Papal Infallibility: A Protestant Evaluation of an Ecumenical Issue (review)

In the decades after the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), a wide variety of once divisive doctrinal issues has been discussed and to some degree resolved in various ecumenical consensus statements. However, with the notable exception of the American Lutheran–Roman Catholic dialogue's Teaching Authority and Infallibility in the Church(Minneapolis, 1978), most ecumenical conversations have focused on other presumably more pressing and promising topics and left the neuralgic topic of infallibility on the agenda for the future. In part, this postponement—or avoidance—may be due to the debate that surrounded the publication of Hans Küng's Unfehlbar? Eine Anfrage(Zurich, 1970), which occasioned a theological firestorm that produced a considerable quantity of rhetorical literature, but little theological illumination. Unfortunately, the "infallibility debate" of the 1970s showed a pervasive lack of both theological clarity and ecumenical consensus not only among Protestants but also among Catholics. Since "infallibility" is an inescapable ecumenical topic, it needs to be considered both precisely and profoundly.

The present volume by Mark E. Powell, who teaches at Harding University in Memphis, presents the findings of his dissertation, which was written at Southern Methodist University. The book begins with a careful and cogent statement of its author's basic philosophical premises and laudable ecumenical intentions; next comes a short survey of "the origins and exercise of papal infallibility." The core of this book is an analysis of interpretations of infallibility: the "maximal infallibility" of Cardinal Henry Edward Manning; the "moderate infallibility"—first, of Cardinal John Henry Newman and then of Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J.; and finally, the "minimal infallibility" of Küng—whose resolute rejection of infallibility makes it "strange to call him an infallibilist of any kind, even if 'minimal'" (p. 164). These chapters consistently employ a clear and concise template—biographical vignette, theological themes, interpretation of infallibility, and analysis of each theologian's position—which facilitates the comparison of their respective positions. The book concludes with a relatively short evangelical-ecumenical appeal for "orthodoxy without infallibility."

This book is so well written, so extensively researched, so theologically insightful, and so ecumenically sensitive that one is reluctant to point out two major flaws. The first flaw is historical: the author failed to undertake an in-depth analysis and critique of Pastor Aeternus—the constitution of the First Vatican Council, whose fourth chapter treated "the infallible magisterium of the Roman Pontiff"; such an historical investigation would have shown that the Council deliberately avoided the expression papal infallibility. The author is not entirely to blame for this misrepresentation; for over a century, papal infallibility has been a household expression among Roman Catholics. Unfortunately, such usage tends to be misleading both theologically and ecumenically.

The second flaw is philosophical but derivative from the first: although the author mentions the First Vatican Council's teaching that doctrines defined under the aegis of infallibility are "irreformable" (p. 38), the implications of this term seem not to have registered; the word irreformable, like the definition itself, is canonical, not philosophical or theological. Again, the author is not entirely to blame; unfortunately, speaking of "infallible statements" is a commonplace in Roman Catholic theology and has resulted in considerable philosophical and theological confusion. In particular, the claim that "the doctrine of papal infallibility conceives ecclesial canons as epistemic criteria" (p. 207) is an arbitrary reading of Pastor Aeternus; accordingly, the suggestion that "ecclesial canons of the church are better viewed in the area of soteriology than epistemology" seems gratuitous even though potentially helpful—philosophically, theologically, and ecumenically.

In sum, in spite of its many admirable aspects, this book's failure to examine—carefully and critically—the text of Pastor Aeternushas produced a symphonic masterpiece played off-key.