Parrhesia: Speaking Freely in a Synodal Church

Pope Francis has made parrhesia a signature word of his papacy, framing “speaking freely” and “courage, frankness, and boldness” as necessities for a synodal church. This paper aims to explore both the theoretical and practical dimensions of parrhesia. First, it traces the lineage of the ancient term as laid out by Michel Foucault, before explicating Francis’s innovation of parrhesia. Then, it takes a practical turn, considering what this ecclesial culture shift towards parrhesia might require, through four case studies of postconciliar theologians whose freedom to theologize had been curtailed by the institutional church: Jacques Dupuis, Gustavo Gutierrez, Elizabeth Johnson, and Ivone Gebara. Looking to them as exemplars of parrhesia, this paper concludes by considering what role theologians could play in a synodal church characterized by freer speech.