Vatican II and Phenomenology

VATICAN II AND PHENOMENOLOGY
STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
1. FREUND, E.R. Franz Rosenzweig's Philosophy oj Existence: An Anal-

ysis oj The Star of Redemption. 1979. ISBN 90 247 2091 5.
2. OLSON, A.M. Transcendence and Hermeneutics: An Interpretation oj
the Philosophy oj Karl Jaspers. 1979. ISBN 90 247 2092 3.
3. VERDU, A. The Philosophy oj Buddhism. 1981. ISBN 90 2472224 1.
4. OLIVER, H.H. A Relational Metaphysic. 1981. ISBN 90 247 2457 O.
5. ARAPURA, J .G. Gnosis and the Question oj Thought in Vedanta. 1985.
ISBN 90 247 3061 9.
6. HOROSZ, W. and CLEMENTS, T. Religion and Human Purpose. 1985.
ISBN 90 247 3000 7.
7. SIA, S. God in Process Thought. 1985. ISBN 90 247 3103 8.
8. KOBLER, J.F. Vatican II and Phenomenology. 1985.
ISBN 90 247 3193 3.
VATICAN II AND PHENOMENOLOGY
Reflections on the Life- World of the Church
JOHN F. KOBLER
1985 MARTINUS NIJHOFF PUBLISHERS ~.

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ubrary of Congress Cataloging-in-PubIication Data
Kobler, John F.
Vatican II and phenomenology.
(Studies in philosophy and religion ; v_ 8)

Bibliography: p_
l. Vatican Council (2nd: 1962-1965) 2_ Phenomenol-
ogy. 3. Chruch and the world_ 4. Catholic Church--
Doctrines. 1_ Title. II. Series: Studies in philosophy
and religion (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers) ; v. 8.
BX8301962.K55 1985 262'.02'01 85-13607
ISBN-13: 978-90-247-3194-7 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-010-9936-3

DOl: 10_1007/978-94-010-9936-3
Copyright
© 1985 by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht.

Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1985
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
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Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, P.O. Box 163, 3300 AD Dordrecht,
The Netherlands.
MY MOTHER AND FATHER
VII
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments xv
Part I
The Historical Context
1. From Phenomenology to Pope John XXIII 3

2. From Humanae Salutis to the Opening of the Council 19
3. The Developing Consciousness of the Bishops in Council 41
4. The Influence of Pacem in Terris 55
Part II
Ambiguities, Technicalities and Adjustments
5. The Ambiguities: Integralism, Pluralism and Communication 67

6. Phenomenology in the Context of Vatican II 77
7. The Dynamics of an Adjusting Ecc1esial Consciousness 97
Part III
The Final Achievement
8. The New ECc1esial Hermeneutics III

9. The Church in the Modern World 127
10. The Vertical Dimension of the New Ecc1esial Hermeneutics 147
Epilogue: The Moral Challenge of the New Global Task 165
Technical Excursus (I-IX) 175
Bibliography 217
Index 239
IX
PREFACE
The thesis of this essay may be stated quite briefly: Vatican II is a demonstration-
model of the phenomenological method employed on an international scale.
It exemplifies the final developmental stage, postulated by Husserl, of an inter-
subjective phenomenology which would take its point of departure, not from
individual subjectivity, but from transcendental intersubjectivity. Vatican II,
accordingly, offers a unique application of a universal transcendental philosophy
in the field of religious reflection for the practical purposes of moral and socio-
cultural renewal.
Phenomenology, as a distinctively European development, is relatively un-
known in America - at least in its pure form. Our contact with this style of
intuitive reflection is usually filtered through psychology or sociology. 1 How-
ever, Edmund Husserl, The Father of Phenomenology, was originally trained
in mathematics, and he entered the field of philosophy because he recognized
that the theoretical foundations of modern science were disintegrating. 2 He
foresaw that, unless this situation were rectified, modern men would eventually
slip into an attitude of absolute scepticism, relativism, and pragmatism. After
the First World War he saw this theoretical problem mirrored more and more
in the social turbulence of Europe, and his thoughts turned to the need for a
renewal at all levels of life. 3 In 1937 when Nazism was triumphant in Germany,
and Europe on the brink of World War II, he wrote his last major work, The
Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Philosophy. 4 In a sombre
context reminiscent of Spengler's The Decline of the West Husserl argued for
phenomenology as the last scientific hope for Europe's intellectual and cultural
renewal.
Although the last few years of Husserl's life were dedicated to such a practical
problem, his view of it always remained that of a theoretician. In his quest for
philosophy as a rigorous science his level of reflection was comparable to that of
Kant and Hegel at their most speCUlative. This fact is important in the light of
Husserl's confrontation with empiricism. s He was convinced that the fragmen-
tation of the sciences was due to an overly-narrow view of empiricism prejudiced
in favor of particular data. Science needed a new empiricism capable of attaining
universals, or general essences, on the basis of their intuitive givenness. Out of
this new empiricism would develop a radically new experience and a fresh new
attitude towards reality. Such new experiences and attitudes were needed to
x PREFACE
reground philosophy and science in their authentic Greek heritage and the true
spirit of the Renaissance. It was in such an intellectual context that Husserl
developed his notions of intentionality, the transcendental reduction, historicity,
and the teleological nature of consciousness. All of these themes are comparable
in complexity to any metaphysical concepts, and if they derive from "ex-
perience ," it is a type of conceptually refined experience known only to highly
trained theorists and not the average person.
In the postconciliar period relatively little has been written about this phenom-
enological dimension of the Council. Yet, if one takes the trouble to "de-
mythologize" some of the religious terminology employed there, the phenom-
enological core of the Council begins to shine through. The best index, as a
matter of fact, for appreciating the enormous impact on Vatican II by the
bishops and theologians of Northern Europe is simply to read the conciliar
documents in the light of the classical phenomenology developed by Husserl
and which has been so influential in European circles, in one form or another,
since the end of World War II.
The use of phenomenology at the Council has not touched the substance
of Catholic doctrine, but it has given it a whole new tonality. The effect has
been much like transposing a piece of music from C-major to C-minor. Or, to
use an even more apt analogy,. like the intellectual adjustment necessary to
move from an industrialized society into an age of electronics. This psycho-
logical "gravity shift" is essentially to a radically new modality, particularly
in the domain of theoretical conceptualization. In the book I employ a term
popularly received in America to describe such a phenomenon: i.e., a "shift
of the visual gestalt." The immediate question which arises from such con-
siderations is, "Why?" What purpose did such complex reconceptualization
processes serve? As our essay hopes to indicate, this theological adaptation
was meant to serve the practical, pastoral renewal of the Church and, ultimately,
of contemporary mankind.
Inasmuch as phenomenology is a very complex and, as yet, not fully system-
atized style of philosophical reflection, I have tried to return to the originary
thought-pattern pioneered by Husserl himself. As an example of metaphenom-
enology, this book is something of a study in the archaeology of human con-
sciousness. Difficult as this task may have been, I have found it an imperative
one. In the American Church today the dominant theoretical mindset of theo-
logical professionals has been shaped more by Heidegger than by Husserl. Under-
standable as such a development may be, the spirit of aggiornamento would
not allow me to rest content with it. Hence, my "return to the sources" in
Hussed to achieve an in-depth renewal, both philosophical and religious. For the
historical framework of the phenomenological movement as a whole, I have
PREFACE XI
relied heavily, but not exclusively, on the careful work of Herbert Spiegelberg. 6
One book, however, deserves special mention since it focuses on a central prob-
lem related to my research into the Council: David Carr's Phenomenology and
the Problem of History. 7 Lastly, for an introduction to the Council based on
phenomenology the best book is Karol Wojtyla's Sources of Renewal: The
Implementation of Vatican II. 8 Unfortunately, this beautiful and profound
study is a "closed book" unless one has some reasonable acquaintance with
phenomenological theory and method.
Vatican II and Phenomenology is an interdisciplinary study written with
two audiences in mind: the educated public and professional scholars. The
educated public, particularly in America, must be informed of the new horizons
opened by a phenomenological interpretation of the Council since Vatican II
is involved in a quite practical global enterprise involving all of mankind. The
main text of this book is, accordingly, simply an extended essay meant to
acquaint the educated public with the meaning and thrust of Vatican II in a
concise way. These matters (i.e., Chapters 1-4 and 8-10) are handled in an
essentially chronological way. However, the midsection of the book (i.e., Chap-
ters 5-7) deals with some technical details and problems confronting the Church
as it shifts from an objectivist (scholastic) style of reflection to a subjectivist
(phenomenological) one. The book is finally rounded off by an Epilogue which
tries to draw out some of the more startling historical and global implications
of Vatican II.
Inasmuch as I have developed this book in a chronological way, professional
scholars will find it has some of the maddening qualities associated with reading
Husserl's works in their chronological order: ideas are occasionally repeated
but with a slight shift in the thetic descriptive view. Since this book is an inter-
disciplinary study, the footnotes (which are unforgivably extensive) contain the
really technical and developmental substance of the book. In order to lighten
the scholarly task, however, I have placed the more extensive discussions at the
end of the book under the rubric of some numbered "Excursus." A brief foot-
note reference will call attention to each "Excursus" as its technical topic
arises in the course of the book's development.
In such a short book as this, which only intends to provide the fundamentals
of a methodology and basic working insights, there is no need to comment on
every document of the Council, particularly its prudential, practical directives. 9
Using techniques provided by phenomenology in correlation with well-known
scholastic concepts, I shall concentrate my investigation on two major conciliar
documents with more obvious pastoral implications: i.e., Lumen Gentium and
Gaudium et Spes, both of which overtly deal with the Church but at diverse
levels of conceptualization. 1o The practical end-product of these reflections
xu PREFACE
will be a comprehensive socio-religious paradigm interpreting the pas-
toral renewal program of the Council. This paradigm, by reason of its grounding
in phenomenology, communicates at both the notional and subliminal
levels.
The subtitle of this book is: Reflections on the Life-World of the Church.
Vatican II's analysis of the Church's experience of her own religious life-world
may be its most creative contribution to the field of applied phenomenology.
Although the idea of the life-world was introduced by Hussed in the Crisis,
it has been left to other scholars such as Alfred Schutz and Thomas Luckmann
to develop it, particularly for sociological purposes. Just as Schutz and Luckmann
formulated their description of the structures of the natural life-world on the
assumption of the essential validity and utility of Husserl's previous theoretical
work, so the theologians of Vatican II worked on a comparable assumption
regarding the legitimacy of the phenomenological method when they analysed
the religious life-world of the Church. (This is not to imply, however, that such
scholars had a univocal understanding of this methodology.) Illuminating this
massive and complex project is one of the topics of this book. It should come
as no surprise, then, that there is a certain parallelism, and even over-
lapping, of Vatican II's renewal goals and those of Husserl as expressed in
the Crisis.
Inasmuch as the Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei verbum)l1 is the
theoretical companionpiece to Lumen Gentium (the document on the Church),
this constitution will be treated in Chapter Ten of this book. This final chapter,
which should be read in relationship with the whole discussion on Lumen
Gentium, makes it clear that the Council is presenting a phenomenology of
religion. This, of course, precipitates us into the whole area of the History of
Religions (Allgemeine Religionswissenschaft). The reader, however, should be
prepared to find in the phenomenology of religion provided by Vatican II
something more innovative than that found in such theorists as Mircea Eliade
and Henry Dumery. As the educated public may be expected to be more inter-
ested in the practical, pastoral correlation between Lumen Gentium and Gaudium
et Spes, the professional scholar may be more interested in the phenomenology
of religion provided by the correlation of Dei verbum and Lumen Gentium,
both of which are dogmatic constitutions.
In conclusion I must emphasize that the esthetic dimension of the Council's
finalized hermeneutics of Catholic religious beliefs is an important component
of the themes developed by this essay. Beauty, of course, is not the decisive
factor in accepting any scientific theory. But when beauty, a field theory of
consciousness, and a uniquely new communication process are welded together
to serve the global needs of mankind at a turning point of history, then the
PREFACE XIII
cumulative argument is not to be ignored. In this sense, consequently, Vatican II
may be viewed as carrying out - and possibly surpassing - the humanistic
goals of Husserl's Crisis and portending that a chapter has yet to be written
in the intellectual and cultural history of the West.
xv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to acknowledge the assistance which I received from many quarters.
For a sabbatical to research and write this book: V. Rev. Roger Mercurio, CP,
and V. Rev. Sebastian MacDonald, CPo For their technical help or criticism:
V. Rev. Sebastian MacDonald, CP (theology), Professor Bernard Boelen, Fr.
Theodore Vitali, CP, and Fr. Frederick Sucher, CP (philosophy), Fr. Enrico
Cantore, SJ (science), Fr. Bernard Weber, CP (mathematics), and Fr. Kyran
O'Connor, CP (German). For procuring research materials: F r. Kenneth 0 'Malley,
CP, Fr. Myron Gohmann, CP, Fr. Robert Ehrne, CP, and Mr. Ben Williams.
For their pastoral reflections on current Church developments: Fr. Conleth
Overman, CP, Fr. John Render, CP, Fr. Raphael Domzall, CP, and Fr. Michael
Higgins, CPo For preparing the index: Fr. Kenneth O'Malley, CPo For long
hours of patient typing: Mrs. Rose Siciliano. For their fraternal support while
I did research at their locations: the Passionist Monastic Communities of
Louisville, KY, Sierra Madre, CA, Detroit, MI, and Chicago, IL. These and many
others too numerous to mention have advised and encouraged me in the course
of my work, and I remember such help with gratitude. However, the final re-
sponsibility for any opinions expressed in this book rests with myself alone.
NOTES
Throughout this book note references are given by author and copyright (or publication)
date in brackets according to the way such books or articles are listed in the bibliography.
Only minimal reference has been made to Tymieniecka [1971-1983], a work of ad-
vanced phenomenological research and learning. The reason for this is simple: my essay,
a study in applied phenomenology, is geared primarily toward the educated public and,
for pedagogical reasons, relies on source·materials more accessible to such a readership.
1. For psychology see Spiegelberg [1972). For sociology see Bottomore and Nisbet
[1978), pp. 499-556. Berger and Luckmann [1966) provides an easily available
example of applied phenomenology in the field of sociology.
2. For anyone needing a quick introduction to the work of Husserl see Spiegelberg
[1982), pp. 69-165. For a thematic introduction to Husserl see Natanson [1973a).
For an introduction to Husserl by a phenomenologist with a Christian background
see Ricoeur [1967]. Or, easiest is: Stewart and Mickunas [1974].
3. See J. Allen, "Introduction to Husserl's 'Renewal: Its Problem and Method,'" in
McCormick and Elliston [1981], pp. 324-331.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XVI
4. See Husserl [1970].
5. The inspiration for this confrontation with empiricism goes back to Husserl's teacher,
F. Brentano. See Spiegelberg [1982 J, pp. 33-36. For Husserl's differences with em-
piricism and positivism see Spiegelberg [1982], p. 115. Ultimately the new experience
(virtually the equivalent of a religious conversion) may be traced to the phenom-
enological (transcendental) reduction. See Spiegelberg [1982], p. 121. These ideas
had an entranCe into Catholic thought largely through the writings of G. Marcel. See
Spiegelberg [1982], pp. 452-453.
6. See Spiegelberg [1972], [1975], [1981], [1982]. Perhaps the finest thematic intro-
duction to the problems considered by this book would be Landgrebe [1966].
7. See Carr [1974 J.
8. See Wojtyla 11980J. Perhaps an easier introduction to the Council and its global
context would be Frossard [1984]. For an average American's acerbic reaction to
John Paul Irs style of reflection see Wigginton [1983J, pp. 266-270.
9. Such detailed pastoral guidelines and directives may, of course, reflect an important
doctrinal sense. As Wojtyla [1980], p. 17 remarks: " ... doctrinal acts of the magis-
terium have a pastoral sense, while on the other [hand J pastoral acts have a doctrinal
significance, deeply rooted as they are in faith and morals." Inasmuch as Vatican II
is a pastoral council in its totality, my purpose is to focus on its quasi-theoretical
pastoral statements (i.e., its doctrinal constitutions) in order to distil their doctrinal
(and humanistic) significance. If this is done properly, the doctrinal insights should
provide a comprehensive hermeneutical sense or thrust to the Council's practical
directives.
10. The actual texts of any Vatican II promulgated documents may be found in Latin
Texts [1966J. The English translation of Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes may
be found in Abbott [1966], pp. 14-96 and pp. 199-331 respectively. I have used
this English edition of the Council's documents throughout this book. All such
quotations are reprinted with permission of America Press, Inc., 106 West 56 St.,
New York, NY 10019; © 1966 All Rights Reserved. The reader, however, may also
want to consult Flannery [1975 J, [1982 J, or Gonzalez [1966J.
11. See Abbott [1966], pp. 111-128.
PART I
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

3
CHAPTER 1
FROM PHENOMENOLOGY TO POPE JOHN XXIII
Some introductory remarks on phenomenology
The historical origins of philosophical phenomenology are quite well known

today. Like most new movements it began with a problem and what seemed
to be a promising key to the problem's solution. The problem was the "crisis
in the sciences," which Husserl approached as a theoretical mathematician and
logician. He diagnosed the problem as being rooted in the split between Galileo's
objectivism and Cartesian subjectivism, the two dominant influences forming
the modern scientific mind.' In the twentieth century this split had further
fragmented into scientific reductionism, absolute historicism, and psychologism. 2
As a result, anything resembling the philosophical certainties of the past seemed
irretrievably lost. The promising key to all these problems seemed to be the
notion of intentionality developed by Franz Brentano. 3 As might be expected,
when the deductive mindset of a theoretical mathematician appropriates an
idea shaped by the inductive mindset of an empirical psychologist, that idea
will take on a whole new course of development. Grounded as his conceptual
a priori may have been in empirical data, Husserl began to see and experience
reality in startlingly new ways. In this context of absolutely new beginnings
he formulated both his slogan and "principle of principles:" Back to the things
themselves! 4
Not unexpectedly, this approach to the problems of scientific theory is -
especially in its early history - reminiscent of Post-Kantian Idealism, and its
exclusive reliance on what appears to be mere introspection without further
verification procedures recalls the exaggerated reality-value attributed to psycho-
logical phenomena around the turn of the century. Phenomenology, as a distinc-
tively European product, is not readily comprehended on this side of the ocean
unless viewed within a social history markedly different from the American
experience. Our intellectual attitude is still so shaped by the positivistic form of
empricism that in most discussions of science we would favor some form of
Operationalism. s In the area where philosophy and science tend to merge the
work of men like A.N. Whitehead and M. Polanyi finds a readier audience in
this country.6 It would be no exaggeration to say that our current renewed
interest in the finer workings of the human mind is sparked by the fact that we
have invented machines which mimic these processes! 7
4 CHAPTER 1
Phenomenology in Europe after World War II
Husserl did not, of course, solve the "crisis of the sciences." The ontological
problem, or the question of being, also posed baffling difficulties for the most
well-known phenomenologists. Husserl, it seems, was satisfied to reduce the
ontolOgical problem to a merely epistemological one. s Heidegger seems to have
abandoned the quest entirely in later life, and Merleau-Ponty shortly before his
death had likewise decided to rethink all his previous reflections on the prob-
lem. 9 In spite of such major difficulties phenomenology by mid century had
become the prevalent mindstyle among European intellectuals. Writing from
France in 1950 the then-Head of the Division for International Cultural Co-
operation (UNESCO), Herbert W. Schneider, summed up the matter thus:
The influence of Hussed has revolutionized continental philos-

ophies not because his philosophy has become dominant, but because
any philosophy now seeks to accommodate itself to, and express it-
self in, phenomenolOgical method. It is the sine qua non of critical res-
pectibility. In America, on the contrary, phenomenology is in its in-
fancy.1o
I am not interested in tracing this new lease on life which phenomenology

acquired in French existentialism. l l The whole episode is significant as marking
a definitive break with the theoretical problem of the "crisis in the sciences"
in favor of the more practical and personally more overwhelming problem of
the "crisis in human beings." This latter crisis had been under development
since the end of World War I when most of Europe's values deriving from the
Enlightenment collapsed. 12 In the popular mind, at least, all preoccupation
with a philosophy of science gave way before the new quest for a philosophical
anthropology.13 The new emphasis found in existentialism was quite foreign
to Husserl's original concern for philosophy as a rigorous science. 14 Further-
more, in relation to the reigning objectivism in French science, existentialism
came through as very "anti-scientific.,,15 This development is, in many respects,
reminiscent of German Romanticism's backlash to the Enlightenment. Herder
used the tool of history; Sartre used the tool of phenomenology. Heidegger
and Jaspers, each in his own way a proponent of a new Existenz-philosophie,
disavowed the trends developing in the French version of phenomenology
labeled as "existentialism.,,16 But in 1944, when this new coalition of reason
and unreason surfaced, it so seemed to embody the spirit of the times that its
diagnostic tool, phenomenology, in quite eclectic ways proliferated into fields
totally unrelated to Husserl's original purposesP
PHENOMENOLOGY TO POPE JOHN 5
Catholic intellectuals and phenomenology
What is of more pertinent interest, however, is the following passage from

Spiegelberg:
One of the most important events for the introduction of phenom-

enology into the French-speaking world was the study session of the
Societe Thomiste on Thomism and German contemporary phenomenology
at Juvisy in September 1932. Jacques Maritain and Msgr. Noel presided.
Father Daniel Fueling of the University of Salzburg gave an informed
report on Husser! and Heidegger, and Father Rene Kremer of the Uni-
versity of Louvain compared the Thomist with the phenomenological
position. In the momentous discussion not only Msgr. Noel and Etienne
Gilson but also old phenomenologists like Alexandre Koyre and Edith
Stein took a leading part, trying to play down the idealist character
of phenomenology and to stress the differences between Husser! and
Heidegger. The spirit of the discussion suggested the possibility of an
assimilation of the phenomenological approach by Cati?olic philosophers
without commitment to Hussed's or Heidegger's conclusions. ls
The period from approximately 1930-1950 in France was an important

one from the religious, intellectual point of view. Monumental changes which
occurred then are intelligible today only if seen in relationship to the social
cataclysms of the times. The depression had destroyed confidence in Capital-
ism. 19 The Cartesian tradition of the sciences seemed impotent in the face of
such social problems. Fascism and Marxism were elbowing their way forward
with politically radical answers. It was in the midst of such tumult that in
1931 Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno.20 This papal
letter tried to sketch a broad blueprint for the reconstruction of the social
order. Perhaps the most well-thought-out Catholic response to French prob-
lems was the Christian Personalist Movement of Emmanuel Mounier .21 While
this movement took its intellectual inspiration from a Christian understanding
of the person, its inherent purpose was to offer a social and political alternative
to Capitalism, Fascism, and Marxism.
What the Catholic academic community was searching for during this period
was a way to genuinely communicate and dialogue with a largely pluralistiC,
secularized and socially disrupted community. (As we shall see later, this local
problem has now become the global problem faced by Vatican II.) The after-
math of World War I had brought with it a popular negative reaction to the
Cartesian tradition of the sciences. With the lucidity peculiar to the Cartesian
6 CHAPTER 1
style of thinking French intellectuals embarked on a course decidedly subjec-

tivistic and, with time, even non-cognitive. 22 Reality became more dialectic,
either in the Hegelian sense, or more especially that of Marx. With the writings
of Bergson reality began to be viewed in terms of a vitalistic evolution. In this
increasingly amorphous, not to say dangerous, intellectual environment Catholic
thinkers engaged in at least four major efforts at communication and dialogue:
(1) M. Blondel's reflections on L'Action; (2) J. Marechal's effort to develop a
transcendental Thomism related to the Kantian problematique; (3) de Chardin's
attempted correlation of Christianity and evolution; and (4) the 1932 opening
to phenomenology, which G. Marcel constructively employed in his religious
reflections. All of these creative, even heroic, efforts came to naught with the
advent of World War II. The scenario we are running here could easily be that
of Vatican II and the prospect of World War III.
Humani Generis and the new intellectual environment
By 1950, however, the Catholic effort at communication and dialogue had

become so "polyvalent," not to say amorphous, that Pius XII felt obliged to
issue his encyclical, Humani Generis. 23 In their effort to solve the "crisis in
human beings" some Catholic thinkers (or at least their less-competent popular-
izers) seemed to have embraced existentatialism without adequate reservations
or qualifications. It was this modern mindset, particularly its revisionist attitude
toward theology, which the encyclical focused on. Humani Generis did not,
however, address the central problem behind the problems: "How, in an intel-
lectual atmosphere of universal evolutionism, can we safeguard transcendental
truth?,,24 Pius XII might have cut some of the ground out from under this
highly academic question had he responded: "Did it every occur to you that an
intellectual atmosphere of universal evolutionism is a large part of the crisis
in human beings? How about using a few of your transcendental truths to
develop a few practical models of healthy human living? There is more to
communication and dialogue than mere talk!" As it was, however, the encyclical
stayed on the purely academic level. It merely rejected many of the styles of
thinking and dialogue then in vogue: i.e., unmitigated evolutionism, absolute
historicism, and any type of existentialism leading to epistemological or moral
relativism. Rhetorical, if not factual, tendencies in this direction had crept into
Catholic thinking via Bultmann, Heidegger, Sartre, Marx, and others .
. In his sane and balanced way Fr. Gustave Weigel, SJ, provided American
scholars with a benign and irenic analysis of the intellectual background and
issues of this religious controversy.25 The American Church became sensitized
to some new theological developments taking place in Europe, and every-

thing settled back to "normal." But what such analysts - progressives and
conservatives - missed at the time was that socio-political events on the world
scene had already reduced such intellectual and theoretical problems to second-
ary importance?6 With the destruction of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the
world of the status quo antea had come to an end, and history had already
moved into a uniquely "new moment.,,27 The overriding issue was now the very
pragmatic one of human survival. And it was that practical problem and the
religious formation program necessary to grapple with it in a constructive
way that became the focus of the great pastoral renewal program of the Second
Vatican Council.
Aggiornamento in the new moment of human history
One of the least appreciated and most popularly misconstrued concepts in the
Church today is what Pope John XXIII meant by aggiornamento. Here, for
example, is how several reputable American thinkers formulated this complex
matter back in 1964:
For the Holy Father the "aggiornamento" was to have two dimensions:
first, an internal renewal of the Church that would bring out sharply the
features it had when it first came from the hands of Christ; second, a
revitalization in the Church's approach to the modern world, which
would make the Church better understood and more attractive, and put
her in a position to bring the Gospel more effectively to twentieth-century
man?8
The first point must be denied outright as representing the mind of John
XXIII. In Humanae Salutis, the apostolic constitution whereby he convoked the
Council, the Holy Father stated that the Church was already "in great part
transformed and renewed.,,29 As a religious organization it had kept up with
the times socially, intellectually and spiritually.30 From a merely internal point
of view there was really no need for any "updating" (aggiornamento). If any-
thing, the pope could easily have been accused of triumphalism every time he
made a public utterance about the moral beauty and attainments of the Church
as he appreciated it!31 The second point takes on a certain painful quality
if we see it in relationship to the authentic biblical model inspiring the Holy
Father's "opening to the world." Was the Good Samaritan interested in "re-
vitalizing" his approach to the Jews when he tended the wounded man lying by
8 CHAPTER 1
the roadside?32 Was he thinking of making himself better understood and more
attractive, and thus put himself in a better position to proselytize the Jews of
that era? Or was he not primarily interested in performing a much-needed
human service prompted by his religious values and some very dire circum-
stances?
Even today, however, it remains difficult to "prove" which of the two
opposed opinions of aggiomamento, listed above, is the correct one. A long
list of papal statements could be cited favoring either interpretation, at least in
an unimaginative, philological sort of a way. The major weakness of the first
opinion, proffered by the Editors of the Pope Speaks, is that it is formulated
within the preconceptions of the status quo antea: mankind has not yet moved
into a substantially "new moment" of human history.33 The academic mindset
manifested here is basically that of the French scene (1930-1950) described
previously. Only as this outlook gradually erodes - as it inevitably will in our
world of ongoing crises - will the ecclesial community abandon its naive formula
of aggiornamento suggested by the first opinion. In other words, there must be
an intellectual growth process whereby internal renewal is seen in dynamic
relationship with the dire human needs of the modem world. This is what
John XXIII wanted to express for the pastoral enrichment of the Church, but
even he (along with the bishops at the Council) had to go through a growth
process before achieving the sensibilities, insights and communication process
necessary to orchestrate such complex ideas in an adequate and vital way.
Consequently, much of our discussion on phenomenology, as used at Vatican II,
will be aimed at assisting this growth process in ourselves.
John XXIII as an observer of human behavior
Before embarking on our discussion of how John XXIII grew into his concept
of aggiomamento we must have some notion of the historical influences shaping
his personality.34 Although he was by nature a simple man, he was capable of
handling some very complex ideas, and that in a very creative way. (1) His
spirituality was, in the main, a product of the Italian Counter-Reformation. 35
This means it was shaped by seventeenth-century "devotional humanism"
deriving from writers like St. Francis de Sales, S1. Charles Borromeo, St. Philip
Neri, Baronius, and others who tried to adapt gospel values to everyday life in
society.36 (2) His social theories were shaped by Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum
updated, of course, by the later teachings of Pius XI and XII. The best evidence
of this is John's own encyclical, Mater et Magistra. 37 (3) From his earliest con-
tact with the subject Roncalli expressed a strong aversion toward theological
modernism. 38 He always remained a staunch defender of the unity of doctrine,

and his first encyclical, Ad Petri Cathedram, emphasized this point. 39
There is a final talent possessed by John XXIII which must be stressed: his
ability to look. The only other man, to my knowledge, who possessed this skill
in a way comparable to John's, is the ethologist, Konrad Z. Lorenz. Such men
are naturalists, observers of animal behavior; their vocation consists largely in
looking.
They [watch] with an affection and absorption that ultimately [begins]

to break down the barriers that exist between species. They [begin] to
see the objects of their interest not as they have always looked to people
but as they look to each other. Here are the first glimmerings of true
knowledge. And if your observer is also a scientist, a man with an orderly
and inquiring mind, he may hit on the rarest of rare commodities, a
principle governing the behavior of living beings.40
One time when Lorenz had quickly learned to differentiate fourteen almost
identical jackdaws, he was asked how he had acquired such a skill.
The secret is looking, says Lorenz. "It is the peasant urge," he told a
visitor recently. "Those who have it want to look at animals, want to own
them, to breed them. To really understand animals and their behavior
you must have an esthetic appreciation of an animal's beauty. This endows
you with the patience to look at them long enough to see something.
Without that joy in just looking, not even a yogi would have the patience.
"But," he went on, "combined with this purely esthetic characteristic,
you must have an analytic mind. These two things rarely go together, and
I think this is why there are so few [good naturalists] .,,41
In describing his natural fascination with his subject matter Lorenz takes his
stand at a junction in human reflection where empiricism, phenomenology, and
scholasticism meet.42 In the first place, his above account formulates in a non-
technical way the basic elements of the phenomenological method: analysis of
"the things themselves," eidetic intuition, and the apprehension of essential
relationships among essences. Lorenz is, however, focusing his attention on a
distinctive class of empirical phenomena: living things appreciated as whole
systems. Like HusserI his analytical mind inclined toward the scientific; a more
humanistic cast of mind (e.g., Scheler, John XXIII, or Sartre) might have pro-
duced a system of morals, a religious renewal program, or even a novel. Secondly,
Lorenz's description also echoes the scholastic notion of connatural knowledge. 43
10 CHAPTER 1
This is not the usual knowledge gained through concepts and logical demon-
stration. Rather, it is an experiential wisdom mirrored in a person's affective
inclinations: i.e., the interplay of his mind and will, knowing and loving, sensi-
tivity and affectivity. It reflects his whole attitudinal stance toward reality and
the motivational pattern shaping his very being.44 In scholastic theory such
knowledge is especially relevant in ethics, mysticism, art, and esthetics.45 It is,
in short, a practical discernment process which focuses on data ranging from
the empirical to the transcendent. As a scholastic, however, John XXIII applied
this type of knowledge in a new way to a psycho-social analysis of contemporary
mankind appreciated as a whole system. Hence, we should make a few remarks
about how this approach to human existence came to maturity in John's life.
While Lorenz specialized in animal behavior, Roncalli attended to human
behavior. This is first seen in his Journal of a Soul which is a meticulous reflec-
tion on his own life. His early priesthood was also shaped by a deep personal
involvement in "Social Catholocism," the theory of which was formulated by
Pope Leo XIII and the practical meaning of which was exemplified by Roncalli's
bishop, Radini Tedeschi. From 1906 until 1959 Roncalli did historical research
into the reform efforts of st. Charles Borromeo at Bergamo in 1575; in this way
he honed and systematized his analytical skills according to modern professional
standards.46 Lastly, his diplomatic career (1925-1953) in Bulgaria, Turkey,
Greece, and France forced him - almost of necessity - to be a perceptive
observer of men and their societies on the international level. Roncalli was not
merely a shrewd psychologist. In a quite intuitive way his analytic mind per-
ceived a unique convergence of trends in modern human and social dynamisms,
and from this reflection on empirical data he derived a "principle governing
the behavior of living beings." This will become more apparent later on, particu-
larly when we discuss his opening speech at the Council and his encyclical,
Pacem in Terris. Like Lorenz, then, John XXIII had a mindstyle that naturally
Ie ant itself to the phenomenological method in his particular field of interest,
human beings.
Summary
This chapter has concentrated on the prevailing intellectual atmosphere found

in Europe at midcentury. The point has been emphasized that this academic
mindset is a direct-line development from the late nineteenth century. In spite
of the sense of urgency displayed by Husserl's Crisis this midcentury outlook
displayed no widespread awareness of the "new moment" of human history
occasioned by nuclear weaponry. Such preconceptions, even today, affect
many Catholics since they entertain a rather simplistic compJehension of the

meaning of aggiornamento.
In the European Catholic community the two dominant mindstyles were
either scholasticism or phenomenology; occasionally it was some combination
of the two or scholasticism well-seasoned with existentialism. Such approaches
to religious and human reality were not easy bedfellows, as Pius XII's encyclical,
Humani Generis, has indicated. This chapter did not deal with a third important
mindset, that of the historians. Since historical methodology falls into the
category of the "sciences," its connection with our topic will be discussed as
occasion offers in the book. This is particularly true of chapter ten which deals
with the council document on revelation.
Lastly, this chapter tried to touch on those intellectual characteristics of Pope
John XXIII whereby his essentially scholastic, but pastorally oriented, outlook
naturally tended to approximate the phenomenological approach to reality. His
ongoing development in this regard will be the subject of the next chapter.
NOTES
1. See Spiegelberg (1982), pp. 74-76.

2. Husserl's life was shaped by a quest for a philosophy of science, yet he is virtually
unknown in comparison with Mach, Duhem, Poincare, and Russell. Americans con-
cerned about the relationship between science and philosophy have probably read
Whitehead and Polanyi, but not Husserl. His phenomenology was developed somewhat
in individual isolation, and retrieving his authentic thought today involves a certain
philological as well as philosophical archaeology. In our American environment Husserl's
thought often enough needs to be extensively interpreted before it is really under-
standable. This complexity in his thought opens the way for serious distortions, as
seems to have been somewhat the case when Freud was first introduced to Americans.
See Betteiheim [1983]. A naive understanding of Husserlian themes can inadvertently
lead to the type of reductionism which he rejected in "Philosophy as a Rigorous
Science." See McCormick and Elliston [1981), pp. 166-197. His notion of historicity,
for example, can easily be equated with a new version of absolute historicism. For
Husserl's phenomenology to have a constructive role it must be interpreted within the
theoretical strictures which he assigned to it, and this is doubly true if we are to imply
that this methodology had a formative influence on Vatican II.
3. If ever a teleological-historical study is written of the phenomenological movement, its
philosophical coherence will probablY pivot around intentionality in its multiple
meanings and uses. The notion derives from Thomistic epistemology which is quite
realistic and objectivistic in focus. See Maritain (1959), pp. 112-118. Its meaning
was drastically narrowed in empirical psychology to "reference to an object," when
Brentano used it to point out the distinctive character of psychic phenomena. See
Spiegelberg (1982), pp. 36-37 and note 19, pp. 47-48. With Husser! the term
gradually evolved from "directedness toward an object" to an acceptance of even
non-intentional experiences, and finally to intention as seemingly constituting, by
12 CHAPTER 1
genetic phenomenology, the intentional object itself. See Spiegelberg [1982], pp. 97-
99, 130-132. In spite of these and other meanings associated with intentionality over
the years, there has been a core-meaning throughout aU these adaptations: the world
as meant, the being of the object for me. See Carr [1974), pp. 15,26-27. If we may
aS~Io'me the Western intellectual environment is today a pluralistic and inner-directed
one, the Church - at least for serious dialogical purposes - would have no great
difficulty adapting to a style of reflection committed to an authentic pursuit of in-
tentionality. In important epistemological controversies, however, it may also be
surmised she would ease back into her objectivistic and realistic orientation to being.
4. Husserl's slogan went through a shift of meaning as his thought matured: from a
"turning to objective realities in the world outside" to a subjective reflection on
phenomena in one's own insights. See Spiegelberg [1982), p. 109. Later there was a
perceptible shift from the idealities of the scientific world to make aUowance for
history and the preconceptions of the life-world. In the first half of the twentieth
century many Catholic scholars went through something of the same shift, particu-
larly in historical research. Early in this century there was a "Back to the Sources"
(resourcement) emphasis among theologians due to interest in scripture, patristics,
and liturgy. (For the secular historical context within which this development oc-
curred see Landgrebe [1966), pp. 102-122.) The field of scripture, however, was one
of the first to experience the impact of phenomenology due to the writings of Rudolph
Bultmann, a student of Heidegger. Prominant in this "hermeneutical revolution" was
Bultmann's technique of "demythologizing" (Le., bracketing) the historical non-
essentials in order to get at the bible's contemporary kerygma (Le., its existential
sense for me in my quest for authenticity). See Smart [1979), pp. 61-69, 98-106.
By the 1930s the influence of phenomenology began to be felt in other fields of
theological reflection. See Farley [1975), pp. 235-272. We may round off this re-
flection by a quotation from P. Koestenbaum which sums up the European situation
as of 1975:
Research on Hussed today is found, above all, in Catholic centers of learning. This fact
is perhaps evidence for the current awareness that Hussed philosophized in the tradition
of metaphysics, particularly scholastic and realistic ontology. The connection between
Husserl's position and metaphysics is therefore of the first importance.
See Husserl [1975), pg. LXXIII.

5. For "Operationalism," q.v., G. Schlesinger in Edwards [1967), Vol. 6, pp. 543-547.
The vast majority of technical terms and philosophical thinkers mentioned in this
book may be found in the Index of this encyclopedia. Use of this encyclopedia is
especially informative for appreciating the cultural gap between Husserlian ideas and
contemporary American ones.
6. For the contemporary American outlook on the relationship of philosophy and the
natural sciences, see Suppe [1977), pp. 617-730.
7. See George Miller, "The Background to Modern Psychology," in Miller [1983), pp. 14-
28.
8. See Ricoeur [1967), p. 89. This is quite understandable since the supreme genus for
Husserl is meaning, not substance and certainly not being. See Carr [1974) , p. 9.
9. See Spiegelberg [1982], pp. 404-409, 575-580. For serious reasons, however, many
professional phenomenologists do not agree with this evaluation of Spiegelberg.
10. Cited by Spiegelberg (1982) , p. xxiii.

11. See Spiegelberg [1982], pp. 425-447, where the important German influence of
Heidegger is also mentioned.
12. The literature on this topic from O. Spengler to J. Ellul is enormous. One of the more
perceptive early works, however, was Benda [1928). For a handy critical reader
dealing with the intellectual roots of this malaise see Friedman [1964) .
13. Anthropology, both philosophical and theological, is a topic of growing importance in
the post-<:onciliar period. Spiegelberg displays an acute insight into this new develop-
ment when he traces its phenomenological roots to Heidegger's shift of focus from the
epistemological aspects of human consciousness to its on tic dimensions. See Spiegelberg
[1982), pp. 362-365. However, the modern intellectual context of the anthropological
question was set by Kant at the beginning of the 19th century. See Schrag [1980),
pp.30-31.
14. For a balanced view of the differences between "Husserl's Phenomenology and Sartre's
Existentialism" with some of the historical antecedents leading into this new approach
to reality see Spiegelberg [1981), pp. 51-61.
15. Much of this "anti-scientific" animus was directed toward the rigidly Cartesian mind-
style then dominant in French philosophy and science, and personified by Leon
Brunschvicq. See Spiegelberg [1982), pp. 429-430, 483-484, 487,547.
16. On "Phenomenology and Existentialism" with special reference to Jaspers and
Heidegger see Spiegelberg [1982), pp. 436-440.
17. For a popular, extended treatment of this melange of developments see Tymieniecka
[1962). The book is of interest as a presentation of a dominant academic mindset on
the eve of Vatican II. For a sympathetic view of these developments from a Neo-
Thomistic point of view see Dondeyne [1962).
18. See Spiegelberg [1982), p. 433. This important incident can be appreciated fully
only in the context of Excursus V on Anthropology under the subheading, "The
radical nature of Vatican II's reflection." In the light of our previous comments on the
rise of existentialism in France around 1944 we should emphasize that Thomism, as
such, has a tremendous theoretical investment in the concept of existence, both
philosophically and theologically. Aside from the multiple works of E. Gilson see
especially Carlo (1962). However, for the development of the act of existing in
Thomistic philosophy just prior to Vatican II see John [1962).
19. For an insightful interpretation of the European social scene in the 1930s, see Drucker
[1939). This book in turn had an important, if now forgotten, influence on American
psycho-social theorizing inasmuch as it led to the paradigm of Psychological Man which
epitomizes much of the functional "anthropology" in America today. See Tolman
[1958). It would be no exaggeration to say that what the existentialist type of phenom-
enology was trying to accomplish within the speCUlative, academic mind style of
Europe, Tolman's psycho-social theorizing was trying to accomplish within America's
more pragmatic, behavioralistic environment. What should be first noticed here, how-
ever, is the enormous "culture gap" between these two approaches to human prob-
lems. Secondly, for the practical implementation of their ideas, such theorists generally
turn to the dominant politico-economic force operative in their environment: e.g.,
Marxism, National Socialism, or Capitalism. Both Husserl and Christian Personalists
are distinctive in not having identified with any of these socio-political formulas. What
I am saying is that they were both intent on a renewal program aimed primarily at the
human consciousness but with derivative social effects.
14 CHAPTER 1
20. See Carlen [1981), Vol. 3, pp. 415-443.

