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The Point of Departure of Fundamental Theology

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The Point of Departure of Fundamental Theology Teresianum 45 (1994/2) 439-455 THE POINT OF DEPARTURE OF FUNDAMENTAL THEOLOGY EDWIN DINIZ The course of fundamental theology is still subject to morphological changes and the various endeavours in the course of the history of theology show, that this course still re­ mains to be defined, if it is to be defined at all. Attempts have been made in this brief reflection to give a short historical glimpse on the subject and then to decipher its identity in the context of theological studies. Finally, without entering the field of the scope or aim of fundamental theology, attention has been concentrated on the point of de­ parture in the study of fundamental theology. Historical Glimpse The expression «fundamental theology» can lead one to think in different directions1 with various meanings, but it has certainly nothing to do with «fundamentalism».2 The fun­ damental theology is engaged in giving a justification for the faith in front of human reason and in the course of the his- 1 There are sufficient indications of literature in this field, given by M a x S e c k l e r , Fundamentaltheologie: Aufgaben und Aufbau, Begriff und Na­ men. in «Handbuch der Fundamentaltheologie» Bd. IV, pg. 513-514. See al­ so Pie’ i N i n o t , Tratado de Teologia Fundamental. ‘Dar razon de la esperanza’ (I. Pe. 3, 13), Salamanca, 1989, pg. 26-54.. 2 Regarding this argument of «fundamentalism» Cfr. K l a u s K ie n z l e r , Der neue Fundamentalismus, Duesseldorf, 1 9 9 0 ; W o l f g a n g R e i n e r t , Katholi­ scher Fundamentalismus, Regensburg, 1 9 9 1 ; C h r is t ia n J a e g g i and D a v id J . K r i e g e r , Fundamentalismus. Ein Phaenomen der Gegenwart, Zuerich, 1 9 9 1 . The fundamental difference between «fundamental theology» or «apologe­ tics» and «fundamentalism» lies in this: «Fundamentalism» as a rule, does not go beyond the boundaries of what is obligatory within its own group; the Christian fundamental theology or the apologetics is supposed to give justification for the faith within the framework of reason, which, in princi­ ple, is at the disposal of all men. 440 EDWIN DINIZ tory of the Church, this process and movement of giving a jus­ tification have continued up to this day.3 The Christianity, up to Constantine era,4 was engaged in explaining the real sense of the Christian faith, in its encounter with the «philosophical theology» of Hellenistic thought, specially that of neo-platoni­ sm. This philosophy had invaded all the spheres of life, inclu­ ding that of religious beliefs, and consequently it came in con­ flict with the existing religions of the time. Such a philosophy was of great profit to the newly bom Christianity, in its con­ flict with the acknowledged state religions, because it could employ the categories of this philosophy to prove the truth of its faith in relation to other religions, which did not possess the truth (de vera religione).5 There was no clear methodolo­ gical distinction between philosophy and theology and as a result, there was the danger of philosophy getting absorbed by theology, as soon as the social or political conflict ended up in favour of the monopoly of one or other religion. A real confrontation between theology and philosophy or «profane reason» takes place in the middle ages, especially with the translation of the works of Aristotle, from the part of Jewish and Islamic thinkers. At this point of the history a par­ ticular mention is to be made of Anselm of Canterbury and of Thomas Aquinas, both of whom tried to promote a systematic justification of faith in front of the human reason. Not only philosophical but historical categories too were of help to proclaim the message of Christianity; right from the beginning the evangelist Luke and in the early period of Chris­ tianity, Saint Augustine with his «City of God», made at­ 2 Regarding this history of the fundamental theology cfr. K. W e r n e r , Geschichte der apologetischen und polemischen Literatur der christlichen Theologie, Osnabrueck, 1966; A. D u l l e s , A History o f Apologetics, London, 1971; A. M a n a r a n c h e , Les raisons de l'esperance. Theologie fondamentale, Pa­ ris, 1979, pg. 15-75; G. R u c g ie r i (ed. ), Enciclopedia di teologia fondamentale, vol. I, Genova, 1987. S. P ie ’ i N in o t , Tratado di teologia fundamental, Sala­ manca, 1989. 4 Regarding this period of the history of the Church in relation to Chris­ tian apologetics, cfr. L. W . B e r n a r d , Apologetik. I, Alte Kirche, in «TRE» vol. Ill, pg. 394-398. 