Richard R. Gaillardetz (1958-2023), held the Joseph Chair of Catholic Systematic Theology at Boston College. He published numerous articles and authored or edited twelve books, including An Unfinished Council: Vatican II, Pope Francis, and the Renewal of Catholicism and Keys to the Council: Unlocking the Teaching of Vatican II (co-authored with Catherine Clifford), both published by Liturgical Press. He was a contributor to Give Us This Day. Gaillardetz was a delegate on the US Catholic-Methodist Ecumenical Dialogue and served as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America between 2013 and 2014.
At a time of considerable disagreement over how the church’s
teaching authority is being exercised, this is truly an important
book.Thomas P. Rausch, SJ, America magazine
This impressive collection offers new perspectives on the sometimes
testy relationship between theologians and bishops as they exercise
their shared responsibility to make the time-honored truth of the
Gospel speak anew to every generation. Any reader will be grateful
for the editor’s inclusion of the central documents concerning the
recent controversy surrounding Professor Elizabeth Johnson’s book
Quest for the Living God.John E. Thiel
Professor of Religious Studies
President, Catholic Theological Society of America
Those of us concerned with the future of Catholic theology are
deeply grateful to the authors of the essays in this book. With
uncommon scholarship and clarity they have shown where the
relationships between theologians and the episcopal teaching office
have gone wrong---Elizabeth Johnson's case being the latest tragic
illustration. With equally uncommon depth and insight they have
also charted helpful ways to improve the collaboration between the
two magisteria. The book should be required reading to restart a
fruitful conversation on the nature of theology and the role of the
episcopal magisterium within it.Dr. Peter C. Phan
The Ignacio Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought
Georgetown University
When the Magisterium Intervenes is a hard-hitting book that places
the exchanges between Elizabeth Johnson and the USCCB’s Committee
on Doctrine in an historical and analytical context. The anguish
and exasperation that seep through the careful academic work
express mainly—though not exclusively—the progressive theologians’
side of things and signal that any irenic phase of this discussion
remains in the future. Still, Gaillardetz and this team of eminent
experts consistently give earnest voice to the hope that
authoritative processes and relationships in the Catholic Church
will come to reflect more fully Vatican II’s vision of communion
and dialogue.Dennis M. Doyle
Professor of Religious Studies
University of Dayton
The Catholic Church is the only church with a vast and vibrant
international academy of theologians. It is also perhaps the only
church that takes theology so seriously that it has offices that
question, judge, and even reject the work of some of these
theologians. But the manner in which this occurs, and the damaging
consequences for theologians as persons and for the life of the
Church, raise grave ethical and religious questions as well as
debates over the nature of theology itself. Richard Gaillardetz has
pulled together a must-read for all who are concerned about the
fate of the Church’s contemporary life, its credible proclamation
of the Gospel, and the future of Catholic theology.Paul Crowley,
SJ, Jesuit Community Professor, Santa Clara University
These fine essays by major Catholic ecclesiologists shine the
bright light of informed common sense upon the vexed question of
when and how the teaching authority of the church should insert
itself into theological debates. In an age when magisterial
oversight is more notable for its insistence on its own
prerogatives than it is for its sensitivity to the way doctrine
develops, this reasoned and moderate articulation of how it is the
responsibility of the whole Church to find the way to fuller
possession of God’s truth could not be more timely. The concluding
section on ‘the Elizabeth Johnson affair’ stands as a sad exemplar
of the distance we still have to travel.Paul Lakeland, Aloysius P.
Kelley SJ Professor of Catholic Studies, Director, Center for
Catholic Studies, Fairfield University
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