21. See Mounier [1938). This should be read in conjunction with Mounier [1948), which
provides the context of "existentialist" humanism. For the perduring influence of the
Personalist Movement see Hellman [1980-1981) and Woznicki [1980). One of the
handicaps of Christian Personalism is that the Thomistic concept of "person" is a
metaphysical one; it does not serve well as a key-idea of any popularly-based socio-
political movement. For short-range purposes there is a tendency to reinterpret this
concept in psychological terms - with a consequent danger of psychological reduction-
ism and its accompanying fragmentation. See Paul C. Vitz, "Empirical Sciences and
Personhood: From an Old Consensus to a New Realism," in Moraczewski [1983),
pp. 189-212. What originally attracted Christian Personalists to phenomenology was
the adaptability of the "transcendental ego" to their concept of "person" and the
via media which Husserl's method provided between "person" as an epistemological
subject in philosophy and as a psychophysical object in psychology. See Ricoeur
[1967) in his Index under "Person." More especially, "the person is related to his
world not causally but through motivation." See Carr [1974), p. 197: emphasis
added. This important insight will assume increasing importance as our reflections
on Vatican II develop.
22. For an overview of the era's non-cognitive tendencies see Alexander [1942), Barrett
[1962), Camus [1960), Lunn [1931), and Rauschning [1939). See also L.W. Beck,
"German Philosophy" and H. Kuhn, "German Philosophy and National Socialism,"
in Edwards [1967), Vol. 3, pp. 291-309 and pp. 309-316.
23. See Carlen [1981), Vol. 4, pp. 175-184.
24. See Vollert [1951) ,p. 8.
25. See Weigel [1951). In an interview in the National Catholic Register 60: 18 (Apr. 29,
1984) 1, 6, Hans Drs von Balthasar confirms Weigel's statement that there never was
a "nouvelle theologie." For further comments on this era and its aftermath see Congar
[1968), p. 10 sq. and Connolly [1961). It should be emphasized that the perspectives,
just mentioned, are those of academicians. I have no difficulty with such observations
as part of "intellectual history," but they seem empyrean and overly theoretical in
terms of the "social history of ideas." Such technical diagnoses seem to lack a practical,
pastoral sense both toward the world at large and toward the normally anticipated
consumers of their ideas. In such a turbulent, postwar context Humani Generis was a
consummately pastoral document: a harbinger of problems under development in the
Church.
26. For the on-going radical shift in the American spectrum of progressive Catholic thought
see O'Dea [1958), [1967), and [1968). Roche [1968) was one of the fust American
journalists to describe the developing phenomenon. For two bemused Catholic historians
contemplating the impact of renewal on the American Church see Gleason [1979) and
Hitchcock [1980).
27. For an early perceptive analysis of the "new moment" in human history see Hutchins
[1952), pp. 57 -58. A virtually contemporaneous analysis by a respected European
commentator would be Jaspers [1961). For the presentday socio-political implications
of this situation see Schell [1982), Brown [1981), and Ward [1976). The moral
challenge implicit in these problems is discussed by Schumacher [1973), pp. 293-297
and Laszlo (1972), pp. 281-290. What complicated American sensitivity to such
awesome problems in the world ad extra in the 1960s is that a large portion of our
"baby boom" generation was going through a psycho-social cultural crisis ad intra. In
the late 1960s Drucker offered this analysis: " ... many of the young Americans now
in college and graduate school are searching for an ethic based on personal (if not
spiritual) values, rather than on social utility or community mores - what one might
call an Ecumenical Ethic ... there is a passionate groping for personal commitment to
a philosophy of life. Above all, a new inner-directedness is all the rage in this group."
See Drucker (1971), p. 94. One of the more perceptive, if somewhat disturbing,
analyses of this new psycho-social trend was provided by Rieff [1966). No one at the
time, however, was suggesting that one of the purposes of Vatican II was to fuse thest
ad extra and ad intra developments into a constructive global enterprise.
28. See Staff of the Pope Speaks Magazine [1964), p. 382. Comparable ambivalence is
also displayed by Christopher Butler, OSB, "The Aggiornamento of Vatican II," in
Miller [1966), pp. 3-13. From this point on the confusion simply accellerates on the
American scene: see O'Malley [1971), Greeley [1982), Novak (1982), and Rahner
[1979).
29. See Abbott [1966), p. 705.
30. On John XXIII's evaluation of the "Present Vitality of the Church" (i.e., 1961) see
Abbott (1966) ,pp. 704-705.
31. For John XXIII's glowing description of the Church see Abbott (1966) , pp. 705-706.
32. The Good Samaritan model of the pastoral intent of Vatican II derives from two facts
emphasized in Humane Salutis: the problem, i.e., critical global social problems and the
resource, i.e., a Church "in great part transformed and renewed." See Abbott [1966),
pp. 703-706. In his final address to the bishops at Vatican II, Dec. 7,1965, Paul VI
affirmed that the Good Samaritan had provided the biblical model for the pastoral
intent of the Council. See Paul VI [1966), p. 61.
33. In the West the intellectual preconceptions shaping secular society derive from the
Enlightenment. See Gay (1954], (1976) and Nisbet [1980). As the world crisis
continues, these secular assumptions and values will come under a critical reassessment
in order to formulate a workable strategy to cope with these problems. The same
adjustment faces all cultural and social systems, even the non-Western ones. The
Church has already entered upon this course of change and adaptation by reason of
Vatican II. In view of these larger common problems all parties, both secular and
religious, should be working toward some sort of coexistence and collaboration for the
wellbeing of mankind.
34. Aside from official papal documentation the only direct access to the mind of John
XXIII for English-speaking readers is his spiritual diary. See John XXIII [1965]. His
secretary, Capo villa [1964), stays within this spiritual framework when reflecting on
the pope. Some speeches from Roncalli's assignment in France (1944-1953) have also
been translated. See John XXIII [1966). The best availlible English biography is
Hebblethwaite [1985). Other books meriting attention would be: Editors of Herder
Correspondence [1965), Hales [1965), Lercaroand De Rosa [1966), Gorresio [1970),
and Zizola [1978). None of these studies can be considered critical, historical bi-
ographies of John XXIII. The two Italian journalists, Gorresio and ZizoJa, reflect a
better grasp of the practical implications of John's thought than most theologians, but
they lack an ability to integrate John's ideas into any larger religious vision. One
journalist who displays a maturing grasp of the modern Church is Nichols (1981),
which displays an awareness not found in Nichols [1968), nor in Martin [1972).
35. See Zizola [1978), pp. 276-279.
36. See Zizola (1978), pp. 279-284.
16 CHAPTER 1
37. See Carlen [1981), Vol. 5, pp. 59-90. Roncalli's early priesthood was strongly shaped
by his contact with Bishop Radini Tedeschi of Bergamo, a leader of Social Catholicism
as inspired by Pope Leo XIII. See Lercaro and De Rosa [1966), pp. 30-51,62-70.
38. See Zizola [1978), pp. 285-328. For a recent comprehensive treatment of theological
modernism see Daly (l980).
39. See Carlen [1981), Vol. 5, #69-70, pp. 11-12. In spite of all that has been written
by and about Pope John XXIII, his life and ideas are still very much in need of critical
reflection and analysis. I heartily endorse the sentiments expressed in Giacomo Lercaro's
"Suggestions for Historical Research." See Lercaro and De Rosa [1966) , pp. 7 -29.
40. See Lorenz [1952), pp. vii-viii. (Within a phenomenological purview, of course,
Husserl and Schutz also displayed similar talents.) At this early stage of the essay I
am - in a very preliminary way - laying the groundwork for a practical discernment
process focused on an empirical a priori, but broad enough to embrace both John
XXIII and the sophisticated style of reflection employed by modern theologians. This
discernment process will be unified objectively because all the parties concerned are
trying, in an epistemologically responsible way, to correlate a religious life-world with
a multiplicity of natural life-worlds. This same discernment process will be unified
subjectively by the fact that the participants share a corporate religious experience
shaped by a concrete universal paradigm unifying their religious and human reality.
"We fmd ourselves here at the frontier between two languages, that of the philosophy
of 'consciousness' and that of the philosophy of 'being.'" See Frossard [1984], pp. 94-
95. At this early stage of the essay it is much easier to get a felt-sense of John XXIII's
analytic focus by comparing him with Lorenz rather than Husserl. But, as this essay
moves into the more complex aspects of ecclesial reflection, Husserl's style of bringing
together the various sense-contents of concrete mental states (Erlebnissen) will become
more relevant, and his perceptive grasp of "the being of the object for me" will be
appreciated within the context of religious kerygma, i.e., the ecclesial proclamation
of the Good News. See Carr [19741, p. 15.
41. See Lorenz [1952], p. ix.
42. In making this preliminary statement about how empiricism, phenomenology, and
scholasticism may conceivably share a common ground in their methodological ap-
proach to reality, I realize I am in danger of losing some of my professional readers.
For example, how can a pre-scientific philosophy like scholasticism be correlated with
empiricism and phenomenology? Or, how can phenomenology, which does not use
induction (unless it be in a very nuanced sense), be correlated with empiricism which
does? See P. Koestenbaum in Husserl {1975], p. xxv. Hopefully, any professional
reader who realizes I am aware of such technicalities will have the forebearance to
follow the cumulative development of this essay. In its use of phenomenology scholasti-
cism is flexible enough to allow for a complementary "methodological idealism."
(See Footnote 44, infra) It also appreciates the authentic sense behind Husserl's re-
mark: "It is we who are the genuine positivists." See P. Koestenbaum in Husserl
[1975), p. xli.
43. For a brief introduction to connatural knowledge see Faricy [1964] and Moreno
[1970]. On such "love-knowledge" in St. Thomas see Gilby [1963], pp. 126-131.
44. A phenomenologist will immediately recognize the relationship of connatural knowl-
edge to his field of study by our reference to attitude and motivation. See Carr {l974] ,
pp. 20-21, 35-36 and p. 197 respectively. Such a congenial rapproachment between
scholasticism and phenomenology is possible when dealing with the human act. See
Wojtyla [1979a) or T.P. Brinkman, "John Paul II's Theology of the Human Person
and Technologized Parenting," in Moraczewski [1983), esp. pp. 356-363.
45. For the ethical/mystical applications of connatural knowledge see Maritain [1959),
pp. 260-263. For its artistic/mystical application see Maritain [1953), pp.117-145.
The relevance of connatural knowledge to religious and philosophical thought is em-
phasized by Pius XII in Humani Generis. See Carlen [19811, Vol. 4, #33, p. 181. In
view of the artistic/esthetic achievements of Vatican II (see "The new religio-social
hierophany" in Chapter 8, infra), which our essay perceives as a product of connatural
knowledge used in conjunction with phenomenological techniques, the following
passage from A. Solzhenitsyn sums up the role of the artist-bishop-theologian at the
Council:
The task of the artist is to sense more keenly than others the harmony of the world,
the beauty and the outrage of what man has done to it, and poignantly, to let people
know. Art warms even an icy and depressed heart, opening it to lofty, personal experi-
ence. By means of art we are sometimes sent dimly, briefly, revelations unattainable
by reason, like that little mirror in the fairy tales. Look into it and you will see not
yourself but for a moment, that which passes understanding, a realm to which no man
can ride or fly and for which the soul begins to ache.
A. Solzhenitsyn, 'One Word of Truth . .. ': The Nobel Lecture on Literature. London:
The Bodley Head, 1978. Cited in Muggeridge [1980), pp. 46-47.
46. Angelo G. Roncalli (with Don Pietro Forno), Gli Atti Della Visita Apostolica Di S.
Carlo Borromeo a Bergamo, 1575. 2 vol. in five books. Fontes Ambrosiani (Vol. 13-
17). Fiorenze: L.S. Olschki, 1936-1957. There are only five known copies in the U.S.
It is difficult to locate sources in English referring to this prolonged research by John
XXIII. One convenient reference is Lercaro and De Rosa [1966), pp. 70-81.
19
CHAPTER 2
FROM HUMANAE SALUTIS TO THE OPENING OF THE COUNCIL
There is one time in John XXIII's writing when his Catholic historical con-
sciousness became so aligned with phenomenological method that the tumblers
of both systems naturally fell into place. I am not suggesting here that the Holy
Father consciously employed the phenomenological method, but that his
approach to empirical humanistic concerns, his practical goals and expectations,
became substantially aligned with those of any reputable phenomenologist -
especially the Husserl of the Crisis. What may have begun, however, in a some-
what unwitting or eclectic fashion was eventually cultivated in a more conscious
way as time progressed. When European religious thinkers began to see Husserl
and John XXIII correlated at the practical level by their common focus on
renewal, such intellectuals were not slow to perceive the possibilities for an
"ecumenical" collaboration at the theoretical level. Our present reflections
on John's style of practical thought is an important segment in the over-all
development of this essay.! To the extent we comprehend it, our understanding
of Vatican II's use of phenomenology will be facilitated. The point to be em-
phasized here, however, is the alignment of scholastic method with phenom-
enological method. In this instance both are so naturally coordinated that
scholasticism, preoccupied as it is with contemporary renewal, unconsciously
"backs into" or allows for the use of phenomenology without either system
being compromised.
The strategic vision of Humanae Salutis
On December 25, 1961, Pope John XXIII issued an apostolic constitution,

Humanae Sa/utis, which convoked the Second Vatican Council to begin on
October 11, 1962? The very title of this much-neglected document sets it
within the context of the "crisis in human beings." John's view of these prob-
lems is essentially a global one, and he rapidly summarizes them as the back-
ground for his statements pertaining to the future work of the Council. Worldwide
humanity today is afflicted with two basic problems: the danger of nuclear war
and the ongoing dehumanization of men by atheistic materialism, affluent
hedonism, or abject poverty? Important as these observations are for setting
20 CHAPTER 2
the practical and pastoral context for the work of Vatican II, my focus here
will be on the developing alignment between scholasticism and phenomenology
as evident in this apostolic constitution and even as clearly perceived at that
time by shrewd observers of the Council. The two passages which we are about
to consider are part of one long paragraph in Humanae Salutis, and the second
passage needs some rather technical explanation.
The first quotation is quite traditionalistic in tone, and its ethical realism
may be traced back to the Epistle of St. James (2:26), the last judgment scene
in Matthew (25:31-40), or the social encyclicals of Leo XIII and Pius XI. In
the English translation I have italicized certain words simply to assist in the
easy understanding of the passage.
Verumtamen supernus ordo ad alterum ordinem, temporis finibus

artatum, qui, pro dolor, saepenumero unus hominum cur as eorumque
anxias sollicitudines occupat, maxime efficax sit oportet.4
This supernatural order must, however, reflect its efficiency in that

other order, the temporal one, which on so many occasions is, unfor-
tunately, ultimately the only one that occupies and worries man. s
Scholastic presuppositions of the strategic vision
While the previous quotation simply reaffirms traditional Catholic ethics, it

places such constructive action in a context more comprehensible to modern
men: utilitarianism, pragmatism, empiricism, and historicity.6 The pope, how-
ever, is not frenetically pursuing social relevance for an irrelevant Church,? nor
is he precipitating Catholicism into materialistic relativism. 8 Only John XXIII's
scholastic preconceptions can explain why he expected religion to confer such
empirically discernible psycho-social benefits. In scholastic theory all levels of
existence, as created by God, are harmoniously interrelated in a mutually
beneficial way. If functioning as God intended, such ordered entities - whether
natural or supernatural, subjective or objective - can never work at odds with
one another. Rather, they can only work for each others enhancement or en-
richment. 9 Therefore, the supernatural order is expected to confer manifest
benefits on the natural, temporal order. Any authentically human enrichment
of the natural order should, at least by way of dispositive causality, redound
to the benefit of the supernatural order. Such ontological and teleological pre-
suppositions underlie any concept of Christian humanism and would naturally
shape John's "therapeutic" approach to the "crisis in human beings."lo
HUMANAE SALUTIS TO COUNCIL 21
Yet, we must admit that Pope John does display some pastoral daring in this
new mode of evangelizing. He wants to establish an empirically discernible
linkage between invisible supernatural causes and their visible effects. In this
type of venture the pope cannot expect too much help from his scholastic peers.
As theologians or academicians they work mainly with principles and ideas
derived from a pre-scientific methodology, and so they do not function com-
fortably at this down-to-earth level ofthought.l1 Presumably Pope John expected
the Council, as a gathering of bishops with on-the-scene practical experience in
pastoral leadership, to provide the needed prudent advice. But this empirical
milieu, this concrete life-world, is the natural habitat of phenomenology, both
in its philosophical and broader sense. 12 So, when the Holy Father formulated
his strategic vision of aggiornamento at the level of usefulness, practicality,
verifiability, and temporality, he eased over - imperceptibly, if not unwittingly -
into the domain of phenomenology.
The new communication process intended by the strategic vision
In the quotation which follows I have again italicized portions of the English
translation for ease of understanding.
Quamvis Ecclesia ad terrestrem fin em in primis non contendat, tamen

in itinere suo nequit abesse ab iis quaestionibus, quae de bonis tempor-
alibus sunt, vel lab ores , qui haec progignunt, neglegere. Novit profecto,
quantopere prosint immortalibus animis ea adiumenta et praesidia, quae
apta sunt ad humaniorem efficiendam singulorum hominum vitam, quorum
aeterna salus procuranda est. Novit eadem se, cum Christi luce homines
collustret, id conferre, ut iidem se ipsi penitus agnoscant. Nam illuc eos
perducit, ut intellegant, quid ipsi sint, qua dignitate excellant, quem
finem prosequi debeant. 13
Though not having direct earthly ends, [the Church] cannot, however,
in its mission fail to interest itself in the problems and worries of here
below. It knows how beneficial to the good of the soul are those means
that are apt to make the life of those individual men who must be saved
more human. It knows that by vivifying the temporal order with the
light of Christ it reveals men to themselves; it leads them, therefore, to
discover in themselves their own nature, their own dignity, their own
end. 14
22 CHAPTER 2
A brief technical excursus on the key-sentence
Although not a literal translation in every respect, the above English translation
is really a brilliant one in rendering "sense for sense." The key-line of the Latin
passage is:
Novit eadem se, cum Christi luce homines collustret, id conferre, ut

iidem se ipsi penitus agnoscant.
Literally: That same [Church] knows [that] when [she] illumines on

all sides [the total reality of actually existing] men [by means of] the
light of Christ, she [thereby] brings it about that these same [men]
recognize themselves [Le., their true selves or their authentic humanity]
from [their] innermost depths [Le., by their inherent, God-given natural
capacity; or, through and through, thoroughly, completely, wholly,
entirely, utterly] .15
More simply: The Church knows that when she illumines human
existence with the light of Christ, she enables men to recognize their
authentic humanity by a sort of natural empathy on their part. 16
The final redaction: It [i.e., the Church] knows that by vivifying
the temporal order with the light of Christ it reveals men to themselves. 17
Connatural knowledge and phenomenology in alignment
As I have mentioned previously, this final redaction (i.e., "reveals men to them-
selves") is a brilliant tour de force on the part of the translator, but it takes a
little explanation to understand what he has done. In the first place the translator
recognized that the phrase, "se ipsi penitusagnoscant," drawn from scholasticism,
referred to connatural knowledge as commonly understood in that philosophy.ls
In this approach to reality, where all levels of existence are harmoniously inter-
related, Christ is the most exalted expression of this order. When any man, made
in God's image, is confronted with the authentic moral beauty of Christ, his
natural response should be, "That man is you!" (i.e., he expresses my true self
as I experience it from my innermost depths). This judgment, although welling
up from the subjectivity of a man's whole interior, is a necessarily true one,
since it is authentically resonating with the truth of the God-given order.19 Our
translator, then, adroitly recast this scholastic expression of subjectivity by using
an English phrasing which suggested the more contemporary sense of phenom-
enology but meant the same thing. As a result, he has integrated both closely
related ideas into a modern historical context which makes eminently good
sense to both schools of philosophy. 20
The final redaction, as cited above, was published in 1966. It expresses the
easy flow in academic circles between scholasticism and phenomenology which
was particularly evident by the close of the Council. This was especially true for
that type of scholasticism known as Transcendental Thomism. For the most
part this was a constructive and wholesome development, but as Paul VI ob-
served in Ecclesiam Suam, the methodology was not without its dangers?!
Nevertheless, in 1967 W.E. May briefly summarized the historical antecedents
for such a development:
The emphasis on intersubjectivity in recent existential and phenom-

enological thought has helped redirect inquiry into this subject [i.e.,
connatural knowledge] . Interest in it is reflected in J.H. Newman's distinc-
tion between notional and real knowledge, a distinction further elaborated
by M. Blondel, and in H. Bergson's opposition of the knowledge character-
istic of scientific inquiry to that achieved in intuition. 22
The rapproachment to phenomenology in its historical context
The perception that the authentic intent of John's thought is the revelation of
man to himself inserts his program neatly within the European context of the
history of ideas which has impinged most intimately on Catholic thought over
the past century and a half. In the mid-nineteenth century, for example, Ludwig
Feuerbach's overt purpose was "the revelation of religion to itself.,,23 Early in
this century Edmund Husserl formulated his phenomenological method in order
to achieve "the revelation of consciousness to itself.,,24 The common denomi-
nator in both of these Post-Kantian developments is an approach to the problems
under consideration by way of subjectivity. Pope John's intended "revelation"
is, therefore, understood as a creative adaptation in this ongoing intellectual
controversy. This interpretation of the Holy Father's thought has the obvious
merit of soliciting all interested parties in the academic community to dialogue
about the "crisis in human beings" on the basis of a methodology respected by
all.
This line of thought, congenial as it may be to the European style of philos-
ophizing, does have some built-in liabilities. The intellectual harmonization
provided by the history of ideas, as outlined above, expresses the tidiness and
coherence demanded by the academic mind. Pope John's outlook on the world
scene, however, was more influenced by the social history of ideas; here theories
24 CHAPTER 2
can be distorted beyond all recognition over the course of time by social forces. 25
The above academic mindset, furthermore, need not necessarily imply any dis-
content with the secular status quo of the modern world. 26 For John that world
had been rendered obsolete by the "new moment" of human history. Lastly,
academics are primarily concerned with the speculative order; John, for his part,
is primarily concerned with shaping human affairs in a practical and pastoral
way?? Over the past twenty years the liabilities of this European intellectual
framework have become even more manifest. Some Catholic intellectuals have
turned to the Orient for their religious inspiration; others have approriated
Marxist thought-categories in order to draw out better the political implications
of gospel values. Nonetheless, the fact remains that the two dominant Catholic
academic mindsets in 1961, when John wrote Humanae Salutis, were - in one
form or another - scholasticism and phenomenology.
John XXIII's practical ideas and preparation for the Council
John XXIII had no easy task in impressing his practical and pastoral formulary
of the Council's goals on those curial administrators in charge of the preparatory
work for this great event. They went about their work as professional theologians
with a theologian's academic concerns for the theoretical comprehensiveness
and accuracy of the doctrinal issues to be discussed. Vatican II, presumably, was
to carry out the unfinished business of Vatican I, and the approach to doctrinal
statements at that council had simply been a fine-tuning of procedures used
at the Council of Trent. This is not to say such preconceptions were unreason-
able ones: after all, John himself agreed that these concerns and customary
procedures had produced a modern Church "in great part transformed and
renewed.,,28 The point is, however, that such administrators were over-focusing
on the speculative concerns of academic theologians and the result of their work
was really missing the practical objectives being contemplated by John's pastoral
program. Had this trend continued unabated, Vatican II may have become the
doctrinally-fixated type of Council which the pope neither wanted nor needed
Since he genuinely desired the conciliar participants to arrive at their conclusions
in a corporate and free way, he did not interfere substantially in the preparatory
process.
But as the opening date of the Council approached, the three years of prepara-
tory work had resulted in a morass of over seventy schemata, or semi-developed
topics, for conciliar discussion. 29 From the untoward fate some of these suffered
during the first session (e.g., the documents on the Church and on Revelation),
we may surmise the majority of these schemata were formulated in such a rigidly
scholastic way as to be out of step with new trends intent on wide-ranging

pastoral adaptation, ecumenism, and a return to biblical simplicity. Certainly
these documents did not meet the practical purposes of John XXIII.3o Almost
in desperation and somewhat by way of solemn warning, the pope delivered an
important radio broadcast on September 11, 1962, dealing with a broad spec-
trum of world problems to be considered by the Council, but which were not
found in the proposed schemata!31 These last-ditch efforts of the Holy Father
did have some impact. In their first session the Council Fathers did issue a
"Message to Humanity" which explicitly identified itself with the main principles
of the papal broadcast and focused its attention on the problem of peace. 32
The paradoxical optimism of John's opening speech
Yet, it must be admitted that when John XXIII gave his opening speech at the
Council on October 11, 1962, the problem of peace had been so toned down as
to be virtually non-existent. Indeed, the pope made a pointed reference to
"those prophets of gloom," people he met in the daily exercise of his office,
"who are always forecasting disaster as though the end of the world were at
hand."33 Such men, presumably Catholic and probably including Roman Curia
members, "behave as though they had learned nothing from history, which is,
none the less, the teacher of life.,,34 For his part, John chose to emphasize the
happy circumstances under which the Council was beginning and gave his in-
terpretation of contemporary history and the important lesson to be drawn from
it:
In the present order of things, Divine Providence is leading us to a new

order of human relations which, by men's own efforts and even beyond
their very expectations, are directed toward the fulfillment of God's
superior and inscrutible designs. And everything, even human differences,
leads to the greater good of the Church. 35
Eleven days after this optimistic prognosis on the future the Cuban missile
crisis hit the headlines, and shortly thereafter John XXIII with the knowledge
and approval of President Kennedy sent Norman Cousins on a secret peace
mission to Khrushchev. 36 This crisis had been underway since the previous
July when the Russians had decided to ship the missiles. By August the launching
sites were already under construction in Cuba. It is hard to believe that the
Vatican, the listening-post of the world, was uninformed of these developments.
Why did Pope John deliver a radio broadcast on September 11 emphasizing the
26 CHAPTER 2
peace problem and exactly one month later play it down? In his opening ad-
dress, then, was the Holy Father trying to defuse as much as possible what was
really a very critical situation in world events? His years in the field of diplomacy
might have taught him that. Or, did he believe that by avoiding the urgency of
the peace issue and by emphasizing the positive, the religious, and the pastoral
he would better achieve his purposes? We may never really know. But it is
interesting to note an historical comparison. A good hundred years after Marx,
John XXIII is here offering his analysis of the historical dialectic in the modern
world. If so, on what is his judgment based?
Connatural knowledge: The basis for John's optimism
Were John forecasting simply as an historian in our Post-Hiroshima Age, then

his futurology would have a decidedly utopian cast about it. History, both
secular and religious, affirms that war has been with men from the very be-
ginning. Even the most orthodox Marxist, who maintains a necessary dialectic
for the historical process, would admit that as atomic weapons multiply around
the world, the statistical probability of their usage is creating a monstrous
antithesis which could annihilate the very historical process itself. To the extent
the Holy Father refers to Divine Providence we know he is viewing social reality
from a religious vantagepoint. Even though St. Paul said that all things work
together unto good for those who love God (cf. Rom. 8:28), no professional
theologian or scripture scholar today would make specific predictions on that
basis about social progress. They have the further caveat that Christ said his
kingdom was not of this world (cf. In. 18:36). Christ's gift of hope may sustain
Christians during some very apocalyptic times, but it does not warrant their
making predictions about a new earthly order of human relations. Yet, with
calmness and conviction John discerns a future in which the natural actions of
men will unwittingly collaborate with divine providence to achieve God's pur-
poses. In so doing, he can only be expressing a holy man's or mystic's affective
grasp of reality by connatural knowledge.
This preliminary statement of John's intuition into social reality is very inter-
esting from a phenomenological point of view. Similar to Lorenz's approach, it
derives from an affectionate contemplation of empirical data, i.e., human
behavior. Yet, as these phenomena take on meaning in the pope's life-world,
he apperceives that two seemingly disparate horizons of humanity are falling
into alignment. The authentic human values of the City of Man are so rotating
under the gravity -forces of modern global problems as to become ever more in
conjunction with the genuine values of the City of God. 37 For John this is a
unique moment in both human and salvation history. Is the Holy Father con-
stituting this new eidetic essence of humanity-under-formation in his conscious-
ness? Yes, but only in the sense that his affective dispositions are set in resonance
with those human trends consonant with his own sensibilities. In a sense, John's
personality is acting as a magnifying glass bringing into focus the truths and
values of his larger religious world to concentrate on and selectively illumine
human trends under development. (As we shall see shortly, the integral truths
and values of this larger religious world are not to be tampered with in any sub-
stantial way.) Since the Holy Father's applied religious insight is not the product
of scientific reflection derived from some secular or religious area of study, it
prescinds from and transcends the academic problem of intellectual pluralism.
His spiritual methodology, finally, provides the bishops with a rudimentary
demonstration-model for pastoral reflection at the Council. Since each of them
individually represents a religious life-world, he is inviting them as an inter-
subjective community to reflect on and share their personal experiences in a
non-technical, affective, and dialogical way.
The art and bipolar dialectic of the pastoral challenge
In employing the term, "non-technical," in the sentence above, I am referring

to a quite specific, largely scholastic tradition within which conciliar state-
ments have been formulated over the centuries. 38 All the bishops were acquainted
with this methodology and probably expected to use it at Vatican II. As with
constitutional or corporation law in this country, this is a domain of specialists,
and in its ongoing development professional theologians necessarily playa key-
role?9 John XXIII was not inviting the bishops to travel once more that well-
worn road of the past. Rather, in view of the uniquely "new moment" of human
and salvation history the pope was inviting the bishops to embark on a great
artistic enterprise.40 Just as Michaelangelo took the story of the bible and pro-
duced the glory of the Sistine chapel in an art-form expressive of the humanistic
and religious ideals of the Renaissance, so John wanted the bishops to reinterpret
Christianity in a comparable way for our era. The medium to be used, however,
would not consist of paints and oils, but be an enriched perception of experience
that would operate from within men to shape their minds, attitudes, and values. 41
In this "updated" way the traditional doctrines of Christianity would become
more efficacious in training balanced citizens of two worlds: i.e., men who
could integrate the authentic purposes of the City of God and the City of Man
in a harmonious and constructive way.
In his opening speech John XXIII displayed a good grasp of the essential
28 CHAPTER 2
pastoral challenge, although he was not yet sure of the final methodology for
meeting that challenge. He continued to grow in this regard, and his mature
reflections may be found in Pacem in Terris.42 So too, the bishops had to go
through a growth process both at the Council and even after it. At this intro-
ductory stage, however, John XXIII placed two major, bipolar concerns before
the Council: doctrinal integralism and the need for a more contemporary ex-
pression of doctrine in order to shape the whole man in a more effective way.43
In this bipolar relationship doctrinal integralism was a necessary precondition
for any effective teaching of doctrine. To precise the issues involved, we now
cite and comment on some pertinent passages in John's speech.
The greatest concern of the Ecumenical Council is this: that the sacred
deposit of Christian doctrine should be guarded and taught more ef-
ficaciously. [ ... ]
In order, however, that this doctrine may influence the numerous
fields of human activity, with reference to individuals, to families, and
social life, it is necessary first of all that the Church should never depart
from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers.44
The problem of doctrinal integralism
For many Catholic intellectuals the very word "integralism" sets their teeth
on edge. 4s Such men are suffering from "flashbacks" occasioned by the excesses
of the Integralist Movement, a Catholic form of vigilantism in the early twentieth
century directed against theological modernism. While the simpliste outlook
associated with the Integralist Movement may have caused inconvenience, and
even suffering, for certain historical and biblical scholars until midcentury, we
cannot jettison a word with serious cognitive content in theology simply because
of some noxious historical associations. In the Catholic religious ontology we
must understand that doctrinal integralism is not merely the necessary pre-
condition for effective evangelization. Even more basically, it is the necessary
presupposition for theological discernment, both at the theoretical level and that
of connatural knowledge.46 On this axiomatic principle the Church's magisterium
has in the past exercised either a favorable or unfavorable judgment on the
teachings of theologians, mystics, or reputedly holy people. The importance of
this topic, therefore, warrants a rather long quotation from John XXIII in order
that we may appreciate his own conviction on this matter.
The manner in which sacred doctrine is spread, this having been estab-
lished, it becomes clear how much is expected from the Council in regard
to doctrine. That is, the Twenty-first Ecumenical Council, which will

draw upon the effective and important wealth of juridical, liturgical,
apostolic, and administrative experiences, wishes to transmit the doctrine,
pure and integral, without any attenuation of distortion, which through-
out twenty centuries, notwithstanding difficulties and contrasts, has
become the common patrimony of men. It is a patrimony not well
received by all, but always a rich treasure available to men of good
will.
Our duty is not only to guard this precious treasure, as if we were
concerned only with antiquity, but to dedicate ourselves with an earnest
will and without fear to that work which our era demands of us, pursuing
thus the path which the Church has followed for twenty centuries.
The salient point of the Council is not, therefore, a discussion of one
article or another of the fundamental doctrine of the Church which has
repeatedly been taught by the Fathers and by ancient and modern theo-
logians, and which is presumed to be well known and familiar to all.
For this a Council was not necessary.47
Three points are worth noticing in regard to the above statement: (1) It
rejects the idea of "historical primitivism" (i.e., a return to a Golden Age)
as a norm for the anticipated renewal of the Church;48 (2) The axiom of doc-
trinal integralism was later explicitly endorsed by the bishops in their "Message
to Humanity," issued during the first session of the Council as an expression of
their corporate intent;49 (3) Pope John seems to be suggesting that whatever
"new theology" the Council might produce should simply be the old theology
"in a new key." In the context, then, of adapting the whole doctrinal heritage
of the Church to the contemporary needs of the whole man the Holy Father
goes on to say:
[... J But from the renewed, serene, and tranquil adherence to all the
teaching of the Church in its entirety and preciseness, as it still shines
forth in the Acts of the Council of Trent and First Vatican Council, the
Christian, Catholic, and apostolic spirit of the whole world expects a step
forward toward a doctrinal penetration and a formation of consciousness
in faithfull and perfect conformity to the authentic doctrine, which,
however, should be studied and expounded through the methods of
research and through the literary forms of modern thought. The sub-
stance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the
way in which it is presented is another. And it is the latter that must be
taken into great consideration with patience if necessary, everything
30 CHAPTER 2
being measured in the forms and proportions of a magisterium which is

predominantly pastoral in character. 50
The scope and challenge of the conciliar pastoral goal
There is much to admire about the technical accuracy with which the Holy
Father is describing the anticipated renewal program. The Council intends to
take the authentic substance of Catholic doctrine and present it in a new modality
more apt to meet the needs of contemporary humanity.51 Even at this stage we
can appreciate that such an adaptation will involve a most demanding artistic
process. What the bishops are really faced with is essentially the same challenge
which confronted the apostles after Pentecost. At that time these men had
to sort out their memories of Christ in order to present them in a way that
would meet the human and religious needs of their first-century world. So too,
the bishops were being called upon to sort out the Church's historical con-
sciousness of Christ in order to adapt his truths and values to the needs of a
twentieth-century world at a turning point of human history. Before the bishops
could ever hope to achieve such an enormous project, they themselves as a
corporate group would have to achieve their own "doctrinal penetration and
formation of consciousness." As part of their reflective and creative process
they were being expected, of course, to use the "methods of research" and
"the literary forms of modern thought." The ultimate purpose of all this work,
as the pope later remarks, is to prepare and consolidate "that unity of mankind
which is required as a necessary foundation, in order that the earthly city may
be brought to the resemblance of that heavenly city where truth reigns, charity
is the law, and whose extent is eternity (cf. St. Augustine, Epistle 138,3)."52
The above presentation does, however, have one great weakness. Albeit
technically correct, it is largely abstract and ahistorical. In Humanae Salutis
of a year previously John had set the projected renewal within the specific
context of world problems, one of which was the danger of nuclear war. His
radio broadcast of September 11, 1962, had emphasized the problem of peace.
Yet, here in his opening speech the pope has, either deliberately or for reasons
of prudence, chosen not to emphasize the acute urgency of the Catholic renewal
program in today's world. "The Bomb" is the extrinsic historical factor which
lends intelligibility and relevance to the internal renewal program of the Catholic
Church. 53 Without that extrinsic historical factor aggiornamento becomes
merely a program of spiritual and human enrichment. This naive evaluation of
things can have disastrous consequences. (1) It projects the Council as an un-
necessary and extremely costly program for a Church "in great part transformed
and renewed." (2) It imparts a utopian tonality to Pope John's pastoral pro-
gram when, in fact, it is a product of the "new realism."S4 (3) It exposes zealous
Catholics intent on remedying terrible social evils to the danger of relegating such
an enrichment program to mere religious introversion and self-preoccupation. 55
John himself would eventually see the need of returning to the peace problem,
and he did this in his encyclical, Pacem in Terris.
Summary
This chapter dealt with two periods just prior to Vatican II.
The first was from Humanae Salutis, December 25, 1961, to the radio broad-
cast of September 11, 1962. The tone of this period was one of urgency for
pastoral renewal since concern for peace and other world problems loomed large
in the Holy Father's thinking. In Humanae Salutis John XXIII formulated a
new strategic vision for renewal in which supernatural truths were expected to
have empirically discernible results in the natural order. This pastoral program
would also require a new communication process which would "reveal men to
themselves." While this type of thinking derives from scholasticism, its em-
phasis on subjectivity brings it into alignment with phenomenology and the
European history of ideas dating from about 1850. John had a difficult task
in impressing his pastoral ideas on the work of the Preparatory Commission.
This led to the radio broadcast of September 11, 1962 stressing world prob-
lems and peace.
The second period was simply October 11, 1962, on which John delivered
his opening speech to the Council. The tone of this period, which will carry
throughout much of the Council, is set by the somewhat paradoxical optimism
of the pope's opening speech. John's vision of humanity working in unwitting
collaboration with the purposes of Divine Providence is again a product of his
connatural knowledge. But as he unfolds his pastoral concept of the Council's
work, we begin to appreciate some of its problem-areas: doctrinal integralism,
the artistic scope of the anticipated adaptation, and the need for a real growth
process both on the part of John and the bishops in Council.
The next chapter will reflect on this growth process on the part of the
bishops.
NOTES
1. Over the next three chapters I will try to develop some teleological-historical reflec-
tions on John XXIII in the same way Husser! analysed the role of Galileo in the Crisis.
32 CHAPTER 2
See Husser! [1970], #9, p. 23 sq. Starting with the fact in his own day of the math-
ematization of nature by the natural sciences, Husser! traced the intentional origin
of this mindset back to the basic notion of Galilean physics which viewed nature as
a mathematical universe. Such an "intentional history," of course, provides some
formidable problems for professional historians. Some would say the project is not
even theoretically possible. Others more sympathetic to a philosophy of history might
trace the idea of the mathematization of nature as far back as Thomas Bradwardine
(c. 1290-1349) or one of the later Ockhamists. More critical historians in this area
might point out that for three hundred years Galileo has been seriously misinter-
preted: in reality, he was a developmental Aristotelian in his natural philosophy. See
Wallace [1977], [1983a], [1983b]. In spite of such technical historical difficulties
there is an important element of truth in Husser!'s intentional connection of an evident
cultural fact with the catalytic influence of Galileo. Whatever may have been Galileo's
individual ideas on scientific method, the later tradition of mathematicizing scientists
had so interpreted the intentional gestalt of his cumulative work that they acknow-
ledged him as their authentic progenitor in both theory and method. It was only after I
had become aware of the fact that Vatican II was a demonstration-model of the phenom-
enological method that I was also enabled to trace its intentional connection with the
efforts of John XXIII.
2. The complete English text may be found in Abbott [1966] ,pp. 703-709. The official
text may be found in Latin Texts [1966], pp. 839-853. The working-papers used in
preparation of this constitution have been consigned to the Vatican archives and are
not yet available to scholars. Only Zizola [1978], p. 249 attributes to this constitution
an importance comparable to my own estimation of it.
3. See Abbott [1966], pp. 703-704: "Painful Considerations." See Kobler [1983] and
Nichols [1981], esp. pp. 70-71, 77. It would be too facile to read John XXIII's state-
ments against the notion of religious decline familiar to European intellectuals. See
F.R. Lipsius in Pelikan [1969-1970], Vol. 2, pp. 282-286. If anything, his remarks
should be read against a background of the "Better World Movement" in Italy which
had been endorsed and encouraged by Pius XII. See Lombardi (1958). Consequently,
as we gradually hope to make clear, the pope's diagnosis is pertinent to a uniquely "new
moment" of human history. From a phenomenological point of view the pope is really
presenting the "horizon" within which he is viewing the global events of our contem-
porary historical and cultural world (Le., the naturallifeworld(s) of global mankind).
Inasmuch as the intentional ground of the pope's horizon is constituted by his religious
and moral principles, it differs radically from the optimistic horizons dominant in most
secular societies of 1961. He offers this altered horizon in order to stimulate a much-
needed transformation of attitude on the part of mankind. For "The Five Evils of the
Age" as viewed by Pope John Paul II see Johnson [1981], pp. 65-165.
4. See Latin Texts [1966], p. 846.
5. See Abbott [1966], p. 706 (emphasis added). This principle is drawn out of the social
philosophy of Pope Leo XIII, who - as Paul VI says - "devoted himself whole-
heartedly to finding a Christian solution to the problems of this modern age." See
Carlen [1981], Vol. 5, #67, p. 150. John XXII simply appropriates Leo XIII's "Social
Catholicism" as elaborated within the context of the industrialized West and re-
presents its enlarged challenge within the context of the contemporary global scene.
(On the Leonine influence on the young Roncalli recall Chapter 1, footnote 37.)
6. By implication John XXIII is insisting that the Church today must reflect its efficiency
in the temporal order, if only to maintain its human credibility. Stated in this abstract
way, this principle could easily be interpreted as a selfserving one. Its authentic sense,
however, derives from the "crisis in human beings," perceived by Husser! [19701,
Heidegger [19761, Jaspers [19611, and others, and further crystalized by the Parable
of the Good Samaritan which became the operative model for conciliar reflection.
See Paul VI [1966], p. 61.
7. We are, of course, speaking here only of the mindset of John XXIII. The quest for
social relevance, however, has always posed an important problem for Catholic intel-
lectuals excluded from influence in secularized societies. Since he was papal legate
in France from 1945 to 1953, Roncalli would have had first-hand knowledge of one
of the more serious European examples of such overt discrimination. Such problems
were not seriously voiced in America to any great extent until after Vatican II and -
somewhat surprisingly - after a Catholic president had been elected in this country.
Two of the first Catholic voices were Callahan [19671 and Novak [19671. Up until
that time the quest for social relevance had largely been associated with Protestantism.
Various aspects of the problem are discussed by Rieff [19661, Mascall [19681 and
Caporale and Grumelli [19711 .
8. Relativism in matters of truth, as this is commonly understood in intellectual history,
is so far from the traditional Catholic consciousness that comparatively little has to
be said about it. The mind of John XXIII is staunchly in the mainstream of this tra-
dition. His markedly orthodox views are reflected in his first encyclical, Ad Petri
Cathedram. See Carlen [19811, Vol. 5, #9-11, #17 -19, pp. 6-7.
9. The well-known concept of "order" in Catholic scholastic theology views the cosmos
as structured and functioning somewhat along the lines of a comprehensive "ecological
system." (As this book develops, however, we shall move much beyond this elementary
analogy.) John XXIII, for example, begins Pacem in Terris (See Carlen [19811, Vol. 5,
pp. 107 -1081 with a summary of these ideas, and the encyclical itself is an extended
meditation on the implications of order among men in the modern world. Within this
classical view of things all levels of existence, objectively speaking, complement one
another in a harmonious way which contributes to the common good. In the sub-
jective order which refers to human consciousness, authentic personhood, and the
pursuit of happiness the above matters must be more carefully nuanced. Here the
Christian comprehension of the created order must factor in the problem of fallen
human nature, the requirements of holiness, and the moral value of suffering accepted
with the dispositions of Christ. The faith-evaluation of all these complex matters
(other than sin itself) is optimistic. The biblical foundation of this optimism ranges
from God's judgment on the goodness of creation in Genesis (1 :31) to the New
Testament gospel as "good news." The unifying principle throughout all these re-
flections is God as creating through His Logos and as redeeming through His Logos
made flesh. See Frossard [19841, pp. 91-95,101,133. In the context of Vatican II
one theologian who has appreciated this centrality of creation would be Wojtyla
[1980J, pp. 19, 38, 45-48, 50-52, 55. In 1966 Landgrebe [1966J, p. 168 still
appreciated the majority of Neo-Thomists as philosophizing within this tradition,
whatever may have been their use of phenomenological method. We shall return to
this topic again in Chapter Ten where we discuss the objects (noemata) in the con-
sciousness of the Church. For a contemporary philosophical context more familiar
to Americans and treating ideas of such comprehensive order see Laszlo [1972J,
pp.8-12.
34 CHAPTER 2
10. For the immediate impact of such ideas on John XXIII and some of the postconciliar
Catholic developments see Gremillion (1976), pp. 8-10. One of the earliest (1936)
thinkers to grapple extensively with the speculative aspects of this pastoral problem
was Maritain (1973). Vatican II's less than clear handling of Pope John's pastoral
intent has created a practical, pastoral vacuum into which others were quick to enter.
Important postconciliar developments, for example, have centered around the for-
mulation of functional pastoral theologies based on particularized psycho-social, or
even political, concerns: e.g., liberation theology, feminist theology, etc. These are all
interpreted within the context of today's turbulent world and as harbingers of a "post-
modern theology" in Cox [1984]. However, what I have understated as the "crisis in
human beings" Landgrebe (1966), pp. 19, 121, 160 more accurately catalogues as
"the crisis of reason" or "the crisis of nihilism."
11. It should come as no surprise that the theologians at Vatican II - both conservative
and progressive - appropriated John's pastoral goals only after they had theologized
them according to their own preconceptions. Some of the Curialist pattern in this
regard had been set by the fact that preparations for a Council had begun under
Cardinal Ottaviani as early as February 24, 1948. This preparatory work tended
toward a sweeping condemnation of errors in the modern world; after reviewing the
material Pius XII consigned this work to the Vatican archives. See Gorresio (1970),
pp. 234-247. In 1962 Fr. Ciappi, John XXIII's personal theologian, predicted Vatican
II would promote "a huge doctrinal program." How frustrating all this was to John's
pastoral purposes should be quite evident by the end of this chapter. Even after the
"progressive" wrested control of the Council from the hands of the Curia, this theo-
logizing trend continued. The new trend was away from the static, conceptual "ob-
jectivism" of scholasticism toward a more experiential and evangelical, dynamic
handling of doctrine. In European academic circles that could only be a melange of
phenomenology and existentialism as this had been appropriated by Catholic scholars
over a generation. As Chapter Ten, however, will attempt to show, the pastoral con-
cept in the minds of the theologians never matured much beyond its doctrinal and
kerygmatic dimensions. On Pope John as a "theologian" see Zizola [1978] , pp. 265-
266.
12. Life-world (Lebenswelt): See Excursus I.
13. See Latin Texts (1966), p. 847.
14. See Abbott (1966), p. 707, emphasis added. In discussing the life of Angelo Roncalli,
Gabriele De Rosa mentions that at twenty-two years of age the young seminarian
experienced something of a revelation of himself to himself. This occurred under the
spiritual direction of Fr. Francesco Pitocchi. Roncalli realized he must give up his
slavish imitation of the details of saints' lives; rather, he must "[absorb) the vital
sap of their virtues and [turn] it into [his) own life-blood, adapting it to [his) own
individual capacities and particular circumstances."
Not that at this point he set aside all those formulae of post-Tridentine peity ... ,
but from this moment onwards they were observed with greater freedom, with an ever
more tranquil Christian spirit, and with that fidelity to his own nature which he sought
more and more earnestly to express, until the moment of self-revelation came during
the brief but triumphant season of his pontificate.
See Lercaro and De Rosa (1966), pp. 49-50.

