Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Jesus Symbol of God

John L. Allen Jr. in The National Catholic Reporter discusses Jesuit Fr. Roger Haight’s 1999 book, Jesus Symbol of God .

The book was recently the object of a notification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s chief doctrinal authority, citing “grave doctrinal errors” (NCR, Feb. 18). The notification banned Haight from teaching Catholic theology, a largely symbolic gesture given that Haight is now an adjunct professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York, a non-Catholic institution. Nevertheless the notification reawakened stereotypes of Vatican authoritarianism.

In summarizing the book, the article says

In general, Haight’s aim is to express the church’s teaching about Christ in language accessible to a postmodern readership that has trouble with universal, exclusive claims for any one religion, and with “metaphysical” assertions that smack of mythology. The book is an exercise in “Christology from below,” starting with the historical Jesus of Nazareth rather than the cosmic Christ. Jesus, according to Haight, is the “central symbol” of God for Christians, though only “one of many symbolic actualizations of God’s loving presence to humankind.” Haight treats the Trinity and the preexistence of Christ as “symbols” of God’s activity, remaining tentative about whether they are actual persons or states of being.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 6:54 AM