in Context by Matthew Levering Tracey Rowland The Indissolubility of Marriage: Amoris Laetitia in Context by Matthew Levering (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2019), 223 pp. My first observation on obtaining this book was that Professor Levering appears from the footnotes and bibliography to have read every academic article that has been written on the subject of Amoris Laetitia. The book considers the issue of the indissolubility of marriage from every imaginable perspective. Its form is broken into four chapters: "Eastern Orthodox, Patristic, Protestant, and Historical-Critical Perspectives on Marital Indissolubility"; "Marital Indissolubility from Trent through to Pope Benedict XVI"; "Pope Francis' Amoris Laetitia and Marital Indissolubility"; and "Theological Ressourcement: Aquinas on Marital Indissolubility." The macro-level conclusion is that Amoris Laetitia does not change the Church's doctrine of marital indissolubility and, indeed, that Jesus "strongly affirms marital indissolubility, more clearly than he does almost any other Catholic teaching" (15). It is also shown that the Church Fathers of the first three centuries supported the idea and that the majority of the Church Fathers in the following centuries also affirmed the idea. Moreover, Levering observes that even those interpreters whose views have been explicitly commended by Pope Francis have all agreed that the Church's traditional teaching on marital indissolubility has not changed. From this fact Levering concludes that discussions around the topic of Amoris Laetitia should focus upon this shared ground of agreement. [End Page 1420] Levering does however acknowledge that part of the problem surrounding interpretations of Amoris Laetitia is the absence of shared agreement among theologians on the principles of fundamental theology. Some theologians do not accept that revelation includes a specific truth content. For some revelation is nothing more than the awakening of the human spirit to divine love. As Arnauld Join-Lambert claims, different cultural contexts make different interpretations of revelation possible. If this is so, then the theological tradition which recognizes a common set of doctrines, truth claims, and moral principles as one of the so-called "marks" of the Church is obsolete. And if doctrinal unity is no longer necessary, then this has flow-on effects for how we understand the Petrine Office, and in particular the power of the "keys." The Petrine Office loses its unifying charism. Moreover, if the power of the keys is limitless, which is another way of saying that the exercise of the power of the keys is not circumscribed by the deposit of the faith, by Scripture or by Tradition, classically understood, but is a kind of prerogative of the pontiff, analogous to a U.S. presidential pardon, then this represents a seismic shift in the field of ecclesiology. Although it is not often presented in this way, divisions over the interpretations of Amoris Laetitia are rooted in different approaches to fundamental theology. We have arrived at a moment in ecclesial history where the fact that something is a mortal sin in one archdiocese and a mere pastoral concern in another is seen by some theologians to be prima facie evidence of a de facto schism in the Church, and thus a cause for alarm, while for others this is not a problem at all but simply a manifestation of the Church's cultural diversity. Perhaps it is precisely because there is so much disunity at the level of fundamental theology that the drafters of Amoris Laetitia decided to deal with the most contentious issues in the footnotes. The footnotes in Levering's work were also of greater than usual interest, and in particular footnote 67 on page 49 seemed to me to address the nub of the pastoral problem in the minds of many Catholics. To paraphrase the footnote, the question is: "does someone whose wife left him and his four children for a lesbian have to remain single for the rest of his life?" My own response to this question—much like Levering's response (113)—is to endorse the position of Nicholas J. Healy Jr. discussed in footnote 6 on page 93, to the effect that a more promising alternative to Cardinal Kasper's "follow the Eastern Orthodox" position is to expand the annulment process. Levering...