15. This is my own translation simply to rough out the literalist sense.
16. This is my own translation within the context of scholastic theory. In this sense it
implies a certain commonsense realism, natural law theory, and the correlation of the
natural and supernatural orders. Although John XXIII is not excluding spiritual discern·
ment here, he is primarily alluding to a process of natural discernment available to all
men. In such a context it is but a short step to a phenomenological reflection on the
self as incarnate body-subject. In both scholasticism and phenomenology the discern-
ment of authentic self-identity is a necessary, preliminary step toward understanding
authentic social relationships. Both systems of thought rely heavily on an elemental
sense of empathy. See F.A. Elliston, "Husserl's Phenomenology of Empathy," in
Elliston and McCormick (1977], pp. 213-231. In the deliberative processes of Vatican
II it is most fascinating to follow the conciliar reflection which starts from a base of
empathy and by a process of consensus-formation gradually constitutes its corporate
sense of the ecclesial self as incarnate body-subject (i.e., the People of God in Lumen
Gentium).
17. See Abbott (1966), p. 707, emphasis added. The phrase, "reveals man to himself,"
will later appear in the pastoral constitution, Gaudium et Spes, #22; see Abbott
(1966), p. 220. This is a dominant idea in the thought of Pope John Paul II. See
Wojtyla (1980), pp. 75, 309; the encyclical, Redemptor Hominis in Carlen (1981),
Vol. 5, #25, p. 251; and the following statement from Frossard [1984], p. 67: "When
God reveals himself and faith accepts him, it is man who sees himself revealed to
himself and confirmed in his being as man and person. "(Emphasis in text.)
18. The connatural knowledge understood here is primarily the type referring to natural
ethics, although that referring to esthetics, art, and even mysticism is not excluded.
19. This is simply common Catholic doctrine. A good summary statement of this may be
found in Abbott (1966), pp. 220-222: "Christ as the New Adam."
20. One reason why an influential segment of the bishops was interested in seeking such
a rapproachment with phenomenology is that John's pastoral challenge easily leant
itself to the way of subjectivity, by which we mean "an enrichment of faith [ ... )
expressed in terms of consciousness and attitudes." See Wojtyla [1980] , pp. 203-206.
In such a context the Council became intent on, not new doctrinal definitions, but
on a new style of doctrinal penetration (and development) with increased potential
for a more contemporary catechesis, spiritual formation, and relevant witness (kerygma).
The enrichment of the faith sought by the Council has to be understood in two ways:
[... ) as an enrichment of the content offaith in accordance with the Council's teaching,
but also, originating from that content, an enrichment of the whole existence of the
believing member of the Church. This enrichment of faith in the objective sense, con-
stituting a new stage in the Church's advance towards the "fulness of divine truth," is
at the same time an enrichment in the subjective, human, existential sense, and it is
from the latter that realization of the Council is most to be hoped for.
See Wojtyla (1980], p. 18: emphasis added. The context of the above statement is
totally phenomenological. Consequently, "objective" signifies "a new [methodological]
stage," etc., and "subjective" is self-explanatory.
21. See Carlen [1981], Vol. 5, #28, p. 140. In this paragraph Paul VI does not mention
phenomenology or any of its derivatives by name, but he is obviously referring to them
since they constituted the dominant academic mindstyie in Europe at that time.
36 CHAPTER 2
22. See May [1967],p. 228, col. 2, middle.

23. See Feuerbach [1957],p.xli.
24. See Ricoeur [1967], p. 17.
25. For a brief but concise differentiation between intellectual history and the social
history of ideas see Gay [1954) , pp. ix-xi. John XXIII's sensitivity to social influence
on ideas over the course of time is best displayed in Pacem in Terris. See Carlen [1981) ,
Vol. 5, #159, p.125.
26. This type of apparent complacency in the face of serious global problems may also be
projected indirectly and unwittingly by focusing on doctrinal theory in such an aca-
demic way that pressing human problems become, in effect, secondary. In retrospect
this may be one of the critical problems today of Vatican II as an ostensibly pastoral
Council. See Cox [1984). For the recent European historical background for this
academic fixation and its pattern of concerns see Schoof [1970), and for three ex-
amples see Schillebeeckx [1967), Lindbeck [1970), and Bouyer [1982). The in-
evitable logic of this fixation on the speculative may be found in Tracy, Kling, and
Metz [1978).
27. The "mind of John XXIII" will not be completely clarified in this essay until Chapter
4: The Influence of Pacem in Terris.
28. See Abbott [1966], p. 705. Pope John's pastoral evaluation of the Church's Post-
Tridentine development is reasonably accurate on agio bal scale if one employs purely
institutional criteria. See Durant [1968), pp. 23-24. Under the surface, however, a
complex intellectual problem with serious pastoral implications was festering, and no
adequate institutional means had been developed to process these difficulties in a
constructive way. By recasting Pope John's pastoral concerns as theological concerns
according to the paradigm set by Trent and Vatican I the Roman Curia provided an
opening whereby Vatican II became a battleground between the three major intel-
lectual camps of Catholic theologians. These alignments were: (1) the neoscholasticism
inspired by Leo XIII and favored by the Roman Curia; (2) Transcendental Thomism
as developed in Northern Europe and best represented by such theologians as Rahner
and Lonergan; and (3) historical theology represented mainly by scripture scholars and
the Tiibingen faculty of theology. The Transcendental Thomists and historical theo-
logians are all familiar with phenomenological method (especially as used by Heidegger)
and employ it in various ways. For the historical background of the Neo-Thomistic pro-
gram see McCool [1977), esp. pp. 241-267. The central issue at the heart of this
theological controversy is the legitimate nature and scope of theological (and ethical)
pluralism in the Catholic Church. As this essay later hopes to show, the pastoral style
of religious reflection used at Vatican II bypassed this theoretical issue entirely!
29. See Latin Text [1960-1961).
30. If we are to believe Gorresio [1970), pp. 255-256, Pope John assigned his secretary,
Loris Capovilla, the task of making a large number of telephone calls to bishops ar-
riving in Rome for the opening of the Council. The purpose of these calls was to
inform the bishops about the Pope's true feelings regarding the way the Roman Curia
had prepared for the Council.
31. The text of this broadcast may be found in Anderson [1965-1966), Vo!'l, pp. 18-
21. The translation is not a good one, but the substance of the pope's social concerns
is clear. One of the first to appreciate the significance of this broadcast was Bea [1967) ,
p. 4. For a belated recognition of the importance of this broadcast see Cox [1984),
pp.110-111.
32. See Abbott [1966], pp. 3-7, esp. "Two Issues of Special Urgency Confront Us,"
pp.5-6.
33. See Abbott [1966], p. 712. By 1977, however, Paul VI was sounding very much like
a "prophet of gloom." See Nichols [1981] ,p. 5l.
34. See Abbott [1966], p. 712.
35. See Abbott [1966], pp. 712-713. See also Footnote 37, infra.
36. See Cousins [1972] .
37. This interpretation of Pope John's spiritual discernment process is shaped by ideas
and valuejudgments made explicit only later in Pacem in Terris. See Carlen [1981],
Vol. 5, pp. 107-129. This is in accord with our purpose of writing an intentional
history of Pope John's conceptual development.
38. The sense of "non-technical" will go through a gradual change of meaning in this
essay on its way to effectively achieving Husserl's peculiar type of first reduction,
a suspension of science, in order to get insight into the (religious) life-world and its
structures. In the first session of the Council the bishops interpreted John XXIII's
opening speech as an exhortation to avoid the static conceptualism of scholasticism.
See Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 1, pp. 108, 110. This rather wholesale reaction
against (though really not an abandonment of) scholastic intellectualism freed the
bishops from the rigid restrictions of the one "scientific" tradition most of them
shared in common. This attitudinal change, however, necessitated more reliance on
their personal experiential sense of their Catholic identity and on their "connatural
knowledge" for prudential judgments regarding faith, morals and pastoral decisions.
(The fuller implications of this break with their scholastic foundations will be taken
up in the next chapter when we discuss the bishops' reflective process on the Sacred
Liturgy.) Throughout the Council, however, the bishops had to cope with an on-
going dilemma: Le., the discrepancy between their pastoral intent and their doctrinal
obligations. See Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3, p. 169. In the document on
Revelation (Dei verbum) the bishops' doctrinal reflection came face to face with the
technical problems of historical methodology, which can serve here as an exemplary
case for all the modern positive sciences. This difficulty was resolved by a further
application of a suspension of science (Le., historical science) in order to get needed
insights into the religious life-world and its structures. As a matter of fact, however,
this process was operative throughout the Council, although it only becomes most
apparent with the suspension of the positive sciences in the document on Revelation.
(See Chapter Ten of this essay) Viewing the Council retrospectively, however, the
key to this suspension of the sciences (both positive and philosophical) may be found
in the centrality of the concept of mysterium (sacramentum), which is at the heart
of the major conciliar documents on the Liturgy, Church, and Revelation. See
Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 1, pp. 9-13, 111, 139-140; Vol. 3, pp. 171-172;
Vol. 5, pp. 196-197, 220-221. Once it is grasped that the primary (reified) analogue
of mysterium (sacramentum) is the Plan of God (see Vorgrimler [1967 -1969], Vol. 1,
p. 111) and that this Plan is perfectly "hominized" in the Word made flesh, then the
exclusively religious nature of the Council's style of reflection becomes apparent and
manifests the corporate consciousness of the ecclesiallife-world.
39. One needs to be acquainted with scholasticism in its role of juridical interpretation to
appreciate the complexities involved. However, a quick sense of this may be acquired
by glancing at Morrisey [c. 1975] which lists nine types of documents typically issued
by the Holy See. My essay focuses on the religious substance of Vatican II in order
38 CHAPTER 2
to discern later what might be authentic post-conciliar goals and values, particularly
as these may be reflected in the new code of canon law.
40. The challenge of this pastoral artistic enterprise is essentially given in Humanae Salutis.
In this project, however, John XXIII's role approximated that of Husserl in esthetics:
i.e., he laid out the theory of the enterprise, but its implementation was left to others.
For example, John XXIII laid out the ontological relationship of act-object in Humanae
Salutis in its first goal of renewal: to display the efficiency of the supernatural order in
the temporal one. He also endorsed the path of subjectivity in his second goal of renewal:
that this process enable men to discover in themselves their own nature, dignity, and
end. What the Council did for John XXIII, Spiegelberg [1982], pp. 223- 233 suggests
that Roman Ingarden (q.v. in bibliography) did for Husserl. In this context, however,
three other sources may be profitably consulted: O'Meara [1981], Dufrenne [1973],
and Landgrebe [1966], pp. 123-144: "The Philosophic Problem of Art."
41. The writer who displays the best practical grasp of this point is Wojtyla [1980], pp.
201 sq.
42. This topic is more extensively treated in Chapter 4 of this essay.
43. The key philosophical problem which Pope John imposed on the Council in its search
for a more contemporary expression of doctrine is that for almost six hundred years
the understanding of integral doctrine had been formulated in terms of the objectivist
thought-categories of scholasticism. How does one move out of such a realist epistem-
ology without precipitating the Church into absolute relativism?
44. See Abbott [1966] ,pp. 713-714.
45. For one such reaction from a rather mild philosopher see Maritain [1968], pp. 160-
162. For all of his animosity toward the historical aberration of Integralism this did
not prevent him from writing an important book, Humanisme Integral. See Maritain
[1973]. I employ "integralism" much in the same way as Maritain does and with no
connection with the historical fanaticism at the turn of the century.
46. Doctrinal integralism, as employed here, has an intrinsic relationship to the fact and
function of creeds in the history of Christianity. Objectively speaking, creed structures
belief and is indicative of an ontology permeating the vertical and horizontal relation-
ships consequent upon belief. For the essentially credal structure of Vatican II see
Wojtyla [1980], pp. 36-41, 57 et passim. An intriguing phenomenological analysis of
"The Creed as Expression of the Structure of Faith" may be found in Ratzinger
[1969], pp. 56-64.
47. See Abbott [1966], p. 715. The basic thesis of this essay is that the 21st Ecumenical
Council not merely drew upon "the effective and important wealth of juridical, litur-
gical, apostolic and administrative experiences ," but made them the apriori emperical
basis for its phenomenological analysis.
48. See O'Malley (1971), pp. 592-595. O'Malley's historical reductionism is essentially
incapable of grasping the meaning of Vatican II, as his evaluation of the Council as a
"revolution" indicates. See O'Malley [1983] , pp. 393-395.
49. See Abbott [1966], p. 4. "We shall take pains so to present to the men of this age
God's truth in its integrity and purity that they may understand it and gladly assent to
it." (Emphasis added.)
50. See Abbott (1966), p. 715. In this quotation it is quite apparent Pope John is, in
principle, endorsing methodological flexibility on the assumption it will not infringe
on authentic doctrine. Although he does not yet know what that new method will be,
he is entrusting this choice to the prudence and experience of the Council Fathers.
51. By implication this task is undertaken to meet the authentic needs of humanity, not
its myths, preconceptions, assumptions, or wants. One of the notorious weaknesses of
O'Malley [1983], pp. 392-393 is his uncritical acceptance of the new "historical
consciousness." A comparable naive optimism is displayed by Cogley [1968]. For a
more realistic outlook on critical historical method see E. Kasemann's remarks in
Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3, p. 193. In spite of the serene and irenic image pro-
jected by this opening speech John's pastoral intent is, in the reality of things, focused
on the rather grim contemporary "crisis in human beings" described at the beginning
of Humanae Salutis. See Abbott [1966] , pp. 703-704.
52. See Abbott [1966], p. 719. John XXIII's efforts to promote the unity of mankind by
way of Vatican II's religious undertakings have to be read in correlation with an
important socia-political judgment which he expressed in Pacem in Terris:
Today the universal common good presents us with problems which are world-wide
in their dimensions; problems, therefore, which cannot be solved except by a public
authority with power, organization and means co-extensive with these problems, and
with a world-wide sphere of activity. Consequently the moral order itself demands the
establishment of some such general form of public authority.
See Carlen [1981], Vol. 5, #137, p. 122. However, in an address in St. Peter's on
June 3, 1960 - a year and a half before he wrote Humanae Salutis - the Holy Father
developed the same idea out of the religious exigency of Catholicism itself:
[... ] This is now a principle that has entered into the spirit of everyone who belongs
to the Holy Roman Church: that is, to be, and to consider oneself truly to be, by virtue
of being Catholic, a citizen of the whole world, just as Jesus is the adored Saviour of
the whole world: Salvator Mundi. This is a good exercise of true universality, which
every Catholic should take note of and turn into a precept for the guidance of his own
mind, and as a principle for his conduct in religious and social relations.
See Lercaro and De Rosa [1966], p. 119; emphasis added.
53. The implication of "The Bomb" have been reasonably well-handled by Schell [1982].
It is, however, merely the "tip of the iceberg" for today's global problems which in-
volve population growth, ecology, poverty, economics, and a host of other problems.
These have been discussed in such well-known works as Ward [1976], Mische [1977],
and Brown [1981]. The distinctive contribution of John XXIII to the assessment of
these global problems is the recognition that their humane solution could be achieved
only by a moral renewal of mankind and the restoration of the natural and human
order which he made the central focus of Pacem in Terris. See Carlen [1981] , Vol. 5,
#167-168, p. 126.
54. Reasonable query regarding the utopianism of John XXIII's religious renewal has
surfaced in Lercaro and De Rosa [1966], p. 25 and Zizola [1978], esp. pp. 363-370.
For a balanced Catholic appraisal of this in the post conciliar era see Gremillion [1976] ,
#37, p. 502 and # 138-139, p. 555. The "new realism" of Christian morality in con-
trast to the "crackpot realism" of self-centered materialism is discussed in Schumacher
[1973] , pp. 293-297. Schumacher is a significant modern example of a man who over
a lifetime grew into the spiritual and pastoral sense of Vatican II without ever realizing
it. His life may be found in Wood [1984].
55. See Cox [1984], pp. 138-145, 159-169.
41
CHAPTER 3
THE DEVELOPING CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE BISHOPS IN COUNCIL
As is well known, on October 13th, two days after John's opening speech, the
majority of the bishops by an adroit parliamentary maneuver wrested effective
control of the Council out of the hands of the Roman Curia.! Of necessity the
Curia is a quite internationalminded body when it comes to the flux of human
relationships involved in political diplomacy and the tactics of survival in a
secular, if not hostile, world. For the pastoral thrust of the Council to have
fallen into the hands of men preoccupied with local needs and the decentraliz-
ation of authority implied by collegiality and subsidiarity need not be viewed
as any great leap forward to "that unity of mankind," requested by John XXIII?
The bishops did, however, understand and endorse the ideal of renewal which
the pope presented to them in his opening speech. It should come as no surprise
that they initially appropriated it in the narrowly religious, abstract, and ahis-
torical way in which he presented it. By "ahistorical" I mean divorced from
contemporary, secular global history. In such a context Vatican II suffered an
overload of religious history: Le., two thousand years of a developing historical
consciousness, the strains of critical historical method, and the internal parochial
concerns of Northern European pastors and theologians since the turn of the
century.3
Religious over -focus in need of redemption
Since the reign of st. Pope Pius X no pastoral topic in the Church has received
more professional and religious attention than that of the Liturgy.4 Somewhat
naturally, then, the bishops placed this topic first on the agenda of the Council.
While dealing with this exclusively Catholic and very spiritual subject-matter,
some of their religious over-focus managed to find its way into the opening
paragraph of the document on the Liturgy:
It is the goal of this most sacred Council to intensify the daily growth
of Catholics in Christian living; to make more responsive to the require-
ments of our times those Church observances which are open to adap-
tation; to nurture whatever can contribute to the unity of all who believe
in Christ; and to strengthen those aspects of the Church which can help
42 CHAPTER 3
summon all of mankind into her embrace. Hence, the Council has special
reasons for judging it a duty to provide for the renewal and fostering of
the liturgy.s
This goal-statement, formulated in the abstract as a spiritual and human

enrichment program for the faithful, cannot be faulted as a theoretical religious
statement. But it lacks any sense of urgency or special pertinence to our critical
era. The values expressed are more typically those of the priest and the levite
rather than those of the Good Samaritan. (Cf. Lk. 10:31-32) Near the end of
the Council an attempt to reintroduce the topic of the liturgy into "The Church
in the Modern World" failed; had this move succeeded, perhaps the above-
mentioned imbalance might have been rectified. In the structural logic of the
Council, as this essay later hopes to make clear, the Constitution on the Liturgy
is one of the documents which should have been formulated near the end.
Instead, it became the consensus-formation vehicle of the bishops as they
moved toward the mature methodology which would ultimately shape the
Council's thought. The above goal-formulation does, however, have a saving
grace. Any religious reflection intent on the authentic values modeled by the
life of Christ has a built-in exigency, or "dialectic of return," to be incarnated
in the realities of human existence. Just what those realities are in today's
world would constitute, as the Council progressed, the supreme challenge for
the bishops' spiritual discernment and growth in consciousness. 6 Once we
appreciate this point, then the conciliar style of reflection - so akin to con-
templation in its "over-spiritualized" tendencies - starts to assume an under-
standable pattern.
From the ahistorical to anamnesis
The above style of reflection can not only abstract from contemporary history,
but also from past history as we commonly view it. 7 Any profound religious
reflection has this tendency to abandon, or at least suspend, profane time for
a much more exalted view of the historical process. This tendency was not
immediately apparent during the first session, but Oscar Cullmann, a Protestant
observer, noticed one of its more obvious side-effects during the second session. 8
Anyone familiar with modern critical historical method would be prone to
notice this anomaly in the conciliar style of reflection. What seems to be a
somewhat less-than-careful use of historical source material need not be a
necessary adjunct to the formulation of conciliar thought. However, care for the
historical accuracy of religious source materials is really a specialized discipline
DEVELOPING CONSCIOUSNESS 43
distinct from the analytical and genetic style of reflection employed by Vatican
II. (What is under development here is a rerun of the Husserl-Dilthey controversy.)
Cullmann, a renowned scripture scholar, is high in his praise of how the liturgy
document draws its inspiration from biblical sources. 9 But what is his surprise
when the De Ecclesia document seems to be a tissue of proof texts "added as
after-thoughts in order to establish a rather exterior relation between a pre-
fabricated schema and the bible."l0 Evidently a new dimension of the conciliar
style of reflection is now manifesting itself here, and Cullmann with a scholar's
preoccupation with technical, historical methodology seems to be missing the
important transformation which has taken place. The pastoral reflective process,
grounded as it may be in an ancient historical experience, now seems to rise
superior to the primitive empirical data as critically retrieved, uses it largely
as a supplementary adjunct, and factually dominates it for larger religious pur-
poses. Somehow the reflective process has metamorphosed into a transhistorical
one!
This bishops' extended reflection on the liturgical constitution must have
been a quite liberating experience for the vast majority of them. As they groped
for a "doctrinal penetration and a formation of consciousness" adequate to
their pastoral concerns, they entered the world of Christ's Paschal Mystery
Le., they returned to the primordial ontology at the heart of the Church's
historical consciousness.u This is the realm of Sacramental Time, where past,
present, and future fuse into an "eternal now." Here profane chronological
time has no meaning except in terms of the economy of salvation, God's Plan
hidden from all eternity. (Cr. Eph. 3:5-11) This is the realm of the primordial
"salvation history" whose successive events are intelligible only as orchestrated
by messianism, redemption, and eschatology.12 One enters this world not by
subjective memory or by merely recalling it psychologically, but by way of
anamnesis. 13 This means that by way of Word, Sacrament, and Prayer the
conciliar effort at pastoral reflection was transformed gradually into an "ob-
jective memorial directed Godward, releasing Christ's personality and power
afresh."14 Implied in the very process is "an experience of a fellowship with
Christ" in his eternal Paschal Mystery.1S Such an experiential awareness is
something distinctively and exclusively characteristic of the religious life-world
of Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Since at this point the bishops are now
judging things primarily on the basis of their connatural knowledge as holy
people and mystics do, they are formulating an Erlebnis theology of the Church
(Le., an experiential theology with strong conceptual overtones),16 rather than
one with a non-cognitive tonality and more properly to be called existential. 17
It may be called an "existential" theology, if by that we mean the type of
reflection whereby we commit ourselves to a certain interpretation of the
44 CHAPTER 3
"sense" of experience as it presents itself to US. 18 As a corporate group, then,

the bishops are, in effect, composing their own and the modern Church's Journal
of a Soul. 19 From this point on at least, pastoral reflection at the Council is
quite evidently a loving celebration of Christ's living presence in the Church.
Pastoral reflection and theological safeguards
In spite of Cullmann's warranted technical observations we must not rashly

conclude that the bishops' handling of the sacred scripture was either casual
or non-theological. A legion of professional theologians was on hand to prevent
that, and I will discuss the technicalities of this issue in Chapter Ten dealing with
the document on Revelation. The point is that the bishops were not intent on
analysing the contents of the bible as critically retrieved by historical method,
but on analysing the contents of their own Christian experience. Their critical,
historical accuracy here somewhat resembles a fond husband's recall of his
wife's old love letters. As mentioned in the last chapter, the bishops were doing
in a careful and prayerful way what the apostles did after Pentecost: recalling
their personal memories of fellowship with Christ, organizing them in a pastoral
way to preach the Good News, and thus serve the needs of the faithful. By doing
this in a corporate and collaborative way the bishops were manifesting the
historical consciousness of the modern Church, today's memory of the Risen
Christ vitally alive in the midst of humanity. As a living memory this is ordered,
proportioned, integrated, and three-dimensional. Karl Pribram would des-
cribe it as a "holographic memory."20 As a healthy memory, there is operative
in it a certain homeostasis, or vital balance: 21 formally, th~t would be the Holy
Spirit (cL In. 14:25 sq.) and, materially, the resulting religious ontology, the
teleological-histOrical coherence, which his influence structures and maintains. 22
The operative axiom throughout this whole reflective process is that of doctrinal
integralism.
The pastoral reflective process and phenomenology
The pastoral reflective process,just discussed, at this stage shows some interesting
similarities to phenomenology and some differences. The similarities: (I) The
bishops, as an intersubjective community, are reflecting on their corporate
life-world. (2) They are applying Husserl's "Back to the things themselves," and
not the- technical resourcement of the theologians with its heavy reliance on
critical historical method. (3) The objects, derived from a religious faith, have
phenomenological legitimacy even though belief about their reality in the ex-
ternal, material order has been suspended. 23 (4) The purpose of the reflection
is not scientific clarification for its own sake (e.g., early Husserl) but renewal
(e.g., later Husser!). (5) This life-world is permeated with a universal teleology?4
(6) A complex christocentric (Le., hominized) type of intentionality seems to be
operative on three levels: Le., toward the Glorified Christ, towards human
dispositions/acts with an obediential potency to mirror Christ, and toward signs/
symbols apt to correlate dimensions of Christ to human beings. (It is in this last
area, as part of structuring a communication process, that the Council will
achieve one of its most creative breakthroughs.)25 The differences: (1) Since the
technical thematization of the bishops' reflections is done by the theological
commissions of the Council, all descriptive and analytical techniques are used
in a corporate way, rather than as typically used by individual phenomen-
010gists. 26 (2) An analogous concept of being is operative, rather than the
univocal one customarily understood by phenomenologists. 27 (3) The religious
ontology of the Council involves a hermeneutics of temporality and historicity
differing from that of most philosophical phenomenologists. (4) The affectivity
of connatural knowledge has an important role in shaping the mode of phenom-
enological constitution?8 This quick sketch has been offered here for two
reasons. First, to sensitize the reader to the somewhat natural alignment in-
herent in the phenomenological style of reflection and that employed by the
Council. Secondly, to suggest to professional phenomenologists that Vatican II
may offer some new horizons for their methodological considerations.
Of all the points mentioned above, the role of a religious ontology as the
stable backdrop for pastoral reflection at the Council needs the most emphasis.
Unlike Heidegger or Merleau-Ponty the bishops were not searching for an on-
tology;29 they were searching for ways of making it practically effective in the
modern world. On one occasion, however, their flexibility of expression seemed
to compromise an aspect of this ontology. This occurred on November 14,
1964, when Paul VI felt obliged to demand an "authentic" (Le., technically
correct) interpretation be given specific points in Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church) before its final vote by the bishops?O The fol-
lowing principle was at stake: "Without hierarchical communion, the sacramental-
ontological office [of a bishop], as distinct from its canonical-juridical aspect,
cannot be exercised.'>3i This is not the only time Paul VI displayed his solicitude
in this regard. When a significant number of the bishops at the Council seemed
intent on demanding a technical review of the birth-control issue, Paul VI
withdrew the topic from the essentially pastoral agenda and gave it to a special
commission for technical review. 32 Lastly, on June 30,1968, he promulgated
the Credo of the People of God at the solemn closing of the Year of Faith. 33
46 CHAPTER 3
In this way he was trying to lace the Council's "new" description of the Church
into the ancient credal (ontological) tradition of Christianity. The common
denominator rendering all these actions of the pope intelligible is his solicitude
for doctrinal integralism: Le., the religious ontology or coherent intellectual
system ordering Catholic religious truths and values. 34
The ongoing development of the Council's methodology
Within such a clearly defined context and within the religio-social scope of its
reflection Vatican II provides us with a very fine demonstration-model for a
study in pure methodology. When I say "methodology" here, I am simply ob-
jectifying or reifying the extraordinarily complex, yet controlled, approaches
which the human mind can take to any reality under consideration. By impli-
cation I am also suggesting that the notion of intentionality presented by schol-
astic and phenomenological writers is far more complex than these authors
ordinarily imply. The methodology finally achieved at the Council was elabor-
ated only with great difficulty. Even today it is still poorly understood. Up to
this point we have seen it develop in, at first, an abstract and ahistorical way,
then suddenly metamorphose into a transhistorical style of reflection. We know
from Humanae Salutis, however, that John XXIII originally viewed his pastoral
renewal program within the specific context provided by the modern world's
global crises, although in his opening speech at the Council he, for some reason,
chose not to focus on such problems.
At the present time, consequently, I would like to resume our reflection on
the ongoing development of the Council's methodology since its fully matured
form is not yet apparent. Two important factors, both of Johannine inspiration,
contributed to its completed form. The first was the distinction, ad intra/ad
extra, formulated prior to the Council but not consciously appropriated by the
bishops until toward the end of the first session. The second was, of course, the
great encyclical, Pacem in Terris, issued by John XXIII on April 12,1963. The
discussion of the ad intra/ad extra distinction will round out this chapter, and
Pacem in Te"is will be the topic of the next chapter. In discussing both of these
Johannine influences I intend to treat their sometimes complex historical
background in only a brief way. The burden of such details will be borne by
the footnotes. In following this procedure I hope to be able to focus rather
exclusively on the important contribution these two factors made to the con-
ciliar methodology.
The ad intra/ad extra distinction
In his important radio address of September 11, 1962, John XXIII first em-
ployed the ad intra/ad extra distinction relative to the forthcoming work of the
Counci1. 35 Canon Charles Moeller quotes the pertinent text and lists some of the
topics about which the Holy Father was concerned:
"The Church must be sought as it is both in its internal structure - its

vitality ad intra - in the act of representing, above all to its sons, the
treasures of illuminating faith and of sanctifying grace .... Regarded in
relation to its vitality ad extra, that is to say the Church in face of the
demands and needs of the nations ... feels it must honour its responsi-
bilities by its teaching: sic transire per bona terrena ut non amittamus
aeterna." A list follows of some of the problems which will form the
essentials of Gaudium et Spes [Le., Pastoral Constitution of the Church
in the Modern World]: the fundamental equality of all nations in the
exercise of their rights and duties; defence of the sanctity of marriage;
social responsibility; the underdeveloped countries, where the Church
must show itself to be the Church of all, and especially of the poor;
disorders of social life; the right to religious freedom; peace between
nations. 36
It took a great deal of caucasing by many bishops to get the social dimension
of religion once again to the forefront of conciliar reflection. The intense in-
volvement of the majority of the bishops with such an overtly religious and
parochially practical topic, such as the liturgy, exposed them to falling into an
excessive "spiritualism" typical of such introverted reflection. Not until late
in the first session was there a breakthrough by the more social-minded bishops?7
Here is how Canon Moeller sums up the scene:
On 4 December, [1962], Cardinal Suenens made a speech proposing

to group the schema round two poles: ad intra, ad extra; this won the
approval of the Council fathers. The next day Cardinal Montini emphasized
the bond between Christ and the Church and went on to express his own
agreement with the proposed schema on the Church and the world. On
6 December, Cardinal Lercaro emphatically insisted on the necessity of
speaking about the Church of the poor .38
48 CHAPTER 3
The dialectical implications of this distinction
As presented above, the ad intra/ad extra distinction seems to be simply a handy

way to organize a multitude of ideas swarming around the theme of the Church
both in itself and in the modern world. But there is already operative at the
Council a double dynamic which will breathe life into this distinction and trans-
form it into a spiritual dialectic?9 Any christocentric truth or value of Catholic
doctrine operates in a bipolar field of theocentric and anthropocentric relation-
ships: this is the basis for the biblical commandment of love of God and neigh-
bor. An aspect of this interrelationship was expressed by Montini's emphasis
on Logos immediately correlated by Lercaro's emphasis on Shepherd.40 Both
are biblical themes, and salvation history becomes unintelligible if we omit
God's concern for the anawim.41 From such a "natural" correlation and exigency
derive the two great models of theocentric holiness: Mary (christo centric) and
Martha (anthropocentric). The second dynamic is the pastoral mindset operative
in the majority as local bishops: Le., ponti/ices or "bridge builders" between two
worlds, theologizing either to enrich the lives of their people back home or to
serve their needs.42 In foro concilii populus are episcopi et corde loquitur. This
would especially be the case for bishops being guided by the sensitivity and
affectivity provided by connatural knowledge. Out of this factual confluence
of religious ontology and dialogue, both with their built-in dialectic, there will
arise in the historical consciousness of the bishops their practical sense of com-
munio: Le., a "co-presence" with the living Christ, with their people, and among
themselves. This vital unity of minds and lives may be called "realized" inter-
subjectivity. On this foundation there will follow a further outreach to other
Christians and humanity as a whole.
Summary
This chapter has reviewed the ongoing development of the bishops' reflective
process at the Council. In the beginning it seemed quite over-focused on spiritual
matters. With time this mode of reflection became transhistorical, involving
anamnesis and a different outlook on temporality as commonly understood by
men today. As radicated in such a transcendent religious life-world, the end-
product of such reflection might better be called an Erlebnis theology rather
than an existential one. Professional theologians at the Council kept this theology
from wandering beyond the confines of academic responsibility, and after he
became pope, Paul VI was vigilant about its ontological moorings. Although
the reflective process had not yet reached its full maturity, we pointed out
its similarities and differences with phenomenological methodology at this

stage of our discussion.
After mentioning that Vatican II provides a good demonstration-model for
a study of pure methodology, we introduced the next important development
in the conciliar mode of religious reflection: i.e., the ad intra/ad extra distinction.
Although originally introduced merely as a convenient cataloguing device, we
began to appreciate its potential as an ongoing dialectic recapitulating all the
dynamic intellectual forces operative at the Council.
The next chapter will deal with the impact of Pacem in Terris on the con-
tinuing development of the Council's method of religious reflection.
NOTES
1. See Wiltgen [1978), pp. 15-19. For a very perceptive socio-<:ultural analysis corre-
lating this Vatican II "revolt" against the curial power structure with the Berkeley
student riots see Drucker [1971), pp. 101-102.
2. For some sound observations on this point from the theological view of communio
see Kress [1967), p.123: "Sacrament ofCommunio."
3. At this early stage of the Council it is quite evident that the intellectual leadership
is dominated by bishops and theologians from what is called the "European Alliance."
See Wiltgen [1978), pp. 15-19,65,80 et passim. The most respectable formulation
of this mind set of which I would be aware is Walgrave [1972), pp. 13-16. Some sort
of organized opposition to this dominance did not develop until the third session
(1964). See Wiltgen [1978), pp. 148-150. My negative remarks here should be inter-
preted within the context of the early stage of the Council. As this essay continues,
the reader will have an opportunity to study the growth in consciousness which all the
bishops underwent in the course of the Council.
4. For a compact history of liturgical reflection since the turn of the century see J.A.
Jungmann, "Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy" in Vorgrimler [1967-1969), Vol. 1,
pp. 1-8. The historical context in which the modem liturgical movement began and
its search for adequate principles of renewal are well handled in Franklin [1975),
[1976), [1917], [1979]. Some of the complex involvements of the twentieth-century
movement may be found in Quitslund [1973].
5. See Abbott [1966], #1, p. 137. Jungmann's commentary on articles 1-2 of this con-
stitution in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 1, pp. 8-9, briefly presents a balanced
interpretation of this text as understood at that time. Although the constitution on
the liturgy was composed prior to Lumen Gentium and Dei verbum, it must be inter-
preted within their larger doctrinal framework and phenomenological structure.
Assuming, for a moment, that all of Vatican II's documents can be integrated into a
coherent religious paradigm, there is a larger background problem which we must
never forget: How does this structuring of religious truths relate to the ultimate prac-
tical goal of the Council which John XXIII formulated in Humanae Salutis?
6. This topic has been well handled by Canon Charles Moeller in Vorgrimler [1967-
1969], Vol. 5, esp. pp. 8-12. Mumion [1984) manifests a maturing consciousness
50 CHAPTER 3
in the U.S. regarding the relationship between the problems of today's world and
liturgy.
7. From a phenomenological (and retrospective) point of view this is the first manifest
example at the Council of the suspension of a "science" (Le., modern historiography).
The reduction of scholastic methodology, alluded to the previous chapter, might
be more properly classified as a philosophical reduction, if only on the basis of the
pre scientific origins of scholasticism. One of the reasons this "first reduction" largely
went unnoticed during the early stages of the Council was due to a widespread academic
assumption: so much historical study had been done in the field of liturgy that the
conciliar reflections were interpreted as the direct outgrowth of that historical research.
The living consciousness of the Church, however, transcends its empirical historical
antecedents. Vatican II was not an academic but a pastoral council. The bishops there
were intent on the transcendent realities symbolized by the liturgical phenomena,
and they were operating out of a mindset which in America we would tend to des-
cribe as "symbolic realism." In this outlook there are - in addition to the "objective
symbols" of the empirical sciences - another whole category of "nonobjective symbols":
Le., symbols
that express the feelings, values, and hopes of subjects, or that organize and regulate the
flow of interaction between subjects and objects, or that attempt to sum up the whole
subject-object complex or even point to the context or ground of that whole. These
symbols, too, express reality and are not reducible to empirical propositions.
See Robert N. Bellah, "Between Religion and Social Science" in Caporale and Grumelli
[1971], p. 288. Access to this religious level of reality is not available by way either of
subjective or objective "scientific" knowledge. One enters this primordial religious
world only by assuming a distinctively different time-consciousness with its accom-
panying attitudinal stance known as anamnesis. Further attention will be given to each
of these ideas as they appear in the course of this chapter.
8. See Cullmann [1964].
9. See Cullmann [1964], p. 249. Cullmann belongs to the tradition of "historical realism."
See Robert N. Bellah in Caporale and Grumelli [1971], p. 282. This historicist mindset
is basically a form of psychological reductionism.
10. See Cullmann [1964], p. 249. It goes without saying that because of the extreme im-
portance of the De Ecc1esia document (i.e., Lumen Gentium) to the central ideas of
the Second Vatican Council, far more care was exercised on its use of scripture than
ever given to the document on the Liturgy.
11. In Vatican II's Constitution on the Liturgy the Paschal Mystery (i.e., the Glorified
Christ, liturgically viewed as vitally operative under the threefold dimension of his
death, resurrection, and ascension) is treated in relationship to: (a) the history of
salvation (Le., God's Plan), #5; (b) the celebration of liturgy, #6; (c) sacraments and
sacramentals, #61; and (d) the celebration of the saints, #104. See Abbott [1966],
pp. 139-140, 158,168. "For it is through the liturgy, especially the divine Eucharistic
Sacrifice, that 'the work of our redemption is exercised'." See Abbott [1966], #2,
p. 137, emphasis added.
12. On Sacramental Time-Consciousness see Excursus II.
13. On "anamnesis" see Excursus II.
14. See Brunner [1967], p. 476. On "The Communion of Life" see Excursus II.
DEVEWPING CONSCIOUSNESS 51
15. See Brunner (1967),p.476.

