The Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology 9780199566273, 0199566275

Citation preview

T h e Ox f o r d H a n d b o o k o f

C AT HOL IC T H E OL O G Y

The Oxford Handbook of

CATHOLIC THEOLOGY Edited by

LEWIS AYRES and

MEDI ANN VOLPE Assistant Editor

THOMAS L. HUMPHRIES

1

3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2 6dp, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Oxford University Press 2019 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted First Edition published in 2019 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2018965377 ISBN 978–0–19–956627–3 Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, cr0 4yy Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work.

in piam memoriam

Fr William Harmless SJ 1953–​2014 Fr Edward Oakes SJ 1948–​2013

Preface and Acknowledgements Lewis Ayres and Medi Ann Volpe

The purpose of this Handbook is to provide a readable and dependable guide to the content of Catholic theology, and to introduce the different schools and debates of modern Catholic theology against the broader background of Catholic tradition. Two main parts provide a basic structure. The first focuses on Catholic doctrine. One potential contributor remarked that the volume seemed unnecessary because of the existence of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. But the volume seeks no competition with the Catechism, and there are good reasons why such a supplement may help. The Catechism offers, of course, a concise and authoritative statement of Catholic belief. While the discussions in the first half of this volume certainly attempt to be concise and to describe as Catholic teaching accurately, our authors also attempt to offer personal visions of the particular themes they consider. The authors write from particular theological perspectives to articulate the coherence and power of particular aspects of Catholic teaching. Thus, while each chapter is the responsibility of its author, and the whole carries no ecclesial authority, our ideal contribution is one that combines faithful exposition and exploration. Exploration here is a thinking with Church teaching, a meditating upon that teaching, drawing it into conversation with particular intellectual resources and particular questions. It involves bringing themes alive by showing their power to address the questions of our time, and shows how the approaches of particular theological schools can deepen and make new traditional teachings. It means also drawing our attention to what is at the heart of teaching in a particular area of theology and noting where questions remain matters of personal opinion and debate. Exploration involves careful attention to Scripture, to the resources of the Christian tradition—​both to the particular tradition of defined magisterial teaching and to the ‘cloud of witnesses’ that constitute the conversation of tradition—​and exploration at its best stems from the rootedness of a theologian in particular schools and debates. Thus, the reader should, through these chapters, find something of a model for good theological debate. The second main part of the volume focuses on movements, key figures, and developments in modern Catholic theology, which is taken here to commence in the decade that saw the First Vatican Council of 1869–​70 and Leo XIII’s Aeterni Patris of 1879 (this decision is, of course, contestable in many ways). It, is however, an intellectual and

viii   Preface and Acknowledgements theological mistake not to place these developments within the wider stream of Catholic theology. Catholic thought cannot be easily sliced into distinct eras as if the voices of an earlier era could not now remain living voices. Catholic thought is marked by a repeated turn to the sources of the faith and a repeated insistence that St Thomas Aquinas remains a key resource and model for the Latin tradition. And so, this second part of the volume begins with a series of chapters on the sources of Catholic theology up to 1870. Hard choices had to be made for the sake of space and a different selection of figures and movements would, of course, have been quite defensible. Observing the structure of the second half of the volume provides an excellent opportunity to note also the significance of St Thomas Aquinas throughout. Thomas’s importance within Latin theology has waxed and waned since his death in 1275. His star burned particularly bright in the nineteenth century and led Pope Leo XIII, in his 1869 encyclical Aeterni Patris, to demand Thomas’s teaching for the indispensable foundation for Catholic philosophy and theology. Since the Second Vatican Council that status has become a little less clear. Thomas is certainly still recommended to us as a particularly significant model of theological reflection, but theologians now write in a context where a multitude of (faithful) styles are possible. And yet, the past two decades have seen Thomas’s fortunes wax yet again, and for a number of the contributors to this volume, Thomas continues to provide the indispensable foundation for Latin Catholic theology. The complex story of Thomas’s place in Catholic thought is told through a number of essays: Chapter 31 concerns Thomas himself and the reception of Thomas until 1879. Chapters 38 and 39 continue that story by focusing on different stages in the reception of Thomas up to the present. Chapter 41 concerns those known as ‘transcendental Thomists’. It is important to note one significant limitation of this volume. The Catholic communion is broad and not restricted to members of the Latin rite. Millions of Catholic Christians belong to the various non-​Latin rites of the Church. The theological tradition that is our focus here is, however, that of the Latin rite. Now, the differences should not be overplayed. All Catholic Christians owe a common debt to the same Scriptural and Patristic sources, all are part of the same one body in communion with Peter’s successor, and all share common creeds and a common tradition of conciliar and papal teaching. And yet there are differences of emphasis. Catholic theologians do well to remember the various significant interventions at Vatican II by the Melkite Patriarch Maximos IV Sayegh ‘of Antioch and All the East . . .’, reminding the council fathers that Catholic theology is not coterminous with Latin theology. Given this restriction, we hope that the volume will be useful to a wide variety of students of Catholic theology, from undergraduates and postgraduates in colleges and universities, to seminarians, to those training for the permanent diaconate. This Handbook has been a decade in production. We conceived the idea while teaching at Emory and its long gestation period occurred in Durham. A transatlantic move with three children and the birth of a fourth have certainly added to the delay, as have all the usual pressures of academic life. A  number of the original contributors had to drop out for the usual range of reasons—​and in this case one was ordained