Revelation, History, and Truth: A Hermeneutics of Dogma by Eduardo J. Echeverria

Reviewed by: Revelation, History, and Truth: A Hermeneutics of Dogma by Eduardo J. Echeverria Michael McClymond Revelation, History, and Truth: A Hermeneutics of Dogma by Eduardo J. Echeverria (New York: Peter Lang, 2018), xxi + 199 pp. Catholic fundamental theologians ought to attend to Eduardo Echeverria's wide-ranging new book, appearing when foundational theological issues stand in the foreground, as witnessed by debates over Amoris Laetitia, critiques from the Dubia Cardinals, controversies over the death penalty, and the 2019 Amazon Synod. The scope of argumentation in Echeverria's work is ambitious, encompassing essentialist-versus-historicist disputes over Vatican II (1–45), the nature of revelation, Scripture, and Tradition (47–92), questions of epistemic and theological foundationalism (93–152), and definitions of a Lérinian hermeneutics of tradition (153–74), as well as the development of dogma (175–95). While each theme might have filled out an entire volume, Echeverria in surveying each theme provides a compact yet comprehensive vision. The book is a contemporary manifesto for Catholic fundamental theology. Catholic readers will be struck by the many Protestant (and especially Protestant Evangelical) authors cited here, including such luminaries as G. C. Berkouwer, G. E. Ladd, Colin Gunton, Paul Helm, Kevin Vanhoozer, and Oliver Crisp. This engagement with non-Catholic authors reflects Echeverria's earlier, PhD-level training in Protestant dogmatics at the Free University of Amsterdam. Nonetheless, this work is not a mediation between Catholic and Evangelical reasoning, but rather a constitutively Catholic argument that selectively deploys ideas from Protestant as well as Catholic sources. Protestant insights here serve Catholic purposes. It is [End Page 1414] not just that non-Catholics have good things to say, but that Evangelical thinkers in their two-century-long battle against modernist Protestantism have accumulated their own rich repertoire of arguments that prove useful. For Echeverria, ecumenism involves co-belligerency: the enemy of my enemy may prove to be my friend. Among the Catholic thinkers whom Echeverria cites appreciatively are Thomas Aquinas, Yves Congar, Pope John XXIII, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Avery Dulles, Pope Benedict XVI, Aidan Nichols, Germain Grisez, Thomas Guarino, and (more surprisingly) Karl Rahner and David Tracy. Edward Schillebeeckx receives a mixed review in the book in light of his mid-career shift from realism to non-realism (24), as does Gavin D'Costa, since D'Costa rejects relativism but offers a position that Echeverria says is in need of a more robust metaphysical underpinning (27–29). Catholic historians and theologians who serve as a foil, against whom Echeverria reasons, include Giuseppe Alberigo, John O'Malley, Massimo Faggioli, Richard Gaillardetz, Lieven Boeve, and Christoph Theobold. Echeverria opens his book by stating that "I am centrally concerned with the matter of diversity and discontinuity in theological expressions and formulations within a fundamental unity of truth" (1). As collectively "the specter of relativism, antirealism, or fideism" (97), he opposes a cluster of interrelated ideas: that theological assertions make no objective claims regarding the world (non-realism), involve no intellectual or propositional content (non-cognitivism, non-propositionalism), and are always subject to revision or replacement by some new assertion (fallibilism). He writes that "the rejection of a realist notion of truth and language is behind why many find implausible the normative truth of dogmas, creeds, and confessions" (129). The author displays constructive as well as polemical intent in his book, seeking not only to refute false ideas but also to propose better, alternative formulations. Continuity and change in Catholic teaching, argues Echeverria, can be properly understood only if one distinguishes the universal and unchanging truths of the faith from their particular and time-bound forms of expression. What remain changeless are not specific words, nor even doctrinal concepts per se, but the underlying theological judgments and patterns of judgment (xvi). This core claim sets Echeverria at odds with John O'Malley, who uses the words "substantialism" or "essentialism" to typify those who in this way distinguish unchanging truths from their changing expressions (11). Echeverria argues that the truth–expression distinction is not only legitimate but necessary, and that it serves a central purpose in what he calls "the Lérianian legacy of Vatican II" (11). In defense of the truth–expression distinction, Echeverria...

