Theology Today - Vol 34, No. 2 - July 1977 - EDITORIAL

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GUEST EDITORIAL
Tomorrow's Theology?
By Robert Imbelli

I WOULD hazard the suggestion that the transition currently taking place in theology might be elucidated in terms of a shift from a Word/Faith to a Spirit/Transformation paradigm. Since my personal vantage point is that of Catholic pre- and post-Vatican II experience and thought, that turning point in history and theology will serve to focus my remarks. But I believe the tendencies exhibited in the "pre" and the "post" have wider applicability. I will try to clarify the different orientations and emphases of the two paradigms in five areas: theology of God, revelation, mission, Christ, and church. Hopefully, the comments may serve to facilitate an understanding of the development and indicate a continuity amid the discontinuities.

Under the Word/Faith paradigm, the relationship with God was conceived primarily in a vertical fashion. God was "above," "in heaven," and was encountered as a solitary, in a private manner: solus cum solo. Further, the encounter was essentially timeless; it did not differ from century to century or place to place. It occurred sub specie aeternitatis. It would be instructive in this regard to explore the psychological and spiritual influence of a uniform Latin liturgy in fostering this sense of timelessness in our encounter with God.

Under the Spirit/Transformation paradigm, the relationship to God is interpreted in a more horizontal manner. In the words of Edward Schillebeeckx, God is conceived as "the future" of humanity, and this approach to the doctrine of God characterizes the so-called theologies of hope associated with theologians such as Moltmann and Pannenberg. In this perspective, our relationship to God is not developed in solitary and private fashion; of its very nature it is mediated through

We feel sure that this guest editorial by the Rev. Robert Imbelli will be of special interest to all our readers. In somewhat different form it appeared first in The Ecumenist (Vol. 14, No. 6, Sept. - Oct., 1976) under the title "A New Paradigm for Theology," and it is reprinted here with the permission of the publishers, the Paulist Press. Dr. Imbelli is Professor of Systematic Theology, St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, Yonkers, N.Y.

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our relations with others. Thus it assumes the form of "we before God," and is intimately involved with history and even geography.

Without doubt such a shift in perspective has been fostered and furthered in the Catholic community through a new appreciation of historical change and development, which is an outcome of the scriptural and patristic revivals of the 1950's and 1960's. These have sensitized us to the real diversity and pluralism within both Scripture and tradition, and the manifest historical development to which they bear witness. A more limited, yet, within its own sphere, equally important factor has been research into "the charism of the founder or foundress" on the part of religious communities. This has led to a recovery of a sense of the uniqueness of a religious vision and mission-a uniqueness intimately connected with the time, place, and situation which gave it birth.

Such developments have conspired to shift our experiential sense of transcendence from the spatially separate to the temporally future, but a future experienced as already present and efficacious within the community of those who discern its call. This brings us, then, to a second area of theological reflection.

Under the Word/Faith paradigm, revelation was conceived basically as the imparting of information otherwise inaccessible, yet indispensable for humanity's true end. This information concerns the mysteries that are strictly "supernatural"; for example, "there are three persons in one God." Such information is contained explicitly or implicitly in the Bible, somewhat in the manner of a divine textbook. Hence there is anxious concern about the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, as well as its faithful and literal transmission, to guarantee the unadulterated preservation of the deposit of faith.

In pastoral practice, Scripture was proclaimed with a minimum of adaptation. Indeed, in the Catholic tradition prior to the reforms of Vatican II, little importance was assigned the sermon or homily at Mass, and no attention was paid to the problem of hermeneutic or interpretation (a problem so central to contemporary theology that the present has been called "the hermeneutic age"). Further, revelation as information received embodiment in unchanging concepts which were addressed to our understanding. Thus we spoke of doctrinal "instructions in the faith," and the faith intended was primarily notional assent to cognitive truths.

