Abstract

Carey traces Avery Dulles’ understanding of the relationship between faith and culture from the time of his conversion to Catholicism in 1940 to the end of his life in 2008. His notion of that relationship shifted as his theology emerged from the neo-scholastic mentality of the 1940s to the post Vatican II mentality fostered by Gaudium et spes. In his mature thought he described four models of relating faith and culture, each of which captured something of the Christian response to culture, and argued for a dialectic synthesis of these models in approaching culture. The church has a multiple relationship to culture: it may have to withdraw from elements in a particular culture that opposes gospel values, but it should also select what in particular cultures is true and good, purify what is selected, and elevate the fruits of human endeavor by transforming them into instruments for the transmission of the faith.

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