16. Erlebnis ("experience") is a word with rich historical connotations, especially since the
period of the German Romantic Enlightenment. In the context of the social history of
ideas Peter Gay remarks: "The Germans, noting the intimate relation of experience
to poetry in Goethe, called him their Erlebnisdichter. Voltaire was an Erlebnispolitiker. "
Gay (1954), p. 60. In this same sense Pope John XXIII was an Erlebnistheolog. How
the historical reflection of German Romanticism influenced thinking on the nature of
the Church has been well-treated by O'Meara (1982). This strain of erlebnis-thinking
derived from Schelling, whereas by mid-twentieth-century Husserl had opened a whole
new development radicated in Erlebnisse (concrete experiences). See Carr (1974),
p. 8 sq. How this style of thinking infiltrated into Vatican II may be found in Excursus
III. Unlike the Schelling-Husserl genesis of erlebnis-thinking, Vatican II is not the
product of anyone great thinker, but an expression of the corporate experience of
the bishops. In the collision at Vatican II of scholasticism, historical experientialism
(as described above), and phenomenology only the strong ontological convictions
of Catholic thought could have held such disparate tendencies in any collaborative
working-order. The burden of this task, both during and after the Council, fell most
heavily on the shoulders of Paul VI, as this book hopes to make clear.
17. The Sartrean type of existentialism would be the primary example of this non-cognitive
tendency, but the issue is much broader than Sartre. See Barrett (1962), Mounier
(1948), pp. 23-24, and Rieff (1966), esp. p. 9. One of the most concise differ-
entiations between existentialism and phenomenology is that provided by Gary B.
Madison in Elliston and McCormick (1977), p. 257:
What the "existentialist" experiences in wonder is the fact of the world's being, the
world's facticity, and he experiences this fact as something fundamentally opaque. For
Husserl, however, as for rationalism in general, the fact is essentially transparent; the
fact is but an instance, an exemplification of a universal law or essence which is the
task of reason to uncover and lay bare. It is impossible for a rationalist, for one looking
for the essence or nature of something, ever to fully recognize what an "existentialist"
calls the "facticity of the fact," for to do so would require abandoning the goal of
science, which can exist only so long as one presupposes the intelligibility, the "essen-
tiality," of what-is. Husserl thus naturally maintains that "all the rationality of the fact
lies, after all, in the apriori." He says: '''Fact; with its 'irrationality; is itself a struc-
tural concept within the system of the concrete apriori." Or, as Berger said in his
exposition of Husserl's philosophy: "Fact in its very opacity and in its historicity is
still - just like nothingness or the absurd - a constituted reality." And even more
concisely: "There is no radical uninte11igible."
18-. See Mounier (1948), pp. 55-60: "The Concept of Personal Conversion."
19. See John XXIII (1965). The type of religious journal reflected by the major docu-
ments of Vatican II seems to be a quite sophisticated one. For example, the fact that
the bishops' experiential sense of communio at the Council fust grew out of their
shared reflection on liturgical symbolism and its inherent telos to shape the ecclesial
community raises a number of important points which may be clarified only as this
essay develops. (1) The bishops' reflection on traditional religious symbolism (i.e., both
as word and sacrament) may be the most decisive factor shaping the development of
conciliar thought and provide a pastorally oriented topology of the corporate Catholic
consciousness. (2) In such an essentially contemplative process modern advances in
52 CHAPTER 3
academic theology or historical research would have only an extrinsic, ministerial role
in safeguarding the process from error. (3) This topology, as shaped by pastoral pur-
poses, would be a functional one, but developed out of the primordial ontology
structuring the life-world of the Church. (4) The topological changes in the corporate
consciousness of the Church, as endorsed at Vatican II, seem to provide the elements
for constructing a field theory of the ecclesial consciousness. (5) This field theory
would deal with two complimentary dimensions of the Church's consciousness: ad
intra, the inherently religious noetic field, and ad extra, the social field. (6) The cor-
porate religious consciousness, viewed ad intra, is really a bipolar field with a subjective
pole (Lumen Gentium) and an objective pole (Dei Verbum). (7) In the ad extra, social
field the Roman Catholic Church as a corporate entity has a missionary telos which
orients her to be a religious ecumene transcending the limited social fields of con-
sciousness associated with culturally or otherwise restricted local churches. For collateral
reading see Voegelin [1978], pp. 200-205, and Caporale and Grumelli [1971],
pp.286-295.
20. See Pribram and Goleman [1979).
21. The concept of homeostasis, originally developed by Claude Bernard as a physiological
idea, was popularized in America by Cannon [1932). The concept has since been
constructively applied in psychology. See index references in Menninger [1963) and
Frankl [1967). The concept is anything but a static one, and in this book should be
viewed as a preliminary step in introducing the isomorphic character of human con-
sciousness.
22. The role of the Holy Spirit is well-known in Catholic theology and was obviously
part of the thinking at Vatican II. See index references in Wojtyla [1980). For the
humanistic appreciation of the role of Christ's Spirit and contemporary reality see
Royce [1968). This latter work should be read in relationship to the pastoral goals
set by Pope John XXIII for Vatican II.
23. "Phenomena are objects of intentional acts. 'Objects' here are not taken as real entities
or events; they are whatever present themselves by way of the acts of perception."
See Natanson [1973a) , p. 13.
24. See E. Husser!, "Universal Teleology," in McCormick and Elliston (1981), pp. 335-
337.
25. This essay will discuss this point more extensively in Chapter 8: "The New Ecclesial
Hermeneutics."
26. Whether the vast majority of the bishops were aware that the phenomenological
method was being employed at the Council is a debateable issue. They knew they
were employing a descriptive method avoiding, for the most part, the technical intel-
lectualism associated with scholasticism. They also knew that this descriptive data was
being redacted in a competent fashion by highly skilled bishops (e.g., Bea, Montini,
Wojtyla, etc.) and theologians (e.g., Rahner, Congar, de Lubac, etc.), who also con-
ducted informative seminars and discussion.groups to keep the bishops abreast of what
was going on. It is somewhat difficult to believe that this phenomenological style of
reflection was not public knowledge. While the fact may have been known and taken
for granted, there is little indication that the vast majority of the bishops had any
real appreciation of the practical implications of this new style of theologizing. It goes
without saying, of course, that the redaction of the commissions is done in a way that
does not seriously contravene or undercut the traditional scholastic formularies of
previous Councils. This had to be, since - as in all previous Councils - much of the
discussion at Vatican II was focused on consensus-building among the bishops. See
Ratzinger's observations in Vorgrimler [1967-1969), Vol. III, pp. 159-164. Late in

the Council, however, when the bishops dealt with the Church in the Modern World
(Gaudium et Spes), it was fairly general knowledge that phenomenology had shaped
its formulation of ideas. See Miller (1966), p. 429. Some of this development should
be more understandable after the next chapter dealing with Pacem in Terris.
27. Inasmuch as philosophical phenomenology focuses on human consciousness, or human
being, its understanding of being is typically univocal, whereas in Catholic theology
which deals with the correlation of the natural and supernatural orders the notion is
typically analogous.
28. Although Vatican II has a rich conceptual content, the selection and orchestration of
this content are shaped by the broad pastoral needs of the Church as appreciated by
the bishops. Such pastoral needs, in turn, strongly influenced the affective and volitional
basis on which the bishops connatural knowledge was operative.
29. See Spiegelberg (1982), pp. 401-407, 574-580.
30. See Ratzinger, "Announcements and Prefatory Notes of Explanation" in Vorgrimler
[1967-1969), Vol. I, pp. 297-305.
31. See Abbott (1966), p. 101. For this "ontological" view as applied to the whole
Church see John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis, #87 in Carlen (1981) , Vol. 5, p. 268.
32. See Paul VI, "The Year Behind and the Year Ahead." (June 23, 1964) The Pope
Speaks 9:4 (Spring-Summer, 1964), esp. pp. 355-356. See also Paul VI, "The Genesis
of 'Humanae Vitae'." The Pope Speaks 13:3 (Summer-Autumn, 1968) 206-210.
33. See Paul VI, "The Credo of the People of God." The Pope Speaks 13:3 (Summer-
Autumn, 1968) 273-282.
34. It is readily admitted that Pope Paul VI worked out of a strongly objectivist mindset.
This topic will be discussed at some length early in Chapter 5 of this essay.
35. The ad intra/ad extra distinction was originally formulated by Cardinal Suenens in
1956 in a book later published in English as The Gospel to Every Creature. Preface
by Cardinal Montini. Westminster: Newman Press, 1965, p. 4. For the further history
of how the ideas of Cardinal Suenens and his distinction found their way into the
September 11, 1962, radio broadcast of John XXIII see Charles Moeller's brief history
in Vorgrimler [1967-1969), Vol. V, p. 8. The English translation made available
at the time of the broadcast is not clear in its translation of the ad intra/ad extra
distinction. See Anderson [1965 -1966), Vol. 1, p. 19. The same translation appeared
in The Irish Ecclesiastical Record 98 (Oct., 1962) 149-155. Hence, the need to quote
from Canon Moeller's clearer text.
36. See Vorgrimler [1967 -1969) , Vol. 5, p. 8. Pope John XXIII, as we may recall, spoke
glowingly of the "Present Vitality of the Church" in Humanae Salutis. See Abbott
(1966), pp. 704-705. In the same apostolic constitution, however, the pastoral
challenge was to display the efficiency of this vitality ad extra in the temporal order.
See Abbott (1966), p. 706. How all these ideas factually coalesced in the first session
of the Council to become a working unity may be found in Gerard Philips' History of
the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. See Vorgrimler [1967-1969), Vol. 1,
esp. pp. 107-110. The first draft of the document on the Church was characterized
by a certain "scientific reductionism" because it was formulated within the strictures
of scholastic theology and the then.existent canonical mindset. See Bouyer (1982),
pp. 164-166. The bishops, however, wanted the document to be more expressive of
the spirit of the bible and the early Church Fathers. Worthy as this new move may
have been, it too had its danger of falling into an "historical reductionism," such as
54 CHAPTER 3
might have pleased Cullmann's tastes. As this essay hopes to show, the technique of
the "scientific reduction" was employed at the Council to avoid both pitfalls.
37. See Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 5, pp. 10-11.
38. See Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 5, p. 11. The three speeches may be found in
Latin Texts [1970-1980], Vol. 1, pars iv, pp. 222-227 (Suenens), pp. 291-294
(Montini), and pp. 327--330 (Lercaro). While these three speeches did much to focus
the Council's train of thought, they did not immediately resolve the theoretical and
pastoral issues under discussion. For the general contours of the debate see Vorgrimler
[1967-1969], Vol. 1, pp. 107-110. It may be noted, however, that the pastoral
challenge of Pope John XXIII is voiced in a somewhat modified way by Cardinal
Lercaro. He views the mission of the modern Church, its sanctifying role and the
magisterium, in terms of a three-fold presence of Christ in the poor, in the eucharist,
and in the hierarchy. As a precondition for authentic renewal the Council must formu-
late a tripodal ontological connection between these dynamic realities in order to
present a unified presence of Christ in the historical actualities of modern human
existence. This style of thinking, admirable as it may be, never developed beyond
doctrinal penetration and kerygma. To this extent, Vatican II simply refined the
strategic vision of John XXIII by way of further religious conceptualization and a
preliminary statement of new apostolic directions. Much of the purpose of this essay
is to clarify the fuller meanings of such ideas; possibly such spadework will be ground-
breaking for some thought about a much-needed pastoral management theory.
39. See Excursus III: Concrete Human Relationships and Cardinal Suenens.
40. The bipolar dialectic inherent in this Logos-Shepherd complementarity left a distinc-
tive stamp on the Conciliar style of reflection. In what amounts to a description (in
religious terms) of' the objectives of phenomenological method Ratzinger remarks
in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vo!.l, p. 299:
[... ] The Council has laid down no new dogma on any subject. But this does not
mean that all the Council says is mere edification, binding no one. Its texts, according
to their literary form, have serious claims upon the conscience of Catholics; their
pastoral dispositions are based on doctrine, and their doctrinal passages are suffused
in concern for men and for a Christianity of flesh and blood in the world of today.
The Council is "pastoral" in its fusion of truth and love, "doctrine" and pastoral
solicitude: it wished to reach beyond the dichotomy between pragmatism and doc-
trinalism, back to the biblical unity in which practice and doctrine are one, a unity
grounded in Christ, who is both Logos and the Shepherd: as the Logos he is our
Shepherd, and as our Shepherd he is the Logos. [Emphasis added.]
41. The term is customarily translated as "The Poor of Yahweh." See "Poor" in Leon-
Dufour (1973), pp. 436-438.
42. No one has incorporated this sense of doctrinal penetration and kerygma into his
integral understanding of the Council better than Wojtyla [1980], pp. 15-18.
55
CHAPTER 4
THE INFLUENCE OF PACEM IN TERRIS
The next great methodological influence on Vatican II after the ad intra/ad

extra distinction was the encyclical, Pacem in Terris. 1 As mentioned previously,
this was occasioned by the Cuban missile crisis, and the encyclical was issued
between the first and second sessions of the Council. As his last great legacy to
the Church, the pope returned to the problem of world peace which had been
a major concern of his in both Humanae Salutis and the radio broadcast of
September 11, 1962. Almost immediately this encyclical stirred up a good deal
of positive public opinion on both sides of the Iron Curtain? Two years later
world opinion was brought to a focus at the United Nations where a "Sym-
posium of world problems of peace in the light of the teaching of John XXIII
in the Encyclical Pacem in Terris" was held, February 17-20, 1965. To my
knowledge, the best commentary on this encyclical was issued on its tenth
anniversary (April 11, 1973) by Cardinal Maurice Roy.3 I have no intention
here of repeating the observations of this very careful study. My purpose is far
more limited: simply to nuance some of the cardinal's insights into the pope's
unique methodology which has proven the most creative and lasting impact of
the encyclical.
John XXIII's methodology and focus
In introducing John's methodology in its totality Cardinal Roy zeroes in on its

pastoral originality as a comparative method correlating the spiritual and the
empirica1.4 As in quantum physics, John's methodology and the workings of the
larger religious ontology shaping his outlook are largely incomprehensible unless
we recognize at work an important Principle of Complementarity.s In his en-
cyclical John dealt with certain broad themes: nature, order, the interrelation-
ship between truth, justice, love, and freedom, the role of the historical process,
and the signs of the times. Included under one or another of these themes would
be such important issue as: faith, reason and human nature; the dignity of man
and universal human rights; God's eternal law and natural law; the connection
between peace and development; and the convergence of global consensus and
collective convictions. John's comparative method, accordingly,
56 CHAPTER 4
brings these relevant events - or these well-established invariables - face

to face with Christian Revelation and the doctrinal tradition or teaching of
the Church. And it seeks to find, under the surface of the collective
phenomena observed, a certain searching for God. 6
The phrase, "a certain searching for God," is the key to understanding John's
methodology in its integrity. None of the themes or issues, mentioned above,
"searches for God," only men do. This is not a precious distinction, but one
essential to comprehend what John is looking at and looking for. All of the
themes and issues, mentioned above, represent the mind's tendency to reify
or objectify what are really symptoms, or indirect indicators, of the human.
When Konrad Lorenz studies a nest, for example, this purely instinctual product
becomes intelligible only to the extent it tells him something about its maker,
the bird, which is the direct object of his observation. So, too, with John XXIII,
except that his religious vision focuses on two correlated objects. The first is
the Logos-Christ, the Everlasting Man. The second is human beings created
ontologically in the image of God and who are in the Second Creation, or
redemption, once again restored to this ontological order as more precisely
and concretely set by the Divine Paradigm of the Integrated Man, Christ the
New Adam. 7 Social systems, laws, ideologies, customs, products of technology
and art can only be indirect indicators of what is going on in human minds,
hearts and attitudes. s The same thing must also be said for the "signs of the
times," as indirect indicators of the human. 9 Human thoughts, actions, and
attitudes as correlating in one or another degree with the dispositions of Christ
are the proper object of the Holy Father's analysis. In such an analysis, we must
again emphasize, connatural knowledge plays a major role in the discernment
process.
The anthropology of John XXIII
Now Cardinal Roy is perfectly aware of the distinctions I am making, but oc-
casionally his terminology does not make this clear. For example, he categorizes
the encyclical as a "phenomenology of peace."lO Indeed, it is a phenomenology
inasmuch as it is based on empirical data, employs an analytical method, sus-
pends the modern sciences, and arrives at a contemporary expression of eidetic
essences. The encyclical is, however, only indirectly a phenomenology of peace.
Directly it is a phenomenology of the twentieth-century peacemaker, which
sets John's reflections within the biblical context of the Beatitudes (cf. Mt. 5 :9).11
His methodology, furthermore, is not merely analytical, but analytico-genetic
PACEM IN TERRIS 57
as rising to a meaningful, new synthesis of corporate human existence in the

modern world. 12 Historically, this places John's reflections within the context
of the "crisis in human beings." Again, Cardinal Roy is aware of all this, al-
though he prefers to call attention to it by alluding to the encyclical's impact
on Gaudium et Spes, the conciliar document on the Church in the Modern
World:
Gaudium et Spes. It is on Gaudium et Spes that the Encyclical exer-

cised an undeniable influence. This is evident in the chapter devoted to
war and peace (Part II, Chapter 5); but it is equally clear in the very
inspiration and structure of this "pastoral constitution." In these two
documents peace is not equated with the absence of war or with the
techniques of coexistence or of development. It goes much further than
the suppression of the causes of conflicts. It is an anthropology, a total
vision of the human condition in the world today; it is a reflection on the
personal and collective action of humanity that considers the paschal
mystery and eschatology as the origin and end of peaceP
What the Cardinal is saying here, first of all, is that John's anthropology is
the product of a phenomenolOgical hermeneutics, but since the Holy Father's
spiritual discernment is radicated in the paschal mystery (Le., a religious on-
tology), his anthropology is also a theological hermeneutics. 14 In other words,
Pope John is offering us a quite complex, split-level type of anthropology. IS
At both the religious and human levels it provides a "revelation of men to
themselves,,,16 and as "a total vision of the human condition in the world to-
day," it is also a Vision of Hope for all of mankind. 17 Since Pope John's analysis,
however, is formulating a proleptic anthropology (Le., one in an embryonic but
developing form), Cardinal Roy is quite right to situate it within the perspective
of religious eschatology. Again, this emphasizes that the Holy Father's spiritual
discernment is radicated in the ontological time-frame of salvation history. But
this anthropology, grounded as it also is in contemporary empirical data, like-
wise implies a split-level eschatology where religious and human eschatology
complement one another and work in collaboration. 18 In such collaborative
efforts the supernatural order is offered the opportunity to display its efficiency
in the temporal order. To the extent John approves this new human ideal in
the process of self-creation, he implies that its inherently wholesome dynamics
should, if not irretrievably disrupted, arrive at a realized eschatology het:e on
earth. In the modern world's crisis John XXIII discerns under actual develop-
ment the ethical ideal which Josiah Royce discerned only in principle: man's
distinctive capacity to transform an evil situation into an even greater good by
58 CHAPTER 4
his loyalty to truth and goodness and by the power of creative love. 19 This
prospective resolution of the "crisis in human beings" incarnated for both Royce
and Pope John the essential values of Christ's saving mission (Le., the paschal
mystery - in the less-than-satisfactory religious shorthand of Vatican 11).20
John XXIII, Marx, and Teilhard
We should not miss an important historical allusion here. What Marx did for the
nineteenth century, John XXIII was attempting for the twentieth. Both men,
reflecting on the critical problems of their era, were intent on deciphering the
dominant evolutionary dynamisms shaping mankind's historical process. At the
speculative level each beheld a new humanistic anthropology under development
in society, and this new psycho-social construct would provide the working
myth, or paradigm, for mankind's future progress and development. 21 Marx
drew his interpretive principles from the Enlightenment, and John from his
religion. Both, however, were quite practical-minded men. They wanted to
discover those working-principles whereby men could use the evolutionary
process in a constructive way. However diverse their focus, each was intent on
psycho-social renewal. Each was in search of a new anthropology, or science of
man, which would serve as a demonstration-model for mankind as it moved into
a future of growing complexity. Starting from a mechanistic conception of
material evolution, Marx discerned in the prevalent economic structures of the
industrialized societies a deterministic pattern leading to class warfare until a
global classless society emerged. The fact of nuclear weaponry has made this
scenario a highly dubious one today?2 Starting with men made in the image
of God, John discerns a new counter-cultural dynamic at work beneath the
surface of the world's turmoil. It is a dialectic of truth and love, justice and
freedom.23 This dialectic, by implication, exemplifies the Principle of Comple-
mentarity operative at the heart of communio. This freely chosen dynamic, as
assisted by God's grace and the work of the Church, will ultimately lead to the
unity of mankind. The stance of both Marx and John, each in his unique way,
intended to be both prophetic and sapiential.
The "missing link" between Marx and John XXIII was, in my estimation,
the aborted religious effort of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.24 His "scientific"
Grand Vision was grounded empirically in the evolutionary process of matter. 25
His phenomenological reflection on this experience was, however, the product
of his connatural knowledge as priest-poet-mystic. Probably his greatest religious
difficulty derived from the fact that he seemed to be constructing ontological
hierarchy from the ground up. If not, then his major difficulty was essentially
PACEM IN TERRIS 59
that of Galileo: while he had a legitimate idea, he lacked the capacity to explain
it adequately in its religious context. 26 However, through his uniquely original
writings Catholic thought - willingly and unwillingly - was exposed to some
new horizons by his cosmotheandric paradigm of reality. This would be es-
pecially true for his insights into "the convergence of global consensus and
collective convictions.'>27 His writings constitutes a sort of Menschheitgeschichte:
i.e., the cosmic process of hominization whereby the phenomenon of man rises
to the transcendent person. 28 The follOwing quotation from Teilhard's The
Vision of the Past might easily have found a place either in Pacem in Terris or
in John's opening speech at the Council:
In us and around us, almost beneath our eyes, a psychological phenom-

enon of great magnitude is developing (born hardly a century ago!) which
might be called: the awakening of the sense of humanity. In a positive
sense, men began to feel themselves bound together, all united in a great
task, and captivated, in an almost religious sense, by its progress. To know
more, to be able to do more. Although many still take these words in a
utilitarian sense, for the great majority they are already tinged with
sacred value. In our days people constantly devote their lives to 'the
progress of the world.' Thus in actions more substantial than any specu-
lation they show their implicit recognition of the phenomenon of man. 29
Vatican II as a strategic vision
While both Marx and John XXIII each had their own Grand Vision of the really
real, they were not armchair theorists like Hegel, Feuerbach, or de Chardin.
Both were men intent on the practical action necessary to accomplish the "great
task," i.e., to make their Grand Vision a productive and functioning guide to
men's lives. They were, accordingly, men of strategic vision. Marx authored
The Communist Manifesto and [)as Kapital, and founded the Communist Party.
The Holy Father wrote Mater et Magistra and Pacem in Terris, and convoked
the Second Vatican Council. These men well appreciated that axiom of John
Naisbitt: "Strategic planning is worthless - unless there is first a strategic
vision.,,3o Men preoccupied with a strategic vision and its implementation do
their work on the conviction, or assumption, that their Grand Vision is essentially
valid and not to be questioned. This is an extremely important point if we are
to comprehend the pastoral intent of John XXIII and the strategic work of
adaptation carried out by the Council. 31 In this light John's opening speech
at the Council, insisting on doctrinal integralism, is really stating a fundamental
60 CHAPTER 4
precondition necessary for a pastoral adaptation to be clearly understood both

before and after such a strategic move. This would be doubly true if this dis-
cernment process involved the use of connatural knowledge, which approximates
a non-cognitive approach to reality. In every instance, then, the methodology
of the Council and its products stand under the judgment of the Grand Vision,
described by John XXIII as "the common patrimony" of the Church.32 The
bishops, clearly in accord with the Holy Father's pastoral conception of the
Council, also understood his preconditions for it and endorsed doctrinal in-
tegralism in their "Message to Humanity.,,33
Summary
Pacem in Terris was a return to the problem of peace, which had been one of
John's major concerns prior to the Council. It also was the mature expression
of his pastoral goals and method. His focus in the encyclical was two-fold with
an implied hierarchy between the objects under consideration: on Christ and
on human behavior in correlation with this christocentric paradigm. This analysis
resulted in a theological hermeneutics best described as an anthropology of the
peacemaker. But as a phenomenologically derived anthropology, it acquaints
us with the split-level type of concepts peculiar to John's style of pastoral re-
flections: i.e., where the religious and human levels of existence are seen in a
complementary relationship and working in mutual collaboration. All of this
is a development of ideas originally only sketched in Humanae Salutis: i.e.,
the revelation of men to themselves and the contemporary opportunity for the
supernatural order to display its efficiency in the natural order. An historical
parallel is drawn between the work of Marx and John XXIII, and Teilhard de
Chardin is seen as something of a "missing link" in this conceptual history.
Since John's pastoral method, goals, and work are component parts of his
strategic vision for the Church and mankind, his undergirding doctrinal integral-
ism is once again stressed. In spite of its seeming clarity this type of pastoral
reflection, especially when yoked with phenomenology, does have its ambiguities.
That is the topic of the next chapter
NOTES
1. For the complete text see Carlen (1981), Vol. 5, pp. 107-129. A compact, journal-
istic history of the encyclical's origins may be found in Zizola (1978) , pp. 11-24. The
conciliar document on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) was in-
fluenced by the encyclical in many passages. See "Pacem in Terris" in the Subject
PACEM IN TERRIS 61
Index of Vorgrimler [1967-1968], Vol. 5, p. 405. The encyclical also influenced

the Council's Declaration on Education and the Declaration on Religious Freedom,
but to a lesser degree. See Vorgrimler [1967-1968], Vol. 4, pp. 45, 64, 72, 77. One
of the best extended reflections on the development of Catholic social teaching from
1961 to 1975 is Gremillion [1976).
2. For the negative reaction in much of the Italian press see Zizola [1978J, pp. 162-163,
173-180.
3. See Gremillion [1976), pp. 531-567.
4. See Gremillion [1976 J, #57, p. 542. Unlike scholasticism, which is for the most part
deductive, John XXIII's comparative approach is "inductive," at least on its empirical
side. See Gremillion [1976], #56, p. 542. However, the sense of induction in phenom-
enology must be carefully nuanced. See Merleau-Ponty in Natanson [1973bJ, Vol. 1,
pp. 65, 76-81; Allen [1978), pp.196-199; and Spiegelberg [1982), note 56, p.155.
5. On the Principle of Complementarity see Teller [1980), pp. 105-107; Heisenberg
[1971 J, pp. 79-81, 209-210. Jerome Bruner, the psychologist, tells the story of how
Niels Bohr finally came to accept the Principle of Complementarity when faced with a
personal moral dilemma: "Could you," [he saidJ, "have both love and justice in the
same psychological system?" See Miller [1983 J, p. 36. Recently, the International
Theological Commission employed such complementarity in discussing the question:
"What is the relationship between Christology and the problem of the revelation of
God?" See Theology, Christology, Anthropology. Washington, DC: United States
Catholic Conference, 1983. In Ladner [1959), pp. 433-442 his "Excursus II: Meta-
historical Preconceptions" has a good reflection on the Principle of Complementarity
from a historian's point of view.
6. See Gremillion [1976], #57, p. 542.
7. This religious mindset of John XXIII is also reflected in the major council documents,
as this essay hopes to make clear in the course of its development.
8. This outlook on human artifacts is essentially the same as Giambattista Vico's "Verum
et factum convertuntur." See Collingwood [1946), esp. pp. 64-65. It also assumes the
fundamental principle of the Church's social teaching as formulated by Pope John
XXIII in Mater et Magistra (see Carlen [1981 J, Vol. 5, #219, p. 83).
This teaching rests on one basic principle: individual human beings are the foun-
dation, the cause and the end of every social institution. That is necessarily so, for men
are by nature social beings. This fact must be recognized, as also the fact that they are
raised in the plan of Providence to an order of reality which is above nature.
9. On the "Signs of the Times" see Excursus IV.
10. See Gremillion [1976), #56, p. 542.
11. John XXIII's phrase for this notion was derived from The Imitation of Christ, book
II, Chap. III: De bono homine pacifico. See Staff of the Pope Speaks Magazine [1964),
p.497.
12. In using the term, analytico-genetic, I am not taking back my previous remarks about
John XXIII's use of induction. I am, however, understanding induction in the same
sense as Merleau-Ponty does. See Natanson [1973b], Vol. 1. esp. pp. 77-78. This gives
a priority to an eidetic intuition of the essence, which illumines the empirical ex-
perience (data) under consideration. As the product of a quite selective and optimistic
discernment process, Pope John's hermeneutics stands midway between the turbulent
human dynamisms on collision course in the objective world of social reality and his
own subjective religious life-world. Inasmuch as the pope's hermeneutics is directed
62 CHAPTER 4
to all men of good will, it does not express the totality of values inherent in his religious
ontology. At most it expresses an "ecumenical ethics" for the global social order,
inasmuch as his hermeneutics provides a functional paradigm of religio-social dyna-
misms which complement one another and can provide a common basis for construc-
tive collaboration in the buildings of peace and humanity.
13. See Gremillion [1976], #33, pp. 537-538. The comprehensive Christian vision
formulated by John XXIII has an "ecumenical" counterpart derived from the field of
comparative religious studies:
The homo religiosus represents the "total man;" hence comparative religion must
become a total discipline, in the sense that it must use, integrate and articulate the
results obtained by the various methods. of approaching a religious phenomenon. In
other words, it must become a total lind creative hermeneutics, since it is called to
decipher and explicate every kind of encounter of man with the sacred, from prehistory
to our days We do not doubt that this "creative hermeneutics" will finally be recog-
nized as the royal road of the history of religions. Only then will its role in culture
begin to show itself to be important. Such a "total discipline" can open new perspectives
to Western thought, to philosophy properly speaking as well as to artistic creations.
M. Eliade, "Comparative Religion: Its Past and Future," in Ong [1968], p. 251.
14. For a discussion of "anthropology" in general see Excursus V.
15. [he "split-level" type of both anthropology and theology, which John is suggesting,
goes back to his pastoral goal as formulated in Humanae Salutis: i.e., where the upper-
level truths of the revealed order display their efficiency in the lower-level temporal
order. See Abbott [1966]. p. 707. By implication, at least, John XXIII's notion of
pastoral theology is one which demands that the spiritual and temporal orders are
viewed in ~ comparative, correlated, and complementary way. See footnote 4, supra.
A phenomenologist would say that the two orders are presumed, in John's outlook,
to be "isomorphic."
16. See Abbott [1966], p. 707. The anthropological vision provided by Pacem in Terris
appealed far beyond the confines of the Catholic Church, as its original popularity
indicated. See Gremillion [1976], pp. 534-536.
17. In the context of Vatican II the message of hope, projected by Pacem in Terris, has
both its strength and weakness. As you may recall, Humanae Salutis called attention
to the danger of nuclear war and the on-going dehumanization of people in the world
today. Within such a "horizon" of the global, natural life-world, so markedly different
from the optimism of secular Western societies, Humanae Salutis projected a sense of
urgency about the work of the Council and tried to stimulate a much-needed transfor-
mation of attitude on the part of mankind. Pacem in Terris reflects on the same
horizon projected by Humanae Salutis, but in his encyclical Pope John now chooses
to focus on the hopeful trends which he sees developing under God's Providence. The
point to be emphasized here is that both of these documents deal with the same
horizon constituted by the religious and moral principles of the Holy Father; hence,
their messages are meant to complement one another rather than diverge from one
another. To seize on the optimism of Pacem in Terris at the expense of the realism
involved in Humanae Salutis is incompatible with John XXIII's intended sense. These
observations are important for "the Formation of Attitude." See Wojtyla [1980],
pp.201-418.
PACEM IN TERRIS 63
18. For "eschatology," see Excursus II on Sacramental Time-Consciousness. However,

since the period of the Enlightenment there has been operative in Western society a
secular "eschatology" under the rubric of "progress," and this is particularly true of
the ideologies influenced by Hegelian thought (e.g., Marxism). See Nisbet [1980]. By
entering into this flux of human dynamics religious eschatology becomes "incarnated,"
but only to the extent such dynamisms have an "obediential potency" to be con-
formed to authentic Christian values.
19. See Royce [1968], pp. 180-181.
20. See Gremillion [1976], #154, p. 562. See also "The Church in the Modern World,"
in Abbott [1966], #4-10, pp. 201-209.
21. For "anthropogony," see Excursus V.
22. The same critical problems which occasioned the Church's aggiornamento have not
been without theit impact on Marxist intellectuals. See A. Gibson, "Christian Cross-
roads and Atheist Aggiornamento," in Shook [1968], Vol. 1, pp. 313-328. We shall
return to the correlation of Marxism and Vatican II more extensively in our closing
"Epilogue."
23. See Carlen [1981], Vol. 5, #35-36, pp. 110-111. In this context the Holy Father
is viewing human society as being "primarily a spiritual reality." Such an intersubjective
reality is today expressed by the term, communio, in both phenomenology and
ecclesiology .
24. See H. de Lubac, SJ, "Teilhard de Chardin in the Context of Renewal," in Shook
[1968], Vol.l,pp. 208-235.
25. The focus of John XXIII on the empirical dynamisms operative in the world was
markedly different from that of Teilhard. The pope's intuitive grasp was fixed ex-
clusively on contemporary human dynamisms, and not on the evolutionary process
as Teilhard conceived of it as a scientist. John XXIII's methodology, like Husserl's
in the Crisis, implies a first reduction: i.e., a suspension of science. Teilhard's method-
ology does not.
26. In all of intellectual history no incident is more instructive for the partisans of both
religion and science than the Galileo Case. Today there are "two Galileos": the Stan-
dard Galileo of the textbooks and the New Galileo. As regards the cultural and scientific
impact of the Standard Galileo on modern thinking see Husserl [1970], #9, pp. 23 ff.:
"Galileo's mathematization of nature;" for a balanced appraisal of the historical data
by a renowned scientist see Teller [1980], pp. 33-38. The New Galileo surfaced in
1983 at the International Galileo Conference marking the 350th anniversary of his
trial. William Wallace formulates the new view thus: " ... Galileo stood in considerable
debt to Aristotle for his science; and ... this debt was mediated to him through a pro-
gressive Aristotelianism coming directly from Thomas Aquinas, without which modern
science - science as we know it - would not be the reality it now is." For fuller
information see Wallace [1977], [1983a].
27. See Gremillion [1976],#56,p.542.
28. The Menschheitgeschichte of which I am speaking is intended to be a religio-scientific
alternative to Heilsgeschichte in biblical theology. Each has its proper complement
of eschatology. Teilhard's strategic vision, it seems, was to correlate in a quasi-
academic fashion the dynamics of revelation with the unconscious forces of cosmic
evolution. His theories, from a doctrinal point of view, stand in need of great clarifi-
cation. Such a clarification is imperative today when global human and ecological con-
cerns are being viewed more and more as "a gigantic biological process." See Muller
64 CHAPTER 4
[1982), pp. 16-18. For a sample of two Catholic authors grappling with these ideas
see Thomas Berry and Joseph B. Gaven in Eigo [1981], pp. 1-24 and 105-137.
Furthermore, John XXIII's and Vatican II's almost exclusive focus on human dyna-
misms, inspired by their paradigm deriving from the biblical origins story, leaves their
legacy open to the charge of blindness to both ecology and the origins story of cosmic
evolution. While the Catholic teaching on natural law, reiterated in Gaudium et Spes,
should moderate such a charge, that teaching is today being brought into question by
a significant segment of Catholic intellectuals. A clarification of Teilhard's theories,
particularly as correlated with the substance of traditional natural law theory, would
greatly assist the pastoral renewal program of the Church. Perhaps the linchpin be-
tween the two theories would be some form of systems philosophy. See Laszlo (1972).
If we can allow for a developmental type of Aristotelianism, then we should extend
the same courtesy to Teilhard.
29. See Teilhard de Chard in (1966),pp.172-173.
30. See Naisbitt (1982), p. 94.
31. This problem has been well stated by A. Gibson in Shook (1968), Vol. 1, p. 321:
The crossroads at which Christianity stands today, the crossroads to which

Christianity has been brought by the radical swing of the pendulum in the direction of
humanism, is a crossroads of identity. Shall and can Christians, individually and as a
group, proceed to a collaboration with the world, in abstraction from the primordial
and radical commitment to the person of Christ, the incarnate God-Man? Can we
make a tactical compromise at least so as not to outrage an unbelieving world? Can we
quietly endeavor to apply Christian principles in a collaboration with other men of
good will who share these principles insofar as they are generically human principles?
The answer is clear from Christ's own words: "Apart from me, you can do nothing!"
It is simply erroneous and disloyal to ontological facts and theological dogmas to
[de] sert the Christ who came to satisfy man's deepest longings: for that Christ him-
self said that for this reason was he born and for this cause did he come into the
world, to bear witness to the truth. And his other· equally solumn declaration makes
this proposition reflexive, for he said, "I am the Truth!"
32. See Abbott [l966),p. 715.

