A CRITICAL READING OF LUMEN GENTIUM
Keywords:
Church, Communio Model, Democratization Model, Ecclesiology, Hierarchy, Kingdom of God, People of God, Mystical Body of ChristAbstract
This paper delves on the Lumen Gentium (LG) of the Vatican II
documents of the church. It focuses on the tensions found in the text
which basically contain a duality of perspectives. These perspectives
revolve around ecclesiological models of the church. In particular, the
mystical body of Christ and the people of God models, the people of
God and the hierarchical institution perspectives are prominent.
Moreover, the paper will defend the democratization models that
address the main problem of the church, which is power. These
democratization models side with the victims of this unilateral and
asymmetrical power — the poor and women — for their liberation.
References
Leonardo Boff, Church: Charism and Power, London: SMC Press, 1986.
Kafoa Solomone, The People of God in Vatican II, the Biblical Antecedents of the Notion and its Reception in the Post-Conciliar Church (Doctoral Dissertation at K.U. Leuven, 1989).
Robrecht Michiels, “The Self-Understanding of the Church after Vatican II,”Louvain Studies 14, 2 (1989).
Richard Penaskovic, “The Theological Issues in Theology and Authority,” inTheology and Authority: The Theological Issues, ed. Richard Penaskonovic, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1987.
Robert McClory, Power and the Papacy, the People and Politics behind the Doctrine of Infallability, Leguori Missouri: Triumph, 1997.
Robrecht Michiels, “The Self-Understanding of the Church after the Vatican II.
Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, “The Bible, the Global Context and the
Discipleship of Equals,” in Reconstructing Christian Theology, ed. Rebecca B. Chopp &Mark Lewis Taylor, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994.
Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, London: SMC Press Ltd, 1993.
Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Discipleship of Equals: A Critical Feminist Ekklesialogy of Liberation, New York: Crossroad, 1993.
Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, “The Bible, the Global Context, and the Discipleship of Equals.
John F. Kane, “Roman Catholicism and the Contemporary Crisis of Authority.
in The Exercise of the Primacy: Continuing the Dialogue, ed. Phyllis Zagano & Terrence W. Tilley, New York: A Crossroad Herder Book, 1998.
Rosemary Radford Ruether, “Differing Views of the Church,” in Authority,Community and Conflict, ed. Madonna Kolbenschlag, Kansas City: Sheed & Ward, 1986.
Willy Obrist, “A Consecrated Hierarchy – An Obstacle to a Democratizing of the Catholic Church,” in Concilium (1992).
See Aloysius Pieris, Love Meets Wisdom: A Christian Experience of Buddhism, New York: Orbis Books, 1988.
Richard Penaskovic, “Theology and Authority: The Theological Issues,” in Theology and Authority: The Theological Issues, ed. Richard Penaskonovic, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1987.
Eugene C. Bianchi, “A Democratic Church: Task for the Twenty-first Century,” in A Democratic Roman Catholic Church: The Reconstruction of Roman Catholicism, ed.Eugene C. Bianchi & Rosemary Radford Ruether, New York: Crossroad, 1992.
Walter Kirchschläger, “Plurality and Creativity in Church Structure,” Theological
Digest, 45, 3 (Fall 1998) 246-253.
John A. Coleman, SJ, “Not Democracy but Democratization,” in A Democratic Roman Catholic Church: The Reconstruction of Roman Catholicism, ed. Eugene C. Bianchi & Rosemary Radford Ruether, New York: Crossroad, 1992.
Eugene C. Bianchi, “A Democratic Church,” 34.
Edward Schillebeeckx, Church, the Human Story of God, London: SMC Press, 1990.
Juan Luis Segundo, The Liberation of Theology, New York: Orbis Books, 1976.
Kafoa Solomone, “The People of God in Vatican II,”
Leonard Swindler, “Demo-kratia, The Rule of the People of God, or Consensus Fidelium,” in Authority in the Church, Annua Nuntia Louvaniensia 26, ed. Piet F.
Fransen, Leuven: K.U. Leuven Press, 1983.
