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BETTI AND THE HERMENEUTICS OF DOGMA THOMAS GUARINO Seton Hall University South Orange, New Jersey I. The Traditional Response to the Question of Historicity. IT IS BY NOW a truism to· speak of historicity as the horizon within which both theological thought and languaige 'emerge. The finitude of the inquirer, the forestructure of understanding, and the historical distance between text and interpreter ·are themes: which dominate contemporary Catholic thought. '.Dhis, however, is not an entirely new phenomenon. Since becoming aware of the invariant structures of temporality, Catholic theology has sought to develop some rapprochement between the apparent antinomies of the universal truth-claims proffered .by the Church's dogmatic statements and the necessary constraints and " localizations " dictated by the realities of culture, time and language. The question has ibeen: How can the Church continue to ho1d for the actual cognitive penetration seemingly called for hy her dogmatic statements 'given the ,striking limitedness of the philosophical , sociological, linguistic and cultural horizons within which such statements are wrought? The solution to this question has, from the nineteenth century onwards, taken the form of some type of distinction between plurality of context and identity of content, between a variety of oonceiptual frameworks a:nd a single undergirding affirmation. This accommodation may he found, in an anticipated sense, in Newman's notion of the subsistent Idea as well as in Mohler~s theological formulation of unity amidst multiplicity .1 Unfortunately, this incipient distinction was quickly 1 Cf. J. H. Newman, An Essay on the Development of Ohristian Doctrine, 635 636 THOMAS GUARINO lost to Catholic theology. In the first place, Aeterni Patris" defined " a particulair eonoeptual system as optimum, thereby reducing the possibility of seeing the distinction actually " exercised ". Secondly, the plurality of conceptual systems, as argued for by Modernism, served only to enervate dogmatic statements of actual cognitive penetration. This essentially pragmatic understanding of doctrinal formulations caused a suppression of the emerging attempt to handle the difficulties involved in the reconciliation of theological plurality with the unity of faith. The entire issue re-emerged in the Forties with the so-called "nouvelle theologie ". The distinction made ,by Henri Bouillard between representations and affirmations was an attempt to preserve the stable determinacy of fajth across a variety of conceptual frameworks. For example, Bouillard argued that despite linguistic, philosophical and cultural differences, the Johannine, Augustinian, Thomistic, Tridentine ·and post-Tridentine theological anthropologies contained one starble affirmation of faith: Grace is a free 1gift of God iby which man is truly justified and empowered to do the good.2 This attempted rapprochement between historical contingency and uni'V'ersal truth-claims was greeted only cautiously by Humani Generis. By the time of Vatican II, however, the distinction :between a multiplicity of conceptual representations and an undergirding affirmation of faith was unqualifiedly sanctioned.3 Theologically, this fundamental refinement haid been honed and ¥a:riously expressed in the works of Rahner, Lonergan and Schillebeeckx.4 The distinction was forcefully (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1900), and J. .A. Mohler, Die lilinheit in der Kirche, (Mainz: Matthias-Grunewald Verlag, 1925), sections 35-48. 2 Cf. Henri Bouillard, Conversion et grflce chez S. Thomas d'Aquin: liltude historique, (Paris: .Aubier, 1944), pp. 212-224. s The relevant passages are Gwudium et Spes # 62, Unita,tis Redintegra,tio # 4, and Unita,tis Redintegra,tio # 6. 4 Cf. K. Rahner, "Considerations on the Development of Dogma", in Theologica ,l Investiga,tions v. IV, trans. by K. Smyth, (Baltimore: Helicon Press, 1966), pp. 3-35. .Also, Rahner, "What is a Dogmatic Statement", in TI, v. HERMENEUTICS OF DOGMA 637 promoted hy the Declaration Mysterium Ecclesiae and, most recently, the Final Statement of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops.5 The greatest theological effect of this con.tent/context, affirmation /representation distinction has been the emergence in Catholic theology of a variety of conceptual systems. The theoretical possibility of dogmatic re-conceptualization has given rise to numerous theological methodologies. Process theology, liberation/praxis methodology and feminist hermeneutics , simply to name three systematic aipproaches, owe their present vibrancy in Catholic thought to the identity/ multiplicity principle. II. Criticisms of the Identity/Plurality Distinction. The 'solution to the problem of contingency/universality, originally proferred theologica.lly and...

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