Friday, September 17, 2021

John Joy on Joseph Kleutgen and the Authority of the Ordinary Magisterium

 John Joy on Joseph Kleutgen and the Authority of the Ordinary Magisterium

 

. . . Kleutgen anticipates two objections. Firstly, many fathers and eminent doctors have expressed the principle that one must await the judgment of the Church before accusing a dissenter of heresy, from which it would seem to follow that Catholics are not strictly obliged to believe anything beyond what is found in the judgments of the Church (as Hirscher holds). In response to this, Kleutgen argues that the principle applies only to cases of questions legitimately disputed by the faithful children of the Church . . . In these cases, where the truth was not sufficiently clear in Scripture or Tradition, or where contrary opinions were defended by eminent figures on both sides, it was necessary to await the judgment of the Church before accusing one’s opponents of heresy. But according to Kleutgen not every dispute is of such a nature. The co-equal divinity of the Father and the Son was not a matter of legitimately disputed by faithful children of the Church but rather a matter wherein the truth could be adequately known from the general faith of the Church.

 

A second objection arises from the fact that even with regard to heretics such as Arius or Nestorius, the Church did in fact issue judgments, and one would not want to hold that these were unnecessary. Kleutgen’s reply to this is to say that all the judgements of the church were and are necessary, but not all in the same way. In some cases, indeed, the judgment of the Church may be necessary for ascertaining the true doctrine of the Church (as it is necessary in questions of legitimate dispute); but in other cases, its purpose may be simply the solemn proclamation of doctrine already known and believed. Or again, Kleutgen says; “the doctrine of the innovators, in the main, could be spotted with certainty as erroneous and yet for the identification of many individual points the advice of the fathers was desirable ([Die Theologie Der Vorzeit] 1st ed., 48; 2nd ed., 100). Then he continues:

 

Something can be generally taught and believed in the Church as revealed truth, and therefore the error opposing it can be rejected with certainty as heretical, and yet even about this matter a judgement of the Church can be necessary. Namely, when the innovators succeed in winning a following, and in seducing even a single prominent member of the Church or other men of great prestige, so that it is, especially for the multitude of the faithful, slightly doubtful upon which side the truth lies. And this, basically, is the true story of all heresies. So we do not deny that, in order to identify the doctrine of the faith with certainty, the explicit judgment of the Church is necessary in some questions and in some times; we deny only that it is necessary in all questions and at all times. ([Die Theologie Der Vorzeit] 1st ed., 48-49; 2nd ed., 100)

 

In other words, the true doctrine of the Church – infallibly taught by the ordinary magisterium - may be adequately knowable in itself, but inadequately known to some members of the faithful. In such cases the judgement of the Church is not necessary for making the truth identifiable in itself, but it is necessary for making the truth known to those shaken by doubt.

 

For Kleutgen, therefore, unlike Ratzinger and Bertone, there appears to be no restriction o the extraordinary magisterium to innovative definitions – to definitions of questions open to legitimate dispute; nor does the necessity for an extraordinary judgment regarding a matter already taught infallibly by the ordinary magisterium arise from (or imply) any inadequacy in the teaching of the ordinary magisterium itself; rather, it arises from an inadequate grasp of its teachings on the part of some of the faithful. What must not be overlooked, from Kleutgen’s point of view, is that the extraordinary magisterium – like the Church itself – is primarily pastoral in nature: solemn judgments that merely confirm or reaffirm existing Catholic doctrine are indeed unnecessary for the advance of theology; but they may be necessary for the salvation of souls. (John Joy, On the Ordinary and Extraordinary magisterium from Joseph Kleutgen to the Second Vatican Council [Studia Oecumenica Friburgensia 84; Münster: Ashendorff Verlag, 2017], 50-52)