Compendium of the Study of Philosophy by Roger Bacon

Reviewed by: Compendium of the Study of Philosophy by Roger Bacon Timothy J. Johnson (bio) Roger Bacon, Compendium of the Study of Philosophy. Edited and Translated by Thomas S. Maloney. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Thomas S. Maloney has once again provided an engaging and carefully edited translation and critical edition of a major text of Roger Bacon. Scholars of Bacon already enjoy Maloney's other edited translations, On Signs (Toronto, 2013) and The Art and Science of Logic (Toronto, 2009), as well as the critical edition of the Compendium of the Study of Theology (Leiden, 1988). Maloney turns his attention in this new volume to the English Minorite's Compendium studii philosophiae and, in addition to his commentary and translation, provides a critical edition of the Latin text based on the singular manuscript in existence (Cotton Tiberias C.V) in the British Museum. For those unfamiliar with the Compendium, it is important to recall that Bacon composed this work in either Paris or Oxford between 1271-1276, with 1272 or thereabouts the most likely date. He had introduced many of the key themes of the Compendium in his trilogy from 1267-1268, the Opus maius, Opus minus, and Opus tertium, in response to the request of Pope Clement IV. Bacon called for nothing less than a sweeping reform of Christendom's educational curriculum that included the sciences, philosophy, and theology. At the core of his concerns lie his advocacy of language studies, so as to produce a more accurate biblical text suitable for trustworthy teaching and the promotion of missionary activities beyond the realms of Latin Christianity. The appearance of the Compendium coincided with Pope Gregory X's convocation of the Second Council of Lyon in 1272 and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio's magisterial series of lectures, known collectively as the Hexaëmeron, in Paris between Easter and Pentecost in 1273. Scholars may paint a picture of Bacon as Bonaventure's adversary and a disgruntled friar on the margins of his religious community and mid-thirteenth century ecclesiastical agendas, but that view must be challenged. Gregory IX was clearly interested in reform as his conciliar preparations reveal, and Bonaventure, along with other friars in Paris, shared a number of concerns with their confrere, Roger Bacon. As Hans Kraml has demonstrated, the emphasis of the Doctor Mirabilis on the significance of language studies and theological hermeneutics is evident in the Scriptum in primium librum sententiarum, which William de la Mare wrote sometime shortly after 1267. He was a student of the Doctor Seraphicus and became a Regent Master at the University of Paris in 1275. Like his fellow Englishman, he was keen on correcting the version of the Vulgate in use and may have collaborated [End Page 305] with Bacon in the composition of the Correctio textus bibliae and De hebraeis et graecis vocabilis glossarum bibliae. Perhaps he also played a hand in the composition of the Compendium. The Compendium is situated within a variegated wisdom tradition that permeates the writings of his fellow Minorite mendicants. What is noteworthy about Bacon's approach to the thematic is his assumption of their basic theological foundations and his unique turn to philosophy in the articulation of that tradition. This affords him the opportunity to argue for the cultivation of wisdom throughout society with a methodology that reflects his nascent fundamental theology. Given the content and context of the on-going reflection on wisdom among Franciscan theologians like Bonaventure in the thirteenth century, Bacon's Compendium strikes this reader as a broad philosophical effort to move an assumed theological understanding of wisdom beyond church pulpits and university aulas into the mainstream of medieval culture in order to illustrate that people throughout Christendom and beyond suffer when the gift of wisdom is neither sought out nor appreciated throughout society. The text itself is divided into nine sections that treat how and why the acquisition of wisdom is essential, the impediments to wisdom, those individuals and groups whose lack of wisdom leads to error, the importance of language studies, and guidelines for translators working with Greek and Hebrew. The opening chapter promises to address wisdom and how it can be acquired. Four categories (pp. 2-3...

