The Magisterium has an
inherent right of judgment in theological discourse, without thereby derogating
from the freedom of the academy.[1]
Academic freedom is not destroyed by the perceived ‘interference’ of
magisterial jurisdiction in academic discourse, for the raison d’ȇtre of the academy is precisely the pursuit and
acquisition of truth, and theological truth properly inheres in and is thereby
under the jurisdiction of the Teaching Authority of the Church, the
Magisterium. This essay will explore the relationship between Magisterial
authority and academic theology and will defend the Ratzingerian thesis by
incorporating the thought of John Paul II and Cardinal Newman concerning
theology, the academy, and the Magisterium.
It
is commonly thought today in the academic establishment—and it seems to me also
in popular culture, or at least among the educated—that ecclesiastical
authority is essentially foreign to the academic enterprise. With the sole
exception of theology, I grant and defend this contention. While every other
academic discipline is aimed essentially at the pursuit and acquisition of
truth, from this it cannot be deduced that the Magisterium has jurisdiction in
all matters of academic discourse.
All disciplines aim at
truth, but not all truth is strictly speaking ‘theological’. Theological truth
is that truth that concerns the Author of all truth, Truth itself. It is often
fallaciously assumed from the divine title “Truth itself” that God is Truth in
an all-encompassing, unqualified, univocal sense. In other words, it is often
deduced from the “Truth itself” title that everything that is truth is a ‘part’
of Truth itself, that the resolution to the problem of the Univocity/Equivocity
of Being is that being is
unequivocally univocal. From this inaccurate deduction it is argued that all
truth falls under the discipline of theology, thereby granting theology the
status of Master Science under which all others are subsumed. As discussed
above, the Magisterium has legitimate jurisdiction in theological matters.
Therefore by this line of argument the Magisterium is granted jurisdiction over
all academic discourse, since academic discourse is related to the truth, God
is Truth, the truth is thereby essentially theological, and the Magisterium has
jurisdiction over theological matters. This position cannot be responsibly
maintained, either from the metaphysical stances regarding Univocity taken by
the Magisterium during the Neoscholastic period, or by the Magisterial
discussion of the proper relationship between faith and reason in St. John Paul
II’s Fides et Ratio. In the thinking
of John Paul, philosophy must remain faithful to its own methods as servant of
the truth, so this precludes an excessive meddling in academic affairs.[2]
However, John Paul also affirms that when philosophy touches upon the subject
of God in its “ancillary” capacity, it thereby falls more directly under the
legitimate jurisdiction of the Magisterium with regard to its truth-claims in a
way similar to theology.[3]
Etymologically,
“Magisterium” derives from magister, teacher.
In the very notion of the Magisterium—the Teaching
Office of the Church—lies the justification for its place in theology. It is
the Church’s divine right to pronounce upon the subject of God and teach others
the divine truths that have been revealed to her.
But the objection of
the contemporary academic establishment—that rational argumentation, and not an
authority external to the academy, should decide upon what is to be taught[4]—does
seem reasonable and bears much weight. Why should “academic theology” exist as
such? Why should theology be considered a science at all, accorded speculative
rights in the academy?
Theology and the
academy were not always together. With the rise of the university in the High
Middle Ages, the proper locus of speculative theology was removed from the
monasteries and monastery schools and transferred to the disputationes and lecture halls of the medieval academy.[5]
Should not theology depart from the house of leaning and return to the house of
prayer, the house of divine learning?
Mystical theology and
other monastic theological traditions should be fostered, restored, treasured,
and spread, but academic theology has its own right of existence, if not for
the sake of itself, then for the sake all other disciplines. According to the
thinking of Newman, theology belongs in the academy both because it is a form
of universal knowledge (his university must teach all universal knowledge) and
because without it the other disciplines would be essentially lacking. For
Newman, every discipline belongs to a “circle of knowledge,”[6]
each one modifying and supplementing the others, so that without any one discipline
the circle would be essentially incomplete.[7]
This is especially the case with theology, he argues, since theology is the
“Science of God”[8]
and its object transcends essentially the methodologies of all other sciences,
at least in certain respects.[9]
Theology complements the philosophical approach of the sciences. As John Paul
teaches, theology helps philosophy grasp truths it would never have grasped,[10]
and also corrects errors which would never have been corrected by mere rational
argumentation.[11]
The argument of Newman defends the rightful place of theology in the academy,
and with this rightful place there comes magisterial jurisdiction over at least
a sphere of academic discourse, i.e. academic theology.
In the last analysis,
every discipline is defined by its methodology, and the methodology of academic
theology necessarily incorporates the Teaching Authority of the Church as one
of its constitutive elements. Magisterial jurisdiction is not foreign to
academic theology; it contributes to its very essence as a discipline, since it
is part of its methodology, its defining element. Academic theology deserves a
place in the academy due to its character as universal knowledge concerning God,
the author and source of all truth, the ultimate object of the academic
enterprise. All truth-seeking leads either to God directly or in a roundabout
way through the truth of metaphysical or material realities. The Magisterium properly
has jurisdiction over theology in the academy, and this does not thereby weaken
its position either as a methodologically-constituted discipline or as an
intellectual endeavor. Rather, the Magisterium aids in the truth-seeking
mission of the academy, the object of all academic pursuits and the object of
academic theology.
[1] J. Ratzinger, “The Nature and Mission of Theology” (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995) 45-46
[1] J. Ratzinger, “The Nature and Mission of Theology” (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995) 45-46
[2] John Paul II, “Fides et Ratio”
(Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 1998) §49
[3] John Paul II, §77
[4] J. Ratzinger, 47
[5] I forget where I read this
historical critique. Please excuse my inability to cite its source properly.
[6] John Henry Newman, “The Idea of
a University” (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2013) 50
[7] Newman, 33-35
[8] Newman, 46
[9] Newman, 38
[10] John Paul II, §101
[11] John Paul II, §51
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