The One Church of Christ: Understanding Vatican II by Stephen A. Hipp (review)

The stated objective of the “Renewal within Tradition” series is to establish a dialogue between the neo-scholastic theology of the pre-conciliar Church with the nouvelle théologie that developed over the course of the twentieth century and that exerted a profound influence on the Second Vatican Council. Ressourcement theology is at its best, claims this series, when it is approached with the rigor, scientific discipline, and content of the Thomistic school. Likewise, Thomism is enriched and strengthened through engagement with the methodology and achievements of nouvelle théologie. In other words, these two approaches to theology need one another.

Stephen A. Hipp’s The One Church of Christ: Understanding Vatican II fits into this project by presenting an analysis of the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council that makes use of the neo-scholastic tradition to advance its argument. What is the argument? In broad strokes, Hipp insists that the ecclesiology of Vatican II is an authentic development of doctrine, and so is neither a rupture with Tradition nor a mere continuation of pre-conciliar teaching. Hipp employs a linguistic-metaphysical method to make his case: Aristotelian-Thomistic concepts of causality, predication, signification, act and potency, and participation are each used to demonstrate the continuity of Vatican II ecclesiology with the Tradition of the Church. Wisely, Hipp is also attentive to history. He presents the ecclesiology of Vatican II alongside the teachings of the Church in its patristic, medieval, and modern periods in order to reinforce his argument. Just as importantly, Hipp examines the inner-workings of the Second Vatican Council itself. He gives the reader a thorough appreciation for the dynamic conversations behind the ecclesiological documents that were ultimately generated by the council fathers.

These conversations turned on the question of how best to describe the relation between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Christ. The issue of central importance was one of predication. The long-standing tradition of the Church was to use the Latin est to describe the relation between Christ’s Church and the Catholic Church: the one Church of Christ is the Roman Catholic Church. But the council fathers elected to use the Latin subsistere, asserting in Lumen Gentium, no. 8 that “the one Church of Christ . . . subsists in the Catholic Church.” Hipp argues that the use of subsistere signals a development of doctrine: it confirms that the Church of Christ exists in the Roman Catholic Church “in a manner that is wholly concrete, historically manifest,” “complete,” and “perfect,” while at the same time allowing for the reality that “elements” of truth and sanctification exist beyond its boundaries (92). What the use of subsistere gives the Church that the use of est could not is an ability to recognize the Catholic Church as the fullness and fullest realization of Christ’s Church (a relationship of exclusive identity) while simultaneously providing a framework for discussing how non-Catholic Christian communities stand in relation to the one Church of Christ.

Hipp gives an account of this framework that avoids ecumenical extremes: while it is incorrect to state that non-Catholic Christian communities constitute a part of Christ’s Church, it is also incorrect to state that these communities stand in no relation to it. Rather, the supernatural richness and plenitude of the Roman Catholic Church cannot be contained within her visible structures; grace and truth cannot be restricted by temporal ecclesial boundaries. Thus, the one Church of Christ subsists in the Roman Catholic Church while elements of truth and sanctification exist in other denominations. These elements reside within such communities in a manner that is defective, partial, and ultimately derived from the Roman Catholic Church itself. Non-Catholic communities neither complete nor add anything to its life. The relation flows in the opposite direction: it is the Roman Catholic Church that functions as the formal, efficient, and final cause of the truth and grace that can be found in other...