CATHOLICITY AS WITNESS AND DIALOGUE
The Council’s Foundation of Faith in Dei verbum as Hermeneutical Key
Keywords:
CATHOLICITY, WITNESS, DIALOGUEAbstract
In this article I want to stress the epistemological relevance of Dei
verbum and Dignitatis humanae in the context of the corpus of
documents and of the conflicts about the reception of the Second
Vatican Council. What Christoph Theobald develops as the “vertical
axis” of the council documents, constitutes the “style” and the
hermeneutics for the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council.The ecclesiological focus, dominating most of the reception of the
Council, has to be understood and developed from this foundation of
faith which is at the time theo-logical (in a strict sense of the word,
grounded in the revelation of the Triune God) and anthropological
(comprehensible only in the free and fully human answer). This event
of God´s revelation in the human answer takes place in time and is
expressed in human witness. The hermeneutics of God´s revelation in
history then depends on a broad dialogue of all witness-bearers
within the community of the faithful, the Church and its tradition in
its broad catholicity, but also with anything which is true, just and
beautiful in any religion and culture.
References
As an overview of the reception-process and its debates cf. Massimo Faggioli,
Vatican II: The Battle for Meaning, New York – Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2012; Christoph
Theobald, La réception du concile Vatican II, Paris, 2009.
The approach of Christoph Theobald is developed in: La réception; Dans les traces
de la constitution “Dei verbum” du concile Vatican II. Bible, théologie et pratiques de lecture.
Paris 2009; “L’hermeneutique de réforme” implique-t-elle une réforme de
l´hermeneutique? In: Recherches de Science Religieuse 100 (2012) 65–84.
Max Seckler, Die Communio-
Ekklesiologie, die theologische Methode und die Loci-theologici-Lehre Melchior Canos. In
ThQ 187 (2007) 1–20;
Manuel Castells, The Information Age, 3 vol., 2nd ed. with a new preface,
Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Peter Hünermann, Das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil und die Zeichen der Zeit heute,
Freiburg – Basel – Wien: Herder, 2006
Ulrich Beck - Christoph Lau, Entgrenzung und
Entscheidung. Was ist neu an der Theorie reflexiver Modernisierung? Frankfurt am Main:
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Neil J. Ormerod, “The Times They Are A-Changin”: A Response to O´Malley and
Schloesser, in O’Malley – Schultenover, Vatican II, 153–183, here 176.
Johann Adam Möhler, Die Einheit der Kirche oder das Princip des Catholicismus,
Tübingen: Laupp, 1843, English: Unity in the Church or The Principle of Catholicism
Presented in the Spirit of the Church Fathers of the First Three Centuries, Washington,D.C.: Catholic Univ. of America Press, 1996.
Martin Kirschner, Gotteszeugnis in der Spätmoderne:
theologische und sozialwissenschaftliche Reflexionen zur Sozialgestalt der katholischen
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“L´hermeneutique de réforme”; John O’Malley, “The Hermeneutic of Reform. A
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John O’Malley, “Vatican II: Did Anything Happen?,” in O’Malley
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the synopsis of Francisco Gil Hellín,
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orationes atque animadversiones: constitutio dogmatica Dei verbum, Città del Vaticano:
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the reflections of Peter Hünermann in HThK
Vat.II, vol. 2, 324-336, 353-357 and in Martin Kirschner – Joachim Schmiedl, ed.,
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Ratzinger, Zur Lehre, 751-775, see also, “Achim Buckenmaier, Treue und
Dynamik. Joseph Ratzingers Kommentar zu Dei Verbum neu gelesen,” in Michaela C.
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Offenbarungskonstitution “Dei Verbum” im katholisch-orthodoxen Dialog, St Ottilien: EOS
Verlag, 2012, 72–99.
the interpretation of Roman Siebenrock in HThK Vat.II, vol 4, 125-218; vol 5,
-379; and my considerations in Kirschner, Gotteszeugnis, 261-320.
Peter Hünermann, “The Debate on Hermeneutics of Vatican II: At the Core of
the World Wide Struggle for Orientation in the Church,” paper of the International
Conference “Revisiting Vatican II. 50 Years of Renewal,” Bangalore, India, 31 Jan–3
Feb, 2013.
the reflections of R. Siebenrock, H. Sander, O. Fuchs on identity, dialogue
and witness in HThK Vat.II, vol. 5, 311-380.
Hansjürgen Verweyen, Gottes letztes Wort. Grundriss der
Fundamentaltheologie, 3. Ed., Regensburg: Pustet, 2000, 203-206.
Roman Siebenrock’s theological
commentaries on DH and NA, including their “Wirkungsgeschichte” in the
pontificate of John Paul II: HThK Vat.II, vol. 3, 666-677; vol. 4, 197-207; Luigi Accatoli,
Quando il Papa chiede perdono. Tutti I mea culpa di Giovanni Paolo II, Milano:
Mondadori, 1997.
Buckenmaier, Treue und Dynamik, 86-99. A profound and critical
analysis of Ratzinger’s position to Revelation, tradition and the reception of Vatican
II gives Lieven Boeve, “La vraie réception de Vatican II n'a pas encore commencé:
Joseph Ratzinger, révélation et autorité de Vatican II,” in Gilles Routhier – Guy Jobin,
Hg., L'autorité et les autorités. L'herméneutique théologique de Vatican II, Paris: Cerf,
Paul VI., Encyclical “Ecclesiam suam,” aug. 6th 1964.