33. "We shall take pains so to present to the men of this age God's truth in its integrity
and purity that they may understand it and gladly assent to it." See Abbott (1966),
p.4.
PART II
AMBIGUITIES, TECHNICALITIES AND ADJUSTMENTS

67
CHAPTERS
THE AMBIGUITIES: INTEGRALISM, PLURALISM AND COMMUNICATION
Paul VI and integralism
About a year after the release of Pacem in Terris another encyclical was issued
by the Holy See on August 4, 1964. In it the problem of peace, while still of
special urgency, was subsumed under a set of overriding concerns more properly
spiritual. The document displayed a perceptible shift of focus: from John's
practical (ad extra) solicitude for humanity to a speculative (ad intra) concern
for theological accuracy. I am, of course, referring to Paul VI's encyclical on the
Church (Ecclesiam Suam) ,1 issued just four months prior to the Council's
dogmatic constitution on the same subject (Lumen Gentium). The pope's letter
had no intention of preempting the forth-coming conciliar statement. Under an
umbrella-statement, however, of the broad religious policies which would shape
his future efforts, he once again repeated the "rules of the game." In doing so
he revealed himself as a man of a theologically meticulous, integralist mindset.
The encyclical is something of a "Driver's Manual for Pastoral Renewal," as
composed by a theological engineer. Two points of focus in the document high-
light this solicitude for abstract principle and technical accuracy: (1) the care
taken to ground the aggiornamento in a totally spiritual matrix? and (2) the
incipient anxiety expressed that such a pastoral program could occasion serious
internal problems for the Church (e.g., resurgent theological modernism, false
irenicism, over-accommodation to secular values, etc.).3
The mind of Paul VI ad intra and ad extra
Now, if Paul VI felt obliged to take his stand at the ad intra end of the religious
spectrum, I can only infer that as an informed participant in the Council he was
reading some intellectual signs of the Catholic times and trying to restore the
vital balance necessary to the healthy life of the Church. His three broad policy
concerns may be viewed as his resolve to continue in his papacy dynamics al-
ready under development at the Council. Hence, he hopes to foster: (1) the
Church's own self-awareness as the Mystical Body of Christ; (2) the spiritual
renewal and adaptation appropriately flowing from such a consciousness-raising
process; and (3) dialogue with the world.4 It is in his extended reflection on
68 CHAPTERS
dialogue that he displays a good, if highly intellectualized, grasp of John's

pastoral intent.5 In his encyclical Paul displayed no great anxiety about phenom-
enological method, as long as it was "carefully coordinated with that habit of
mind whereby a man discovers objective truth.,,6 Yet, Paul's irenicism in this
regard was not long-lasting since his pontificate was wracked by a series of
theological controversies from left and right, all impinging on the axiom of
doctrinal integralism.
Coerced by circumstances, then, into an ongoing defensive posture, Paul VI's
public utterances on pastoral renewal often seemed narrow, technical, and over-
spiritualized - somewhat redolent of his etherialized image of the Church as
the Mystical Body of Christ. 7 Only when liberated from the strictures imposed
by an exclusively Catholic audience did he give us an insight into the fuller
dimensions of his thoughts. The first time this occurred in any extended way
was on October 4, 1965, when the Holy Father addressed the General Assembly
of the United Nations. 8 In his concluding remarks he explicitly stated the
"civilization on trial" theme in its moral and human context. 9 Two years later,
on March 26, 1967, he laid out his basic ideas on The Development of Peoples
(Populorum Progressio).l0 But much of the impact of these creative pastoral
statements was diminished by the controversy surrounding Humanae Vitae in
1968 when Catholics themselves brought into question the credibility of the
papacy as a teacher of modern morality Y
Pluralism, discernment, and the communication problem
The above problem developing toward the end of Paul VI's.- reign was, for
Catholics, essentially a conflict between corporate and individual discernment.
Historically Catholicism has always stood for corporate discernment of its re-
vealed patrimony. Outside of this context Vatican II and the Catholic notion
of "Church" itself make virtually no sense whatever. But by trying to dialogue
with the world of the twentieth century, the Church entered an environment
dominated by intellectual pluralism. Since at least 1850 most theories of know-
ledge and science have been dominated by some form of psychologism. This
creates an environment of moral relativism in which each individual must face
up to reality as he sees it and make his own responsible decision.12 This intel-
lectual stance, as reinforced by the theories of Darwin and Freud, is mainly
characteristic of affluent Western democracies. It will be shaken only to the
extent that our world becomes even more destabilized, and people see the need
for corporate moral commitment and collaborative efforts for peace. By recog-
nizing the "crisis in the sciences" caused by ongoing intellectual fragmentation,
INTEGRALISM & PLURALISM 69
Husserl sought to restore philosophy as a rigorous science and reopen the time-
honored channels of communication among intellectual leaders in society.
Somewhat in the same vein, the bishops' rapproachment with phenomenology
was one attempt among many to open new channels of communication in a
pluralistic age. Unlike Hussed they did not think that the technique just in
itself would solve the "crisis in human beings." Rather, their usage of phenom-
enology was an "ecumenical" outreach toward our "separated brethren," the
modern intellectuals, and represented the Church's first effort at some very
highlevel "acculturalization.,,13 Once these points are appreciated, the am-
biguities and imperfections of the system can be seen in perspective and gradually
worked out by all interested parties.
The communication problem in a phenomenological perspective
Any bishops at the Council familiar with phenomenological method also recog-
nized its hazards. Yet, they could not afford to be intimidated by such prob-
lems since the ongoing crises in the modern world made it absolutely imperative
to open new channels of communication. Consequently their rapproachment
with this methodology was both informed and controlled. They knew, for
example, that they were not practicing transcendental phenomenology in a way
identical with that of Husserl, but in a corporate, developmental way com-
mensurate with his practical purposes of renewa1. 14 John XXIII had left the
bishops an inspiring illustration of this approach in Pacem in Terris; the ground
rules had been set by the axiom of doctrinal integralism; and they could, in an
unobtrusive way, use their own scholastic philosophy and theology to double-
check the results of their reflections. By fostering such methodological flexi-
bility the bishops hoped to open a multilevel communication system IS for the
ideas expressed at the Council and provide Vatican II's own demonstration-
model for enriched theological reflection in the future. I6 The incentive for such
creative procedures traces back to the pastoral nature of Vatican II as conceived
by John XXIII.I7 In this concrete context the religious reflection of the Council
would have proven useless unless it got people to do something. That may have
been the bishops' ultimate practical goal, but as God's salesmen they knew that
consummate artistic I8 skill would have to be employed to overcome the sales-
resistance to their ideas in the modern world. I9 They would, accordingly, have
to point out their product's merits, how it would meet the customer's needs or
wants, and how it would enrich his life or that of his loved ones. No salesman
can do any of these things unless he first communicates with his prospective
customer. Here, then, in compact form are the progressive steps which the
70 CHAPTERS
bishops hoped to take: (I) communication with the people of this age; (2) to
show them how their lives might be enriched; (3) in order to influence their
attitudes; (4) so that they would do something. 2o
Today, however, communication is somewhat differently understood than
in the past. In our era of psychologism it is generally conceded that it is the
hearer (or the prospective customer) who is the real communicator! The sales-
man is, in reality, only sending out signals which he thinks are appropriate. The
hard realities of the marketplace inform him whether or not he is successful.
It is, however, the hearer who interprets these signals and tells himself what is
being communicated. Quite literally he reveals the message to himself If we may
assume such a psychologistic frame of reference, then it is but a short step to
Pope John's pastoral goal of the revelation of man to himself. By reason of the
complexity of this communication process (in which non-verbal elements and
the esthetic "packaging" of a product often play an important, if not dominant,
role) we can appreciate why John XXIII downplayed an exclusively conceptual
approach to modem men in favor of a demonstration-model correlating authentic
religious and human values. Scholasticism, while long on theoretical concepts,
is short on the practical psychological techniques needed to work within human
consciousness and influence attitudinal change. On the European scene phenom-
enology provided the most respected methodology for such access to con-
sciousness, and the scholastic theory of connatural knowledge allowed for a
virtually seamless alignment with that method. Once such a methodological
correlation had been established, the whole conciliar process could, in theory,
be interpreted within either a scholastic framework or the more "existentialist"
style of reflection typical of phenomenology. Later on, however, we shall see
that the conciliar process is best appreciated when these two methodologies are
viewed as fused.
The unrealized potential of the conciliar process
The next chapter intends to provide a detailed reflection on phenomenology in

the context of Vatican II. Here I would only like to point out some of the
missed opportunities existent in our own day regarding the innovative communi-
cation efforts of the conciliar process.
The general run of scholastic thinkers, particularly those classified as Tran-
scendental Thomists, today display a fair awareness of some of the phenom-
enological dimensions of the Council, but they seem nowhere near an integrated
comprehension of its work. 21 This would be especially true regarding the anthro-
pology sketched in principle by the bishops. After twenty years of disarray the
more classical style of scholastic thinkers seem to be regrouping, so their positive

contribution to conciliar thought and development is yet to be felt?2 Non-
scholastic thinkers in the Catholic Church are, in large part, preoccupied with
epistemological problems centering on methodology and reductionism?3 Such
theoretical controversies have hindered the development of wide-ranging pastoral
programs other than quite parochialized types and have fostered an introverted
conception of renewal modeled almost exclusively on innerdirected, psycho-
logical "personalism" and ad hoc social activism?4 Among contemporary
theologians only B. Lonergan shows some awareness of what the modern theo-
logical enterprise should involve, but his vision is shaped more by his own
academic method rather than the pastoral goals and needs of Vatican II?S
Professional phenomenologists, on the other hand, display no great awareness
of the value of Vatican II for their specialized line of study. This lack of sensi-
tivity is not in the creative tradition of Husserl, who reached across disciplines
to derive inspiration for his concept of the life-world from Levy-Bruhl's Primitive
Mythology.26 At the very time when the Council was in session (I962-1965)
H. Spiegelberg was energetically laboring to develop a new way into phenom-
enology by a workshop approach?7 Yet, Vatican II was an international
demonstration-model of this methodology as used by an intersubjective com-
munity in a corporate and constructive way for renewal purposes in the best
tradition of Husserl. Spiegelberg's co-subjective and empathetic approach has,
regretfully, not had much impact on phenomenologists. Perhaps interest in
such a collaborative practice of phenomenology would be stimulated if the
community of professional phenomenologists were to again take seriously
the theme of "renewal" fostered by Husserl. In this regard, as you may recall,
he found that the facts of a real life-world exceeded anything that could be
achieved by a free variation in the imagination!28
The problem, which I am alluding to here, goes beyond merely the theo-
logians and phenomenologists. In our critical age all intellectuals and educators
ought to view such projects as Vatican II, NASA, and the United Nations as
"signs of the academic times." The age of the philosophes has been rendered
obsolete by the practical problems of a turbulent world. A project, such as
Vatican II, may be viewed as one huge corporate brain?9 The participants
in its dialogical self-analysis were like nerve-ends: passing information back
and forth in the system, processing it, and ultimately synthesizing it as heightened
self-comprehension affirmed and celebrated. This ecclesial process may serve
as a model for our individual innerdirected quest for self-identity in today's
world in two ways: first, by illustrating that genuine self-knowledge is achieved
only in a context of larger interpersonal relationships, and secondly, by em-
phasizing such self-introspection is but a preliminary phase for grappling with
72 CHAPTERS
the comprehensive practical problems in that world outside ourselves. Out of

this achievement of self-identity and goal-clarification comes the spirit of hope,
indeed the enthusiasm, for the practical tasks at hand. Vatican II, as a corporate
demonstration-model of applied phenomenology, displays how professional
phenomenologists could play an important role in any such collaborative enter-
prise.
Summary
This chapter is something of a small watershed in the development of this essay.

It marks the dividingline between the ad extra pastoral focus of John XXIII
and the ad intra doctrinal preoccupations of Paul VI. Furthermore, the chapter
provides the comprehensive framework within which the next several chapters
are developed.
The framework of this chapter embraces two broad problem areas: (1) doc-
trinal integralism ("ontology") on collision-course with an age of intellectual
pluralism; and (2) the challenge of developing an adequate communication
system in such an ambivalent environment. Doctrinal integralism was reflected
upon on the basis of Paul VI's preoccupation with objective truth. Intellectual
pluralism was viewed in terms of its impact on the discernment process, both
corporate and individual. Here the use of phenomenology at the Council was
appreciated as a high-level acculturalization process for religious thought in a
pluralistic age. Lastly, the communication problem was formulated within the
context of a pluralistic and psychologistic environment. This led to an appreci-
ation of the internal dispositions and attitudes of the hearer, as communicator to
himself, and the utility of the phenomenological method in constructing a
communication process to meet the hearer's needs. The chapter concluded
with some random observations, directed mainly to scholastics and phenom-
enologists, on the untapped potential of the conciliar process for their respective
fields.
The next chapter will deal with some technical aspects of phenomenology
pertinent to the Council's reflective process.
NOTES
1. See Carlen [1981), Vol. 5, pp. 135-160. In this encyclical Paul VI's basic spiritual
priorities are made quite clear: "Thus before embarking on the study of any particular
problem and before considering what attitude to adopt vis-a-vis the world, the Church
must here and now reflect on its own nature, the better to appreciate the divine
plan which it is the Church's task to implement." See Carlen (1981), Vol. 5, #18,
p.l38.
2. See Carlen (1981), Vol. 5, #18-25, pp. l38-139; #34-40, pp. 141-143; #41-42,
pp. 143-144; #45 -46, pp. 144-145, et passim.
3. See Carlen (1981), Vo1.5, #26-28, pp.l39-140; #47 -49, pp.145-146; #88; p.153.
4. See Carlen (1981) , Vol. 5, #8-15, pp. l36-l37.
5. See Carlen [1981), Vol. 5, #58-118, pp.148-159. For "dialogue," see Excursus VI.
6. See Carlen (1981), Vol. 5, #28, p. 140. Although Paul VI does not mention phenom-
enology by name, what he meant by the "modern bent of mind" is quite clear. Recall
Spiegelberg (1982), p. xxiii and Farley (1975), pp. 235-272. What is so extremely
important here is that, while maintaining his own objectivist mindset, he is at the same
time allowing for a methodological idealism which some have attributed to phenom-
enology. See Carr (1974), p. 39. In this sense Paul VI has already moved beyond
Pope John XXIII, who in his opening speech at the Council simply advocated method-
ological flexibility in general.
A major academic problem, however, still remains: doctrinal integralism is still
viewed in objectivistic terms. Paul VI gives no indication of jettisoning his own and
the Church's heritage of scholastic realism. This problem, reaching back through
John XXIII to Pius XII and Humani Generis, recalls once more Vollert's academic
question: "How, in an intellectual atmosphere of universal evolutionism, can we
safeguard transcendental truth?" For John XXIII, more concerned about the "crisis
in human beings," this was really a non-problem. His answer to this problem would
have been that of enlightened praxis: i.e., to show the efficiency of the Church's
transcendent moral truths in the temporal order! Paul VI, however, was more sensi-
tive to the theoretical dimensions connected with the "crisis in human beings." Conse-
quently, in a rather broadminded way he endorsed the methodological idealism implicit
in the Catholic use of phenomenology and encouraged dialogue at all levels. As regards
any enlightened praxis, he expected that program would, in substance, be developed
by the Council.
7. See Carlen (1981), Vol. 5, #35, pp. 141-142 et passim. Anything which Paul VI says
about the Mystical Body in Ecclesiam Suam should be viewed as simply an extended
commentary on the speech which he made as Cardinal Montini on the floor of the
Council, December 5, 1962. See Latin Texts [1970-1980), Vol. I, pars IV, esp. p. 292.
What Paul VI is saying in Ecclesiam Suam is that the Mystical Body, phenomenologically
speaking, always remains - at the horizontal level - the intentional ground of the
Church's concrete experience of its own body-phenomena. This topic will be taken up
in Chapter Eight. However, the term, Mystical Body, is also comprehensive enough to
embrace the intentional ground of the vertical dimension of the Church. That topic
will be taken up in Chapter Ten when we deal with Divine Revelation (Dei verbum).
8. See Gremillion (1976) ,pp. 379-386.
9. See Gremillion [1976), #31,p. 386.
10. See Gremillion (1976), pp. 387 -415. Cardinal Roy sees Paul VI's theological develop-
ment of Pacem in Terris exemplified particularly in the following major documents:
Ecclesiam Suam, Populorum Progressio, and Octogesima Adveniens. See Gremillion
[1976), #35, p. 538; #150, pp. 561-562. However, the comprehensive overview of
Catholic social teaching provided by Gremillion (1976), pp. 5-138 is the best general
index of the practical contribution of Paul VI to the work of John XXIII and Vatican
II's renewal program.
74 CHAPTERS
11. A balanced commentary on the Holy See's attitudes toward "birth regulation and
population policy" may be found in Gremillion [1976), pp. 96-103. For the human-
istic values implicit in these policies see Lucas Moreira Neves, '''Humanae Vitae' - Ten
Years Afterwards Towards a More Human Civilization" in Schall [1984), pp. 426-
435.
12. The responsibility for self engendered by psychologism is not to be identified with the
sense of responsibility engendered by Husserl's phenomenology. As Natanson [1973),
p. 11 writes:
Radical certitude is Husserl's goal; radical certitude must be phenomenology'S method.

The person who strives for such certitude must turn to himself as the locus of ultimate
rigor, for all of the translations made of history and of the deeds of fellow men in the
worlds of spirit and politics must finally be made by the individual for whom reality
exists to be comprehended. Past any cheap "subjectivism" and beyond all merely idio-
syncratic attitudes, the ego logical structure of experience stands as the last criterion for
philosophical accountability.
13. The principle of "acculturalization," first endorsed in the document on the Liturgy,
was appropriately reaffirmed throughout the other documents of Vatican II. See
Abbott [1966), #37-40, pp. 151-152; and in the Index under "Adaptations" and
"Culture," Abbott [1966), pp. 749, 761-762. The point to be made here is that
Vatican II's phenomenological style of reflection, inasmuch as it has been applied to
matters of religious substance (e.g., Lumen Gentium and Dei verbum), displays a type
of quasi·philosophical, or intellectual, acculturalization operative on a much higher
level than that typically implied in the conciliar documents. However, the quite com-
prehensive description of acculturalization found in the "Decree on the Missionary
Activity of the Church" allows for such a sophisticated adaptation. See Abbott [1966) ,
#22, pp. 612-613. All of this should be viewed in correlation with the endorsement
of methodological idealism given by Paul VI in Ecclesiam Suam. In other words,
acculturalization is accepted as a methodological principle, and only to the extent
the cultural detail in question has an obediential potency to be conformed to authentic
Christian values. The importance of these reflections may be surmized by the fact that
on May 20, 1982, Pope John Paul II established a new Pontifical Council for Culture
for the evangelization of cultures and for the defense and promotion of the cultural
inheritance of mankind.
14. As the pioneer of phenomenological theory and method, Husser! never got beyond the
"solipsistic" dimension in his practice. His theorizing, however, sawall of this as a
necessary first stage on which would be founded a final stage of intersubjective
phenomenology. Out of this approach there would develop a phenomenology of tran-
scendental intersubjectivity, as the ground for a universal transcendental philosophy.
See Carr [1974], pp. 102-103. The corporate practice of phenomenology, as reflected
by the finalized documents promulgated at Vatican II, represents the above type of
intersubjective phenomenology anticipated but never practiced by Husser!.
15. Once Pope John XXIII endorsed the principle of methodological flexibility in his
opening speech at the Council, the bishops gradually became sensitized to the acute
communication problem which confronted them. Any attempt to have tailored their
message to all levels of intelligence in their anticipated global audience would have
been impossible, so the bishops were forced to handle the communication process in
a selective way. It is important to focus on the fact that they selected educated people
as their target audience. In the pastoral outlook of the bishops there was at least a
vague awareness of the need for collaborators, drawn from all segments of social leader-
ship, in order to carry out the pastoral purposes of Vatican II. Implicit in any col-
laboration with educated people is the need for a certain "collegiality": i.e., a
recognition of subsidiarity and the prudent delegation of responsibility in order to
capitalize on their initiative and creativity. But among such educated people (as within
the Church itself) there are levels of consciousness concerned with widely diverse
"regions of reality" (e.g., physical, psychic, spiritual or cultural). The surface-meaning
of the conciliar documents is directed toward the moderately educated, who will read
them out of some sort of "natural attitude." The phenomenological substructuring
of the Council's documents is directed toward highly sophisticated intellectuals, as
leaders of society, in order to provide them with a distinctive cultural matrix within
which to interpret the Church's profound rethinking of her contemporary role and to
provide an established model for their own critical rethinking in quest of intellectual
and cultural renewal.
16. Since Pacem in Terris provided a religio-social hermeneutic of contemporary reality
and, consequently, correlates with the "Church in the Modern World" among the
conciliar documents, it is quite clear that the Council in its doctrinal constitutions
intended to go beyond the demonstration-model provided by the encyclical. For some
preliminary details on this matter see Gremillion [1976], pp. 537-538, 561-562.
Once we appreciate the complexity of the larger communication process under develop-
ment, we begin to understand the unfortunate circumstances at the Council which led
to the "Decree on the Instruments of Social Communication." See Abbott [1966],
pp. 319-331 and Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 1, pp. 89-104. This is a case where
a socially complex topic, more pertinent to the ad extra concerns of the "Church in
the Modern World," got on the agenda while the bishops were intensely engrossed with
developing a communication process adequate to the ad intra nature and pastoral
needs of the Church. The Decree, as promulagated, is the result of some short-sighted
expediency and the lack of parliamentary ingenuity.
17. Especially John XXIII's pastoral goal of revealing men to themselves, as formulated
in Humanae Salutis. See Abbott [1966] , p. 707.
18. The concept of art introduced here with all the implications of esthetics is perhaps
one of the most important in this whole essay. Over the past twenty years this has been
one of the most neglected dimensions of Vatican II. Among contemporary theologians
only Hans Vrs von Balthasar has taken the esthetic dimension of theology seriously as
a conceptual concern. See O'Meara [1981] and von Balthasar [1982]. For an im-
portant correlation of esthetics with civilization and culture (a theme which we shall
develop toward the end of this book) see Hall [1973], pp. 23-29, 81-84, 183-190.
Reflection on the esthetic dimension of the documents promulgated by Vatican II
has made me aware of two things. (1) In contemplating this literary work of art there
must be a reduction, spontaneous or otherwise, consisting in a "willing suspension of
disbelief." (2) When this literary work is viewed as a purely intentional object, it is -
in Ingarden's words - perceived as a "multiply stratified creation," and its art is in-
tuited in its "metanarrative text." Since this metanarrative content is dependent on
a conditioned type of consciousness for its animation and concretion, it cannot be
said to be totally heteronomous. See E.S. Casey in Dufrene [1973], pp. xviii, xx.
The problem is much the same as watching a three-dimensional movie: you cannot
76 CHAPTER 5
appreciate its photographic effects unless you are wearing the proper type of glasses.
The esthetic vision, then, of Vatican II is not an autonomous work of art, but one
available only to phenomenological intuition.
19. Under the unpretentious rubric of "sales-resistance" I wish to introduce the important
topic of prejudice. Much of phenomenology is devoted to a recognition and explanation
of prejudice, and the Council's use of phenomenology is an acknowledgment and accep-
tance of that fact. By way of introduction to this theme see the word, "Prejudice(s),"
in the index of Carr [1974], p. 282.
20. As described, this is essentially the method used by John XXIII in Pacem in Terris. See
Gremillion [1976], #134-135,pp.558-559. In both Pope John's approach and that of
the Council the focus on human subjectivity, whether individual or collective, is part of a
pastoral plan rather than any speculative endorsement of a philosophical theory.
21. For one tentative interpretation, seriously in need of nuancing, see Rahner [1979). Less
cautious voices are: Greeley [1982), Martin [1981), Herr [1982), and Tracy, Kiing, and
Metz [1978). Until some commonly acceptable paradigm of Vatican II is discovered,
there is no great utility in speaking about its "failure" or the need for Vatican III.
22. This is not to say their influence has not been already felt in a few individualized in-
stances; e.g., in theology Hamer [1964) and in philosophy Wallace [1977), [1983b).
23. The speculative problems regarding methodology and reductionism stem from the
more fundamental issue of the relationship of faith and reason. For a concise statement
of the issues see the "Critical Remarks" in Byrne and Marziarz [1967), esp. p. 810. The
full panoply of issues involved in reductionism may be seen at a glance by asking the
simple question: "Can an atheist be a theologian?" This question is judiciously handled,
if not resolved, in Brian L. Hebblethwaite [1980), pp. 3-6 et passim. The preoccu-
pation with methodology, however, must not be viewed as an exclusively academic or
theoretical problem, but also as symptomatic of a cultural state of mind. See Voegelin
[1978], p. 7. In our new moment of human history this essentially Enlightenment
mindset has outlived much of its usefulness.
24. In the American Church the one development which just may reverse this whole trend
is the hierarchy's shift to global problems such as in the national pastoral, "The Chal-
lenge of Peace," issued on May 3, 1983. See Origins: NC docwnentary service 13: 1
(May 19,1983) 1-32. This pastoral confronts, at least in part, issues raised by Humanae
Salutis and Pacem in Terris.
25. See Crowe [1980).
26. See Merleau-Ponty in Natanson [1973b), Vol. 1, p. 102.
27. See Spiegelberg [1975], pp. 24-34. Spiegelberg's focus in this article is on the peda-
gogical benefits to be derived from this workshop approach. He does not significantly
relate this group-technique to Husserl's view that intersubjective phenomenology is the
final stage of his methodology, as ultimately leading to a universal transcendental
philosophy. See Carr [1974), pp. 102-103. As a case-study for phenomenologists,
Vatican II's procedures illustrate how phenomenologists (i.e., the Northern European
bishops and theologians on the theological commissions) and non-phenomenologists
(i.e., the average bishop at the Council) can work together in a "workshop approach"
to produce a commonly accepted phenomenological analysis of something which they
both share and desire to appreciate in an enriched way.
28. See Merleau-Ponty in Natanson [1973b). Vol. 1. p. 102.
29. This analogy, as applied to the United Nations, is used constructively in the context
of "the present Promethean period of change" by Muller [1982). p. 17.
77
CHAPTER 6
PHENOMENOLOGY IN THE CONTEXT OF VATICAN II
In order to appreciate the role of phenomenology at the Council, we must

remind ourselves that it was a pastoral Council. Unlike certain previous councils
(e.g., Lateran V and Trent) there was - by definition, at least - no ad intra
"crisis" in either Catholic theology or morality. Pope John XXIII presented
a worldwide summation of Church life in Humanae Salutis, and there he judged
it as "in great part transformed and renewed." There was, however, a serious
world crisis ad extra which in the context of European intellectual history I
have chosen to call the "crisis in human beings." This "crisis" at the socio-
cultural level reflects the ad intra psychoethical confusion stemming from a good
century of intellectual and moral subjectivism, and this is further compounded
by the ad extra collapse of global social and economic structures which can no
longer handle the explosive growth of new global interdependencies. l As Gerald
and Patricia Mische have wisely perceived, this is a Crisis of Growth related to
structural lag? This structural lag, however, presents not so much a technological
or political challenge as it does a moral one. 3 In such a dislocated situation
Pope John saw the need for a pastoral Council intent on moral renewal.
Phenomenology as the new via media
The mere mention of the word, "renewal," would have recalled to European
bishops and theologians the writings of Husserl who had advocated an intimate
connection between personal, social, and scientific renewal through the use of
his methodology.4 But John XXIII's Pacem in Terris was a decisive influence
for them to move in the direction of phenomenology. In his encyclical John's
thought was not cast merely as the product of his subjective religious ideas nor
as the result of some objective scientific study reducing both men and reality to
neatly packaged "things." Rather, in a quite non-formal way he had constructed
a phenomenological via media between the transcendent world of religion and
the empirical world of everyday living. s With such a powerful demonstration-
model of phenomenology dealing with the natural life-world of global society
the European bishops and theologians were inspired to follow something of the
same course at the Council. 6
78 CHAPTER 6
However, the bishops and theologians sensitive to this potential latent in the
Council viewed themselves, not as isolated phenomenologists, but as part of an
intersubjective community. 7 Consequently, they employed their methodology
in a way subordinate and auxiliary to the Council's larger pastoral purposes. This
purpose was not to "reconstruct" the Church's religious or theological conscious-
ness, but to affect the concrete Catholic way of life. This sensitivity did not
prevent them from acting like serious-minded and professional phenomenologists.s
Although the life-world of this religious community was ordered by a religious
ontology, these thinkers were not adverse to subjecting it to the stresses and
strains of free variation in the imagination. (Paul VI's reemphasis of the axiom of
doctrinal integralism in Ecclesiam Suam was not done in a vacuum.) The pastoral
intent of the Council did not prevent the bishops from occasionally resorting to
some very technical shadings of doctrinal points, although more of this was due
from pressure brought to bear by historical studies than by phenomenology
itself. As a final result, however, the Council displays an innovative application
of the phenomenological method which opens avenues to anthropological
enrichment not available to a merely scholastic interpretation of the Council. 9
The six steps or phases of the phenomenological method
Spiegelberg lists six steps or phases in the use of the phenomenological method. 10
Each step may be used separately to constitute a small phenomenology in itself,
and not all professional phenomenologists employ all six steps in their work.
Spiegelberg's treatment of these steps, although deriving from a phenomenology
based on individual subjectivity, opens up a comprehensive sense of the method-
ology as a whole and correlates well with my own purposes here. ll I intend to
limit my own reflections to how these steps are discernible in the conciliar
reflective processes and procedures. Only one slight addition will be made. I
shall supplement Spiegelberg's treatment with some prefatory remarks on
dialogue. 12 This type of communication is an essential ingredient of any corpor-
ate use of phenomenology, which necessarily involves the participants in an
ongoing, empathetic analysis of the vicarious experience of their partners in the
conversation.
Dialogue
Dialogue at the Council was the process whereby phenomena were gathered and
sorted out. The formal dialogue conducted on the floor of the Council and in
PHENOMENOLOGY 79
the working committees has been printed, in large part, in the Acta Synodalia
of Vatican II, and for scholars this would provide the most direct access to the
phenomenological aspects of the Council. I3 Inasmuch as the Second Vatican
Council was a "workshop" of about twenty-five hundred bishops, a great deal
of parliamentary procedure and committee work was necessary to keep this
dialogical traffic flowing freely and constructively. At the beginning of the
Council an attempt was made to control this dialogue by restricting it to the
documents submitted by the Preparatory Commission. That attempt failed, and
the dialogue thereafter was virtually unhindered. 14 As a pastoral Council Vatican
II's dialogue had a built-in bipolar quality about it. IS Local bishops, for example,
when addressing a theological issue, would naturally be prone to voice it as the
people back home appreciated it. The same thing may be said, mutatis mutandis,
for the many specialized professionals at the Council, e.g., canonists, adminis-
trators, historians, etc. The focus of analysis and reflection, then, see-sawed
between abstract truth and its multiple empirical expressions throughout the
world at all levels of life.
Descriptive phenomenology
Unlike the Acta Synodalia where phenomenological description would be more

overtly perceived, the Council documents in their finalized form are a mixture
of scholastic and phenomenological descriptive styles. 16 Hence, these documents
are in need of a good deal of textual criticism (or "meta phenomenology") to
separate out these two elements. My brief remarks here can only hope to point
out those avenues whereby phenomenology somewhat naturally found its way
into the conciliar reflective process. When the bishops returned "to the things
themselves" as individualized in each one's concrete experience, they each
entered their personalized realm of the mysterium fascinans l7 as the ultimate
ground of religious and human meaning for them. Since their scholasticism
already provided each of them with a functional comprehension of the act/
content of their subjective consciousness, they were not, like philosophical
phenomenologists, in pursuit of any theoretical understanding of the workings
of their own consciousness. Rather, each one centered his focus on a preliminary
description of the religious, human, or socio-cultural phenomena under consider-
ation in order to express their authentic intentionality for him. All this, however,
was simply the necessary groundwork for a later corporate discernment of
intentionality for the bishops as a whole. This descriptive process, while com-
prehensive and meticulous, was not totally presuppositionless.1 8 As we noticed
with John XXIII in Pacem in Terris, the subconscious focus was christocentric,
80 CHAPTER 6
even when viewing phenomena typically catalogued as human or secular. 19

Although the religious ontology at the heart of Catholicism allows for a great
deal of reification or objectification, its practical, pastoral paradigm is the
"Whole Christ.,,2o The bishop's descriptive undertaking has, then, a strong
emotive tonality both as deriving from a theandric conception of religious truth
and as conducted predominantly on the basis of connatural knowledge. 21
This emotionality permeating the conciliar descriptive process is really an
index not only of its religious authenticity and pastoral potential for enrich-
ment, but also of the intensity of its phenomenological focus. Unlike the scien-
tifically neutral analysis of most professional phenomenologists, the analytical
intensity of Vatican II is symptomatic of life-and-death commitment to the
phenomena under consideration. Within the limits set by some topic there
would be an intense and conscientious inventory of the pertinent phenomena
as experienced by the bishops, and this would be especially true in matters
dealing with meaning and values. Abstract meaning and values, however, often
had to play an auxiliary role to the practical, pastoral meanings and values
which the bishops were trying to orchestrate to remedy the "crisis in human
beings." So, the descriptive process went through many phases and recastings,
as the various versions of the conciliar documents under development attest. 22
One of the inevitable side-effects of this extended, collaborative process would
have been, for the vast majority of the bishops, an enriched sense of the cor-
porate self of the Church. For someone, however, like Archbishop Marcel
lefebvre, who had not been able to relate to this complex process, there would
be a resulting sense of deep betrayal and intense rage. Such strong emotional
displays at the Council are important indications of the profound serious-
mindedness with which the bishops went about describing the mysterium
tremendum at the heart of their corporate life-world.
Phenomenology of essences (i.e., essential or eidetic phenomenology)
This step is the place where scholasticism and phenomenology so naturally over-
lap that their definitions are sometimes hard to distinguish from one another. 23
Both systems of thought are extremely sensitive to the importance of intention-
ality and essences, but it takes an acute observer to distinguish how the two
systems differ about these basic notions. 24 As a world meeting, the Council
would have been faced quickly enough with the need to distinguish between
the essential and the accidental, the necessary and the contingent. 25 Con-
sequently, the bishops were reasonably well-prepared to grasp the essential
structures of any phenomena presented to them and to perceive the essential
PHENOMENOLOGY 81
relationships both within and among them. 26 In extraordinarily complex

matters there were, of course, theological specialists on hand to offer any
help needed. The bipolar reflective style of the local bishops would also have
kept such abstract essences in touch with their empirical foundations. (Consider
for a moment the problem of defining the "essence" of marriage which would
be acceptable in both Western democracies and Oriental or African cultures!)
That the process of "free variation in the imagination,,27 was operative at
the Council in an extraordinarily creative way will become strikingly apparent
later when we reflect on the new image of the Church as the People of God.
(Had the pastoral purpose of the bishops been to enhance the state of mon-
ogamous marriage or to emphasize the sponsal relationship of the individual
soul to Christ, they could just as easily have described the Church as the Bride
of Christ.) While the theological commissions provided the professional ex-
pertise in this analytical discernment of "essences" (Le., noemata), the voting
procedure used at the Council was the judgmental mechanism to confirm that
all such essences and their interrelationships were the product of a corporate
intuition?8
Phenomenology of appearances
This phase in the method would represent merely a shift from the what to the
how. The focus here would be on the multiple aspects or modalities under which
the same object can present itself to our consciousness. As a striking example
of such sensitivity to visual appearances, Spiegelberg offers "Monet's eighteen
versions of one slanted view of the facade of the Cathedral of Rouen, as seen at
different times of day.,,29 Attention to such detail would not only characterize
an artist of any type but also someone judging on the basis of connatural know-
ledge. The Church has had, however, such a long history with the principle of
"saving the appearances,,30 and arguments of theological fittingness that her
sensitivity to this type of phenomenology need not be emphasized. In alllikeli-
hood, this type of sensitivity had a great deal to do with the positioning of the
role of the Virgin Mary in the Council documents. 3! At such a world meeting
as Vatican II the bishops were also inundated by the cultural diversity of the
one Church with its one truth. This experience enabled them to re-see the Whole
Christ as reflected in the rich diversity of human beings living in diverse cultures.
This is evident in the bishops' hearty endorsement of the principle of accultural-
ization for Catholic life and practice.
82 CHAPTER 6
Constitutive ( or genetic) phenomenology
Of all the methodological steps we have discussed so far, this is undoubtedly

the most important for understanding the pastoral nature of Vatican II. Its
reflection on the religious and empirical world of today is quite similar to that
of John XXIII in Pacem in Terris, except that the techniques and imagery have
been greatly refined. The constitutive phase calls for an awareness of how the
phenomena take shape in our consciousness. (Here connatural knowledge is
important for the "feel" that the shape is taking place "right.") When we visit
a strange city, for example, we can feel somewhat helpless and passive in the
face of the geographical details overwhelming our consciousness.32 But with
time we start to get control of the situation and in an active way begin to piece
together the layout of the city in our minds. Two things are going on simul-
taneously here: the on-going act (noesis) whereby we piece together our mental
map of the city, and the map itself as a developing object (noema) in our mind.
A phenomenological theorist, such as Husser!, would be primarily fascinated
by the workings of the noesis; a practitioner of applied phenomenology, such
as the bishops and theologians, would be more interested in the way the noemata
themselves are taking shape in the ecclesial consciousness.
This functional map (or image, theory, Gestalt) is something gradually created
in our minds on the basis of our everyday experience, and we correct or add to
the details of this map as we go along. What we sometimes forget, however, is
that it is this functional image, theory, or Gestalt which determines what we can
see!33 In the sixteenth century, for example, everybody "saw" a geocentric
universe until Copernicus fabricated a new heliocentric model.34 Although the
universe remained unchanged in appearance, the new model required on the part
of people a shift of the visual Gestalt which involved no little psychological
shock 35 and, with time, enormous problems regarding the physics of celestial
mechanics. Somewhat in the same fashion, John XXIII viewed the empirical
data of a disjOinted humanity and perceived a radically new Gestalt under
development: that of the peacemaker. The bishops at Vatican II viewed the
same data, approved John's fundamental insights, and formulated them as the
corporate, ecclesial concept of the People of God. While the Council has pre-
sented us with this new theoretical model of our religious universe, we have
yet to figure out the operating principles of its "celestial mechanics."
Reductive phenomenology: Two pertinent types
There are two types of reductive phenomenology found in the work of Husser!
which are pertinent to our reflections here. The first type is in the service of
PHENOMENOLOGY 83
science, and the second is in the service of human beings. 36 What is uniquely
peculiar to the first type of reduction is that Husserl (after the manner of
Descartes) practiced a methodical suspension of belief (epoche) in the existence
of the natural world. 37 This "bracketing" of one's natural attitude towards
existence is really what any natural scientist has to do in order to put on a
totally objectivistic and neutral attitude toward the data of his research. Math-
ematicians also bracket a portion of a complex problem in order to put it "on
hold" while they work on a separate, more accessible part of the problem. The
phenomenologist practices this type of epoche in order to pursue his eidetic
analysis of the phenomena as they exist in his consciousness. 38 To the extent
that he arrives at their apodictic meaning for him he also intuits their universal
essence(s). This process, as mentioned previously, is somewhat comparable to
"abstraction" in scholasticism, and to the extent both processes aim at the
distillation of universal essences, both are in the service of abstract, theoretical
science. Unfortunately, HusserI got so involved with the constitution of his
own consciousness that he seems to have lost contact with the "bracketed"
portion of reality and to have lapsed into a variety of Kantianism. 39 To the
extent this type of reduction/abstraction was used at the Council in the pursuit
of eidetic essences, it would have been used in the larger context of scholasti-
cism which favors realism rather than idealism. (That, at least, is what Paul VI
reminded us of in Ecclesiam Suam.)
The second type of reduction, however, is far more important for under-
standing the nature of Vatican II. This type of reduction works somewhat
the opposite of the first type and consists in a methodical suspension of belief
(epoche) in all the sciences, natural or otherwise. This type of reduction - quite
disconcerting for most modern men - is a precondition for entering the life-
world which is the pre philosophical, precultural, and prescientific world given
to each man in his immediate experience.4o In the Crisis Husserl thus describes
this unfamiliar reductive process:
Clearly required before everything else is the epoche in respect to all objec-
tive sciences. This means not merely an abstraction from them, such as an
imaginary transformation, in thought, of present human existence, such
that no science appeared in the picture. What is meant is rather an epoche
of all participation in the cognitions of the objective sciences, an epoche of
any critical position-taking which is interested in their truth or falsity, even
any position on their guiding idea of an objective knowledge of the world.
In short, we carry out an epoche in regard to all objective theoretical
interests, all aims and activities belonging to us as objective scientists or
even as [ordinary] people desirous of [this kind of] knowledge. 41
84 CHAPTER 6
Once the philosopher has returned to this life-world he may then use the first
type of reduction to "understand how it is given and how it is constituted in
human consciousness so as to have meaning and on tic validity.,,42 What would
be the nature of any such life-world, and what would phenomenological analysis
of it ultimately be aiming at? David Bidney answers such questions for us thus:
The Lebenswelt may be understood as the human world posited as

existing by man and constituting the intentional field of his action. It is
the world relative to man, the kind of world he shares with other human
beings. It is the world as naturally selected by man in virtue of his interests
in a given ecological environment. The Lebenswelt comprises not only the
naturally selected environment but also the social and cultural world of
human society. The sociocultural life-world is a historic achievement of
man in a given ecological environment and varies with time and place for
different societies. Husserl is explicit on this point: "Among the objects
of the life-world we also find human beings, with all their human action
and concern, works and suffering, living in the world-horizon in their
particular social interrelations and knowing themselves to be such." [ ... J
The new science of the Lebenswelt which Husserl now envisages involves
the description and intentional analysis of the human life-world as a
phenomenon of human consciousness. The task of a scientific phenomen-
ological philosophy is ultimately the construction of a meta-anthropology
to investigate the genesis of the life-world in human consciousness, how it
is constituted, and its a priori structures in the human subject. 43
All of the above is, of course, a description of the natural life-world, of which
there are many: e.g., the Chinese, Hindu, European, etc. 44 Ultimately Husserl
hoped to build the superstructure of science on the ground common to all these
human life-worlds. In this respect he hoped to solve both the "crisis in the
sciences" and the "crisis in human beings." By their suspension of the sciences
at the Council, however, the bishops were intent on returning to their religious
life-world. Although in Catholic religious belief the natural and religious life-
worlds are correlated and complementary to one another, it is not legitimate
to interpret the religious life-world exclusively in terms of the natural life-
world. That would be a form of reductionism and would imply that in its
doctrinal constitutions (Le., Lumen Gentium and Dei verbum) Vatican II was
simply elaborating a sociology of knowledge. Rather, as John XXIII intended,
it was formulating a new "split-level" type of pastoral theology previously
unknown.
Although the bishops came from various nations and cultures, they formu-
lated their contemporary, corporate consciousness as Catholics living in a world
PHENOMENOLOGY 85
transcending their natural confines. They investigated the genesis of this religious
life-world, explained how it is given, demonstrated its constitution in the human
consciousness, and catalogued in great part the a priori structures of this cor-
porate subject. All of this creative reflection was done to achieve an enriched
comprehension of the moral meaning and on tic validity of the corporate life-
world of the Church. This ecclesial reflection on a really "transglobal" religious
life-world also formulated a blueprint for a meta-anthropology in the first two
chapters of Lumen Gentium. 4s But in order to "incarnate" this blueprint in
the diverse natural life-worlds around the globe today, the Council endorsed
the principle of acculturalization discussed previously. The religious meta-
anthropology formulated at Vatican II leads naturally into our final topic,
hermeneutic phenomenology.
Hermeneutic phenomenology
Anyone who has had an introductory course in the bible knows that hermen-
eutics is a set of reasonable guidelines for the intelligent interpretation of the
scriptures. These guidelines are based, for the most part, on sound historical
and theological studies. Martin Heidegger, preoccupied throughout much of his
life with the problem of man's existence in a puzzling universe, became con-
vinced that phenomena had additional, hidden meanings beyond those im-
mediately available to our intuitions. (Quantum physicists had been insisting
on that point since the early part of this centuryl6 Whatever the merits of the
five steps previously discussed, Heidegger saw the need for a new hermeneutic
phenomenology to interpret such hidden meanings. His own technical analysis
of human being resulted in an interpretation of man's existence as being-toward-
death.47 Via Bultmann and other scripture scholars this type of hermeneutics -
in one form or another - has made its way into Catholic religious reflection. 48
The Council's analysis of human being not merely resulted in but consciously
created a pastoral interpretation of man's existence as being-toward-Christ.
Inasmuch as Jesus proclaimed himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life (cf. In.
14:6), this is a quite understandable, and even expected, paradigm for religious
human existence. In fact, the theological doctrine of man made in the image of
God, when correlated with the scholastic notion of "obediential potency,"
virtually rules out any other Catholic paradigm for human existence. As formu-
lated by the Council, however, this new Christian hermeneutics is developed for
a turning point in human history and is tied in with the very survival of man-
kind.49
86 CHAPTER 6
A preliminary overview on the use of these techniques
The over-all conceptual thrust of Vatican II may be summed up in the phrase,

