August 26,
2012 David
Timbs
Where
Jesus Christ is....
Some
reflections on Early Church Sources and Vatican II
When
Ignatius of Antioch was on his journey to Rome to meet his appointment with
martyrdom, he wrote ahead to the local Christian communities he intended to
visit. His surviving letters give us an invaluable insight into key facets of
Christian life in post-apostolic period. Just before he began his ministry in
Antioch, the disciples received a nick name which would describe them
thereafter, it was in Antioch that the
disciples were first called Christians. (Acts 11: 26b)
The
early second century marked a period when discipleship identity was being
transformed from the wandering Jesus
Movement to settled urban assemblies. Ignatius probably indicates this
development in his letters. It had largely happened in his own local community
as it grew from a Judeo-Christian
synagogue model into a more expansive and inclusive entity as larger numbers of
Gentiles were welcomed by the Jesus
Community. It was a fundamental socio-religious shift from symbiosis
to osmosis. The Incarnation of the
Word was its foundation and the paschal mystery of Christ provided the catalyst,
And thus, by his resurrection, he raised a
standard to rally his souls and faithful forever – whether Jews or Gentiles
– in one body of his Church. –
Smyrnaeans, 1.
Ignatius
reflects a growing sense of the intrinsic inter-connectedness of the early post
apostolic Church communities. They were linked by a very basic, simple kerygma
– Gospel proclamation - frequently animated and refreshed by the wandering
charismatic preachers. The Didache, The Teaching of the Lord by the Twelve Apostles to the Gentiles, highlights
their ecclesial role. Increasingly the communities were exposed to and confirmed
by the circulation of the letters of Paul and others as well as the written
Gospel narratives.
Other
foundationally important developments in ecclesial life and identity are found
in the corpus of Ignatius’ correspondence. He provides the first detailed
non-biblical snapshots of ecclesial structures of governance and service: episkopoi
(overseers, governors), diakonkoi
(organisers) and presbyteroi (elders;
preservers of the Tradition) and he refers to the universality of the Christian
Church,
Flee
from the schism (Deniers
of the Incarnation – Docetists, false
prophets?) as the source of mischief.
You should all follow the bishops as Jesus Christ did the Father. Follow too the
presbyters as you would the apostles; and respect the deacons as you would
God’s law. Nobody must do anything that has to do with the Church without the
bishop’s approval. You should regard that Eucharist as valid which is
celebrated either by the bishop or by someone he authorizes. Where the bishop is
present, there let the congregation gather, just as where Jesus Christ is, there
is the Catholic Church. (‘e ekklesia katholike)
- Smyrnaeans,
8.
Ignatius’
references to the local Churches/assemblies and the common unity they shared
highlight some very important features of the renewal of the theology of Church
(Ecclesiology) which began before, during and after Vatican II. The witnesses to
post-apostolic Christian life provide invaluable insights into the dynamism,
ingenuity and freedom the local churches displayed in developing their
identities, mission and ministries to satisfy their needs and not those of a
distant centralised authority. A great deal of that recovered memory inspired
the Fathers of Vat II in the way they outlined a future vision for a Universal
Church which must by it mandate from Christ incarnate itself in many and varied
host cultures.
Ressourcement
– Reclaiming the Origins*
During
the decades leading up to the Second Vatican Council, a large number of
theologians, mainly European, worked either individually or in small interest
groups to examine in great detail the very foundations of Catholic theology.
They were people who were not frightened of asking the most basic questions or
of courageously doing the scientific analyses of even the most sensitive areas
of Scripture and Tradition. They called this bold endeavour, Ressourcement
(French for, going back to the sources/origins). These theologians, first held
under suspicion of Modernism –
condemned by Popes Pius X – Pius XII, eventually provided the conceptual
framework for the great documents of Vatican II. Furthermore, their work came to
be known by the negative connotation, la
Nouvelle Theologie (1) John XXIII and Paul VI put an end to that nonsense.
A
principal concern of these thinkers was to examine the key philosophical and
theological presuppositions behind the Tradition. This included scrutinising the
language in which doctrine is wrapped, how historical conditions both sacred and
secular influenced the formation and transmission of teaching and practice and,
as a consequence, how the Church must judge its place and message in the modern
world. Their methodology was what many might later call, the hermeneutics
of suspicion – exposing everything to the blow-torch of honest, courageous
and rigorous investigation. Everything was tested against the benchmarks of
objective truth and disinterested inquiry.
A
new lexicon appeared with this new method of exploration, words such as re-depthing,
presence, engagement and adaptation.
All were intrinsically connected with the central Christian affirmation of the
Incarnation of the Word of God in human history and how that mystery must be
understood and celebrated within the limits of time, place and space. This
terminology was later summed up by John XXIII when he announced the goals of the
Council, approfondimento and aggiornamento.
(2)
Among
the greatest achievements of Ressourcement
was the peeling back from the Tradition the accumulated layers of medieval Scholaticism
and institutional clericalism. The theologians unlocked and made available anew
the ancient treasures of Scripture, the history of the Jesus
Movement and its development during the era of intense imagination and
energy which typified the life and growth of the primitive Church. They gave it
new life.
Having
done that work of rediscovery, it was possible to gain a new perspective on just
how dulled the charism of Christianity had become over the centuries.
Constantine’s imperial model was applied to and accepted by the Church, making
it a kind of state within the State. This, paradoxically, equipped it to be the
only institution stable, credible and capable enough to govern society after the
collapse of the Roman Imperium in the West and stasis of the Dark and early
Middle Ages.
This
inherited position of social and religious primacy was re-affirmed and
re-asserted by Gregory VII in the latter part of the eleventh century. The
shape, identifying characteristics, the formed dogma and legalistic culture that
the Church of Vatican II inherited were the direct result of this long and
complex history. The Council had to make decisions about what the Church
absolutely needed to carry on its journey and what was disposable excess
baggage.
It
is vitally important to understand this when examining the structures of
ecclesial governance and the sacramental system of the Church as it continues to
be animated and inspired by Vatican II and to be faced with the challenges that
lie ahead. Some of these will be
addressed in a future article.
Perhaps
more than ever over the past fifty years, the Catholic Church needs to recapture
the memory, imagination, courage and vision of the theologians of Ressourcement.
It was their great gift to the Church to insist that it is a means and not an
end in itself. Like Ignatius of Antioch, their message was that where
Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.
(1)
Among the
great theologians of the pre and post Vatican II eras were: Henri de Lubac, Hans
Urs von Balthsar, Yves Congar, Karl Rahner, Hans Kueng, Joseph Ratzinger, Edward
Schillebeeckx, Marie-Dominique Chenu, Jean Danielou, Louis Bouyer, Bernard
Haering, John Courtney Murray. Not to be forgotten were the generations of
scholars of the two great power houses of biblical research and teaching, L’Ecole
Biblique de Jerusalem and the Biblical
Institute in Rome.
For
a commentary on the history of Ressourcement
– the ‘New Theology’ which provided the conceptual skeleton for much
of the vision of the Second Vatican Council, click [Here]
(2)
For much
more about the history, theology, processes, language and so on of Vat II, see [Here]
For
those wishing to study further the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, click [Here]
David
Timbs writes from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
26/08/12
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