Why Revelation Gives Shelter to Metaphysics

Why Revelation Gives Shelter to Metaphysics1 Guy Mansini O.S.B. Metaphysics in the traditional style is not much cultivated today in the lands in which it originated and once flourished. In 1998, Pope John Paul II noted this fact in Fides et Ratio. Speaking even of Catholic institutions, he says that Scholasticism and philosophy itself are held in "less respect," but connects this to a broader contemporary fact, to wit: "There is a lack of trust in reason displayed to a large extent by modern philosophy itself," he says, "so that it abandons the metaphysical search for man's ultimate questions in order to concentrate on particular and local issues, sometimes merely formal ones."2 John Paul also noted the fact that philosophy in the ancient high sense must remain, must survive for the sake of theology itself, as a discipline praeambulatory to theology. This is how he puts it, speaking of fundamental theology: With its specific character as a discipline charged with giving an account of faith (cf. 1 Pet 3:15), the concern of fundamental theology will be to justify and expound the relationship between faith and philosophical thought. Recalling the teaching of Saint Paul (cf. Rom 1:19–20), the First Vatican Council pointed to the existence of truths which are naturally, and thus philosophically, knowable; and an acceptance of God's Revelation necessarily presupposes knowledge of these truths. … Consider, for example, the natural knowledge [End Page 1089] of God, the possibility of distinguishing divine Revelation from other phenomena or the recognition of its credibility, the capacity of human language to speak in a true and meaningful way even of things which transcend all human experience. From all these truths, the mind is led to acknowledge the existence of a truly propaedeutic path to faith.3 "An acceptance of God's Revelation necessarily presupposes knowledge of these truths," truths about God known by the natural light. Why is it necessary? That is a first question. Showing this necessity has become more important since the Enlightenment, moreover, not only because of the role natural theology plays in apologetics, but also because it distinguishes Catholic theology from Protestant thought where it is under the influence of Emmanuel Kant and Karl Barth. But there is also John Paul's observation that metaphysics in the traditional style no longer flourishes as once it did. If the Church is the only place where metaphysics is cultivated in the old way, why is that so? It is not that human nature has changed. It is not that we are less capable of the wonder Aristotle evokes at the beginning of the Metaphysics. Showing why metaphysics survives only in the Church serves to highlight not just the different ways Catholics and moderns think about being, but the different ways they think about man, too. And this is important for understanding how we fit—or rather how we do not fit—into the modern world. So, philosophy must survive for the sake of theology—that is a first thesis; we must see why it is so. But then, if it must survive for theology, and so in that sense is "in" theology or is its forecourt as a preliminary discipline, why is that the only place it survives today? That is a second thing that needs an explanation. And these are the answers this essay aims at establishing: metaphysics, and the highest part of it, a robust (i.e., successful) natural theology, must be possible if we are reasonably and so responsibly to assert the fact of revelation, the fact that God speaks to us. If God speaks, we must be able to show he exists. We must be able to show he exists if we are reasonably and responsibly to say that he has spoken. But then second, only if God does speak are we called on—not simply logically but also morally or "existentially"—to show he exists. Only if he speaks must we be able rationally to [End Page 1090] show by the natural light that he exists—that is the first issue. But also, if he does not speak, or if we believe he does not speak, there...

René Girard, Unlikely Apologist: Mimetic Theory and Fundamental Theology. By GrantKaplan. Pp. xii, 263, Notre Dame, IN, University of Notre Dame Press, 2016, $50.00.

The Heythrop JournalVolume 61, Issue 1 p. 204-205 Book Review René Girard, Unlikely Apologist: Mimetic Theory and Fundamental Theology. By Grant Kaplan. Pp. xii, 263, Notre Dame, IN, University of Notre Dame Press, 2016, $50.00. Patrick Madigan, Patrick Madigan Campion Hall, OxfordSearch for more papers by this author Patrick Madigan, Patrick Madigan Campion Hall, OxfordSearch for more papers by this author First published: 12 December 2019 https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.13472Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume61, Issue1Special Issue: Political Theory – the Confession of Political Deviation and the Darkness WithinJanuary 2020Pages 204-205 RelatedInformation