fides quaerens intellectum (Le., faith in search of understand ing). 50 The distinc-
tive feature of today's search is, however, its unique, pastoral context: the
modern crisis in human beings. At a turning point in human history, then, the
Council's work recapitulates in a corporate, if abbreviated, way not only the
creative religious undertaking of the first apostolic community awaiting the
parousia, but also the work of Husserl, particularly as his concerns came to
focus in the Crisis. There are, however, some significant differences.
In the first few centuries of the Christian era the Councils were preoccupied
with clarifying certain theoretical points of Catholic doctrine (e.g., the divinity
of Christ, the nature of the Holy Spirit, Mary as the Mother of God). As a
pastoral Council, Vatican II did not deal with such problems. In regard to
phenomenology the Council was not interested in theoretical, but applied
phenomenology.51 As theorists, the bishops and theologians may have be-
longed to different schools of phenomenology, but they were united in the
practice of a commonly understood method established in its fundamentals
by Husserl. Hence, phenomenological "theory" is taken for granted or by-
passed, and the analytical method is applied to religious, not mundane phenom-
ena as in the case of Husserl or others. Furthermore, the Council is not focused
on the object's genetic relationship to its ad intra act (noesis),52 but on new
and creative acts ad extra (praxis). The intentional isomorphism, however,
between act-essence-act, as considered by the Council, is of the same theoretical
quality achieved by Husserl in his mature phenomenological reflection. The raw
data of the phenomena to be analysed was presented by the oral and written
interventions from all the bishops on the floor of the Council. The phenom-
enological redaction of this data was done by the commissions charged with
developing the finalized documents. These commissions were effectively domin-
ated by Northern European bishops, theologians, or their sympathizers who
were favorable to the phenomenological descriptive handling of religious ideas. 53
The use of phenomenology at the Council was meant to be a conciousness-
raising process aimed at a realistic, but flexible, sense of the Church in the
modern world. This larger aim was achieved only by attending to two more
immediate purposes: first, by authentically reflecting the corporate ideas and
judgments of the bishops so as to contribute to the Council's own consensus-
building process; and secondly, by synthesizing these corporate intuitions in
such a way that they would become the intentional ground for the new attitudes,
values, and acts appropriate to Christians in today's turbulent world.
The above genetic reflective process needed three phases of development in
PHENOMENOLOGY 87
order to come to maturity. First, there was the elementary eidetic analysis of the
raw data as deriving from the bishops on the floor of the Council. This would
have necessitated the use of the epoche, if only to break out of stereotypical
scholastic thought-patterns. The dominant techniques of this early stage of
reflection would have involved dialogue, descriptive phenomenology, and the
phenomenology of appearances and of essences. 54 This formulation of "essences"
may better be called the "eidetic thematization" of doctrinal and moral truths,
in order to distinguish it from the "essences" formulated in the objectivist
manner of scholasticism. 55 Secondly, as the pastoral sensitivity of the Council
became more finely attuned, the "turn to the life-world" became more con-
sciously accepted and necessitated the suspension of all the sciences. By this
time, however, the bishops - like Husserl - were working out of a completely
teleological conception of their corporate consciousness. Up to this point the
raw data of the phenomena had been emanating from the individual religious
life-worlds as verbalized by the various bishops from around the globe. Now the
quest was on for the common ontology at the heart of all these individualized
religious life-worlds: Le., for the intentional ground of the corporate religious
life-world of the Church. Lastly, after this intentional core had been discerned as
the Glorified Christ, the vitally alive God-Man (Le., a concrete universal), there
came into play an active constitutive phenomenology which formulated a
hermeneutical construct called the People of God. This phenomenological
interpretation is an eidetic thematization of empirical a priori data (Le., religious
experiences) and correlates the Council's notion of the contemporary Church at
the level of theoretical praxis. Perhaps it would be clearer if we said the People
of God is simply religious terminology for a theoretical anthropology.
The above presentation is merely a preliminary sketch of a quite complex
process. The ideas involved and their genetic development can only become
clear within the further discussions of this essay. Now is the time to begin laying
the foundation for that fuller comprehension by studying the adjusting con-
sciousness of the Church in its own conciliar quest for a new self-understanding.
Summary
This chapter, intended for an audience with at least some generic awareness of
phenomenology, has been quite technical and is more in need of some high-
lighting rather than any attempted summary. The main purpose of the chapter
as a whole has been to introduce the reader in a general way to how the partici-
pants at Vatican II adapted the method and techniques of phenomenology to
the pastoral purposes of the Council.
88 CHAPTER 6
Three observations made in the chapter deserve a parting emphasis. (l) The
introductory paragraph formulated in a finalized way the religio-social setting
within which I view the work of the Council. The really important point made
there is that the critical challenge facing mankind is essentially a moral one. In
discussing these global issues I was also able, for the first time, to use the ad
intra/ad extra distinction in a slightly more complex way typical of the real
complexity of this distinction. (2) Perhaps the most important point reempha-
sized in this chapter is that the eidetic statements generated by phenomenology
are really a via media between subjective and objective concepts, as we typically
use that terminology. (3) Of the six steps of the phenomenological method,
discussed in this chapter, it is essential to grasp that the second type of reduction
really involves the suspension of all the sciences! In Husserl's conception of
phenomenology this is a necessary precondition for re-entering the natural life-
world with renewed vision; it presumes, of course, that this renewed vision is
shaped by a totally teleological consciousness. In the context of the Council
that teleology is orchestrated by the Glorified Christ functioning as a concrete
universal throughout all levels of the corporate Catholic consciousness.
This chapter ended with a brief summary of how the phenomenological
method was technically employed at the Council. From this point on, however,
much of our discussion will hinge on a developing awareness of constitutive
and hermeneutic phenomenology. To foster this developing awareness the next
chapter will discuss the dynamics of the ecclesial consciousness as it adjusts to
get its final pastoral focus.
NOTES
1. It should be quite apparent that I have slipped into a slightly modified usage of the
ad intra/ad extra distinction to indicate a dialectical relationship between human
beings and their external world. From this point on the reader should be alert to the
changing uses of this distinction.
2. See Mische [l977],p. 5.
3. Throughout this essay I emphasize the moral challenge. There are those, of course, who
suggest a solution almost exclusively on the basis of technological optimism. The best
example would be Fuller [1981]. Since the problems under consideration are so
complex, however, the intent of this essay is to suggest that both schools of thought
ought to be working together.
4. A concise but quite substantial resume of Husserl's ideas may be found in Aron
Gurwitsch's "The Last Work of Edmund Husser!." See Gurwitsch [1966], pp. 397-
447.
5. It is a well-known fact that Msgr. Pietro Pavan of the Lateran University composed the
encyclical on the basis of Pope John's ideas. Others later consulted were Fr. Luigi
Ciappi, O.P., the pope's official theologian; Fe. Goerge Jarlot, S.J., sociology professor
PHENOMENOLOGY 89
at the Gregorian University; and very likely Msgr. Loris Capovilla, the pope's secretary.
See Zizola [1978], pp. 12, 19-20.
6. Within the context of the Crisis Merleau-Ponty recalls Husserl's concept of the phil-
osopher which applies equally well to John XXIII as a theologian in the context of
Pacem in Terris: "The philosopher is, he says, 'working in the service of humanity,'
meaning that the philosopher is professionally bound to the task of defining and
clarifying the conditions which make humanity possible - that is, the participation
of all men in a common truth." See Natanson [1973b], Vol. 1, p. 49.
7. Methodologically speaking, the individual practice of philosophical phenomenology
does have a complex problem when it confronts the matter of intersubjectivity. See
Spiegelberg [1982], pp. 138-141; Gurwitsch [1966], pp. 432-436; and F.A. Elliston
in Elliston and McCormick [1977], pp. 213-215. In spite of the fact that the theor-
etical undergirding for the notion of intersubjectivity has not always been tidily in
place, this has not prevented phenomenologists from reflecting on the idea. This
would especially be the case for the Catholic philosopher, G. Marcel. See Spiegelberg
[1982], pp. 452-453. However, once the fact of intersubjectivity is accepted and
there is the intent to reflect on man in his "natural attitude," then the logical assump-
tions or consequences are those listed in Schutz and Luckmann [1973], p. 5, and these
provide the working-principles for reflecting on the life-world.
8. In order to concentrate on phenomenological theory and method, I have carefully
avoided discussing how individual Catholic theologians employed this type of analysis
prior to the Council. The simple listing of these theologians as provided by Farley
[1975], pp. 244-255 and John [1966], pp. 130-134, 167-168, 186, 189 are
adequate for my purposes here. However, all of these theologians were working out
of a historical background in which phenomenology was a precondition for academic
respectibility outside the narrow confines of scholasticism. On this larger background
see Pelikan [1969-1970], Vol. 2, pp. 245-309.
9. Before beginning any technical discussion I suppose I should layout my "Phenom-
enological Creed," which is essentially that formulated by Natanson [1973a], p. 190:
Underlying this study has been the conviction that Husserl's thought constitutes a
unity which has unfolded in a complex but essentially continuous fashion. For all its
inadequacies, the psychological position of Philosophie der Arithmetik contained the
seed of the position advanced in the Logical Investigations, whose critique of psychol-
ogism prepared the way for the phenomenology of the Ideas. In turn, the methodology
developed there went far beyond the propounding of technique and evolved instead
into a transcendental logic on the one hand, as developed in Formal and Transcen-
dental Logic, and a transcendental monadology on the other hand, as portrayed in
Cartesian Meditations. And with the full expression of transcendental phenomenology,
Husser! turned to his most profound theme, the search for a philosophy of the life-
world which could revitalize the meaning of history through a new critique of reason.
10. See Spiegelberg [1975], pp. 54-71. For a somewhat more detailed treatment of the
same matter see Spiegelberg [1982], pp. 681-715. Perhaps one of the best compact
introductions to most of the ideas treated in this chapter would be Peter Koestenbaum's
"Introductory Essay" in Husser! [1975], pp. IX-LXXVII. Good collateral reading
would also be provided by the article, "Toward a phenomenology of experience,"
in Spiegelberg [1975], pp. 175-179.
90 CHAPTER 6
11. See Excursus V on Anthropology under the subheading, "Vatican II's consequent
openness to phenomenological method."
12. See Excursus VI on Dialogue under the subheading, "From cautious endorsement to
real sensitivity."
13. See Latin Texts [1970-1980]. In the polemicized theological environment of the
postconciliar period there has been the beginning of some scholarly research into these
important documents. On occasion, however, such research seems to shade into some-
thing resembling apologetics. An example of this would be O'Connor [1984] , pp. 10-
21, where he provides a technical analysis of that disputed phrase, "subsists in," as
found in Lumen Gentium. See Abbott [1966], #8, p. 25. Worthy, and even necessary,
as such a technical analysis may be for pedagogical purposes, its aura of defensive
objectivism lends itself to projecting Vatican II within the confines of an ill-fitting
scholastic straight-jacket. However, once the Council is appreciated within its phenom-
enological and pastoral context, such problems are at least placed in their proper
perspective, if not solved.
14. See Excursus VI on Dialogue under the subheading, "The popes as monitors of group
dynamics."
15. The more technical aspect of this bipolar quality of the full ecclesial consciousness
will be reserved for Chapter Ten, dealing with Revelation (Dei verbum).
16. Even if we grant that the phenomenological descriptive style is the dominant method-
ology used at the Council, scholasticism is a looming presence throughout the docu-
ments: e.g., in terminology ("subsists in"), in ideas (natural law), and in ontology
(the coherence in all orders of being and at all levels). It is too simple a solution to say
that such conceptual realities should, therefore, be understood within the preconcep-
tions of Transcendental Thomism. It is a fundamental axiom of Catholic belief that
authentic reason cannot contradict authentic faith. With the employment of the
phenomenological method as the via media descriptive vehicle, the future challenge
for any critical approach to the Council's documents will be to discover how faith,
phenomenology, and scholastic realism are used in correlation for anthropocentric
purposes.
17. Our use of terminology associated with the important work of Otto [1923] is meant
to place the Council's reflective process within an historical context concerned with
the religious life-world rather than that of objective science. By which I mean that the
concept of "mystery," emphasized in the Council documents, shares a history since
the turn of the century not only with "scientific" biblical or sacramental theology,
but also with the phenomenology of religion. Another pioneer in this style of re-
flection would also be G. van der Leeuw. For his notion of "The Phenomenology
of Religion," see Leeuw [1963], Vol. 2, pp. 683-689. The seminal work of Otto and
van der Leeuw has been continued and developed in America by the academic work
of M. Eliade. (We shall return to this topic more extensively in Chapter Ten.) The type
of religious reflection and analysis demonstrated at Vatican II is comparable in quality
to the above-mentioned scholarship, but it differs in two important ways. 0) The goal
of the Council's reflection is ultimately oriented to practical, pastoral human needs.
(2) Its religious contemplation must be judged within the tradition of Christian mysti-
cism and spirituality, rather than by the Post-Kantian and Lutheran presuppositions of
Otto or by the academic neutrality implied by Eliade's comparative objectives. For the
larger European context of such a development see T. Steinmann's "Modern Mysticism,"
in Pelikan [1969-1970] , Vol. 2, pp. 392-406.
PHENOMENOWGY 91
18. No one has appreciated this point better than Natanson [1973a], p.12. who writes:
Phenomenology purports to be a "presuppositionless" philosophy. What is meant

is simply the principle that nothing can be accepted by the inquirer unless he has
scrutinized its character and implications and also recognized that it is a feature of
experience. Strictly speaking, a presuppositionless philosophy is not a philosophy
without assumptions; it is a philosophy in which assumptions are candidly admitted,
examined, and accounted for. The obligation of the phenomenologist is to be fastidious
in the inventory and analysis he makes of what is taken for granted by both common-
sense men and theoreticians as well. Major examples of philosophical presuppositions
include what Husserl calls the "general thesis" of the natural attitude: the tacit faith
ordinary men have in the reality of their world, the assumption that the shared world
of everyday life is indeed the same for all normal individuals, that whatever exists in
our world has a natural history - a causal basis - that we can reasonably expect the
world to continue in the future in much the same way it has in the past, and that
value, symbolic significance, aesthetic worth, and religious commitment are elements
of or associated with the mundane world they transcend. Such cardinal presuppositions
of experience are not denied or cancelled out. How could they be? Rather, the phenom-
enologist attempts to discern their character and to locate their limits. Once "under
control," assumptions may be appropriated for philosophical use. [Emphasis added.]
The phenomenological method at Vatican 11, as used to explicate the "general

thesis" of the natural religious attitude, discerns the character and locates the limits
of the assumptions (or "prejudices," if you will) at the heart of Catholicism. These
assumptions, now conciously "under control," are then turned not merely to theological
use, but to the far more practical purpose of human renewal.
19. See Excursus VlI, Obediential Potency, especially under the subheading, "The impli-
cations of obediential potency at the CounciL"
20. The term, "Whole Christ," derives from Mersch [1951], pp.51-53: "The Idea of the
Whole Christ." An earlier edition of this work was Mersch [1938], which may profit-
ably be compared with Vonier [1937]. Both books represent divergent trends in
ecclesiology on the verge of World War 11. At Vatican 11 both views are reconciled
within a new eschatological framework in order to achieve the pastoral and humanistic
goals of the Council. (This topic will be treated in Chapter Eight.)
21. If one grants the suspension of the sciences in Vatican II's use of the phenomenological
method, the only remaining basis for a cognitive type of religious discernment is the
connatural knowledge of the bishops. By reason of the fact that this type of knowledge
is grounded in an affective grasp of truths and values, it can have a highly charged
emotional quality if the occasion warrants it. At the Council journalists were quick
to report any indications of emotional display, particularly on the part of the Roman
Curia. See Wiltgen [1978], pp. 28-29,134. It is to be regretted that no comprehensive
psychological studies of any worth have appeared in the postconciliar period dealing
with the emotional trauma associated with the shift of the religious Gestalt endorsed
by the Council. Only the occasional sociological article alerts us to these larger prob-
lems. See Anthony and Robbins [1982] and Douglas [1982].
22. For the developmental stages of the major documents which have been the focus of
this essay see Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 1, pp. 4-7 (Liturgy); Vol. 1, pp . .106-
137 (Lumen Gentium); Vol. 3, pp. 159-166 (Dei verbum); and Vol. 5, pp. 1-76
92 CHAPTER 6
(Gaudium et Spes). The primary source to track the details of these stages of develop-
ment would be Latin Texts [1970-1980].
23. Scholasticism and phenomenology do differ in appreciable ways. For a concise intro-
duction to these differences see Spiegelberg [1982], p. 37 and footnote 19 on pp. 47-
48 (Le., how Brentano's concept of intentionality differs from Aquinas'); pp. 97 -103
(on Husser!'s conception of intentionality); pp. 95-97 (on Husserl's doctrine of
universals/essences). Spiegelberg [1981], pp. 3-26 contains an extended technical
article entitled: "'Intention' and 'Intentionality' in the Scholastics, Brentano and
Husser! (with Supplement 1979)."
24. The descriptive phenomonelogy, discussed previously, quite often represents the pre-
liminary phase leading to an intuition of essences. It is a more profound type of
analysis than the phenomenology of appearances, to be discussed shortly. As long as
Husser! remained clearly focused on his original aim of reestablishing the epistemological
foundations of science, the type of essence which he was dealing with was reasonably
clear. Such empirically grounded (Le., concrete) essences/universals are exemplified
in mathematics, logic, and the natural sciences, and they are manifested by strong
apodictic evidence. The equivalent notions in scholasticism are nuanced as "abstract"
essences/universals and provide the ground for a higher metaphysical order of being
understood analogously. The nearest Husser! would come to such an order would
be in his "transcendental logic." See Husser! [1978] or Bachelard [1968].
Husserl's non-metaphysical, concrete essences are all understood univocally, and
as empirically grounded have an ontic orientation to matter. Hence, he never speaks
of "abstracting" from matter, as a scholastic would, but in a somewhat Cartesian
manner resorts to a "reduction," which is a methodical doubt about the extra-mental
existence of such essences. The practical end-product in the area of technical science
is, however, pretty much the same, whether one is a scholastic or a phenomenologist.
Any differences between the two systems could easily be handled by some nuancing
of the meaning of the essences being discussed.
However, as Husser! expanded his research beyond the natural sciences into the
larger "regions of reality," there seems to be a certain "softening" both of his notion
of essence and the rigor required for apodictic evidence. Furthermore, these essences
as "unities of meaning" are not eternally fixed in some Platonic way, a fact seemingly
confirmed by the modern shift from a Euclidian to a non-Euclidian universe. This
theoretical problem has been extensively discussed by Levin [1970]. Whatever may be
the theoretical resolution of this difficulty, the fact remains that it had a loosening-up
effe'ct on the phenomenological movement in its outlook on essences, their tempor-
ality, and the sort of intuition whereby they are grasped. The popular writings of
Merleau-Ponty would provide a reputable example of such post-Husserlian develop-
ments, particularly on the eve of the Council. See TJ. Kisiel, "Mer~eau-Ponty on
Philosophy and Science," in Kockelmans and Kisiel [1970], pp. 251-272.
This range of interpretation relative to the meaning of essences, their temporality,
and their constitution in consciousness may be found among the phenomenologically
inclined bishops and theologians at the Council. In many cases this trend was wel-
comed as closer to the biblical outlook on reality. Certainly, this factual situation
leant itself to the methodological flexibility encouraged by John XXIII in his opening
speech at the Council. It also, however, leant itself to the Council's descriptive handling
of religious essences being equated with a merely jUnctional ontology, not one con-
strued according to classical scholastic theory or that of the later phenomenologists.
PHENOMENOLOGY 93
See Excursus I on the Life-world under the subheading, '''World' vs. life-world." (We
shall return to this topic in Chapter Eight.)
25. On the eve of the Council there appeared in 1959 B. Haring's extensive reflections on
moral theology entitled, Das Gesetz Christi. See Hiiring [1961-1966). In the Catholic
Book Reporter (Fall, 1961) pp. 17-18, R.F. Smith, S.1., said this treatise was "one
of the five or six most important books of theology produced in this century." The
book was immensely popular in Europe and presented moral theology in a new and
positive way; it breathed a certain biblical kerygma in peaceful possession of itself and
avoided the arid juridicism and casuistry of the older manuals. This book, however,
should be read in conjunction with Bourdeau and Danet (1966), esp. pp. 226-228,
where we read: "So 'The Law of Christ' owes much, and its author makes no secret
of it, to the phenomenological current, especially as found in Germany." (Emphasis
in text.) Hiiring's style of reflection represents a type of thinking which had a strong
influence on the Council. Firstly, it exemplified a constructive phenomenological
description of religious essences (e.g., virtues); secondly, it provided a popularly
received example of the methodological flexibility encouraged by Pope John; and
lastly, it projected a tone of irenicism and basic evangelical values within the Catholic
traditional heritage, such as the Council hoped to achieve.
26. According to phenomenological theory consciousness involves two correlated ele-
ments: the noema (Le., the object, eidos, essence) and the noesis (Le., the act, the
intentional experience referring to the object). Both the noema and the noesis can be
analysed by phenomenological reflection. See F.A. Olafson in Elliston and McCormick
(1977), esp. pp. 162-163. As an example of phenomenology applied in a pastoral
way the focus of the bishops at Vatican II was almost exclusively noematic (i.e., object-
oriented), as a precondition for further pastoral acts ad extra in the Church's mission
to the world. Husserl's theoretical concern with noetic acts ad intra is not manifest at
the Council, but Vatican II's choice of the phenomenological method itself displays
that the bishops were pastorally concerned about this dimension of consciousness-
formation.
27. On "free imaginative variation" see Spiegelberg (1982), pp. 700-701. Merleau-Ponty
points out that Husserl's turn to the life-world convinced him that facts go beyond
what the phenomenologist can imagine. See Natanson [1973b), Vol. 1, p. 102. A new
precedent in phenomenological theorizing was set by Sartre who made a radical distinc-
tion between perception and imagination; this partially accounts for some of the non-
cognitive features associated with the movement. See Spiegelberg [1982] , pp. 517 -519.
28. For collateral reading on this point see "A phenomenological analysis of approval," in
Spiegelberg (1975), pp. 190-214. What may be even more pertinent is that a Gestalt
interpretation of noemata (Gurwitsch) and a judgmental theory (F~llesdal) may be
discerned in the Council's procedures. See R.C. Solomon, "Husserl's Concept of the
Noema," in Elliston and McCormick (1977), pp. 168-181.
29. See Spiegelberg [1975), p. 65. This process, which may at first appear rather un-
important, is described more significantly in Spiegelberg (1982) , pp. 703-705.
30. This principle may be traced back to the era of Plato and, as endorsed by Pope Urban
VIII, became notorious as applied in the Galileo Case. See Cantore (1977) , p. 195.
31. On the controversy over the place of Mary in the Council documents see Vorgrimler
[1967-1969], Vol.l,pp.125-126, 133-135, 137.
32. This comparison is used in Spiegelberg (1975), p. 67. The parallel development in
Spiegelberg (1982), #5, pp. 706-708 should also be considered. This analogy used
94 CHAPTER 6
by Spiegelberg is a good one inasmuch as it indicates there are active and passive
aspects to constitutive phenomenology and the analogy may be applied to the discern-
ment of any "essence," even if viewed only as relational being. The analogy also implies
a certain inherent temporality to consciousness inasmuch as the full discernment takes
place only over a period of time, but this "historicity" of consciousness has its own
ordered grounding in intentionality, i.e., successive events in time ultimately reveal
an ordered pattern of some sort. What Spiegelberg's brief description does not attend
to is the possibility of a radical shift of Gestalt: this is why we allude to Copernicus in
this discussion. A shift in the Gestalt may be simply visual as in the case of Copernicus,
or it may also involve the very dynamics of the object under consideration, e.g., the
formulation of a new theory of gravity as suggested by Kepler and Newton.
33. See Einstein's remarks on this topic in Heisenberg (1971), pp. 63-64. Recall also
Paul VI's insistence in Ecclesiam Suam that the Mystical Body remain the intentional
ground of any new description of the Church.
34. See Kuhn [1957), pp. 134-184. For a post-factum phenomenological analysis of the
geocentric data see Spiegelberg [1975), pp. 104-105.
35. A shift of the visual Gestalt has been characterized by psychologist, Richard Gregory,
as "really quite frightening." See Miller [1983) , p. 50. See also Kuhn [1962) , pp. 62-
65. For some of the disturbing psychological effects on experimental subjects who
were not able to assimilate such shifts adequately, see Bruner and Postman [1949),
pp. 206-223. Maritain [1968] represents, it seems to me, an example of "theological
shock" grounded in the shift from objectivity (meaning in se) to SUbjectivity (meaning
for me) in the postconciliar period.
36. Reduction, as developed by Husser!, is far more complex than my brief presentation.
Koestenbaum in Husser! (1975), pp. LVIII-LIX lists five different types. Lauer
[1978], pp. 51-57 prefers to speak of the six levels of reduction. Carr [1974) , pp. 110-
120 speaks of a historical reduction. For practical working-purposes I prefer the
opinion of Natanson [1973a), p. 65 that the full range of phenomenological method
can be expressed by two species of reduction: i.e., eidetic and phenomenological re-
duction. The eidetic type includes the two diverse forms of reduction discussed in this
essay (plus a third type "via an analysis of intentional psychology," not discussed in
this essay).
Notable by its absence in this essay is any reference to the transcendental reduction.
In any discussion of pure phenomenology this is a key-teaching of Husser!' See Van
Breda in Elliston and McCormick (1977), pp. 124-125. Only after the eidetic re-
duction has achieved the intentional sense of the phenomena under consideration does
the transcendental reduction further reduce these meanings to subjectivity as their
"origin." However, the meaning and application of transcendental reduction is still
under some discussion and clarification even today. See Spiegelberg [1982), pp. 118-
123, 144-145,709-712. In this essay I deal with reductive phenomenology only to
the extent it has some pertinence to Vatican II's style of reflection. Inasmuch as the
Council represented a religious application of phenomenology, its "transcendental
turn" attempting to confront analogous levels of consciousness might conceivably
differ in important details from Husserl's notion which viewed consciousness as
univocal. When the eidetic reduction is being employed at the Council, the ecclesial
transcendental ego is presumed as operative, but the "transcendental turn" does not
take place until the constitution, Dei verbum (discussed in Chapter Ten). All I would
mention at this point is that the corporate contemplative focus of the Church, as
PHENOMENOLOGY 95
found in Dei verbum, effectively - albeit obliquely - achieved what Husserl viewed
as the intended purpose of the transcendental reduction: i.e., a glimpse of the tran-
scendental ego or self. At the present moment, however, this is all quite theoretical.
As a working-principle, I believe we may accept the opinion voiced by David Bidney
in Natanson [1973b), Vol. l,p.135,thatthetranscendentalreductionisnotrequired
for reflection on the life-world.
37. A good number of phenomenologists speak of the epochi! as a technique distinct from
the reduction. Lauer (1978), pp. 49-50, does this in a satisfactory way where the
reduction is seen as the ongoing application of the epoche in order to achieve sub-
jectivity in all its purity. In the Cartesian Meditations Husserl speaks of a transcen-
dental epoche, rather than reduction. See Husserl [1982), #44, p. 93.
38. This should clarify, if such is needed, Husserl's "principle of principles," mentioned
early in the first chapter of this essay. Husserl opposed his radical experience derived
from the phenomenological in tuition of essences to the positivistic empiricism of
Hume and Comte which was grounded on the immediate experience of sense data.
See David Bidney's observations in Natanson [1973b), Vol. 1, pp. 123-125; also
Spiegelberg (1982), pp. 106,109.
39. See Spiegelberg (1982), pp. 126-128, 139-141.
40. "Each life-world shows certain pervading structures or 'styles', and these invite study
by what Husserl calls an 'ontology of the life worlds.'" See Spiegelberg (1982), p. 145.
This is an extremely important idea since Lumen Gentium has provided a corporate
expression of the ecclesial ontology unifying the concrete life-worlds of the various
local churches around the world. The comparative religious studies of M. Eliade, which
culminate in an ontology of many religious life-worlds, illustrate this methodological
objective of Husser!: e.g., Eliade (1954).
41. See Husserl (1970), p. 135. Also Natanson [1973a), p. 128. On the vital importance
of this suspension see Excursus V on Anthropology under the subheading, "The
radical nature of Vatican II's reflection."
42. See D. Bidney in Natanson [1973b) , Vol. 1, p. 129.
43. See D. Bidney in Natanson [1973b), Vol. I, pp. 128-129. Emphasis added.
44. See Excursus I on the Life-world under the subheading: "Husserl's inspiration for the
life-world."
45. The meta-anthropology of Vatican II is one of the topics of Chapter Eight.
46. See Bohr's remarks on this in Heisenberg (1971), pp. 39-41.
47. See Spiegelberg (1975), p. 69, and Spiegelberg (1982), #7, pp. 392-393. Heidegger's
thought is not, it seems, compatible with classical ontology, and is only intelligible
as a "new ontology." See Landgrebe (1966), pp. 118-119, 160-161. This is not to
say that his thinking has not had a profound impact on Catholic theologians. See
Hurd [1984],pp.l05-137.
48. For one recent comment on this point see Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, "Freedom:
Response and Responsibility: The Vocation of the Biblical Scholar in the Church,"
in Eigo (1981),pp.25-52.
49. The pastoral hermeneutics of Vatican II is not necessarily identical with any biblical
hermeneutics which has a "scientific" basis in historical criticism.
50. Fides quaerens intellectum derives from St. Anselm and by reason of its centrality in
Thomism has shaped most theological thinking in the Church since the thirteenth
century. See Conley (1963), pp. 59-72. As theoretical issues in Thomism, the inten-
tional range of both "faith" and "understanding" is quite wide-ranging. See Deferrari,
96 CHAPTER 6
Barry, and McGuiness [1948], pp. 419-420 (fides) and pp. 576-580 (intellectus).
The ultimate purpose of this type of speculative theology is contemplation. See Conley
[1963], pp. 81-103. Vatican II's doctrinal penetration and kerygma, however, added
a new tonality to this long-established tradition of contemplation, which now became
oriented to the needs of the modern world and praxis. See next note.
5!. Although the Council's use of phenomenological method remains compatible with
Husserl's standard theory, particularly in its analysis of religious phenomena, its
genetic phenomenology and hermeneutics are oriented to a new type of praxis tailored
to meet the pastoral challenge formulated by John XXIII in Humanae Salutis for our
dislocated world. Thus, while remaining faithful to the contemplative tradition of
speculative theology, the pastoral thought of Vatican II suffuses this contemplative
tradition with a new humanistic gravity-shift. The theological synthesis resulting from
the Council's reflections thus lends a more realistic and down-to-earth dimension to
the contemplative tradition of theology in the modern world. See Van Ackeren [1967],
pp.44-45.
52. Theological research (e.g., Haring [1961-1966]) would have already provided exten-
sive examples of the intentional relationship between the virtues (noema) and their
constitutive acts (noesis).
53. At the Council there were two major theological blocs: Roman School Theology and
a loosely federated "Central and Northern European" group (sometimes called the
"European Alliance") united in opposition to the first bloc. See Rynne [1963] and
Wiltgen (1978), who both recognize this phenomenon, but from opposite ends of the
theological spectrum. Neither author, however, recognizes the historical context nor
the intellectual implications of this profound cultural cleavage at the Council; their
view of the Council is that of journalists, rather than theologians, historians, and
philosophers. The actual list of names elected to the conciliar commissions by the
bishops in the fust session may be found in Anderson [1962], Vol. 1, pp. 42-44; the
supplemental members added by John XXIII are also found in Anderson [1962],
Vol. 1, pp. 53-55. Once this essentially cultural grouping had occurred, it fell under
the intellectual leadership dominant in each group. For the Central and Northern
European group the accepted academic methodology was that of phenomenology.
54. It must also be presumed that these techniques must have been applied to the schemata
prepared for the first session of the Council in order to retrieve from them whatever
was of value.
55. On "thematization" in theology see Van Ackeren [1967], p. 43. On "thematization"
in phenomenology see Husserl [1978], pp. 33 sq.
97
CHAPTER 7
THE DYNAMICS OF AN ADJUSTING ECCLESIAL CONSCIOUSNESS
Paul VI vis-a-vis mankind
Toward the end of Ecclesiam Suam (#96-115) Paul VI appropriated a vision

of mankind that would soon appear in the second chapter of Lumen Gentium
to describe the Church as the People of God.! By somewhat anticipating this
imagery in his first encyclical the pope implicitly affirmed that his papal vision
and concerns were coextensive with those of the Council. In order to assure
such complementarity of outlook the pope, we must assume, used this imagery
consistently, if not identically, with the doctrinal intent of the bishops. This
observation should cause no difficulty since the Holy Father only juxtaposed
two different "inertial systems" (i.e., religion and humanity). They are correlated
only to the extent his spiritual principle of discernment projects an ad hoc
organization of religious priorities and proximities onto the concrete, empirical
data of mankind. His vision, consequently, is more a formal statement of the
papal mission and its sense of responsibility than any observation about humanity
itself. Why, then, do we dwell on this image at all? (1) For scholars it offers
a clear insight into one rather prosaic use of spiritual principles in correlation
with empirical data: mere extrinsicism. (2) But later, out of the ashes of the
same religious principles and the same data the phoenix of a new hermeneutical
phenomenology will arise in the Council's creative formulation of the People of
God.
The vision of mankind which Paul VI offers in Ecclesiam Suam is one totally
fabricated by his adjusting religious psychology. The view, however, is so remote
and spiritualized that it seems to be drifting off into a personal mystique, rather
than being any realistic reflection on empirical data. 2 One axiom of the Holy
Father's religious convictions is that no one may be excluded from the maternal
concern of the Church. 3 On this basis, the papal view of mankind, as gathered
in imagination about the Chair of Peter, sees it as falling into four concentric
groupings. 4 This demographic arrangement is purely formal and a good example
of an obvious religious projection. The outermost circle embraces all those un-
differentiated by any religious commitment. Nearer to the center are gathered
monotheists like the Jews and Moslems, and followers of the Afro-Asian religions.
Nearer still are Christians of every type, and immediately about the papal throne
are Catholics themselves. With all these groups the Church must enter into
98 CHAPTER 7
respectful and constructive dialogue. She must teach men about truth, justice,
freedom, progress, concord, civilization, and peace. The whole reflection is
dominated by the pope's overriding desire "to increase the holiness and vitality
of the Mystical Body of Christ."s All this is somewhat remote from the quest
for Christian efficacy expressed by John XXIII in Humanae Salutis.
Mystical Body vs. People of God
Paul VI resorted to such an intellectualist presentation in Ecclesium Suam for

three reasons. (1) He did not want to steal the thunder from the new insights in
Lumen Gentium about to be promulgated within four months' time. (2) While
the fundamental thrust of his encyclical was to outline his pastoral priorities, it
also allowed him to alert people to the theological workings of his own mind.
(3) Finally, the letter permitted him to highlight the centrality of the Mystical
Body of Christ as it existed in his own religious consciousness. 6 Although the
Council was about to present a new, or at least generally unfamiliar, image of
the Church as the People of God, Paul knew that the two images were meant
to complement one another. Rather than displacing the Mystical Body from its
centrality in the mystery of the Church, the Council desired to add to it a
startlingly new and unappreciated dimension. In the first chapter of Lumen
Gentium the bishops formulated their principle of spiritual discernment, not
according to the extrinsicism of Paul VI, but according to the intrinsic nature
of the life of the Church:
As all the members of the human body, though they are many, form
one body, so also are the faithful in Christ (cf. I Cor. 12: 12). [ ... J 7
All the members ought to be molded into Christ's image until He is
formed in them (cf. Gal. 4:19).8 For this reason we who have been made
like unto Him, who have died with Him and been raised up with Him, are
taken up into the mysteries of His life, until we reign together with him
(cf. Phil. 3:21; 2 Tim. 2: 11; Eph. 2:6; Col. 2: 12; etc.).9
Spiritual discernment, christo centric intentionality, and moral renewal
When someone states a principle of spiritual discernment, we should also realize

he is making at least an indirect statement about intentionality. He is, in fact,
stating some facet of the ontological presuppositions or derivatives inherent in
ECCLESIAL CONSCIOUSNESS 99
the functional image, theory, or Gestalt which decides what he can see! In this
instance we are, of course, dealing with a religious intentionality. A high per-
centage of the bishops - had they so desired - could have stated things on
the basis of a strictly philosophical intentionality. The point is, however, that
at the Council the bishops were not functioning as philosophers, but as religious
leaders and teachers. Consequently, their vision, functional image, theory,
or Gestalt was totally christocentric. This means that in the religious dimen-
sion they cannot see anything unless it possesses (in scholastic terminology)
at least an "obediential potency" to be conformed to Christ. lo The ontological
basis of this potency exists in all men inasmuch as human beings have been
created in God's image (cf. Gen. I: 26). Consequently, in all the discussion
which follows two things must always be kept in mind. (1) The God-given
paradigm for integrated humanity can only be Christ as the New Adam. (2)
Human dynamisms, whether viewed individually or corporately, can make
religious sense only when seen in correlation with Christ as the revealed model
of perfected humanity.
In this religious sense, then, the Council's documents are truly the cor-
porate Journal of a Soul for the Catholic Church. ll Unlike John XXIII's spiri-
tual diary these reflections of Vatican II were not written in a chronological
and individualistic fashion, but in a collaborative way which grouped com-
munal meanings, values, and experiences thematically. This observation in
no way implies that the conciliar documents are a compilation of mere
pietistic moralisms. In many instances there are authentic clarifications of
doctrinal issuesP However, these insights are so subsumed under the over-
whelming pastoral purposes of the Council and so entwined with descrip-
tive phenomenology that careful professional analysis by theologians is
needed to bring out their technical meanings. 13 In this quest essentially
focused on moral renewal the Church asked herself basically the same questions
which any Catholic on retreat would put to himself: "Who am I, really? What
is the meaning of my existence? What are my true values? Do these actually
shape my attitudes and conduct in everyday life? How do I intend to act for
the future in order to be more genuinely my true self? Church, what do you
say of yourself!,,14 While any responsible adult may profitably reflect on
such questions, especially in our turbulent times, the reflective process for
the Church is inevitably much more complex. Not only is she an inter-
national organization embracing many rites other than the Latin one, but
she has an intellectual and cultural history spanning almost two thousand
years. Yet, in spite of such difficulties she has pioneered in a process of
self-confrontation which faces every nation or organization in the world to-
day.
100 CHAPTER 7
Easing into the operative ecclesia1 consciousness
When Cardinal Suenens introduced the ad intra/ad extra distinction on December

