In this volume, James T. Keane draws together a broad selection of Avery Dulles’ contributions to America magazine. The appreciations and reflections Dulles penned on the work of scholars who shaped theology before, during, and after Vatican II offer context for Dulles’ intellectual world. Similarly, the introduction by James Martin, SJ, provides a portrait of Dulles that depicts him as personally and professionally generous, diligent in his vocation as a theologian and Jesuit, and deeply faithful to Christ and the church.
The collection is divided into several sections. “Reports and Reflections” illustrates how Dulles engaged with Vatican II as well as questions related to faith, infallibility, and authoritative teaching. He combined theological precision with pastoral care in addressing the conscientious reception of Humanae Vitae, and his essays on the teaching authority of episcopal conferences point to another ongoing issue in the church. “Lectures and Addresses,” the second section, provides access to Dulles’ ideas later in his career. This portion composes the majority of the book, and a third of its texts center on John Paul II. Here as elsewhere, the generous reading Dulles gave to other authors is on display, even as his reading of John Paul is seldom accompanied by the nuanced criticism he was also quite capable of offering. Some of these lectures might serve as a general introduction to John Paul's thought for undergraduates or a helpful recollection of the church's historical pilgrimage, for instance, John Paul's preparations for the celebration of the new millennium.
The final sections include book reviews, appreciations, and a 2001 interview a month after Dulles was made a cardinal. This last offers a fuller exposition of a tension present throughout the collection (351). Dulles’ evaluation of theology rested on whether a theologian's work provided a fresh expression of the church's teaching for new times and contexts or whether it risked innovation to the degree that it moved beyond candid questioning into unorthodox assertions (289). His characteristic carefulness of thought suggests Dulles drew these distinctions with nuance, even if others come to different conclusions. A limitation of this collection is that the occasional nature of the texts does not give insight into the details of his discernment of problematic versus orthodox developments.
Much of Dulles’ apprehension about innovation had to do with the church's relationship to culture. Although he understood the necessity of engaging culture, he also perceived the potential for culture to uproot the church from the truth of divine revelation, particularly as articulated by the magisterium. Dulles did not rule out conscientious dissent but was concerned by the prevalence of dissent he perceived in a culture characterized by “relativism, historicism, subjectivism, individualism, and egalitarianism” (187, 191). Even if one disagrees, in whole in or part, with Dulles’ cultural criticism, his position is illustrative of a larger ecclesial debate that often plays out within the discipline of theology.
This volume also reveals some narrowness in Dulles’ evaluation of culture. For instance, he seemed to be relatively unconcerned about the cultural impact of capitalism as practiced in the United States and, in his reflection on the distinctive traits of the Jesuits and their present mission, he made no mention of Superior General Pedro Arrupe's leadership of the society into further commitment to care for the poor and oppressed, but rather deferred to papal evaluations of the society's mission (278). He also betrayed a cultural chauvinism in asserting the superiority of Western culture (217). Finally, although he is correct that many Christians do not practice their faith commitments publicly, Dulles was mistaken in attributing this to Christianity being a minority religion in the world (190).
This collection functions as substantive appetizer of Dulles’ thought. The reader gains a sense for his method and commitments, as well as the historical and cultural streams to which he responded and in which he was caught up. For some, it may prompt further examination of Dulles’ life and work, and many readers will gain insight into how Vatican II, John Paul II, and US culture shaped his theology.