Czy teologia ciała jest teologią fundamentalną? O naturze teologii ciała jako dyscypliny poznawczej

This paper elaborates upon the status of the Theology of the Body (TOB) among the philosoph- ical and theological disciplines. The TOB is a relevant part of ecclesiastical reflection due to the modern cultural context. The genesis of the TOB is deeply rooted in social, political and econo- mic development of the Western civilization after the Enlightenment and Positivism of the 19th c. The TOB is a part of theology which is a valid and necessary part of the human knowledge. The justification for the TOB comes from its subject matter, which is the human body. The human body transcends physical reality through its actions and points towards the invisible realm of the soul and morality. The TOB needs to be recognized as one of the ontological disciplines rather than a deontological one, only. The TOB can be categorized as a part of fundamental theology within systematic theology.

Wiarygodność Kościoła w dzisiejszej Polsce

There are two purposes of this article: the first one — to clarify the meaning of the term ‘credibility of the Church in contemporary Poland’ from a theological perspective, and the second one — to describe the basic signs of such credibility and the difficulties they are facing. The article consists of three parts and a conclusion. The first part deals with the theological understanding of the Church’s credibility in contemporary Poland in the light of new researches and inspirations offered by Joseph Ratzinger’s ecclesiology and by the book Oblicza Kościoła katolickiego w Polsce. 1050. rocznicaChrztu [Features of the Catholic Church in Poland. The 1050th Anniversary of the Christening] (ed. by J. Mastej, K. Kaucha, P. Borto, Lublin 2016). The second part is focused on the signs of the Church’s credibility in Poland (sign of Peter, of the Apostolic Collegium, of unity, of holiness, of universality, of apostolicity, agapetological, praxeological, martyriological, and culture-creative), which started to be described about 25 years ago by Rev. Marian Rusecki, who was co-founder and the most excellent representative of the Lublin School of Fundamental Theology. The third part presents some new signs of the Church’s credibility in Poland according to the author of the article (charitable, staurological, resurrectional, paschal, anthropological-vocational, of freedom, of the priority of the Spirit and spiritual life, of peace and reconciliation, of protest, of the faith’s pure- ness). In the conclusion the author underlines the values of the semeiological method in describing and testing the credibility of the Church in contemporary Poland.

Grant Kaplan’s René Girard, Unlikely Apologist: Mimetic Theory and Fundamental Theology

This article review’s Grant Kaplan’s, René Girard, Unlikely Apologist: Mimetic Theory and Fundamental Theology. The content of the book offers the occasion to comment on some themes in Girard’s thought in relation to theology. In particular it expands upon it with reference to some of the insights from Bernard Lonergan. Girard’s legacy can contribute to a reaffirmation of the uniqueness of Christian identity in a pluralistic age, and a contribution to Catholic social teaching --i.e. a preferential option for the scapegoated and marginalized. Although he reclaimed his Christian roots, Girard was neither a philosopher nor a theologian. Therefore, some of his provocative insights, while valuable, stand in need of a critical appropriation. Kaplan’s important study provides an oppurtunity to raise some of those questions.

Křesťanství a "realita lidského života": Projekt fenomenologické teologie Edwarda Farleyho

This article aims to present Edward Farley‘s book entitled Ecclesial Man: A Social Phenomenology of Faith and Reality to a Czech theological audience. The book by this American Protestant theologian is a result of his efforts to create a phenomenological that expresses itself as a fundamental theology about the Church and provides solid prolegomena to the study of systematic ecclesiology. For our postmodern and post-Christian society, Ecclesial Man provides an outline of Christianity as a singular pre-reflective reality of the church inter-subjectively constituted and reflects how this reality is uniquely related to the existence of human beings and to the salvation of human authenticity and finality. The book therefore offers an opportunity and impulses for a deeper reflection and self-understanding of the Church as a sacrament or as sign and instrument of the inner union with God and of the unity of the whole human race (LG 1).