Under the Spirit/Transformation paradigm, revelation is viewed as God's invitation to transformation (the biblical metanoia), and the Bible becomes not a handbook of information but the privileged witness to the experience of transformation, of new life in Christ. It is interesting to note, apropos of this, the special place accorded I John 1:2-3 in the preface to Vatican II's Constitution on Divine Revelation. It reads (somewhat paraphrased): "What we have experienced, we announce to you: namely, new life . . . so that you, too, may share our communion."

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From this viewpoint, the Good News is addressed to the whole person-not merely the "mind," but the heart and body as well. From this realization flows a new appreciation and concern for symbols as the concrete embodiment of meaning. (Those who have participated in the new rite of communal anointing of the sick know with what power symbols may convey the Good News). In addition, there is the acute recognition that the expressions of Scripture and tradition need to be interpreted in terms of the concrete condition and situation of the recipients. Thus hermeneutic assumes considerable importance both in theology and in preaching.

An important recent development in Catholic pastoral practice, which should be noted here, is the restoration of the adult catechumenate. A growing number of theologians are speaking of a prolonged period of preparation for baptism, not merely as a time of intellectual instruction, but, in the challenging phrase of Aidan Kavanaugh, as a time of "conversion therapy." The implications of this trend are far-reaching both for individual and community, and are among the concrete factors necessitating a shift of paradigms in the theology of the future.

III

Under the Word/Faith paradigm, the sphere of God's activity was the church. The Word found expression in the ecclesiastical context, and faith entailed obedience to the ecclesiastical magisterium. Moreover, in the course of the last two centuries, "world" was increasingly placed over against "church" as being both hostile and in need of redemption. The world was more or less the foil for the church, and so we spoke of "renouncing" the world or "leaving" the world. As a result a real dichotomy between church and world was sanctioned by theory and established in practice.

Further, in this sphere outlined by "church," the initiative was clearly God's and the pattern of thinking clearly "supernaturalist." Man and woman were the somewhat passive recipients of divine grace and mercy. Thus, in sacramental theology, by far the major emphasis fell upon the sacraments as vehicles of grace which worked, in the Catholic tradition, ex opere operato.

Under the Spirit/Transformation paradigm, the world is seen as the locus of saving encounter. It is certainly true that the world remains ambiguous, but the Spirit is already at work, and Christians are called to discern the signs of the times and to cooperate with the action of God in the world.

It is difficult here to overstress the significance of Vatican II's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World in articulating and stimulating the quest for a new paradigm. (The very designation, "Pastoral" Constitution, indicates its uniqueness and originality.) The movement initiated by this document was carried forward by a number of the post-conciliar statements concerning justice and peace, and reached a high point in the 1971 Synod of Bishops' declaration on "Jus-

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tice in the World." Here the bishops make the truly radical assertion: "Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the gospel, or, in other words, of the church's mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation."

Hence the struggle of those like Teilhard de Chardin who strove to unite a passionate commitment to both the heavenly and the earthly city has been vindicated by this development which, I am suggesting, supports the articulation of a Spirit/Transformation paradigm in theology.

Under the Word/Faith paradigm, Christ was confessed as God in almost docetic fashion. In Catholic theology his humanity received scant attention, while in Catholic piety Mary was invoked as mediatrix between us and a divinely distant Christ.

The Gospel accounts of Christ's ministry were read and used "apologetically." Any of the works of Christ to which the Gospels testified were held to exhibit a divine "valence," pointing to the supernatural origin of his works and words. From this perspective, the resurrection was viewed as the last and greatest of these works, the indisputable vindication of his message.

This docetic mentality affected one's attitude toward other religions, and it was preponderantly negative. Other religions are riddled with errors, whereas the Christian church, established by Christ, is the divinely ordained way to salvation. (I do not believe that I exaggerate here. Vatican II's decrees on "Ecumenism," on "Non-Christian Religions," and on "Religious Freedom" represented monumental advances, because we had long been accustomed to treat divergent views under the heading of "adversarii.")

Under the Spirit/Transformation paradigm, the humanity of Christ receives focal attention. He is fully human, and thus there is growth and development discernible in his life. His baptism, temptations, mission, rejection, and death are real human events, evoking a total human response. For this reason, he can be model and mediator for us. As the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews affirms: "He had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted" (Heb. 2:17-18).