Preface and Acknowledgements    ix to the episcopate and one appointed to the College of Cardinals. Two of the original contributors—​Fr Edward Oakes and Fr William Harmless SJ—​fine theologians (and friends) both, died before it appeared. Bill Harmless’s chapter is included, but Ed Oakes was unable to complete his. The volume is dedicated to their memory. For bearing with us during this time, we are profoundly grateful to our contributors and advisors. Oxford University Press has been a pleasure to work with throughout, and ever patient. A number of contributors served as an informal editorial board providing suggestions for contributors and subjects to include: these were Fr Serge-​Thomas Bonino OP, Abp. Augustine DiNoia OP, Professor Francesca Murphy, and Fr Thomas Weinandy OFM Cap. The editors thank these four for their help and ask that readers do not hold them responsible for our final decisions and for the final chapters that resulted. 14 October 2018 On the canonization of St Oscar Romero and St Paul VI

Contents

Notes on Sources and Abbreviations List of Contributors

xvii xxxi

PA RT I   C AT HOL IC T E AC H I N G The Enterprise of Catholic Theology 1. What is Catholic Theology? Lewis Ayres

5

2. The Scriptures and Their Interpretation Matthew Levering

42

3. Faith and Reason Balázs M. Mezei

55

4. Analogy and the Fate of Reason William Desmond

72

God, the Creation, and the History of Salvation 5. Creation and Salvation John McDade

97

6. The Trinity’s Loving Act of Creation Thomas G. Weinandy OFM Cap.

124

7. Evil, Suffering, and Original Sin Nicholas E. Lombardo, OP

139

8. The Trinity Emmanuel Durand, OP

151

xii   Contents

9. The Incarnation Thomas G. Weinandy OFM Cap.

167

10. The Holy Spirit Thomas Joseph White, OP

183

11. The Church Paul McPartlan

198

12. Our Lady and the Saints Emery de Gaál

214

13. Eschatology Paul O’Callaghan

229

The Sacramental Life 14. The Sacramental Life David W. Fagerberg

249

15. The Liturgy Pamela Jackson

263

16. The Eucharist Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt

277

17. Holy Orders Susan K. Wood SCL

294

18. Marriage and Sexuality David Cloutier

310

19. Mission and Evangelization Daniel A. Keating

329

20. Prayer Martin Laird OSA

346

Contents   xiii

Catholic Moral Theology 21. Catholic Moral Anthropology Medi Ann Volpe

361

22. Virtue and Catholic Moral Theology Livio Melina

373

23. The Natural Law in Catholic Ethics Kevin L. Flannery, SJ

388

24. Grace and Justification Joseph Wawrykow

403

25. Life and Death Jana Bennett

423

26. Catholic Social Teaching David Matzko McCarthy

443

27. Catholic Teaching on Politics and the State Chad C. Pecknold

457

PA RT I I   M ODE R N C AT HOL IC T H E OL O G Y Sources in Catholic Theology up to Vatican I 28. Origen and Augustine Lewis Ayres

481

29. Denys and Later Platonic Traditions Wayne J. Hankey

496

30. Monastic Theology William Harmless, SJ

511

31. Thomas and Scholasticism to 1870 John T. Slotemaker and Ueli Zahnd

528

32. Bonaventure and the Franciscan Tradition Aaron Canty

551

xiv   Contents

33. Early Modern Catholic Theology (1500–​1700) Trent Pomplun 34. Catholic Piety from Ruusbroec and the Devotio Moderna to the Legacy of Pierre de Bérulle Rik Van Nieuwenhove 35. Catholic Theology and the Enlightenment (1670–​1815) Ulrich L. Lehner 36. The Development of Doctrine: The Tübingen School and John Henry Newman Grant Kaplan and Holly Taylor Coolman 37. The Councils of Trent and Vatican I Christian D. Washburn

563

577 595

612 630

Catholic Theology Since 1870 38. Thomism 1870–​1963 Francesca Aran Murphy

653

39. Thomism from 1962–​2012 Serge-​Thomas Bonino, OP

671

40. Ressourcement and Theologies of Communion Gabriel Flynn

683

41. Transcendental Thomisms Declan Marmion

701

42. Hans Urs von Balthasar Kevin Mongrain

718

43. Catholic Personalism up to John Paul II D. C. Schindler Jr.

739

44. Sacramental and Liturgical Theology, 1900–​2000 Kimberly Hope Belcher

750

45. Biblical Interpretation since Divino afflante spiritu Mary Healy

767

Contents   xv

46. The Second Vatican Council Gavin D’Costa

782

47. Theologies of Liberation Roberto S. Goizueta

803

48. New Ecclesial Movements and Communities Ian Ker

820

49. Catholic Feminist Theology Danielle Nussberger

833

50. Catholic Theology and Heidegger Peter Joseph Fritz

850

51. The Theology of the Body José Granados DCJM

863

52. Asian Theology Vimal Tirimanna CSSR

877

53. Catholic Theology in Africa Anthony Akinwale, OP

890

54. Catholicism and Ecumenism Paul D. Murray

905

55. Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy Jaroslav Z. Skira

919

56. Catholic Theology and other Religions Michael Barnes, SJ

931

Key Terms and Themes Index People Index Scripture Index

943 955 961

Notes on Sources and Abbreviations

CCC  Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catechism is published throughout the world by many local publishers and the whole text is also available online at DH  Heinrich Denzinger (2012). Enchiridion Symbolorum Definitionum et Declarationum de Rebus Fide et Morum, P. Hünermann et al. (eds), 43rd edn (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press). GIRM  General Instruction of the Roman Missal. The text is available online at . A pdf of the English translation is available online at