Conventional and Ultimate Truth: A Key for Fundamental Theology by Joseph Stephen O'Leary, [Thresholds in Philosophy and Theology], University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana, 2015, pp. xvii + 404, £47.95, pbk.

New BlackfriarsVolume 100, Issue 1087 p. 362-364 Review CONVENTIONAL AND ULTIMATE TRUTH: A KEY FOR FUNDAMENTAL THEOLOGY by Joseph Stephen O'Leary, [Thresholds in Philosophy and Theology], University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana, 2015, pp. xvii + 404, £47.95, pbk. VIVIAN BOLAND OP, VIVIAN BOLAND OPSearch for more papers by this author VIVIAN BOLAND OP, VIVIAN BOLAND OPSearch for more papers by this author First published: 16 April 2019 https://doi.org/10.1111/nbfr.12455Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume100, Issue1087May 2019Pages 362-364 RelatedInformation

Religion and Politics in William Steel Dickson DD (1744–1824): Ulster-Scot Irishman and his Modernizing Thought-World

This essay presents the lineaments and origins of the core thinking of Steel Dickson, a typically controversial representative of the progressive eighteenth-century intelligentsia in the north of Ireland who were Presbyterian ministers and inclined to radicalising reform of politics and religion as well as, more tentatively, to the reformatting of fundamental theology. There will be reference to short studies and general interpretations of Dickson and, more particularly, some analysis of his publications including religio-political addresses and church sermons. Discussed will be the context of his association with the Society of United Irishmen and its evolving revolutionary path, as well as his links to other reform thinkers, politicians and churchmen in Ulster. The study argues that Steel Dickson's varied political involvement flowed consciously from his ethical and religious convictions. Further, that he embodied (with qualification) the impact of the Scottish Enlightenment and ‘Moderate’ Presbyterianism in Ireland – but along with strong appeal to biblical testimony and norms. Finally, it demonstrates with illustrations that the decisive shaping and reconstructing of the contours of Dickson's mind occurred during his studies at Glasgow University in its intellectual heyday.

Review of Wolfgang Vondey’s Pentecostal Theology: Living the Full Gospel

Wolfgang Vondey’s Pentecostal Theology is a creative, constructive, and far ranging contribution to the development of Pentecostal theology. Grounded in the Pentecostal experience of the full gospel, it provides both a fundamental Pentecostal theology and a Pentecostal perspective on major categories of systematic theology. The book marks a new phase of efforts to develop a comprehensive or systematic Pentecostal theology by starting with Pentecostal concerns and developing a theology in terms of them. This review focuses on Vondey’s discussions of creation (ch. 7) and theological anthropology (ch. 8), in which he argues that a Pentecostal theology of creation and eschatology does not conclude with God razing the world, but with the Spirit’s renewing creation. Furthermore, although Spirit baptism transforms the individual, the purpose of that individual transformation is to lead beyond the self and to create a community of sanctified life. Spirit baptism leads those who receive it into the world to live for all people.

The New Apologia: A Definition and Its Characteristics

REV. PRZEMYSŁAW ARTEMIUK, PhD, Hab (b. 1974) is Assistant Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Faculty of Theology of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University of Warsaw, a Lecturer at the Major Theological Seminary in Lomza, and Secretary of the Association of Fundamental Theologians of Poland. He recently published the monograph The Renaissance of Apologia (2016) as well as a collection of journal articles entitled A Concise Catholic Alphabet (2018) and also edited the following volumes: Fundamental Theology to Protect Christian Identity (2017) and History – Faith – Science: The Sources of Knowledge About Jesus Christ (2018).

