Scripture as the Soul of Moral Theology: Reflections on Vatican II and Ressourcement Thomism

1 Vatican II, Decree on Priestly Training, Optatam totius, 16. 2 Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, 24. 3 This article originated as an address delivered at The Catholic University of America on 1 December 2011, at the invitation of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Student Association (STRSSA). When I inquired on which theme I should lecture, the organizational committee replied: “Many of us are devoted to the study of St. Thomas and the Thomistic tradition. Nevertheless, in our study of St. Thomas and our positive work in the Thomistic tradition, many of us feel we have not heeded Vatican II’s call that Scripture be the heart of Sacred Theology, including Moral Theology. From this arises our question. How can postVatican II Thomistic Moral Theology re-integrate Scripture, giving it its rightful place?” (Mr. John Meinert., email communication to the author, 23 September 2011). 165 The Thomist 76 (2012): 165-88 SCRIPTURE AS THE SOUL OF MORAL THEOLOGY: REFLECTIONS ON VATICAN II AND RESSOURCEMENT THOMISM ROMANUS CESSARIO, O.P. Saint John’s Seminary Brighton, Massachusetts C ONTEMPORARY STUDENTS of Catholic theology who are interested in the study of St. Thomas Aquinas may be well aware of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) on the importance of Aquinas for the study of any area of theology.1 They very likely also realize that the same council spoke of Scripture as the heart of theology.2 A question may arise here concerning the relationship of these two teachings—a question that may interest a good number of people. My purpose in this article is to illuminate that relationship—more specifically, to lay out the importance that the sacred Scriptures enjoy in Thomist moral theology, both before and after the Second Vatican Council.3 ROMANUS CESSARIO, O.P. 166 4 See Dei Verbum 24: “the study of the sacred page is, as it were, the soul of sacred theology.” In a footnote, the council fathers refer to two earlier papal pronouncements on the study of sacred Scripture: Providentissimus Deus, the 1893 encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, “On the Study of Holy Scripture”; and Spiritus Paraclitus, the 1920 encyclical of Pope Benedict XV “On St. Jerome.” 5 Enchiridion Biblicum: Documenta ecclesiastica sacram scripturam spectantia auctoritate pontificiae commissionis de re biblica edita, 4th ed., (Naples and Rome, 1961), no. 114. I The story begins on 18 November 1965. The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, number 24, sounds the theme “Sacrae Paginae studium sit veluti anima Sacrae Theologiae.”4 Though one seldom hears it remarked, this often repeated adage derives from previous papal teaching. The proximate source that Dei Verbum, chapter 6, note 3, indicates for this metaphorical use of “soul” is Providentissimus Deus, the 1893 encyclical letter of Pope Leo XIII, “On the Study of Holy Scripture.” The 1965 constitution singles out the relevant passage from the Enchiridion Biblicum, fourth edition, published at Rome and Naples in 1961.5 It is worthwhile to highlight what this text from Providentissimus Deus, as found in the official Vatican English version, says about the “anima” of theology. Most desirable is it, and most essential, that the whole teaching of Theology should be pervaded and animated [sit anima] by the use of the divine Word of God. This is what the Fathers and the greatest theologians of all ages have desired and reduced to practice. It was chiefly out of the Sacred Writings that they endeavoured to proclaim and establish the Articles of Faith and the truths therewith connected, and it was in them, together with divine Tradition, that they found the refutation of heretical error, and the reasonableness, the true meaning, and the mutual relation of the truths of Catholicism. Nor will any one wonder at this who considers that the Sacred Books hold such an eminent position among the sources of revelation that without their assiduous study and use, Theology cannot be placed on its true footing, or treated as its dignity demands. For although it is right and proper that students in academies and schools should be chiefly exercised in acquiring a scientific knowledge of dogma, by means of reasoning from the Articles of Faith...