Continuing the conversation: Theologians: young & older
Ruddy, Christopher
C #"..M T 1 N.V .1 'M G T H 9 C 0 N-V' E It `S-'A T,I-'.o M tribulation facing down false accusations of sexual abuse freedom, one that sees all episcopal involvement as an in-...
...I am writing on Jean-Marie Tillard's theology of the local church...
...ucated laity in the history of the church is largely theological- As for Edward Oakes's response, I thank him for his kind ly illiterate Catholic higher-education graduates included...
...Second, only one ethicists and ecclesiologists (see Paul Saunders, Commonweal, part of one chapter of my dissertation touches on primacy April 21...
...I am not as confident does not, however, excuse us from responsibility for such as Pope is that it has...
...On this score, I am unrepentant in my belief that Nicholas Lash notes in The Tablet (April 15), that the best-ed- both the bishops and the academy are falling short...
...emy's most distinguished members...
...My goal is not therapeutic affirmation by the freedom...
...Such acknowledgment portunity really been taken advantage of...
...Murray wrote regularly not only for of Regis University, Denver, Colorado...
...First, I agree that under- ety-like the late Raymond Brown and Richard McCormick, graduate teaching is a prime opportunity for theology to con- are rare indeed, a providential combination of innate abilitribute to the life of the church and society...
...I say nowhere that theology demember the published letter from a member of the Catholic partments are responsible for spiritual formation, and I take Theological Society of America (CTSA) accusing a critic of the Pope's mention of "monasticism" to be a red herring, which CTSA of committing a mortal sin (!) for the effrontery of absolves the academy of spiritual integration by raising the criticizing most members of the CTSA for their left-wing specter of the monastic choir...
...It is no coincidence that the theology department...
...But has that op- ty, rigorous training, and timing...
...Finally, I freely grant that my project has found a sympathetic ear in Notre Dame's theology department...
...but innuen- herent violation of institutional autonomy...
...What do we make of the irony, as formation...
...words...
...standards should be "dumbed down" in order to encourIt is a sign of how shrill and personal such attacks have be- age ecclesial and societal engagement...
...El CHRISTOPHER RUDDY Commonweal 1 4 June 2, 2000...
...Perhaps we should acknowledge that first-rate theologians-those who The author replies: I can address only a few of render extraordinary service to academy, church, and sociStephen Pope's welcome questions...
...dos by liberals against conservatives go unnoticed...
...This Third, Pope makes no mention of either the bishops or might be due partly to the fact that most personal attacks my comments about them, and so overlooks that I hold the from liberals take place in tribal settings or otherwise away bishops-as heads of their local churches-accountable for from the public eye, such as in phone conversations and fostering the conditions necessary for vital Christian comconfidential letters of recommendation...
...A French Dominican, Tillard was a peritus at Vatican II, and is contemporary Catholicism's foremost ecclesiologist and ecumenist...
...I do doubt that there is a single model of academic and collegiality...
...C #"..M T 1 N.V .1 'M G T H 9 C 0 N-V' E It `S-'A T,I-'.o M tribulation facing down false accusations of sexual abuse freedom, one that sees all episcopal involvement as an inrightly met with near-universal condemnation...
...That said, ideology and peer pressure exist everywhere, in every department, and in every job-inside and outside of academia...
...John Courtney Murray, whom Pope cites as a publicly significant scholar, is Edward T. Oakes, S.J., teaches in the religious studies department further confirmation...
...egos will be bruised on both sides...
...I value it deeply and, in particular, fear what may bishops, but honest dialogue between bishops and theolohappen (and has happened) in the United States to sexual gians...
...Nonetheless, my dissertation board includes contributors to Commonweal, Communio, Crisis, and Theological Studies-surely no party line there...
...Ultimately, my Commonweal article will have merit only insofar as it helps to continue a frank and respectful conversation, such as this one...
...Rather, I would raise come when one realizes that both the critic of the CTSA and the bar for both tasks, thereby demanding of theologians the letter writer attacking him are members of the same the- more rigor and relevance...
...Theological Studies but for America on issues like religious freedom, liberalism, and the papal encyclicals...
...bias, neglect of the Great Tradition, and ignorance of an- Fourth, and most important, I do not hold that academic cient languages...
...But I can still re- munities and theology...
...His thought, biblically and patristically grounded, exposes the vacuity of labels like liberal and conservative and makes a substantial contribution to the life of the church...
...I wish Ruddy well, but I fear he has a ologians I mentioned in my article are also among the acadlong row to hoe...
...However, I have no desire to have my hand held by Second, I do not have "doubts about the value of academic any bishop...
Vol. 127 • June 2000 • No. 11
