Heart of the World, Center of the Church: Communio Ecclesiology, Liberalism, and Liberation by David L. Schindler (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Heart ofthe World, Center ofthe Church: Communio Ecclesiology, Liberalism, and Liberation. By DAVID L. SCHINDLER. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996. Pp. 357. $37.59 (cloth). ISBN 0-8028-3809-X. The centrality of the communio theme in the documents of Vatican II is hardly a new discovery, yet often this is relegated to an inner-ecclesial domain. Schindler's aim is to show the implications of such an ecclesiology for the mission of the Christian and the Church in the world, within the concrete context of post-Vatican II North America. For this it is necessary to take up a dialogue with liberalism or, more specifically, "with other Catholics who also have been in dialogue with liberalism" (xiv). There are many aspects to this polemic that make the book stand out. Notably, it is the range of opponents the author finds, and, more importantly, the basis for his criticism. The book operates on both a regional level (various specific dialogues) and a general level (underlying theological and ontological presuppositions). Although the entire first part of the book, and the tone of the book in general, is primarily concerned with issues as they appear in an American context, the significance of the book is not limited to this continent. Indeed, after the collapse of the Communist regimes, many countries in Eastern Europe have embraced enthusiastically the promises of market capitalism. Some theologians in Poland, notably, have adopted many of the ideas put forth by Michael Novak and see in liberal capitalism the opportunity to move beyond clericalism. For Schindler, this merely changes one form of dualism for another. After showing the deficiencies of various ecclesiologies (integralist, liberationist, and dualist), Schindler turns to a communio theology, with its proper Trinitarian and Christological emphases, in order to ground the Church-world relation. The Church is intrinsically turned to the world as the continuation of the incarnational mission of Jesus Christ. Its mission is therefore essentially tied to its self-understanding that it exists within the communion between Christ and the Father. Schindler questions a central claim of liberalism, namely, the theological-philosophical neutrality of its institutions, which allows them to come to terms with Catholicism. He shows that all forms of professed neutrality, on the part of liberalism, already carry some stand towards key 641 642 BOOK REVIEWS theological issues and that this stand is contrary or at least inimical to basic Catholic doctrine. Upon critical examination, the various areas where liberalism claims an "empty" or "neutral" stance reveal a specifjc, although often hidden, philosophical and theological position, "a definite 'sense of the primacy of human agency or 'construction' in the self's affective-volitional and cognitive relations with God and others (however inconsistent this may be with the claim of neutrality)" (xiv). Hence the characterization of liberalism as "finesse" (33) or "con game" (44, 87). This critique is not aimed so much at the achievements of those who have contributed to mediate Catholic thought to American liberal institutions as rather at the "logic" of their positions which is often unintended but which carries a problematic tension toward the Christian faith in light of communio ecclesiology. The disproportionate emphasis on the self and its action is inconsistent with the notion of person and the person's mission in the world, derived from communio ecclesiology. Stated positively: "the trinitarian communio, present in the sacramental communio, reveals the meaning of all being in its full integrity, and thereby reveals as well the inner logic and dynamic of the Christian presence in the world" (xvi). Borrowing a phrase from John Paul II's address to the Argentine bishops, Schindler says that the Church is called to be forma mundi. In the political and cultural arena, the debate is with John Courtney Murray, the inspirational force behind Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Freedom, over whether the discussion with the First Amendment concerns articles of peace or articles of faith. Schindler argues that Murray's notion of religious freedom as immunity from coercion (i.e., articles of peace) is not empty of religious theory. In giving logical priority to a notion of freedom defined negatively, it precludes the priority of a...