408-411. 5 The very fact that one begins to speak of a true religion (de vera reli­ gione), shows clearly, that there is an atmosphere of tension or conflict in relation to other religions, which are presumably not true. Christian faith is presenting itself in the society of this period in a spirit of competition. THE POINT OF DEPARTURE OF FUNDAMENTAL THEOLOGY 441 tempts to give a justification of Christian faith in an historical way. Towards the end of middle ages there was a new con­ sciousness of these historical dimensions, in relation to the reality and teachings of Jesus Christ in the histoiy and in the Church; this context of the new historical approach in the field of theological research, gave rise to the question of «his­ torical Jesus», having its consequences also in the field of the fundamental theology. With the arrival of illuminism the confrontation between theology and new historiography became strong and the divi­ sion of the Church in the West aroused the question of the «true Church»; in this context of uncertainty the apologetics developed itself as an independent treatise, having also cer­ tain consequences in the field of ecumenism.6 Johann Sebastian von Drey, the founder of the Catholic School of Tueringen, with his pioneer work: Apologetik7 open­ ed a new, well founded way of Catholic fundamental theology. Then we find Johannes Nepomuk Ehrlich, the author of the first work, which has the title: Fundamental-Theologie (1859- 1862).8 The neo-scholastic thought continued to condition in­ creasingly the uniform structure of the Catholic apologetics or fundamental theology9 till the ecumenical Council, Vatican II. This neo-scholastic thought exposed theoretically the con­ cept of the Christian revelation, considered as «depositum» of 6 F. J. N ie m a n n , Jesus als Glaubensgrund in der Fundamental- théologie der Neuzeit, Insbruck, 1983; G. H e in z , Divinam christianae religionis originen probare, Mainz, 1984; I d ., Fundamentaltheologie in 18. Jahrhundert? Im­ plikationen eines theologischen Methodenwandels, in «ThQ» 165 (1985) 281- 294. In this regard particular attention is to be paid to the pioneer works: H u g e n o t t e n P h il ip p e D u p l e s is -M o r n a y , Traité de l’Eglise, 1578; I d ., De la vé­ rité de la religion chrétienne, 1 5 7 1 ; P i e r r e C h a r r o n , Le trois vérités contre les athées, idolâtres, juifs, mahumetans, heretiques et schismatiques, 1593. 7 J o h a n n S e b a s t ia n v o n D r e y , Die Aplogetik als wissenschaftliche Nach­ weisung der Goettlichkeit des Christentums in seiner Erscheinung, 3 Bde., Mainz, 1844-1847. 8 J o h a n n e s N e p o m u k E h r l ic h , I Theil der Fundamental-Theologie, Prag, 1859. II Theil der Fundamental-Theologie, Prag 1862. 9 Most of the theologians of the first half of this century consider Apo­ logetics and Fundamental Theology essentially identical. Cfr. J. S c h m it z , Die Fundamentaltheologie im 20. Jahrhundert, in «Bilanz der Theologie im 20. Jahrhundert. Prospektiven, Stroemungen, Motive in der christlichen und ni­ chtchristlichen Welt», Bd. II (ed. H. V o r g r im l e r - R. van der G u c h t ) Frei­ burg, pg. 197-245. 442 EDWIN DINIZ teachings, which was to be faithfully guarded and correctly interpreted under the authority of the Magisterium of the Church. And since the «supernatural revelation» could not be reached, in principle, by human reason, it had to be commu­ nicated only by «extrinsic means» (M. Blondel), especially by way of miracles and by realisation of the prophecies, both as external signs of this «supernatural revelation». The ecumeni­ cal council, Vatican II, showed the insufficiency of this method but at the same time it left this field of theological re­ search open.10 According to scholastic or neo-scholastic form of thinking, the revelation was essentially the «depositum» of divine teach­ ing, which has been entrusted by Christ to the Church for our instruction and salvation. The mission of the Church is to preserve, to hand over faithfully and to defend this «deposi­ tum» against all forms of distortion, rather than to incarnate this «depositum» according to the needs of times.11 Since the field of this theological research has been left open by Vatican II, many attempts have been made to identify this subject of the «fundamental theology» and to propose new methods to be followed.12 One can take into considera­ tion the two main indications given by the Vatican II for the future theology: - God speaks to men as to friends in His overflowing love and invites them to have communion with Him.
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