4, 1962, he did so far two eminently practical reasons: first, to recall the pastoral
concerns voiced by John XXIII in his radio broadcast of September 11, 1962,
and secondly, to suggest two broad categories for organizing the crush of materials
being proposed to the Council. As things worked out, the bishops eventually
promulgated two documents on the Church: its internal nature was described
by the dogmatic constitution, Lumen Gentium, and its external relationships
with the modern world were described by the pastoral constitution, Gaudium
et Spes. In order to head off unproductive academic controversies the Cardinal
also submitted a written intervention which suggested that, when any class of
people was viewed in relationship to the Church, they should be viewed con-
cretely: i.e., in their ordinary existence as human beings and not according to
some abstract formula. 1s This accorded well with the sentiments of the vast
majority of the bishops. As pastoral leaders, they were down-to-earth men,
and this was particularly true for the missionary bishops who constituted al-
most fifty percent of the bishops at the Council. They wanted theological
reflection to have some practical relevance and benefit to the real world in
which their people lived. It was this very focus on "mundanity" which was
about to make these bishops "transcendental meditators," whether they realized
it or not.
With the negative reaction in the first session to the preparatory documents
and the scholasticism which they embodied, there simply was no group of
theologians - other than the phenomenologists - who could cope with the
flood of concrete, religious experiences (ErZebnisse) flooding into the conciliar
commissions from the pastorally minded bishops from all over the world. For
at least a generation such theologians had been pioneering theology "in a new
key" according to phenomenological thought-categories. Now, with the older
scholasticism in a minority position and, at most, only able to exercise a moder-
ating influence (especially in the person of Paul VI), these theologians were
suddenly being given a comparatively free hand. They knew that on the basis
of his individual subjectivity Husserl had formulated an academically respected
theory of the world as mine. They also knew that reflection on the ego's con-
sciousness of its being an incarnate body-subject had enabled Husserl to lay the
foundations for a transcendental intersubjectivity, a communion with human
beings as alter ego. 16 Their challenge, then, both as phenomenologists and as
Catholic theologians, was could they formulate an expression of their religious
world as ours? And could this religious world as ours evoke a vision and hope
for a new secular world as ours?
The challenge to build a new consensus
It has been mentioned previously that the interventions of the popes at the
Council were shaped by their desire to build consensus: they wanted no "winners"
or "losers," but only a renewed ecclesial community.17 Such efforts would
have been fruitless, however, if there had not been a much more profound
and ongoing effort at consensus-building permeating the work of the com-
missions throughout the Council. The phenomenologically-inclined bishops
and theologians were faced with an enormous challenge. On the one hand,
there were about twenty-five hundred bishops feeding in their concrete ex-
periences rising out of the facticity of their own religious life-worlds. How to
get some meaning out of this welter of subjective input? On the other hand,
there was the minority party looking at things "objectively" from the view-
point of the Roman School of theology: custodians of time-honored formulae
if not contemporary communication. Although phenomenology had been
elaborated by Husserl to be just such a via media between subjectivism and
objectivism, the theologians intent on a reconceptualization of religious com-
munication knew they had to honor the epistemological values of the perennial
philosophy in order to get their ideas approved. Paul VI had said as much in
Ecclesiam Suam. 18 When one imagines the span of possibilities in the use of
phenomenology, its usage at the Council is quite judicious and in the "classical"
mode pioneered by Husserl. Furthermore, such theologians had to authentically
express the bishops' corporate ideas and sentiments, since it was the bishops
on the floor of the Council who would express the final judgment by the voting
procedures used to approve or reject such documents.
Among the bishops and theologians dominant at the Council there was one
group particularly equipped to correlate scholasticism and phenomenology in
a constructive way: the Transcendental Thomists. 19 Although their beginnings
had a Kantian orientation, with time most of them had made an easy accom-
modation to the phenomenological method. Certain individual bishops like
K. Wojtyla, not particularly identified as Transcendental Thomists, had pro-
fessional degrees in both classical Thornism and phenomenology. Consequently,
so simple a thing as the ad intra/ad extra distinction could easily be read either
in terms of scholasticism's formal and material causality or phenomenology's
noesis and noema (or, to get a bit more complex, the isomorphism between
transcendental subjectivity and the natural attidude ).20 The scholastic concept
of being could quickly be transposed into the phenomenological focus on
meaning. The modality between abstraction and the various types of reduction,
although significant, was quite well understood. In all such transactions, however,
the common preoccupation with intentionality would have been the lias on
102 CHAPTER 7
between both schools of thought. Thus, the bishops and theologians on the
various commissions were enabled to transcend the barrage of facticity being
presented by the bishops from the floor of the Council and to reenter the world
of meaning, the world of intentional consciousness, and even a new world
empirically derived from and correlated with the Council's corporate transcen-
dental intersubjectivity. Their quest, somewhat like Husserl's, had been for a
new theology grounded in the empirical a priori of human experience, with a
view to shaping new attitudes toward religious and human reality.
An overview of phenomenology at work at the Council
As we move into what may be one of the more complex portions of this essay,
we must realize that we are entering the realm of pure consciousness: i.e., the
living mind at work searching for meaning in mundane facticity. Here it might
be well for us to assume the role of outside observers, much as Alfred Schutz
does when he studies some social entity. The point of the inquiry is not what
sense this field of consciousness makes to us as observers, but what sense it
makes to the people participating in this corporate process. "The axis of inquiry
is turned to the egological realm, where the meaning is defined by how the
individual interprets his own motives, plans, projects, and ultimately his own
situation. The task of the observer is to reconstruct the actor's intentions in
terms of what the actor means by his act. ,,21 It must also be understood that
the theses of philosophical phenomenology, as broadly developed by Husserl
on the basis of individual subjectivity, are taken for grantedY The method-
ology is now simply being applied corporately to religious ph,enomena. Any
such human reflection is permeated by a strong sense of temporality: Le., it
functions within a framework textured by its sense of inner time-consciousness. 23
It is, then, the peculiar sense of ecclesial time which structures the "spatial,"
or visual, horizon formulated in the major Council documents.
Possibly you may recall from Chapter Three the rather extensive remarks, in
a liturgical context, made about the bidimensional sense of time at the heart of
Catholicism. The vertical dimension represents the "eternal now" (Le., a syn-
chronic view of events), and may be called "sacramental time." In a liturgical
context this "eternal now" functions in a cyclical timeframe. The linear (or
diachonic) dimension is the teleological-historical unfolding of God's Plan,
or the divine intentionality, in mundane human events. This may be called
"eschatological time.,,24 The "spatial" horizon of the Church as the People of
God in Lumen Gentium is structured according to linear, eschatological time.
The general purpose of this document is to discern the ontological core at the
heart of the Catholic life-world which unites the individualized religious life-
worlds of the local churches throughout the world. 25 By implication this on-
tological core sets the intentional parameters for the acculturalization process
endorsed by the Council.
In Dei verbum, however, the document on revelation, there is what might
usefully be called a "transcendental turn." This allows the corporate conscious-
ness of the Church to escape from a certain "ecclesial monadology;,,26 here
the eidetic focus turns to the vertical dimension of the "eternal now" and
contemplates the unchanging realities grounding the concrete intentionalities
(noemata) existing in the ecclesial consciousness. This contemplative process
is not a left-handed form of Platonism, but a heightened effort at the phenom-
enological apperception of religious realities. By its very nature the apperceptive
process implies that the empirical data being contemplated become "trans-
figured" with intelligibility, and the Council's use of the phenomenological
procedures leading up to such an "intuition" simply means that the noemata
existing in the ecclesial consciousness are open to on-going levels of increasing
refinement and intelligibility.
The integral intentional ground of the ecclesial consciousness is the intersection-
point at which the vertical and linear horizons meet and on which these two
systems of internal time-consciousness pivot. The traditional formula of this
intentionality is established in the first chapter of Lumen Gentium where the
Mystical Body is endorsed as the ontolOgical paradigm of the ad intra spiritual
nature of the Church. 27 We can now appreciate Paul VI's emphasis on this
doctrine in his encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam.
The ad intra/ad extra distinction and dialectical isomorphism
In this world of pure consciousness the use of the ad intra/ad extra distinction
becomes a fascinating study in an interlinked, dialectical isomorphism. "The
root of this consonance," as Natanson says, "is hidden in the phenomenological
attitude, for when one is engaged in a philosophical interrogation in Husserl's
sense, he is at the same time attending to the world which men inhabit as
creatures.,,28 As mentioned previously, the most overt use of this distinction is
the correlation between Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes: i.e., the internal
nature of the Church and its external relationships with the modern world.
However, within Lumen Gentium itself the ontological intentional ground ad
intra is provided by the Mystical Body, whereas the external characteristics of
the Church as a visible society are made manifest by the People of God. It
might be well to mention here that this is simply a recasting of the functional
104 CHAPTER 7
ontology expressed by St. Augustine's imagery of the City of God. Consequently,

in the confrontation with mundanity the People of God are the ad intra ecclesial
component involved with the external secular relationships formulated in
Gaudium et Spes. Lastly, the ad intra intentional ground of the Church as
Mystical Body (or as the "listening" People of God) is correlated with its ad
extra eternal truths in Dei verbum.
This brief reflection on dialectical interrelationships (isomorphism) is pre-
sented in terms of the three major documents which this essay focuses upon.
However, once the principle is understood, it may be applied to the other
documents of the Council. By a sense of the interconnectedness of the conciliar
style of thought one may get a good sense of the living consciousness of the
Church. These notions will become clearer as they are applied in more detail
in the following chapters.
Summary
This chapter portrayed the historical consciousness of the Church on the brink
of making a serious transition in its style of thinking and expression i.e., from
the abstract, intellectualist view typified by Paul VI's scholastic objectivism to
the phenomenological focus on concrete experiences in the service of the pastoral
aims of the Council. Both views, it must be emphasized, were presented as
complementary to one another, and not set in any significant antagonism. This
mutuality of intention, if not of methodology, was a practical necessity at the
Council since Vatican II was not an academic ''think-tank'' but an enterprise in
building ecclesial community. In such a delicate process we began to appreciate
the utility of Husserl's "classical" phenomenology in comparison with other
possible types, and we became more aware that there were both scholastics and
phenomenologists at the Council who could facilitate this transition in a col-
laborative way.
Toward the end of Chapter Six we presented, in a quite gingerly way, a pre-
liminary overview of the use of phenomenological techniques at the Council.
In this chapter we again presented an overview of these techniques but as applied
in some of their complexity. Particularly important was the ecclesial awareness
of inner time-consciousness for establishing the Church's horizons both in
Lumen Gentium and Dei verbum. We also began to appreciate the ad intra/ad
extra distinction as a display of dialectical isomorphism within diverse levels
of consciousness.
Having laid these foundations, we are now ready to reflect on the first two
chapters of Lumen Gentium. Although this brief sample of the constitution
may only be a case study in metaphenomenology, the investigation will help us

to understand how the use of phenomenological techniques at the Council
resulted in a new ecclesial hermeneutics for the needs of the modern world.
NOTES
1. See Carlen (1981) , Vol. 5, pp. 154-159.

2. The Holy Father's anxieties seem to be dominated by a concern for preserving doctrinal
and moral integralism while coming to the aid of an alien and sinful world. John
XXIII's implied model of the Good Samaritan acquires a cautionary tonality at the
hands of Paul VI: "A physician who realizes the danger of disease, protects himself
and others from it, but at the same time he strives to cure those who have contracted
it." See Carlen (1981), Vol. 5, #63, p. 149.
3. See Carlen (1981), Vol. 5, #94, p. 154.
4. See Carlen [1981], Vol. 5, #96-115, pp. 154-159. The Latin phrase is: "quasi
orbes circum centrum ductos." Acta Apostolicae Sedis 56:10 (Aug. 20, 1964) 650.
See Carlen (1981), Vol. 5, #96, p. 154. This accounts for the cautionary and prosaic
nature of Paul's imagery: it remains a psychological projection. Had the Holy Father
said: "quasi orbes jinientes circum centrum ductos," then he would have been speaking
explicitly about concentric "horizons." This would have moved the pope's imagery
from the realm of the psychological into that of phenomenology . Inasmuch as Ecclesiam
Suam is primarily a policy statement regarding his pontificate, Paul VI felt it more
appropriate to leave such doctrinal nuancing to the dogmatic constitution, Lumen
Gentium, about to be promulgated by the Council. Consequently, the "circles of
dialogue," mentioned in the encyclical, reflect at most Paul VI's religious attitudes
and his readiness to engage in the exacting task of dialogue required by the modern
global situation. See Wojtyla (1979), p. 29. Had the Holy Father explicitly chosen to
use the word, "horizon," rather than "circle," a whole new tonality would then have
permeated his reflection on mankind:
[ ... ) the horizon cuts across the distinctions of inside-outside - belonging to man,
exterior to man. In the horizon, exteriority merges with interiority; man merges with
the world .... The horizon is the translation of man into the world.
[ ... ) it is his world, the human world, the inhabited world. It is not in the division of
scientific concepts that man becomes aware of his participation in the image of the
world but in the unity of lived experience. Man lives in the horizon, the horizon is
himself, the horizon is the world, the horizon reflects back to him the human world,
namely the world as visible in the beam of human reflection.
See Van Peursen in Elliston and McCormick (1977), p. 185. In Lumen Gentium the
transition has been made to the religious horizon, the religious /ife·world. By Paul VI's
very delicate handling of this whole matter the Holy Father is allowing the Council
to introduce to the world its own innovative style of phenomenological reflection.
In the course of our reflections Paul VI's insistence on the centrality of the Mystical
Body will be integrated into the Council's over-all methodology.
106 CHAPTER 7
5. See Carlen [1981], Vol. 5, #116, p. 159. This is the same objective which Paul VI
associated with the renewal program as a whole. See Carlen [1981], Vol. 5, #44,
p. 144: " ... with a view to infusing fresh spiritual vigor into Christ's Mystical Body
considered as a visible society."
6. Inasmuch as the pattern of papal intervention at the Council was strongly influenced
by the desire to build consensus (cf. Chapter Six, note 14), it would have been totally
out of character and contrary to his pastoral role for Paul VI's first encyclical to have
emphasized the Mystical Body if the Council's formulary of the People of God, soon
to be promulgated in Lumen Gentium, were somehow at variance with this time-
honored doctrine. As the voice of the Catholic consciousness, Paul VI seems to be
equating Mystical Body with ontology, and thus leaves the way open for People of
God to suggest "visible society." In scholastic terminology this is the form/matter
relationship. In phenomenological terms, however, this is an ontic statement of the
intentional ground of the ecc1esial consciousness (ego) about to reflect on itself as an
incarnate body-subject (Leib). See F.A. Elliston in Elliston and McCormick [1977],
p.219.
7. See Abbott [1966],#7,p.120.
8. This totally christocentric axiom expresses the teleology and hierarchial ontology
inherent in the faith-relationship, both at the level of individual consciousness and at
the corporate level of the Church as a spiritual society. It is this type of axiom, in-
accessible by way of any scientific method, which is the bedrock of the conciliar style
of reflection. From this point on, consequently, this essay will accept as a working-
principle that the phenomenological suspension of the sciences has taken place at the
Council and that the bishops are working within the ambit of their religious life-world.
In the course of this essay, however, we will point out additional instances where the
suspension of the sciences is operative, but our argument can only be cumulative and
not demonstrative. See also Excursus I on the Life-World under the sub-heading,
"The practical character of the religious life-world."
9. See Abbott [1966], #7, p. 21.
10. See Excursus VII on Obediential Potency.
11. This reference to John XXIII's Journal, while useful to get the pevsonalistic, spiritual
"flavor" of the Council's style of reflection is really not adequate to the religio-cultural
scope of its renewal program. A more apt comparison would be to see it in relation-
ship to the type of theological recasting which took place during the Deuteronomic
Reform in the Old Testament. See Anderson [1966] in his Subject Index under the
listings for "Deuteronomic," p. 581. Another comparison, more apt to convey the
cultural implications of this adaptation, would be early Christianity's recasting of the
narrowly Jewish framework of the Good News to meet the needs of the Graeco-Roman
world. Such analogies, drawn from the past, are useful - provided that we appreciate
the renewal program of Vatican II as oriented to the fUture at a unique moment in
human history.
12. Two of the more obvious instances of doctrinal development would be in the area of
collegiality and religious freedom. The Council's formulation of these two issues, while
authentic, is non-formal and non-technical. This point becomes particularly clear if
we recall that the vehicle for expressing integral doctrine since the Council of Trent,
at least, has been the objectivist and realistic thought-categories of scholasticism.
Just before the final vote on Lumen Gentium formal and technical issues were inter-
jected into the Council in an extrinsic way by certain "Announcements" by the
Secretary General. See Abbott [1966], pp. 97 -1 01, and 1. Ratzinger, "Announce-
ments and Prefatory Notes of Explanation," in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 1,
pp. 297-305. In the case of religious freedom, furthermore, it remains to the theologians
to work out the technical details of the development from the Syllabus of Errors
(1864) to Dignitatis Humanae Personae (1965). See J.C. Murray in Abbott [1966],
p. 673. By "development" I mean a teleological-historical comprehension of change,
as Husserl employed that terminology. Wojtyla [1979], p. 23, makes an interesting
use of the ad intra/ad extra dialectical reading of the Council's documents on this very
point of religious freedom.
13. See Excursus IX on Interpretation under the subheading, "The interpretation of
Council documents."
14. "Rogamus ergo ab Ecclesia: Quid dicis de teipsa?" Cardinal Suenens, December 4,1962,
in Latin Texts [1970-1980], Vol. 1, pars iv, p. 223. This question plays a key-role in
Wojtyla [1979], p. 35 sq. on "The Consciousness of the Church as the main foundation
of Conciliar initiation." In the phenomenological context of Vatican II Cardinal
Suenen's question may be rephrased: "Ecclesia, quid cogitas de teipsa?" The Council's
documents are meant, of course, to provide us with an insight into this corporate, living
thought-process. We shall return to this question again in Chapters Nine and Ten.
15. For the exact quotation see Excursus III, "Concrete Human Relationships and Cardinal
Suenens."
16. See Natanson [1973a], pp. 99-101. Carr [1974], pp. 82-109 devotes a whole chapter
to Husserl's concept of intersubjectivity. Its discussion of the social dimension of the
individual consciousness, as transcendental subjectivity, makes fine background reading
for the work of Vatican II. For an intentional analysis of Alter Ego see F.A. Elliston
in Elliston and McCormick [1977], pp. 215-217.
17. See Excursus VI on Dialogue under the subheading, "The popes as monitors of group
dynamics."
18. See Carlen [1981], Vol. 5, #28, p. 140 and #47-49, pp. 145-146.
19. See Muck [1968] for a comprehensive study of Transcendental Thomism.
20. See Natanson [1973a] ,p. 185.
21. See Natanson 1973a] ,p. 112.
22. If a person knows what the phenomenological method is, he need not agree with some
theoretical interpretation of it in order to use it responsibly. This was very much the
case with Alfred Schutz. See Schutz [1962-1976], Vol. 3, esp. pp. 82-84. This was
very much the case of the Northern European bishops/theologians at the Council.
Such men tend to be high-level theoreticians whose reflection is grounded in Kant,
Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, or some such philosophical theorist. I
suspect such thinkers would be uncomfortable with Schutz's orientation to the Iife-
world and would be exercising a counter-force to set such ideas into a larger theoretical
context, which really militates against the pastoral nature of Vatican II. Hence, my
own solicitude to try to stay anchored in Husserl's common-ground methodology while
discussing the Council's phenomenological style of reflection.
23. On inner time~onsciousness in phenomenological reflection see Natanson [1973a],
pp. 96, 116 and esp. pp. 137-138. See also J.B. Brough, "The Emergence of an
Absolute Consciousness in Husserl's Early Writings on Time-Consciousness," in Elliston
and McCormick [1977], pp. 83-100, but esp. pp. 96-97, where Husserl's use of the
"vertical" and "horizontal" intentionalities of consciousness are discussed. These
ideas may be usefully compared with our Excursus II on Sacramental Time.
108 CHAPTER 7
24. For the connection between eschatology and modern revolutionary movements, see
Excursus VI on Dialogue under the subheading, "Dialogue in the context of es-
chatology."
25. On the "ontological core" (or general structures) of the life-world see Husserl [1970],
p. 139. See also D. Carr in Elliston and McCormick [1977], p. 208. The recovery of
this core common to all life-worlds is, in principle, the presupposition for the phil-
osophical renewal of the natural sciences. See D. Carr in Elliston and McCormick
[1977], pp. 206-209. Presumably the work of Vatican II regarding the religious
life-world had much the same goal in mind for the "science" of theology. But more
is implied. In the life-world, which this book views as the multi-layered workings
of a bipolar consciousness, all the sciences - natural, human, philosophical, and
theological - have their originary matrix. In this enlarged view of the life-world, both
religious and natural, we have the "ecumenical" common-ground for humanity's
dialogue.
26. It is well-known that Hussed's doctrine of the transcendental ego seems to involve
a certain type of monadology. This topic is discussed by Ludwig Landgrebe's "Phenom-
enology as Transcendental Theory of History," in Elliston and McCormick [1977],
esp. pp. 104-105, 109-110. The ahistorical type of phenomenological reflection
found in Lumen Gentium represents the Church as transcendental (corporate) Ego
in its living self-presence contemplating itself as incarnate body-subject. The inter-
subjectivity involved is totally internal to the Church itself. This expression of cor-
porate monadology means the Church is focused on her own "eidetic essence" to the
exclusion of all other religions. The "transcendental turn" involved in Dei verbum,
the document on revelation, has the utility of drawing the Church out of such "self-
centeredness" and placing her immediately before God and His message to mankind.
This is the common-ground which the Church shares with all Christians and, to a lesser
degree, with Jews and Moslems. At any event, the Church's eidetic analysis at this
level lays out for all men to see the ontological core of the revealed essences as they
exist in her contemporary consciousness. If you prefer, you can also say this is a
public statement of her "prejudices," but I am using the term within the context
provided by Carr [1974], p. 282 under "Prejudice(s)." Unlike t1\e ontological end-
product achieved, for example, by an Eliade whose eidetic analysis of an individual
religion is an external, individual application of phenomenological method, the on-
tology produced by the ecclesial analysis is the result of an internal, corporate appli-
cation of the methodology. (We shall return to the topic of ecclesial monadology
under the rubric of "ecclesio-monism" in Chapter Ten dealing with Dei verbum.)
27. See Abbott [1966], #7-8, pp. 20-24.
28. See Natanson [1973a] ,p.119.
PART III
THE FINAL ACHIEVEMENT

111
CHAPTER 8
THE NEW ECCLESIAL HERMENEUTICS
The Mystical Body and the consciousness of Vatican II
The first thing we must realize is that the religious life-world presented by
Lumen Gentium could not have surfaced without an adroit use of reductive
phenomenology: a double epoche at first, and ultimately a third one.! As men-
tioned previously, in Lumen Gentium the ad intra view of the contemporary
ecclesial consciousness (which totally transcends mundane temporality) "brackets"
or completely abstracts from the concrete details of human existence ad extra,
as treated in Gaudium et Spes (i.e., "The Church in the Modern World"). The
first epoche, then, is a suspension of belief in the existence or reality of the
secular, social world. The second epoche is a bit more complex. After positing
the Mystical Body as the intentional ground of the ecc1esial consciousness in
the first chapter of Lumen Gentium, the bishops "turn their backs" to this
source of spiritual illumination in order to reflect on concrete, religious human
experiences in today's world. 2 Although they never return to this religious
conceptualization in any extended way, it remains the intentional, objective
focal-point around which all the doctrinal reflections of the Council pivot.
To illustrate this assertion in a rapid but summary way, we may say that Dei
verbum displays the "mystical" dimensions of the ecc1esial consciousness where-
as the People of God in Lumen Gentium display the Church's concrete "body-
awareness.,,3
It is important at this point to nuance what we mean by the ecclesial con-
sciousness. Normally when the above epoche is performed, it is but a preliminary
step toward the technical eidetic analysis of the phenomena thus reduced and,
ultimately, toward Husserl's transcendental reduction. This type of analysis
never took place at Vatican II since it was a pastoral, not a dogmatic council
like Vatican I. While such a technical, phenomenological enterprise remains a
theoretical possibility for some future council, it did not take place at Vatican
II. Rather, both of the above-mentioned epoches, especially that allowing the
bishops to suspend their technical christo centric focus, faciliated an "anthro-
pocentric turn" whereby the bishops and their theological assistants could
reflect on their own concrete human experiences in the Catholic way of life. 4
Such experiences remained the concrete a priori ground throughout all the
conciliar reflections; consequently the resulting doctrinal formulas of Vatican
112 CHAPTER 8
II are non-formal thematizations derived from the meaningful thought-patterns

of the living ecclesial consciousness. This entry, however, into what can only be
the Catholic life-world necessitated that third use of reductive phenomenology,
the suspension of all the sciences. Even in Dei verbum (which gives a first im-
pression of a new "theocentric turn" implying a different basis for the eidetic
analysis being conducted) the empirical a priori still remains concrete human
and religious experiences as manifesting the contemporary thought-patterns
of the Catholic life-world.
The Mystical Body and the phenomenology of the natural attitude
The result of all this on the religious plane is an approach to intersubjective

phenomena comparable to Alfred Schutz's at the natural level: i.e., a phenom-
enology of the natural attitude. s For sociological purposes Schutz analysed the
"taken for granted" routines and the "typifications" of daily life because these
contained the meaning-structures for the whole range of membership in any
society: Le., from ordinary men to philosophers and scientists. For pastoral
purposes the bishops at Vatican II employed a phenomenology of their own
"natural" (religious) attitudes to discover the meaning-structures which reflect
the moral values of Christ and unite Catholics in their own quest for authentic
religious and human values. To interpret such procedures as a "sociology of
religious knowledge,,6 or possibly some variation of a "psychology of religion"
would be to fall into a crass form of scientific reductionism. In their practice
of the phenomenology of the natural attitude the bishops obviously employed
descriptive and eidetic phenomenology, as well as the phenomenology of ap-
pearances, in order to analyse their experiences. More importantly, however,
the thematization of these experiences in the corporate ecclesial consciousness
(e.g., as the People of God, collegiality, religious freedom, etc.) is the product
of a constitutive phenomenology.7 Lastly, the use of hermeneutical phenom-
enology will become apparent when we explain the humanistic dimensions of
the People of God towards the end of this chapter.
In such a radically different mode of theologizing what guarantees the in-
tentional consistency of the new formulas with the doctrine of the past? This
problem, as you may recall, was latent in John XXIII's opening speech at the
Council. There he insisted on doctrinal integralism, but largely ignored the
fact that for at least six hundred years such doctrines had been understood
and developed according to the objectivism of scholasticism. This problem
is answered in the first chapter of Lumen Gentium where the bishops posit
the doctrine of the Mystical Body as then-understood (Le., within the scholastic
NEW ECCLESIAL HERMENEUTICS 113
tradition) and as the quasi-metaphysical and formal ground of their reflection. 8

This makes clear why Paul VI insisted on the centrality of the Mystical Body in
his encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam, just a few months before the Council was about
to project a new image of the Church as the People of God. In Husserlian terms,
however, the Mystical Body would be functioning here as the equivalent of a
general essence (universal) apodictically known in the abstract terms of pure
phenomenology; however, as something approximating a formula of theoretical
mathematics, it need not be seen as having any great orientation to the world of
praxis. 9 This observation should become clearer as this chapter developes.
In undertaking this new approach to religious truth, then, the bishops were,
in effect, saying that their anticipated development of doctrine would be, if not
identical, at least consistent with this previously established heritage. From a
religious point of view the supreme integrating factor, or "vital balance," in such
a delicate reflective process dealing with serious religious matters would be the
guidance of the Holy Spirit. From a phenomenological point of view the onto-
logical consistency would be found in the to-be-expected isomorphism between
the transcendentally reduced world (speculative order) and the world of the
natural attitude (practical order) and, furthermore, the teleological-historical
consciousness of an intersubjective community reflecting on its own life and
heritage. However, any thematization of experiential reality, which attempts
to correlate with a highly abstract, quasi-metaphysical and formal ontology,
must content itself to be categorized as afunctional ontology.1O
Functional ontology and the theoretical order
The idea of a functional ontology has application in both the speculative and
practical orders, although in the context of the religio-cultural issues we are
ultimately concerned with, the practical order is by far the more important. We
are familiar with the idea, if not terminology, of a functional ontology in the
speculative order today largely from the theoretical studies having to do with
gravity, the all-pervasive materialistic force governing bodies above the atomic
level. Currently the workings of gravity are interpreted within two diverse
systems of meanings (Le., ontologies): Newton's Laws based on an absolute
space and time, and Einstein's General Relativity Theory based on a relativity
of space and time. Even though Einstein acknowledges a certain isomorphism
between the two systems by his "principle of equivalence," we know that these
two systems of interpretive meaning, while functionally equivalent in most
cases of ordinary observation, have profound speculative differences shaping
men's approaches and attitudes toward reality. Perhaps the following statement
114 CHAPTER 8
by Nobel Prize-winner, Charles H. Townes, will assist us to see the implications

of this purely speculative problem in a fuller light:
Galileo espoused the cause of Copernicus' theory of the solar system,
and at great personal cost because of the Church's opposition. We know
today that the question on which Galileo took his stand, the correctness
of the idea that the earth rotates around the sun rather than the sun
around the earth, is largely an unnecessary question. The two descriptions
are equivalent, according to general relativity, although the first is simpler.11
If in the first chapter of Lumen Gentium the Council posits as its intentional
ground the Mystical Body substantially as understood within the heritage of
scholastic objectivism but immediately goes on to a phenomenology of the
natural attitude which analyses human experiences and thereby develops a great
meta-anthropology commensurate with the needs of modern men, then the
speculative being, (or coherence of meaning) of this unexpected and radical
about-face is in the relation, Le., in the correlation of the intentional ground
with the system of religious meanings derived from the individual experiences of
the bishops participating in the CounciL (Such a relation would approximate
what Thomists call an "analogy of proportionality.") Vatican II, then, is a
religious affirmation of HusserI's own belief in a comprehensive isomorphism
permeating all levels of reality, from the most speculative to the everyday
existence of the life-world. This belief in ordered meaning is the mainspring
activating the pursuit of modern science. In this sense the religious reflection of
the Church, like the philosophical work of Husserl, intends to be a positive and
constructive force in this common enterprise of mankind. As this speculative
pursuit of truth in science calls for the contributions of our finest theoretical
minds, so also does the modern theological reflection of the Church.
Functional ontology and praxis
The faith-affirmation of a profound isomorphism pervading all levels of exis-

tence has profound practical implications since John XXIII set the unity of
mankind as one of the major pastoral goals of the Council. 12 The normal de-
velopment of the empirical sciences today goes from concrete experiences to
abstract theory, and the modern tendency to theologize on the basis of a con-
crete situation relates to this pattern. If such theologizing is not done with
competence, then the whole affirmation of an undergirding theoretical iso-
morphism is thrown in jeopardy along with John's pastoral goal of working for
the unity of mankind. In order to understand more clearly what is involved here,
let us postulate by way of example that our total experience of reality is shaped
by the inertial system of a Newtonian universe. We can further simplify this
universe by saying that its total ontology is summed up by Newton's Second
Law of Motion (f = ma). This law formulates the necessary and ordered inter-
working of the three abstract, but empirically derived "essences" (Le., force,
mass, and acceleration) discerned in the changes of our universe. But it becomes
extremely difficult to recognize this law as it actually functions in specific and
concrete instances of physics. As Thomas S. Kuhn remarks:
[... J For the case of free fall, f = ma becomes mg = m( d2 s/de); for

the simple pendulum it is transformed to mg sin 8 = ml(d 2 8/dt 2 ); for a
pair of interacting harmonic oscillators it becomes two equations, the first
of which may be written ml(d 2 sddt 2) + k 1 s1 = k 2(s2 - SI + d); and for
more complex situations, such as the gyroscope, it takes still other forms,
the family resemblance of which to f = ma is still harder to discover .13
In no way is it important to comprehend the mathematical complexities of

these formulae; their mere visual presentation conveys a sense of the general
law's intricate applications under normal (Le., controlled) circumstances. (The
theorem for free fall does not, for example, illustrate a person's "free fall" down
a long flight of stairs!) Only a reasonably well-trained mind can possibly recognize
the isomorphism between all these theorems and their general law. In any
adaptation to a totally new mode of conceptualization, such as the General
Theory of Relativity, the task of reinterpreting these theorems would, of
necessity, have to be entrusted to competently trained specialists. The theorems,
which we have been discussing, may serve as broad analogues for the pastoral
process as intended by Vatican II. In this case the formula, f = ma, could be
transposed roughly into the religious and human needs of a given populace
correlated with its size and the rate of social change. Presumably, the application
of any such hypothetical formula for a Third World nation would be somewhat
"simpler" than that for a highly complex First World nation.
The point of the above analogy, however, is that the mind of Vatican II
requires that in their pastoral adaptations all the individual units of whatever
place or culture actively seek that common isomorphism uniting them both as
human beings and as Catholics. That active pursuit of religious and human
commonality in the midst of everyday existence was demonstrated at the
Council by the bishops when they "gestated" out of their own individual ex-
periences the notion of the People of God. With time the pastoral adaptations
of the local churches are expected to become, even in their global diversity,
intelligible exemplifications of the christo centric ontology grounded in the
116 CHAPTER 8
Mystical Body and thereby contribute to the unity of mankind. Any particu-
larized involution into an isolated or centrifugal type of pastoral development
would be a serious departure from the authentic program of renewal endorsed
by the Council. In the analysis and evaluation of such complex changes, particu-
larly those occasioned by the new phenomenological style of reflection, the
role - and I would emphasize the corporate role - of the theological specialist
is apparent.
Functional ontology as dialectical isomorphism
Although the Mystical Body is posited in the first chapter of Lumen Gentium
as the ontological ground of the Church, the term itself labors under the fact
that it is the product of the tradition of scholastic objectivism. This term,
"Mystical Body" - somewhat like "paschal mystery" - represents the mind's
tendency to reify what is really rooted in the living and the human. Actually,
the primary analogue for both of the above terms is the Glorified Christ.
Ratzinger has well summed up the most elemental "Catholic prejudice" by
expressing the meaning for us of the Glorified Christ to be the Logos-Shepherd. 14
If you can tolerate another mechanistic analogy, the Logos-Shepherd represents
the primordial paradigm for divinity and humanity functioning as "a pair of
interacting harmonic oscillators." This dual dimension of the Glorified Christ,
much like Newton's Second Law used in the discussion previously, provides the
ultimate ontological rationale for any man-made formulas in the Catholic
religion and any dynamic relationships which these formulas are intended to
symbolize. Once we recognize these points the complex analogical relationships
within the dogmatic constitution on the Church may be expressed in a quasi-
mathematical formula based on the ad intra/ad extra distinction:
(ad intra), LOGOS Mystical Body: Lumen: soul:form
(ad extra) SHEPHERD People of God:Gentium:body:matter
The scholastic connection
Having dwelt at some length on the phenomenological context of the above

formula, perhaps some time may be given to its correlation with scholasticism.
The first chapter of Lumen Gentium on "The Mystery of the Church" is a
speculative overview of the ad intra functional ontology of the Church viewed
primarily as the Mystical Body of Christ. A scholastic theologian would say this
chapter presents the formal principles constituting the Church. The second
chapter on "The People of God" is a speculative presentation of the ad extra
functional ontology of the Church as a visible, empirical entity. A scholastic
theologian would say this chapter presents the material principles constituting
the Church. We can inject a little "life" into the scholastic terminology above
by expressing the same relationships by the soul/body correlation, which is more
expressive of the phenomenological sense. 1S Here the People of God would be
appreciated as the becoming of the ecclesial world in its transcendental con-
sciousness.
Although the above two chapters provide a conveniently separate description
of the ad intra/ad extra dimensions of the Church, this disjunction is unnatural
for two reasons. (1) The ontological analogy on which the whole reflection of
Lumen Gentium is based is the Incarnation of Christ, not as the Christ of mun-
dane temporality, but the Risen Christ everlastingly present to his members
as the Logos-Shepherd. 16 (2) Like the human soul and body in their normal
state the formal and material principles of the Church cannot exist in isolation
from one another. When they are unified, then the operative scholastic principle
is: causae sunt causae ad invicem sed in diverso ordine. This may be rendered
somewhat freely as: "When any set of compatible causes is joined in a dynamic
interrelationship, they function as 'interacting harmonic oscillators' according
to the principles proper to their respective causalities."
Blueprint for the new servant leaders of mankind
Although the first two chapters of Lumen Gentium present an ahistorical,

transcendent, and theoretical view of the Church, a scholastic theoretician
would be inclined to evaluate this new ecclesial paradigm as a rather low-level
type of theologizing. It hardly represents the much more sublime and compre-
hensive theology deriving from the centrality of the Holy Trinity in Catholic
thought. 17 The primary religious analogue for communio itself is to be found
in the family-life of God, the relationship of mutual love between Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. 18 The fundamentals of such a theology are, of course, present
in the documents of the Council, but they are so oriented to the pastoral objec-
tives of the Council that theology seems to be playing "second fiddle" to social
utility. This criticism has some academic merit to it, until one realizes that the
Church is not theologizing during some High Renaissance of Christian civiliz-
ation but on the brink of a New Dark Ages.
For important historical and pastoral reasons, therefore, the bishops embarked
on this down-to-earth style of theologizing. They had a crucial design-project
118 CHAPTER 8
in mind: to reinvent the business of the Church, to reinvent evangelization. 19

No modern corporation engages in such a complex undertaking unless its very
survival is at stake or enormous pressures are being brought to bear for change.
Jonathan Schell, however, has pointed out that today's global problems are so
massive that we must reinvent politics, reinvent the world. 2o John XXIII en-
dorsed substantially the same view in Humanae Salutis, his radio broadcast of
September 11, 1962, and his encyclical, Pacem in Terris. Remedying the "crisis
in human beings" was for John XXIII the ultimate practical goal of the Council.
In reinventing the business of the Church the bishops were simply responding
to this larger global challenge. By formulating their notion of the People of God
the bishops were providing us with a blueprint of the moral qualities men and
women would have to cultivate if they were to measure up to these global
challenges and become the new servant leaders of mankind. 21 The only way
we can begin to appreciate what is involved here is to recall the historical circum-
stances giving rise to this new religious idea.
Vonier and the People of God
The concept of the People of God was introduced to American readers in 1937
by Dom Anscar Vonier, O.S.B., an eminently respected writer on things spiritual
and theological. 22 At that time, as you may recall, vitalistic thinking on the
nature of the Church was on the increase, at least in Northern Europe. Some of
this was due to the revival of historical studies inspired by German Romanticism,
and some of it was due to an anti-scientific, non-cognitive outlook which had
developed out of the disillusionment following World War I. In 1943 Pius XII
rather discriminatingly chose the best fruits of this type of religious speculation
and incorporated them into his great encyclical on the Mystical Body.23 Although
the pope hoped in this way to bring some of the more romanticized tendencies
of this vitalistic mindstyle under control, he was not totally successful. In less
than a decade he had to return to some new aspects of vitalism in his encyclical,
Humani Generis.24
Although Vonier appreciated the validity of this vitalistic trend in ecclesiology,
his pragmatic British sensibilities made him uncomfortable with it. One gets the
distinct impression that, in spite of the vaunted biblical, liturgical, and keryg-
matic renewal then taking place in Europe. Vonier felt a large area of religious
dynamics was being left untapped. 25 In his ominous era he saw the Mystical
Body as a highly spiritualized image of the Church which offered Christians an
easy refuge from pressing tasks at hand. All the militant historical forces of that
day - Nazism, Fascism, Communism - were intent on shaping a people and the
solidarity associated with corporate, communal action. Laicism and secularism

were also intent on blocking Christians from exercising any effective social
influence. In such an environment Vonier recognized in the rich biblical notion
of the People of God a theological concept which, as a paradigm of the Church,
would assist in eliciting the psycho-social implications of the moral values
portrayed by the Mystical Body of Christ. In this way he hoped to develop an
ecclesial countercultural force which, with time, would begin to mitigate the
dominant secular and political trends of that day.26 At the Second Vatican
Council the bishops appropriated Vonier's theological paradigm of the Church
to describe in a theoretical, yet applied way the ad extra, material, corporate,
and empirical aspects of the Church.
The bishops' use of the People of God
Vonier's discomfort with an over-spiritualized understanding of the Mystical