Moreover, it is this life viewed as a whole, especially his death and resurrection, which constitutes the definitive revelation of God in the human condition. Thus the resurrection is no longer considered as the last in a series of divine acts, but as the central mystery of Christ, illuminating and disclosing the meaning of his person. Further, and in-

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separably, the resurrection appears as the ground of our own eschatological hope: the transformation of our bodies into temples of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul is insistent on this point: "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain . . . But, in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep" (I Cor. 15:14 and 20).

However, notwithstanding the uniqueness of the Christ-event, there is increasingly present in Catholic theology the awareness that the Spirit is at work in other religious traditions. Vatican II formally acknowledged the deep moral and spiritual values operative in these traditions, and even in the secular concerns of many contemporaries for a more just human society. This recognition is a prime factor impelling the search for a new paradigm capable of organizing and articulating the deliverances of religious sensitivity and reflection. What I have been calling the Spirit/Transformation paradigm seeks to develop Christology in a pneumatological sense by drawing out the implication that resurrection hope stimulates and sustains the hope of transformation, in the power of the Spirit, of our present and future earthly reality. Let me now turn to one final field of interest.

Under the Word/Faith paradigm, at least in its Roman Catholic expression, the view of church was primarily pyramidal. When we said "church," we intended universal church: one and uniform throughout the world. (Indeed, some still lament the days when one could attend Mass anywhere and find the same words and gestures. Nor should we disesteem the sense of universality and order thus evoked, for which there is no present substitute). The visible symbol of unity was the Pope in Rome, a symbol whose power was reinforced by the strongly ultramontane theology emanating from Vatican I and serving as the basis for courses in ecclesiology through the early 1960's.

Authority, in this understanding of church, was, of course, highly structured. It was hierarchically ordered and juridically based. The virtues most often recommended in "subjects" were docility, loyalty, and obedience. In short, the ecclesiological model in force was the one characterized by Avery Dulles as "institutional." (See his Models of the Church, 1974, chap. 2.)

Under the Spirit/Transformation paradigm, the approach to church is more concentric than pyramidal. This shift is due, in large measure, to the splendid refocusing achieved by Vatican II in its Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium). For, as is well known, the first two chapters of this document, on "The Mystery of the Church" and "The People of God," represent a revolutionary revision of the prevailing model and set the basis for much of the aggiornamento accomplished by the Council. Moreover, the explicit attention to the question of the collegiality of the bishops in communion with the Pope brought a necessary complement to the incompleted labors of Vatican I.

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As a result of this shift, "church" is coming to mean today, in the first instance, the local community gathered for the proclamation of the gospel and the celebration of the liturgy, while the universal church is regarded as the communion in faith and in love of all these local communities, a vital unity in plurality. Consequently, authority is considered much more collegially, less authoritarian, more democratic and charismatic. In such a setting, initiative, responsibility, and accountability are extolled. Thus we witness the rise of new governmental structures: synod of bishops, senate of priests, pastoral council, and parish council. No doubt we have much to learn about the effective use of these structures; we are still far from realizing responsibility and accountability as fact rather than rhetoric. Yet, the very presence of the structures is a gain of no small proportions.

I have tried to indicate some of the concrete elements which have rendered older thernatizations otiose and have necessitated the search for new ones. I have suggested that the new religious sensibility might be organized, heuristically, in terms of a Spirit/Transformation paradigm. Perhaps, I might venture a composite statement of its general thrust thus: God in our midst, calling us to transformation of life on the pattern revealed in the Lord Jesus, and impelling to action in the world, sustained and celebrated in communities in which people may genuinely relate to each other by contributing their personal gifts of the Spirit for the good of all.

Vatican II revealed the inadequacies and inconsistencies of the older paradigm which had prevailed in Catholic theology for centuries. It ushered in the time of transition and upheaval. The task of post Vatican II theology is to work toward the formulation of a new paradigm and thus facilitate the full aggiornamento which was the desire, the challenge, and the risk of the Council.