Systematic Theology
Cunningham, Lawrence S.
WEEP NOT FOR THE SYLLOGISM SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY Roman Catholic Perspectives (2 vols.) Edited by Francis Schüssler Fiorenza & John P. Galvin Fortress, $24.95 each volume, Vol. I, 336 pp.; Vol....
...One conclusion that comes from such a comparison is proof of Bernard Lonergan's conviction that the greatest impact on the doing of theology today rests in the shift from atemporal classical reflection to a deeper appreciation of history and historically conditioned speech...
...and only sidelong glances at the much discussed question of the universality of salvation in Christ in terms of the reflections being adumbrated by those engaged in comparative theology...
...Hence, his thesis is that we ought not follow the old manual distinction of treating De Deo Uno and De Deo Trino as separate subjects...
...But this is a work aimed unabashedly at the church and the theological academy and it should be received with gratitude...
...it is not catechesis...
...He not only provides us with a synoptic view of theology as it developed historically, but an overview of contemporary approaches to theology and the tasks ahead...
...Monika Hellwig's relatively brief, but well-done, essay on eschatology (like the traditional De Novissimis) concludes volume 2. What is to be said about the work in general...
...Fiorenza's essay should be required reading for every student in theology...
...There are so many issues, largely shaped by the demands of ecumenism, connected to ecclesiology (e.g., the episcopacy...
...The authors uniformly are sensitive to the unfolding of the Catholic tradition with generous attention paid both to the more traditional expressions of contemporary theological reflection (e.g., Kasper, von Balthasar, Ratzinger) and the more adventuresome ones...
...The organization of the book, as we shall see, follows rather closely the traditional divisions of the scholastic tradition but, apart from those divisions, what is abundantly clear is that the treatment of topics has totally scrapped the methodology of the old theological manuals...
...The presumed readership is a religiously literate one since the work is so unabashedly theological...
...It may well be (I can only guess at the editors' intentions) that issues of inculturation and the like are too far from anything approaching consensus to have been considered but I did feel that many of the issues considered in these volumes seemed too hermetically sealed off from the larger world of cultural discourse...
...the magisterium...
...Those of us who labor in the classroom will benefit from this work in that one could hand out an individual essay, say, on the sacraments as a general survey before looking at other sources for a more detailed study of this or that problem...
...Anne Clifford's treatment of creation surveys the older theological tradition on the subject (which is a lot more complex than the conventional wisdom would allow) and assays current theological discussions about creation in the light of contemporary science...
...We are now just a generation away from the closing of Vatican Council II...
...less on the theological implication of the coming of what Rahner has called the World Church (Weltkirche...
...Dulles is on familiar ground as he recapitulates work that he has published over the years on revelation...
...What is startlingly clear is how central the thought of the late Karl Rahner is on a wide spectrum of issues...
...Those studies are excellent examples of 30: 14 February 1992 Commonweal the convergence of liturgics, historical theology, and newer approaches to studies in ritual, cultural anthropology, and symbolism...
...To Rahner's famous query as to whether there is Christology after Chalcedon, Galvin's answer would be in the affirmative as he traces the spectrum of Christologies presented by Rahner himself, by Schillebeeckx, Küng, and liberationists like Sobrino, Reuther, and others to demonstrate that Christology has moved beyond, but is still in dialogue with, Chalcedonian orthodoxy...
...Gone is the syllogistic style of argument and very much present is both a range of philosophical methods and hermeneutical strategies as well as a heavy emphasis on historical development from the scriptural sources through the subsequent tradition of theology...
...Fiorenza's and Galvin's collection of essays is meant to address both of those issues...
...It is a sign of the ecumenical maturity of this age that the idea for the volume came from the late John Hollar who was, until his untimely death, a senior editor for Fortress Press (Lutheran...
...His essay, then, becomes, as it were, a prolegomenon to Catherine La Cugna's masterful survey of trinitarian theology— a survey which is, briefly, a summary of her long awaited book on the subject (to appear this coming year...
