Dogma, Tradition, Historicity: Contribution of Yves Congar and Bernard Lonergan

Thomas Kristiatmo

doi:10.53396/media.v6i1.517

Authors

Thomas Kristiatmo Fakultas Filsafat Universitas Parahyangan, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53396/media.v6i1.517

Abstract

The inquiry into the understanding of dogmas has been prompted by historical consciousness. Dogmas were traditionally viewed as universal and a-historical until historical consciousness emerged, leading to the questioning of their truth claims. Some attempted to rely on common sense, but this proved futile. To provide a more nuanced solution to the issue of determining the truth claims of dogma, the author introduces the ideas of Yves Congar and Bernard Lonergan. Through the method of dialectic, this study aims to explore Congar's concept of living tradition and Lonergan's distinction between the permanence and historicity of dogma. This investigation seeks to resolve the tension between what is permanent and what is historical, which primarily arises from different levels of consciousness.

Author Biography

Thomas Kristiatmo, Fakultas Filsafat Universitas Parahyangan, Indonesia

Lahir di Rembang, 1 Mei 1982, menyelesaikan Studi Program Doktoral (S-3) dalam bidang Teologi Dogmatik di Gregorian Pontifical University, Roma. Saat ini, ia bekerja sebagai dosen teologi dogmatic di Fakultas Filsafat, Universitas Katolik Parahyangan, Bandung, mengampu seminar terkait Bernard Lonergan dan Robert Doran di Gregoriana sebagai Lonergan Fellow (Februari-Mei 2025).

References

Birch, Vincent, Growth of the Christian Idea: An Application of Bernard Lonergan’s Thought to Discourse on Doctrinal Development. Irish Theological Quarterly, 88(2023), 137-154. https://doi.org/10.1177/00211400231160651

Bonsor, Jack A. “History, Dogma, and Nature: Further Reflection of Postmodernism and Theology.” Theological Studies 55 (1994): 295-313

Congar, Yves M.J. The History of Theology,. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1968.

______________. Tradition and Traditions, An Historical and a Theological Essay, translated by Michael Naseby & Thomas Rainborough. Oxford: Burns & Oates Ltd, 1966.

Koerpel, Robert C. “Between History and Dogma: On the Spirit of Tradition in the Demands and Limitations of Modernity.” New Blackfriars Vol. 95 No. 1055 (Jan. 2014): 3-20.

Linge, David E. “Dilthey and Gadamer: Two Theories of Historical Understanding.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion Vol. 41 No 4 (Dec 1973): 536-553.

Lonergan, Bernard. Method in Theology in Doran, Robert M. & Dadosky, John D. (eds.), Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan Vol. 14. Toronto-Buffalo-London: University of Toronto Press, 2017.

______________. Insight: A Study of Human Understanding in Crowe, Frederick E. & Doran, Robert M. Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan Vol. 3. Toronto-Buffalo-London: University of Toronto Press, 2013.

_____________, ‘1 Dialectic of Authority’, in A Third Collection, 2021, doi:10.3138/9781487513665-002.

Mansini OSB, Guy. “The Historicity of Dogma and Common Sense: Ambroise Gardeil, Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Yves Congar, and the Modern Magisterium.” Nova et Vetera Vol. 18, No 1, (2020): 111-138.

Marcotte-Chenard, Sophie, ‘The Critique of Historical Reason and the Challenge of Historicism’, Dialogue-Canadian Philosophical Review, 61.3 (2022), doi:10.1017/S0012217322000233.

Möhler, Johann Adam. Unity in the Church or The Principle of Catholicism Presented in the Spirit of the Church Fathers of the First Three Centuries, translated by Peter C. Erb. Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1996.

Newman, John Henry. An Essay of the Development of Christian Doctrine . London: Aeterna Press, 2014.

Queirós, Anthony. “Tradition as Formative Environment: Congar and Christian Formation”, New Blackfriars, Vol. 105, Issue 2 (2024): 169–179. https://doi.org/10.1017/nbf.2023.14

Sheets SJ, John R. “Teilhard de Chardin and the Development of Dogma.” Theological Studies, Vol 30, Issue 3 (1969): 445-462