Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: A Second Collection

Titel: A Second Collection

Stichwort: Grundfrage: Änderungen in der Kirche; Positionen: konservativ - liberal

Kurzinhalt: Between these extremes there are two positions. One may be named classicist, conservative, traditional; the other may be named modern, liberal ...

Textausschnitt: 2a I do not think any Catholic would exclude all change on a priori grounds. Even the most embattled conservative would grant that circumstances alter cases, that positive Church law has not the same immutability as divine law or natural law, that besides the substance of things there are the accidents; that, salva substantia, the accidents may at times be modified, provided, of course, that the change is made prudently and, above all, that one keeps ever in mind that human nature is always the same. (Fs)

2b At the other extreme I am not certain it should be maintained that change in the Church’s forms, structures, methods, etc., should be a continuous, irreversible, ongoing process. There are static periods in most cultures and civilizations and, while the rest of society is quiescent, it is not clear that the Church must keep on initiating change. (Fs)

2c Between these extremes there are two positions. One may be named classicist, conservative, traditional; the other may be named modern, liberal, perhaps historicist (though that word unfortunately is very ambiguous). The differences between the two are enormous, for they differ in their apprehension of man, in their account of the good, and in the role they ascribe to the Church in the world. But these differences are not immediately theological. They are differences in horizon, in total mentality. For either side really to understand the other is a major achieve­ment and, when such understanding is lacking, the interpretation of Scripture or of other theological sources is most likely to be at cross-purposes. (Fs)

3a Accordingly, though I have been asked for a theological opinion, I must proceed in roundabout fashion. Only after the differences between classicist and historicist viewpoints have been indicated, can their respective merits in the eyes of the Christian be estimated. (Fs)