...For that reason one would expect those who want a short course on Catholic theology (e.g., those in the ministry) as a refresher or as an "updating" would find this work of great value...
...That event triggered a great wave of theological creativity within the Roman Catholic church, fueled not only by the conciliar debates themselves but by the earlier efforts of biblical and patristic scholars who recovered forgotten (or suppressed) theological veins...
...Volume I treats some foundational issues in systematic theology: the tasks and methods of theology (Fiorenza...
...Duffy's comprehensive general essay on the sacraments is followed by a consideration of the seven sacraments (done by himself, David Powers, and Fiorenza...
...The fact that the editors evidently demanded a certain uniformity of approach (i.e., introduction...
...David Tracy's essay on God is curious in the sense that the base line of his argument is that a separate treatment of God does not do justice to the central insight of the Catholic tradition's insistence that God is triune...
...Fiorenza's and Galvin's well-thought-out collection of theological essays is such a work...
...historical considerations...
...Lawrence S. Cunningham Occasionally a book appears which seems just right for the present moment...
...It is a worthy tribute to his vision and fitting that the editors should have dedicated their labors to his memory...
...faith and revelation (Dulles...
...Galvin's contribution on Christology is long and thorough with a compact survey of contemporary scriptural scholarship and a readable (no mean feat...
...current theological reflections) and received a fair amount of compliance, allows the diligent reader to compare the single essays on methodological issues as well as historical ones...
...With over seven hundred pages of text it seems ungenerous to criticize the work for omissions but, in fact, there are some conspicuous lacunae (are they a result of the somewhat stodgy divisions of subjects...
...q Commonweal 14 February 1992: 31...
...the doctrine of God (Tracy) and the Trinity (LaCugna...
...and, subsequent to the council, by more intense ecumenical contacts both for instrumental (e.g., various church dialogues) and for scholarly reasons...
...There is no sustained reflection on the relationship of theology to culture nor do the authors stray much out of the Eurocentric circle of theological reflection...
...The different attitudes toward this relationship are various but Clifford wrestles them, in a nonreductionist fashion, into manageable paradigms while pointing to areas where theology might engage ecological issues...
...I especially liked LaCugna's generous use of both liturgical and Eastern Orthodox sources which gives her work an authentically catholic wholeness...
...As a general observation, one judges these essays to be careful, mainstream, and, in the best sense of the word, conservative works...
...Creation (Anne Clifford...
...short history of the evolution of Christology as it leads up to Chalcedon...
...The net result of this renewal has been an almost unmanageable amount of theological literature that ranges from the highly philosophical and technical work of the university theologians to the more praxis-oriented labors on the liberationist spectrum...
...As a bridge to the very fine essay on the sacraments by Regis Duffy, there are studies of sin and grace (Roger Haight) and Mary and the saints (Elizabeth Johnson), all three of which, having profound ecclesiological implications, flow not unnaturally from the treatment of the church that begins the second volume...
...As a consequence of this somewhat tight focus, I discovered little on the problem of inculturation of the gospel...
...My strong suspicion is that these volumes will gain wide acceptance in the arena of theological education in the Englishspeaking world...
...the papal ministry...
...in the work...
...It is a most useful and timely work...
...II, 384 pp...
...and Christology (Galvin...
...The question that haunts the diligent theologian is this: is there a coherence in all of this creativity and, following on that, how do all of these ramified theological concerns find their place in the historic Roman Catholic theological tradition...
...What they, and their fellow contributors, have produced, with varying degrees of success, is a kind of status questionis of contemporary Catholic theology...
...Volume 2 opens with a long essay on the church by Michael Fahey which puts its main emphasis on those contemporary problems which most command the attention of theologians...
...that one understands, even though one laments, no historical treatment of ecclesiology after the Council of Nicaea...
Vol. 119 • February 1992 • No. 3
