ecclesiology 13 (2017) 379-385 ECCLESIOLOGY
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Making Sense of the Faith: The Dynamics of Sensus Fidelium and the Role of Reception
Gerard Mannion Georgetown University, Washington, dc, usa [email protected]
Ormond Rush The Eyes of Faith: The Sense of the Faithful and the Church’s Reception of Revelation (Washington, d.c.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2015 [2009]), 321 pp. isbn: 9780813228754 (pbk). $34.95.
Now available in paperback, this is a work that builds on many years of re- search into this field and on his earlier publications by Ormond Rush of the Australian Catholic University. The work is a comprehensive and intricate study of the sensus fidelium and related concepts, the sensus fidei and the con- sensus fidelium. Rush’s aim is to construct a systematic theology of the sense of the faithful. Following an introduction where Rush frames the key parameters of his study, the volume divides into three parts. In the first part Rush explores the interrelation between the Holy Spirit and faith that gives rise to the sensus fidelium. So he examines the relation- ship between the Spirit and, respectively, revelation, the church and, finally, the sense of the faith itself. The second part looks at the interplay between sensus fidelium, tradition and scripture. Rush wishes to propose that the latter two actually emerge out of the sense of the faithful itself. To do this he exam- ines the reception of the person, teaching and actions of Jesus Christ, before an extensive discussion of the notion of authority and the canon of scripture. This proceeds to a discussion of biblical inspiration. In the final part he ex- plores the implications of the foregoing, primarily in relation to their ecclesial outcomes. Here he considers the relations between sensus fidelium, theology and magisterium. He believes the church has a teaching office that is threefold. Moving on to consider the separate concept of the sensus fidei in the life of the individual believer, his final chapter explores the impact of sensus fidelium on how the church teaches its faith. The book ends with an epilogue exploring the ‘Ongoing Conversion of the Ecclesial Imagination’ where an enticing set of further proposals is put forth.
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As always Rush’s research is through, his command of the literature exempla- ry and his conclusions original and thought-provoking. Drawing upon the work of Yves Congar, Rush suggests that, from the earliest times of the church, mak- ing sense of revelation and the faith that responds to it has entailed a process which has been an ‘ecclesiological reality’. This process ‘assures epistemologi- cal continuity in the church’s reception of revelation throughout history. It en- ables the church to proclaim the Gospel in new times and cultures throughout history’ (p. 2). Rush does not here explicitly say so, but the latter therefore pre- supposes that, at differing times, many within the church, even the church’s own official statements, pronouncements and teachings, might veer away from the path of continuity and towards discontinuity in both a positive and a nega- tive sense. For Rush, the best term by which to describe this process, this eccle- siological reality, is what has come to be known as the sensus fidelium itself. As Rush notes, the Second Vatican Council itself retrieves this notion expressed throughout the history of the church in various differing ways and it ‘recontex- tualizes the teaching by treating it within its discussion of the whole People of God’s participation in the “prophetic office” of the Church’ (p. 4). In this study Rush uses the notion of ‘reception’ as a key interpretive and ‘integrating (or structuring) principle’ in order to construct a systematic the- ology of sensus fidelium and its relation to Christian tradition in general, as well as in particular to scripture, theology and ‘the [sic] magisterium in the church’s ongoing reception of revelation through faith’ (p. 5). Rush offers an intricate interpretive schema, defining a full nine elements of reception. There is also much food for thought in his proposed synthesis of Vatican ii on the ‘teaching office of the church’ (Part ii, especially pp. 175–291), which entails for Rush a ‘dialogic’ approach to interrelating ‘the sensus fidelium, theology, and the magisterium’ in the church today (p. 175). A further innovative contri- bution is where he relates tradition to the sensus fidei (pp. 229–240) and that final section which details a summary of his understanding of the whole pro- cess of reception in speaking of the ‘Ongoing Process of Ecclesial Imagination’ (pp. 293–297). Rush’s evident erudition and innovation notwithstanding, some parts of the study could raise questions vis-à-vis historical and recent interpretations of the nature and practice of magisterium. Despite his intentions, the phrasing of some statements could possibly be taken as presupposing a recent under- standing of magisterial processes as normative and so could be interpreted as implying, anachronistically, that this has been the way it has been in earlier times for the church, also. This is a perspective that is given further support in later sections of the study – for example, pp. 197–200 – which appears to privilege the ‘official
ecclesiology 13 (2017) 379-385