Vatican II Studies Unit
The Role of the Theologian at the Council and in a Synodal Church
The Second Vatican Council was not only a meeting of the world’s bishops but also a gathering of theologians. After nearly fifty years of theological renewal, theologians such as Henri de Lubac, John Courtney Murray, Karl Rahner, Yves Congar, Gregory Baum, and Hans Küng gave almost daily lectures in their national groups, greatly influencing the council’s direction and teachings. Following the council, however, the relationship between theologians and bishops remains ambiguous. While the International Theological Commission was established in 1967 to advise the church’s magisterium, a series of investigations were also conducted against theologians like Leonardo Boff, Elizabeth Johnson, and Jacques Dupuis. What can be learned from the period leading up to, during, and after the council regarding the role of a theologian, especially the emergence of lay theologians, in relation to academic theology and church life? If Pope Francis’s vision of synodality is deeply rooted in the Council, then what is the role of the theologian in a synodal church? How might Pope Francis’s recent 2023 motu proprio Ad Theologiam Promovendam reflect the different paradigms and schools of thought at work in a global church?
The Conciliar Legacy of Freedom
Sixty years ago, Gaudium et Spes and Dignitatis Humanae emerged as pivotal Vatican II documents, addressing the Catholic Church’s understanding and commitment to freedom. In the changing context of the long 1960s, with its shifting socio-political dynamics, the concept of freedom was reframed as both a theological and social imperative, influencing how Catholics engage with personal liberty, human rights, religious freedom, and the interaction between religion and state. This panel invites papers exploring the conciliar legacy of freedom, including historical expressions in the reception of the Council and its evolving conceptualization, by addressing questions such as: How did the concept shape discussions on human autonomy and the Church’s engagement with modernity? In what ways did it influence or continue to influence theological and political responses to the tensions between authoritarianism and revolution? How do rejecting and overextending freedoms shape and navigate the council's legacy, both past and present? How have receptions and interpretations of conciliar freedom impacted debates on personal and collective rights, as well as inspire concrete action for social justice?
This Unit gives scholarly attention to the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), one of the most significant events in the history of the Catholic Church — an event that had wide-ranging implications for other faiths, other Christian churches, and for the wider world alike. This Unit has a double focus: first, deepening the understanding of the history of Vatican II, its link with movements of renewal in Catholic theology and in the Church in the decades prior to Vatican II, and the history of the reception of the Council, and the redaction history of the different documents of the Council; second, a strong theological on both to the hermeneutical issues connected to methods of interpreting conciliar teaching and its ongoing reception in a changing context. By looking more closely at the past, our Unit hopes to promote greater conciliarity and synodality in the Christian churches in the present. In this second mandate of its presence within the American Academy of Religion, the Vatican II Studies Unit turns its attention to the reception of Vatican II within the various social and cultural contexts of the Americas and elsewhere, and to its continuing influence in the changing context of twenty-first century global Christianity.
| Chair | Dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Dries Bosschaert | dries.bosschaert… | - | View |
| Jaisy Joseph, Villanova University | jaisy.joseph@villanova… | - | View |