Faith Comes from What Is Heard: An Introduction to Fundamental Theology by Lawrence Feingold, and: Fundamental Theology by Guy Mansini

Faith Comes from What Is Heard: An Introduction to Fundamental Theology by Lawrence Feingold, and: Fundamental Theology by Guy Mansini

John Henry Newman: Éléments de theologie du dialogue: La vie pour l'action by Marek Cieślik, S.J.

Reviewed by: John Henry Newman: Éléments de theologie du dialogue: La vie pour l'action by Marek Cieślik, S.J. Erick Hedrick-Moser John Henry Newman: Éléments de theologie du dialogue: La vie pour l'action BY MAREK CIEŚLIK, S.J. Paris: Orizons, 2016. 340 pages. Paper: 35€. ISBN: 979-10-309-0078-1. Shortly after the close of the Second Vatican Council, the French Jesuit and peritus Jean Daniélou recollected how John Henry Newman had shaped his own theological vision. He considered how Newman had found in faith a way to unify both the seemingly disparate chapters of his own life and the distinctive epochs of the Christian past. Marek Cieślik is a Parisian Jesuit like Daniélou and likewise traces the Second Vatican Council's emphasis on "dialogue" back to Newman. His monograph defines Newman's understanding of dialogue as "focused as much on action as on knowledge" (319) and "ethereal discourse" (22). Cieślik claims, "the dialogue of which Gaudium et Spes and Ecclesiam Suam both speak was tacitly but effectively inspired by the existential and intellectual contribution of John Henry Newman" (319). While Cieślik refers to Vatican II documents sparingly, his focus accords with Peter Hünermann's hermeneutic that conciliar documents are "constitutional texts" requiring ongoing interpretation. Cieślik's valuable contribution is his interpretation of Newman's understanding of the personal, existential dimensions in which faith and reason interact. Not surprisingly, Cieślik identifies Newman's illative sense as the "cornerstone" of his contributions (228). Cieślik's study began as a 2007 doctoral thesis at Centre Sévres, and it proceeds in three main sections. These sections cover Newman's biography, doctrinal development, and finally his understanding of faith and reason, particularly in the Grammar of Assent. This structure proceeds from Cieślik's methodology, which emerges from German fundamental theologian Hans Waldenfels. Cieślik writes: "Throughout this theology of dialogue, we affirm that fundamental theology must not overlook its apologetic dimension, nor its privileged connection to frontier questions, since it has both an existential and intellectual dimension" (26). In the first section, Cieślik affirms the biographical problem of unifying the seeming disparate chapters of Newman's life, especially in the formative years before his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1845. Cieślik's approach to Newman is primarily textual, so his focus rests on published sermons and essays in lieu of epistolary and archival sources, which would provide the historical and political contexts of Oriel College, the Oxford Movement, and so on. Next, Cieślik presents Newman's ecclesiology as providing the requisite context for the act of faith, which for Newman emerged in action through his [End Page 126] conversion to Roman Catholicism just prior to his 1845 Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. The theory of doctrinal development evolved when Newman "justified the dogmas of the Catholic Church by upholding a position in which faith and time are distinct and inseparable" (217). Cieślik summarized the seven tests of doctrinal development before drawing connections between Newman's dynamic view of history and humans "who are simultaneously the actors and spectators of history" (219). Faith in a God who acts in history is both practical and anthropological, since for Cieślik, humanity is the hermeneutical foundation for all theology. In his wide-ranging final section, Cieślik examines Newman's mature view of faith and reason from his Grammar of Assent. He considers the text's genesis and asserts that Newman devoted himself fully to the theme of truth, which was "the leitmotiv of Newman's entire quest toward a more lucid and well-elaborated view of the Christian faith" (233). To do so, Cieślik pursues two questions: 1) the manner in which "humanity can know God" and 2) how "life is for action" (266). These points uncover the message of Newman's Grammar as coherently elaborating faith's role in personal and existential dimensions of the human longing for God. He answers that, for Newman, "humanity can know God and discover the importance of a life which is for action only by rooting ourselves dynamically in God through formation in...