Body can, of course, have its parallel today with an "over-liturgized" under-
standing of the People of God. At Vatican II, however, the bishops were quite
faithful to Vonier's original purpose for this imagery when they turned to reflect
on the "flesh and blood" dimensions of the Church: i.e., the meaning for them
of concrete humanity'S ordering to God. This "sense" of their religious life-
world began to take the form of three ecclesiocentric "horizons" correlating
Catholics, Christians, and all the unbaptized. 27 (Paul VI, as you may recall,
used a somewhat comparable imagery in Ecclesiam Suam. )28 Now, however,
the bishops' principle of spiritual discernment (or eidetic analysis) is quite
different. Although verbalized in an extrinsic way as God's universal call to
salvation,29 their new vision of humanity is really grounded on mankind's
intrinsic ontological ordering, as created in God's image, to be one with the
People of God. 3o With Christ, as mankind's God-given Redeemer and Head
of the Mystical Body, providing their functional image, theory, or gestalt
the bishops can only see all the wholesome human dynamisms which have an
obediential potency to be conformed to Christ. This fusion of the formal and
material elements found in the first two chapters of Lumen Gentium results in
a vision of the corporate New Adam fresh from the hands of his Creator and
made in the image and likeness of GOd. 31
The new religio-social hierophany
What is really being projected here is a flowering of mysticism and phenom-

enology. It is a NEW VISION ON MOUNT TABOR (cf. Lk. 9:28-35): humanity
120 CHAPTER 8
transfigured in the image of Christ and hearing God say, "This is my Son, my
Be10ved.,,32 (Cf. Mt. 3: 17) Here are all the wholesome human dynamisms of
the twentieth century resplendent with divinity! In a sense, this is mankind's
NEW PENTECOST. Every man can hear this Word of God in his own laguage,
and the message of the Good News reveals men to themselves. If the cosmo-
theandric scale of the People of God constitutes the measure of the human
phenomenon under consideration, then we are being presented here with a
"total and creative hermeneutics" for a NEW HUMANITY! The Gothic cathedral
has been superseded as the metaphysical expression of man's upward striving
for God. Pope John's awareness of a new humanistic anthropogony being under
development in our era has been appropriated by the Church and clarified. As a
product of religious contemplation this is a synchronic vision of man in the
"eternal now;" as a product of phenomenology related to diachronic tempor-
ality it is an eschatological vision. On the basis of this new hermeneutics of the
Spiritual Man, who once created that civilization known as Christendom, the
Church is now intent on constructing the Cathedral of the New Humanity -
working not with stained glass and hewn stone, but now devising those fabulous
plans whereby the dwelling-place of God may be shored up and beautified by
the flying-buttresses and living stones of modern humanity's wholesome dyna-
misms.
The esthetic impact of this vision
This is a very compelling esthetic experience for any religiously-minded person

placed in immediate intuitive relationship with this innovative vision. As St.
Augustine once remarked about a comparable experience: "Thou didst breathe
fragrance upon me, and I drew in my breath and do now pant for Thee.,,33
Such an experience, in one or another degree, is generally available to religious
people seriously reflecting on the Council's teachings since this is the very area
where connatural knowledge most properly functions. By this sort of affective
intuition, then, the notion of the People of God may be almost instantaneously
"comprehended" by religiously sensitive souls, and in an obscure but powerful
way its further humanistic implications can be appropriated by the felt-experience
of their whole being. For those not familiar with the phenomenological basis of
such an experience the subliminal impact of the humanistic dimensions of the
religious message may be little understood, just as we seldom really appreciate
the strong emotional overlay certain colors convey to us. 34 Since, however, it
is our feelings here, rather than our reason, which becomes the dominant vehicle
of intentionality or affective apperception and "insight," in such an esthetic
experience we become the real communicators and tell ourselves what is being
communicated. In such essentially esthetic judgments there is often a wide
divergence of opinion between the viewer and the original artist who created
the object under consideration. Whatever the judgment on either side, you can
be sure it "reveals men to themselves," if only they would reflect on it.
The two texts of Vatican II
The above reflection, then, indicates there are two texts involved in the docu-
ments of Vatican II: a printed text and a metanarrative text. The printed text
provides the Church's contemporary reflection on her own life-world, the being
of which is a complex correlation of divine and human phenomena. The sophisti-
cated pastoral theology developed in principle by the Council indicates the
earnestness with which the bishops grappled with the communication-problem
involved in conveying such complicated truths and values to the world com-
munity. By using in a complementary way both the scholastic and phenom-
enological methods the Church has devised a twentieth-century split-level
kerygma, or proclamation of the Good News. This is the flowering of the split-
level pastoral theology inspired by John XXIII both in Humanae Salutis and
Pacem in Terris. Such a pastoral theology provides the seminal principles of
interpretation for the whole range of other ideas developed by Vatican II. The
intent of this new style of communication is to affect man from the inside-out
by influencing the whole man in his mind, attitudes, and affections. At the
Council, then, the bishops tried to set the consciousness of humanity in resonance
with that of the Church so that they would begin to function as "a pair of inter-
acting harmonic oscillators." The key to understanding the Council's sophisti-
cated thought-processes and authentic idea of renewal is - as Wojtyla points
out - the consciousness of the Church.35
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the metanarrative text where, inter-
woven with the religious vision of the People of God, there is a compelling
esthetic vision of the New Humanity. From the viewpoint of sheer artistry the
pursuit of religious enrichment exemplified by Vatican II surpasses the achieve-
ment of Michaelangelo, who strove to re-present the story of salvation on the
walls of the Sistine Chapel in artforms appropriate to the tastes and achieve-
ments of the Renaissance. Perhaps it would· be better to say that the same
religious spirit, which set Michaelangelo to his great creative challenge, has
prompted the bishops to formulate a new vision of man compatible with the
challenges of our promising but perilous age.
In conclusion, we may say the telos of Vatican II's phenomenological style
122 CHAPTER 8
of religious reflection captures the aims previously set for the Council by John
XXIII and Paul VI: first, that its pastoral reflection serve to glorify the doctrine
of the Mystical Body and, secondly, that the doctrinal deposit of the Church
more effectively serve the pastoral and human needs of mankind, and somehow
begin to communicate with men from within.
Summary
This chapter began with a discussion of the phenomenological techniques

employed in the construction of Lumen Gentium. After explaining the three-
fold use of the epoche it was insisted upon that the Mystical Body, as posited
in the first chapter of this dogmatic constitution, is the ontological ground of
this document and the intentional focal point around which all the doctrinal
reflections of Vatican II pivot. The next major point considered was the phenom-
enology of the natural attitude used in the process of Vatican II's reflections
on its own concrete religious experiences. We then tried to correlate such ideas
with the notion of a functional ontology at both the theoretical and practical
levels. The discussion made us aware of the need for competent theological
specialists to coordinate and illumine the complex transition which the ecclesial
community is now engaged in. Lastly, in a somewhat schematic way we were
able to correlate the doctrinal reflections of Lumen Gentium with the onto-
logical paradigm provided by the Glorified Christ as Logos-Shepherd.
The second part of this chapter consisted mainly in a discussion of the
hermeneutics involved in the notion of the People of God. This paradigm was
perceived as a moral blueprint for the new servant leaders of mankind (i.e., the
twentieth-century version of the Good Samaritan). Further insight into the
religio-social implications of this paradigm was provided by reflecting on Vonier's
original aims in developing this theological notion. When the two dimensions
of the Church as Mystical Body and People of God are viewed in conjunction,
a new religio-social hierophany manifests itself, and this may aptly be called the
Vision of a New Humanity. This hermeneutics of the Church, simultaneously
involving a religious anthropology, derives from the phenomenological pro-
cesses involved. It has a compelling esthetic impact on religiously-minded people,
but it can also be easily misunderstood. There are, then, two texts involved in
the documents of Vatican II: the published printed text and a metana"ative
text, and it is the latter which is the esthetic vehicle of the new religio-social
hierophany, mentioned above. This innovative style of phenomenological
reflection emphasizes the care which the bishops took with the problem of
pastoral communication in order to bring to maturity the aims formulated for
the Council by both John XXIII and Paul VI.
NOTES
I. This chapter requires a fairly good grasp of the matters discussed previously in Chapter
Six: "Phenomenology in the context of Vatican II."
2. Peter Koestenbaum in Husserl [1975), p.lvii uses the image of "backing into" the light
as a graphic analogy for the reduction. On the Mystical Body as "the source of light
for Catholic theology" see Vonier's remarks in Excursus VIII under the subheading,
"The M~stical Body in Lumen Gentium."
3. There are two broad frameworks within which a phenomenological noema may be
interpreted: a judgmental paradigm (F~l1esdal) and a perceptional one (Gurwitsch).
See R.C. Solomon, "Husserl's Concept of the Noema," in Elliston and McCormick
[1977], esp. pp. 172-173. The interpretation of any noemata connected with the
Catholic life-world (e.g., the Peo~le of God) easily lends itself to the "snapshot"
paradigm whereby the understanding of a noema derives from "a perceptual Gestalt,
a percept, and a theme." See Elliston and McCormick [1977), esp. p. 170. However,
the judgmental paradigm of noemata is also effectively operative at the Council through
the intentional ground provided by the doctrine of the Mystical Body. Consequently
the noematic core or nucleus for the somewhat plastic "empirical essence" of the
People of God is to be found in its correlate, the Mystical Body. "The analogy with
biology - the cell with its changing protoplasm and its unchanging nucleus - is not
inappropriate here." See Elliston and McCormick [1977), esp. p.I77. Suggested tech-
nical reading in this area would be Sokolowski [1974), p. 58 sq.
4. By "anthropocentric turn" I mean simply the same type of refocusing on experiences
which Husser! had to make in the Crisis when he returned from the theoretical world
distilled by philosophical phenomenology in order to investigate the life-world. This
is a quite unfamiliar style of theologizing in most Catholic circles. Even Transcendental
Thomists, who are quite competent in the use of phenomenological techniques, tend
to pattern themselves after Husserl, the theorist, in their theologizing, rather than the
Husserl of the Crisis.
5. It is with some hesitancy that I introduce Schutz since he disagreed with Husserl on
important theoretical issues. See Schutz [1962-1976), Vol. 1, pp.140-149: "Husserl's
Importance for the Social Sciences," and Vol. 3, pp. 51-91: "The Problem of Tran-
scendental Intersubjectivity in Husserl." In a critical but respectful way, however,
he always remained a student of Husserl. In America Schutz is one of the better-
known authors both for applied phenomenology and for his reflections on the natural
life-world. See Natanson [l973a), p. 106 ff. The reflections of Vatican II, unlike those
of Schutz, are focused on a religious life-world and are in quest of an ontology, not a
sociology. It is, however, only in Chapter Ten when we discuss revelation (Dei verbum),
that the full scope of this ontology and the nature of the Council's style of phenom-
enological analysis will become clear. Due to the horizontal and vertical dimensions
of this religious life-world we shall resort to insights provided both by Schutz and
Eliade to understand it. The horizontal (linear) structuring of Lumen Gentium lends
itself to Schutz's insights, and by employing them we are entering the religious life-
world from the "ground up," so to speak.
6. The thirtieth annual convention (1975) of the Catholic Theological Society of America
devoted itself to "Catholic Theology in Social and Political Context." The leadoff
article was Gregory Baum's "The Impact of Sociology on Catholic Thought." See
Salm [1975], pp. 1-29. As far as I could determine, there were no references to
124 CHAPTER 8
Schutz in the proceedings, although a few phenomenologists such as Heidegger and

Ricoeur did come in for passing mention.
7. This statement should be read in the context of Carr [1974], pp. 68-81: "Genetic
Phenomenology."
8. See Abbott [1966], esp. #8, pp. 22-23 and the sources listed in footnotes 17-21.
See also Excursus VIII on the Mystical Body under the subheading, "The Mystical
Body in Lumen Gentium. "
9. In effect, the Mystical Body is being posited as an abstract, universal ontology of the
Church. Later in this chapter the People of God will be appreciated as the concrete,
universal ontology (materially speaking) of the Church. Finally, in Chapter Ten dealing
with revelation (Dei verbum) the Glorified Christ will be recognized as the concrete,
universal ontology (formally speaking) permeating the entire ecclesial conscioussness.
10. One of the problems associated with any discussion of ontology is that modern
philosophy - if it uses the concept at all - generally has a univocal understanding of
this term, whereas Catholic theology and philosophy, by reason of their supernatural
theism, have traditionally espoused an analogical understanding of it. In a univocal
system of thought a concept either is or is not normative for ontology: there are no
other options possible. Husserl attributed such quasi-metaphysical value to logical
and mathematical noemata, and thus came to his unique appreciation of the human
consciousness. See Carr [1974], p. 69. A philosopher of a more empirical bent, such
as Polanyi [1958], pp. 69-77, 399, might be content to interpret such evidence
within a totally biological and psychological framework. In an analogical system a
concept may be normative at its own level of reality, but become functional when
viewed in relationship to a higher order of things. Hence, when discussing intelligence,
"reason," or consciousness as they exist in God, we may extrapolate from how these
function in human beings. Such a procedure, however, presumes a belief in an iso-
morphism permeating all levels of existence and thus justifying an analogical interpre-
tation of being and meaning.
11. See Townes [1966], p. 7.
12. See Abbott [1966],pp. 717-718.
13. See Kuhn [1962], pp. 188-189. Also see Carr [1974], p. 36, for "the image of falling,
of a gravitational pull on consciousness" in relationship to the natural attitude. From a
theological point of view, also, the need to hold the mind "in a state of continual
suspense" makes for some interesting complications.
14. See Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 1, p. 299. The full passage was cited previously
in Chapter 3, note 40.
15. For example, in Lumen Gentium we read of the spiritual influence of Christ's Spirit
in the Church: "This He does in such a way that His work could be compared by the
Holy Fathers with the function which the soul fulfills in the human body, whose
principle of life the soul is." See Abbott [1966], #7, p. 22. As regards the mission
ad extra of the Church, John XXIII in his first encyclical quotes with approval the
Epistle to Diognetus: "To express the matter simply: what the soul is to the body,
Christians are to the world." See Carlen [1981], Vol. 5, #146, p. 19.
16. See Abbott [1966], #7 ,pp. 20-22. It might be well to mention here that the numerous
biblical references cited in this paragraph represent "the Scriptures" as they exist in
the contemporary ecclesial consciousness. If the Church at Vatican II is reflecting
out of the natural attitude of her own life-world, the methodology used for this pro-
cedure liberates her from the academic strictures of the biblical sciences. Her primary
concern with the Scriptures here is their meaning for her. Whether professional scrip-
ture scholars concur with the interpretations given these texts is another matter en-
tirely.
17. I have in mind here particularly the rich tradition of the Greek Church. Charles Moeller
has handled this point sensitively in his article, "History of Lumen Gentium's Structure
and Ideas." See Miller [1966] esp. pp. 125-126. Another sympathetic reflection on
these issues would be John Meyendorff's "Vatican II and Orthodox Theology in
America." See Miller [1966], pp. 611-618. These differences are expressed more in
depth by Michael Schmaus' article, "The Concept of Trinity and of Christology in the
Eastern Liturgy." See Shook [1968], Vol. l,pp. 130-152.
18. See Wojtyla [1980], pp. 61-62; the references in his index under "Trinity, Holy,"
highlight Vatican II's teachings in relation to this doctrine. For complementary con-
siderations see Kress [1967], pp. 121-124.
19. The most important postconciliar development of this theme may be found in Paul
VI's apostolic Exhortation, "Evangelization in the Modern World," (Dec. 8, 1975).
See Paul VI [1975]. This extremely important document, which represents a straight-
line development from the ideas of John XXIII in Humanae Salutis, is part of a three-
tier doctrinal synthesis of Paul VI correlating evangelization, catechesis, and human
development. See Hater [1981] and Gremillion [1976], pp. 387-415.
20. See Schell [1982], p. 226.
21. By the "new servant leaders of mankind" I mean twentieth-century Good Samaritans
in the same sense Paul VI applied this term to the work of Vatican II at its close. See
Paul VI [1966], p. 61. In America, however, the term "servant leadership," which
has developed out of the field of management in the light of Christian reflection,
conveys more of a sense of practical reality and a context of modern organizational
procedures. See Greenleaf [1977].
22. See Vonier [1937].
23. See Carlen (1981), Vol. 4, pp. 37-63.
24. See Carlen [1981], Vol. 4, pp. 175-184. This encyclical is dealing with trends which
are contemporary but have a long intellectual history: i.e., cosmological renewal ideas
and vitalistic renewal ideas. See Ladner [1959], pp. 10-26. To stereotype the en-
cyclical as simply a tissue of epistemological observations is to distort its pastoral
intent.
25. See Vonier [1937], esp. pp. v-vi, xi-xiii, 6-7,74-86,167-176. Also see Excursus I
on the Life-World under the subheading, "The religious life-world and its modern
'ecumene,'"
26. Vonier's pragmatic focus differs quite markedly from the narrowly technical and
theoretical focus typical of continental theologians, especially those grappling with the
scriptural or patristic origins of this idea. This academic mindset is typical of preconciliar
thinking and the endorsement of status quo antea intellectual and cultural trends
which have been outmoded by the "new moment" of human history. Two articles
representative of this outlook are Y. Congar's "The Church: The People of God" and
R. Schnackenburg and J. Dupont's "The Church:. The Church as the People of God,"
in Schi11ebeeckx [1965], pp.11-37 and 117 -129 respectively. Both articles recognize
that the Mystical Body and the People of God are notions which complement one
another.
27. See Abbott [1966], #14-16, pp. 32-35. Van Peursen in Elliston and McCormick
[1977] , p. 185, remarks: " ... the horizon cuts across the distinction of inside-outside -
belonging to man, exterior to man. In the horizon, exteriority merges with interiority;
126 CHAPTER 8
man merges with the world. The horizon is the translation of man into the world."
This essentially phenomenological appreciation of the horizon provided by the life-
world is facilitated by the religious horizon provided by Vatican II. Its horizon, both
in Lumen Gentium and Dei verbum, is populated only by human (or spiritual) beings.
The phenomenological ground of this fact is that the Council's eidetic analysis is
focused on empirical human experiences. The translation of man into such a world
is facilitated by the fact that it is a completely hominized world ultimately radicated
in the Glorified Humanity of Christ. The exigencies of such a world are shaped by
intersubjectivity, empathy, and communio. To the extent "things" (e.g., words,
symbols, events, traditions, etc.) appear in this religious horizon, they have no co-
herence apart from Christ who provides the ontology and teleological-historical sense
permeating this field of corporate consciousness.
28. See Carlen [1981), Vol. 5, #96-113, pp. 154-158. It must be emphasized that Paul
VI's "circles" of humanity are the result of a psychological projection, whereas the
"horizons" in Lumen Gentium are a result of phenomenological analysis of the life-
world. This is another instance of the Holy Father's delicate sense of propriety and his
desire not to steal any thunder from the new ideas being developed by the Council.
29. "All men are called to belong to the new People of God." See Abbott [1966), #13,
p.30.
30. The moral goals and presuppositions of the People of God are detailed in #9-12 of
Lumen Gentium. See Abbott [1966), pp. 24-30. The term, "obediential potency,"
simply refers to man's intrinsic capacity, under God's power, to achieve such moral
goals.
31. This is obviously an eschatological vision of the Church and not precisely a presen-
tation of the "sinful, pilgrim Church." This will be taken up more fully in the next
chapter.
32. One of the really perceptive journalistic reflections on the Roman Catholic Church
today has been written by Peter Nichols, Rome-correspondent for The TImes of
London. On the basis of his experience while writing the book he writes: "I find the
Transfiguration a recurring image, but never before as a moment for a whole divine
strategy to be changed." See Nichols [1981), p. 357. As explained below, the Trans-
figuration as interpreted by this book is a subliminal message being projected by
Vatican II and hence easily subject to misinterpretation.
33. See Sheed [1943), #XXVII, p. 236.
34. The really traumatic aspect of this subliminal vision is the fact that it contains a
radical shift of the visual Gestalt no less dramatic than Copernicus' conception of a
heliocentric universe which resulted in a need to re-think the whole dynamics of the
system. For religiously sensitive people this is a quite traumatic experience. For the
resolution of this problem see Excursus V on Anthropology under the subheading,
"The shift of the visual Gestalt and its dialectical resolution."
35. See Wojtyla [1980), p. 35 ff.: "The consciousness of the Church as the main foun-
dation of Conciliar initiation."
127
CHAPTER 9
THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD
Once we comprehend that the first two chapters of Lumen Gentium corre-
late the traditionally received doctrine of the Mystical Body (objectivity)
with its experiential counterpart, the People of God (subjectivity), the remainder
of this constitution as a product of phenomenological reflection quickly
becomes intelligible. It is essentially a teleological reflection on the "horizon"
(Le., its membership, actual and potential) of the People of God as meaningful
to themselves. The teleology involved, however, is shaped by the linear, es-
chatological timeframe of the Catholic consciousness.! (The vertical time frame
of the People of God will be taken up in the next chapter which deals with
Revelation.)
Lumen Gentium from the perspective of Husserl's "Crisis"
From a phenomenological point of view Lumen Gentium displays several in-

teresting parallels to the reflections of Husserl in the Crisis. (l) Husserl started
there from the cultural fact of his experience of the mathematization of the
natural sciences; Lumen Gentium starts from the revealed fact of ecc1esial
experience of the hominization (in Christ) of the really real. (2) Just as Husserl
provided us with a teleological-historical reflection on the corporate conscious-
ness of modern natural scientists, so also Lumen Gentium is a teleological-
historical reflection on the corporate consciousness of the Church. The only
difference here is that Husserl's view was oriented to the past, whereas Lumen
Gentium's view is oriented to the future. (3) The context of "crisis" within
which Husserl conducted his reflections was the European world of 1937,
whereas the context of "crisis" within which Lumen Gentium meditates is
the modern global scene first sketched by John XXIII and finally discussed at
the Council in Gaudium et Spes, "The Church in the Modern World." (4) As
Husserl's teleological-historical reflections manifest his notion of the natural
"historicity" of the human consciousness, so also Lumen Gentium manifests
the Church's notion of the religious "historicity" of the corporate ecc1esial
consciousness.
128 CHAPTER 9
Historicity in phenomenology and Catholic reflection
The core-problem involved in the notion of historicity dates back to Parmenides

and Heraclitus in the fifth century, B.C., and is the "Problem of the One and the
Many." Heraclitus, as we know, was the champion of "facticity:" all things were
in a flux. Parmenides was the champion of Being: things were known only to the
extent they participated in the eternally intelligible and immutable One. The
essentials of this controversy have contoured all of intellectual history: em-
piricism vs. idealism, subjectivism vs. objectivism, Dilthey vs. Husserl. However,
it was HusserI's aim to transcend this polarization by discovering a "new em-
piricism." This search ultimately led him to the phenomenological method
which provided concrete universals (noemata) serving a liason-purpose between
the human need for meaning and the overwhelming experience that the phenom-
ena under consideration were in a state of flux. Historicity for HusserI, then,
was one of those via media conceptualizations which best made sense only when
"the One and the Many" were viewed simultaneously and in bipolar tension
within the gaze of phenemonological contemplation. Although the noemata
(and their constitution) are derived from, involved with, and even progressive
with temporality (durational flux), nonetheless they are repositories of meaning
and hence imply a structured "sense" to the flux of experience.
Admittedly, there are still unresolved problems associated with Husserl's
view of historicity, as David Carr has pointed out? However, as we move into
the Church's awareness of its own inner time-consciousness, structured both
vertically and hOrizontally on the basis of a comprehensive christ 0 centric para-
digm, the technical problems associated with historicity in philosophical pheno-
menology no longer fit the new perspective. This is clear when Pope John II,
using phenomenological reflection, speaks of the pattern of meaning which
religious historicity necessarily involves:
God gives himself to man created in his own image, and this "image"
and "likeness" alone can make this communication [of God with man in
history] possible. This communication creates the innermost, transcendent,
final thread in the history of each man and of humanity as a whole. It is
also a "trans-historical" thread, since, while taking account of the transitory
character of man inscribed in time together with the whole visible world,
it also reveals in him the element that does not pass away, that resists
time, destruction and death. As we have just said, this is the historicity of
man - this arrest, this hold on what passes away to extract from it what
does not pass away, what serves to immortalize the most essentially human
element, the element through which man is the image and likeness of God
CHURCH IN MODERN WORLD 129
and surpasses all the creatures subject to an ephemeral existence. Historicity

is also the existence of some one who, while "passing away," retains his
identity.3
The "becoming" of what does not pass away: Eschatology
It is within this understanding of religious historicity that we would now like to

return to Lumen Gentium, which deals with the eschatological, linear dimension
of ecclesial inner time-consciousness. Eschatology is simply the religiously
coherent unfolding in mundane time of the full mysteries revealed in the "eternal
now" (Le., the vertical dimension) of the ecclesial inner time-consciousness.
Therefore, we shall have to return again to the notion of historicity, as nuanced
by Revelation (the world of what does not pass away), when that topic is dis-
cussed in the next chapter. At the present moment we would simply alert the
reader to two points. First, there is an isomorphism between our present dis-
cussion of Lumen Gentium and the forthcoming discussion of Dei verbum in
Chapter Ten. Secondly, lurking on the "fringes" of the eschatological horizon
of Lumen Gentium are topics like the scriptures, tradition, and the sacraments
which, as revealed items, are more appropriate to the "eternal now," rather
than the pilgrim-mission orientation emphasized by eschatology.
In Lumen Gentium the sacramental timeframe does insinuate itself into the
discernment of the two basic categories of people in the Church: hierarchy and
laity (Chapters 3 and 4); the intentional ground for this distinction is the degree
to which their "obediential potency" has been actualized under God by the
sacraments.4 The foundational view here is one of a religious ontology, but as
we know from the second chapter of Lumen Gentium on the People of God, this
hominized type of ontology, as oriented to human needs (Le., anthropocentric
service), is replete with eschatology, a sense of mission. s This eschatological
dimension asserts itself more obviously in Chapters Five through Eight, where
the dynamic religious teleology of the People of God is introduced on gradually
ascending levels. On the earthly plane the People of God, as a whole, experience
an ad intra exigency to be united with God, and this is manifested by the cor-
porate pursuit of holiness (Chapter 5).6 However, within the Church a special
class of people, the members of religious institutes, have been publically man-
dated to bear witness to this ideal ad extra in the service of the common spiritual
good (Chapter 6). At the heavenly level this religious teleology finds its fulfill-
ment in union with God and the communion of saints (Chapter 7). 7 Quite
fittingly, the Virgin Mary, as a redeemed member of the People of God, is pre-
sented as the perfect disciple at the level of comprehensive symbolism epitomizing
130 CHAPTER 9
all the essential moral qualities which the corporate ecclesial consciousness on an
experiential basis has come to esteem and strive for (Chapter 8). 8 This panoramic
vision of Mary, as Mother of the Church, somewhat resembles Dante's view of
the heavenly assembly at the close of the Paradiso; consequently, this es-
chatological vision of the Church is starting to fuse with the events in the "eternal
now."
The new ecclesial hermeneutics and the unbelievers
Attractive as all this may be for Catholics, and possibly some other Christians, I
cannot see how this transhistorical christo centric paradigm of truth and morality
can have any appeal to unbelievers. Indeed, many sincere Jews, Moslems, atheists,
or others could rightly find this religious idealization triumphalistic, mystogogical,
and maddeningly self-centered. They would have every right to complain, par-
ticularly since Vatican II, as a pastoral Council, addressed itself to "all men of
good Will."9 The more perceptive phenomenologist, however, might intervene
here with a kind word for this religious enterprise. By reason of the methodology
employed at the Council the Church's transposing of religious formulas into a
"new key" is meant to reorientate the focus of Catholic thought to contemporary
thought-patterns and to express a desire to collaborate in mankind's search for
an authentic anthropology commensurate with today's global challenges. tO The
Church is not settling for any cheap solution to human problems by tenaciously
holding onto her traditionalistic "objectivism" in philosophy. At the same time
she is not compromising her previous heritage by settling for a solution to
human problems by way of politics or social engineering, She is seriously in
quest for a new type of humanity which the world has never known. For a start,
that would mean fostering something like a global "ecumenical ethics" and
constructive, collaborative efforts in the service of human progress and develop-
ment. Everybody in our nuclear age has a vested interest in such a global human
enterprise, regardless of his or her religious persuasion. The fact that Vatican II
employed a christocentric paradigm to structure this enterprise simply means
this is the only way which the Church had at its disposal to render the under-
taking religiously intelligible to Catholics and to motivate them to undertake the
enormous tasks which it implies. While I am grateful for such a benign interpre-
tation of the humanitarian telos inherent in the Catholic aggiornam en to , I must
insist these insights are available only to professionally trained phenomenologists.
Where, then, is the explicit institutional statement which gives an impetus to
move in the direction suggested above?
The challenge to Christian efficiency
It is important to realize that no such clear and explicit statement about the
anthropocentric orientation of Vatican II was made during the Council itself. l l
Such a statement was made both before the Council and immediately upon its
closing, and these provide the practical, pastoral context in which the Council
was conducted. The statement made prior to the Council appeared in Humanae
Salutis and formulated John XXIII's goal to evangelize by constructive deeds,
rather than by mere words:
This supernatural order must, however, reflect its efficiency in that other
order, the temporal one, which on so many occasions is, unfortunately,
the only one that occupies and worries man. 12
This pastoral, pragmatic norm was formulated in the specific context of

today's dislocated world. Two global problems were the context, if not focus,
of Humanae Salutis: the danger of nuclear war and the dehumanization of men
by atheism, affluence, or abject poverty.13 In effect, social problems com·
parable to Husserl's Crisis had outgrown the European scale to become global,
and Pope John simply responded to this situation in a religiously intelligent
way. Therefore, working toward the resolution of such worldwide human prob.
lems became the ultimate practical (and pastoral) goal of Vatican II. Even
though the bishops may have given the popularly received impression that their
focus was exclusively religious, their choice of the phenomenological method
and their analysis of empirical human experiences inform us that they never
lost sight of these practical problems. Consequently, in his closing speech at the
Council on December 7, 1965, Paul VI could rightly say: "The old story of the
Samaritan has been the model of the spirituality of the Council.,,14
Pragmatism and the religious life-world
It is the pragmatic dimension of the challenge to Christian efficiency which

renders the Council's return to its own religious life-world intelligible. As Schutz
and Luckmann remark: "We can say that our natural attitude of daily life is
pervasively determined by a pragmatic motive. ,,15 What pragmative motive,
other than Pope John's challenge in Humanae Salutis, prompted the Council
Fathers to return to their religious life·world? They wanted to renew their roots
in an experiential way. They already had a conceptual appreciation of this world
in the doctrine of the Mystical Body, as summarized in the first chapter of
132 CHAPTER 9
Lumen Gentium. Now, however, in the light of serious global needs they wanted
to reach out to all men by way of dialogue and collaborative action for the good
of mankind. In the Catholic Church it is a common practice for a priest to go on
retreat in order to spiritually prepare himself for what he knows will be a very
difficult assignment. 16 That is exactly what the bishops did. Before moving out
into an unknown world wracked with complex problems, they returned to the
spiritual certainties and familiar guideposts of their own religious life-world.
The need for a spiritual constant
Any life-world, and more especially a religious life-world structured by an

"eternal now," derives from
a stock of previous experience, my own immediate experiences as well as

such experiences as are transmitted to me from my fellow-men and above
all from my parents, teachers, and so on. All of these communicated and
immediate experiences are included in a certain unity having the form of
my stock of knowledge, which serves me as the reference schema for the
actual step of my explication of the world. All of my experiences in the
life-world are brought into relation to this schema, so that the objects and
events in the life-world confront me from the outset in their typical
character ... 17
Consequently, when the bishops entered into dialogue and shared their ex-
periences about their individual life-worlds, they were searching for that "certain
unity" which would serve as a common religious bond (commufzio) and spiritual
support for them all. There is much more cohesiveness and tensile strength about
the religious thematizations of the Council than first meets the eye.
The bishops entered their religious life-world not to find the unfamiliar, the
innovative, or the progressive, but to reestablish experiential contact with the
familiar, the foundational, and the everlasting. Again, as Schutz and Luckmann
describe it:
Every explication within the life-world goes on within the milieu of

affairs which have already been explicated, within a reality that is funda-
mentally and typically familiar. I trust that the world as it has been known
by me up until now will continue further and that consequently the stock
of knowledge obtained from my fellow-men and formed from my own
experiences will continue to preserve its fundamental validity. We should
like to designate this (in accord with Hussed) the "and so forth" idealiz-
ation. From this assumption follows the further and fundamental one: that
I can repeat my past successful acts. So long as the structure of the world
can be taken to be constant, as long as my previous experience is valid, my
ability to operate upon the world in this and that manner remains in
principle preserved. As Husserl has shown, the further ideality of the "I
can always do it again" is developed correlative to the ideality of the "and
so forth." Both idealizations and the assumptions of the constancy of the
world's structure which are grounded on them - the validity of my pre-
vious experience and, on the other hand, my ability to operate upon the
world - are essential aspects of thinking within the natural attitude. 18
The implications of these phenomenological ideas
In their corporate reflection on their diverse religious life-worlds the bishops

were trying to comprehend the unity experienced in all this multiplicity. Within
the purview of phenomenology this unity would consist in a network of a priori
structures (the "and so forth" idealization).19 These structures of stable meanings
and human relationships provide the stock of experiential (or "connatural")
knowledge which is the topological scheme of reference rendering this religious
life-world intelligible?O Any carefully crafted thematization of this schema, such
as the People of God, would really portray an experiential constant (or religious
"strategic vision") against which the bishops could judge their capacity to act
effectively in genuinely religious ways.21 This experiential assumption is called
the ideality of "I can always do it again," and without such commonly accepted
assumptions a life-world of any sort is impossible.
This phenomenological style of reflection, however, is much larger than a
mere quest for the meaningful and accepted ways of acting in a religious life-
world. The bishops are ultimately searching for their authentic corporate self as
twentieth-century Christians, a people alive and united in Christ. As they reflect
on what appears to be a flood of experiential data, the bishops begin to perceive
patterns of constant values and a meaningful style of interpersonal relationships.
As they recognize and endorse such patterns, the bishops appreciate that these
experiential constancies reflect the workings of the corporate ecclesial con-
sciousness as an intersubjective communio, i.e., their own collective ego. 22
Consequently, once they have finalized this religious analysis in a serious doc-
trinal way, such as in Lumen Gentium, they will never discover a new self-
identity, a "someone else." The only way this could possibly happen would be
through the virtual collapse of such a life-world and the need to totally rebuild
134 CHAPTER 9
another. By reason of the fact that there is a consistent isomorphism between

the Mystical Body and the People of God, I hardly think the Catholic Church
would tolerate any serious tampering with the religious life-world as formulated
by Vatican II.
Today's problems between the religious and natural life-worlds
If we appreciate that the doctrinal reflective process at the Council is a phenom-

enological thematization of a religious life-world, we may momentarily pause
on it in its correlation with the multitude of natural life-worlds existent today.
The first thing to notice about the People-af-God formulary, as promulgated by
Vatican II, is that it is an ontology or paradigm of a global religious life-world,
an experiential foundational theology of the Catholic ecumene. It has no secular
counterpart today among the natural life-worlds of our planet. To produce such
a study would require an assembly comparable to the United Nations, or possibly
the World Communist Party, employing phenomenology in the same fashion as
the Council. As a result, Vatican II represents an advanced stage of applied
phenomenology. The second point to notice is that there is often an extreme
disparity between the constancies or "typicalities" of this religious life-world
and many of the natural life-worlds. Sexual mores, for example, provide a quite
obvious instance, although other cultural preconceptions impinging on doctrine
(e.g., the use of private property) could also be cited. In the estimation of some
Catholic theologians these discrepancies have become so onerous that it has
become morally impossible for Christians to abide by the doctrinal and/or moral
constancies traditionally ascribed to the religious life-world propounded by the
Council. The implication is, of course, that these religious constancies have to be
modified in important, if not substantial, ways. What many of these theologians
have in common with the Council Fathers is their use of the phenomenological
method.
I have no interest in passing judgment on this theological enterprise. Some of
the theologians associated with this movement have pioneered in a speculative
way notions discussed in this book as connected with the work of the Council:
e.g., the communication problem, the turn to subjectivity, and theological
anthropology.23 For the most part, the better minds amongst these theologians
practice phenomenology as pure theorists, much as Husserl did prior to the
Crisis.24 By reason of the nature of the phenomenological reduction the resultant
theoretical attitude (i.e., a state of continual suspension of belief) must, indeed,
constitute a most unnatural and artificial attitude for such theologians when it
comes to matters revealed by God. 25 Furthermore, if the "new moment" of
human history has impinged on them at all, it seems to have done so only
within the parameters of their theoretical preconceptions. These are essentially
the same as the Catholic mindset which we describe in the first chapter of this
book for the period of 1930-1950?6 In such a context, then, we can say that
such theologians do not use phenomenology as Vatican II did. Hence, it is a
highly dubious assertion to claim their phenomenological style of theological
reflection is carrying on or completing the work of the Council.
A summary of Vatican II's use of phenomenology
In order to move on to a final overview of the Council's documents let us

quickly recapitulate the genesis and development of Vatican II's use of the
phenomenological method. John XXIII apparently started out in Humanae
Salutis from the position of classical scholasticism, although his innovative
formulation of the prospective Council's goals does suggest he was trying to
combine the social efficiency of Leo XIII with the communication issues raised
by Transcendental Thomists. By the time of Pacem in Terris, however, he was
employing a sociological application of phenomenology (closer to Schutz than
Husserl) in correlation with classical scholastic ideas. Cardinal Suenens' sug-
gestion that the Council view people, not in their abstract relationships, but in
their concrete life-situations was the opening-wedge for phenomenology at
Vatican II. Paul VI, cognisant of the development underway, endorsed this
methodological approach to doctrine in Ecclesiam Suam, but only with reser-
vations and only after once again reasserting the centrality of the Mystical Body.
The option for an empirical a priori grounded in experience posed a final method-
ological decision for the Council Fathers. In what direction should their analysis
proceed: in the direction of pure theory or in the direction of the life-world?
Since Vatican II was not intended to be a doctrinal, but a pastoral Council, the
choice was made to move in the direction of the religious life-world. This choice
ultimately involved a suspension of all sciences and even a philosophical reduction,
once the bishops relinquished scholasticism in the first session. This philosophical
reduction also has some point with regard to the Council's use of phenom-
enology: the bishops only took from Husserl the use of his methodology and its
assumptions necessary for its proper employment, but not any of his philo-
sophical preconceptions (e.g., the impossibility of a metaphysics).27 Lastly,
the use of phenomenology at the Council did have an extrinsic reference scheme:
the doctrine of the Mystical Body found summarized in the first chapter of
Lumen Gentium. In this sense, objectivity and subjectivity were used in tandem
at the Council.
136 CHAPTER 9
The ecclesial consciousness ad intra and ad extra
If we may be allowed to abstract from the first chapter of Lumen Gentium as an

extrinsic, objective, and doctrinal statement normative for the whole Council,
then we are in a position to reflect on the rest of the documents from a phenom-
enological point of view. In this context Lumen Gentium is a product of the
intersubjective ecclesial consciousness in its natural attitude. This reflection
thematizes the meanings derived from a phenomenological analysis of the
Church's experience of its own corporate self-identity as the People of God.
Lumen Gentium, therefore, is a quite precise response to the question: "Church,
what do you say of yourself?,,28 In this narrowly construed sense the consti-
tution presents an egology of the Church. 29 Whether the Church is viewed as an
institution or a purely voluntary organization by social analysts, this careful
thematization of attitudes, motives, values, and goals makes for a fine case-study
in the use of phenomenology and offers an insight into the corporate "person-
hood" of the Church. Experience, of course, is much larger than a person's own
awareness of self. So, the question, "Church, what do you say of yourself?" is
raised again.
It must be clear by now that in the phenomenological context of the Council
this question has taken on a phenomenological intentionality. That should be
evident from the type of response given to it in Lumen Gentium. In this new
"ad extra" phase of reflection, however, the technical sense of the question is:
"Church, what is the meaning for you when you confront this or that 'region
of reality,?,,3o Or, in ordinary language: "Church, what do you say of yourself
when you confront the realities of today's world?" The egological stream of
consciousness, portrayed in Lumen Gentium, now shifts its refJection from itself
as incarnate body-subject in order to contemplate the objects (noemata) residing
in its consciousness. 31 These objects derive from two different sources of ex-
perience: the first originates from God's revelation and the second from every-
day life in society. It is evident we are talking about two different "regions of
reality" and, in a religious context, two different levels of reality. God's revelation
is analysed in Dei verbum, a discussion of which will be found in the next
chapter.32 At the present I would only say that the phenomenological style of
reflection found in this dogmatic constitution is of the same high calibre as that
in Lumen Gentium. Both documents handle their subject-matter within the pur-
view of the religious life-world. The second set of objects contemplated by the
ecclesial consciousness pertains to both the secular and religious segments of
modern society?3 For brevity's sake, our discussion will confine itself to "The
Church in the Modern World" (Gaudium et Spes).34 As might be expected,
when the ecclesial consciousness moves into the historical becoming of the
modern world, the phenomenological style of reflection begins to deteriorate

due to pressures from many directions. 35
Gaudium et Spes as applied pastoral theology
From our reflections on the Council up to this point it must be reasonably evi-
dent that the cumulative effect of its phenomenological style of reflection has
been to produce a new pastoral theology.36 The theory meant to undergird this
style of pastoral theologizing has been provided by the two doctrinal consti-
tutions, Lumen Gentium and Dei verbum. The pastoral constitution, "The
Church in the Modern World," derives from the original practical global con-
cerns for mankind first voiced by John XXIII in Humanae Salutis, in his radio
broadcast of September 11, 1962, and finally in Pacem in Terris. Consequently,
Gaudium et Spes is a first, tentative application on a global scale of the pastoral
theory developed in the two dogmatic constitutions mentioned above. For
example, as Lumen Gentium developed the religio-phenomenological theory for
communio, Gaudium et Spes tries to apply this concept to modern social
phenomena under the rubric of "socialization.,,37 An even more massive paral-
lelism exists. As the two dogmatic constitutions formulated a comprehensive
insight into the Church's religious life-world, so now in Gaudium et Spes these
insights are brought into a first correlation with the many natural life-worlds
under the rubric of "culture.,,38 Since modern problems, however, are so com-
plex, the document is a "dress-rehearsal for dialogue" with today's world, a
marshalling of theoretical principles in relationship to the mixed-up state of
affairs in the world so that, ultimately, the constitution is a study in chiaroscuro.
The problems also happen to be quite frightening for many people. Therefore,
the bishops tried to develop their ideas within a context of hope; in this regard
they obviously tried to imitate the model set by Pacem in Terris. Because of
such complexities this application of pastoral theology (as correlated with a
phenomenological analysis of the socio-cultural world) is a highly modulated
one, according to the norms of art and prudence. 39 It would, therefore, be a
mistake to view this document as making "a precious contribution to the work
of doctrinal development carried forward in Lumen Gentium. ,,40 Such a state-
ment has no meaning unless we are only talking about the application of theory.
By this time at the Council, as Bishop Mark G. McGrath has pointed out, the
bishops were quite conscious of using the phenomenological method as a tool in
their description and analysis of socio-cultural realities.41 However, their primary
focus - as in Pacem in Terris - is now on man and only secondarily on his arti-
facts (i.e., ideologies, sciences, social structures, etc.). This focus is a direct result
138 CHAPTER 9
of the hominized ontology permeating both Lumen Gentium and Dei verbum.
Of all the documents issued by the Council Gaudium et Spes is the one most
replete with discernible split-level religious concepts (e.g., communio/socializ-
ation).42 "The Church (Le., the People of God) in the Modern World" is best
read as a left-handed commentary on "Man in the Modern World," i.e., an
inchoative religious anthropology, as Cardinal Roy previously pointed out.
Within this framework Christ is held up as the paradigm of the New Man. I
would only insist at this point that the Council's integral objective is for a new
global anthropology. When you consider the many technical problems we have
discussed relative to the use of phenomenology, the nature of pastoral theology,
the scope of acculturalization, and the complexities of the communication pro-
cess, this anthropological goal of the Council abounds with serious problems.
A few words should be said on this point.
Common pitfalls in interpreting Gaudium et Spes
By reason of the somewhat rambling and verbose style of this document, the
ideas mentioned above and their implications do not come through in a concise
and forceful way. The sapiential vision of hope has muted the prophetic sense of
urgency needed in a turbulent world armed with nuclear weapons. Much of the
real difficulty for Americans, however, centers on the fact that we have no real
acquaintance with the phenomenological background of this document. Because
Gaudium et Spes deals with psycho-social issues familiar to the educated public,
it offers three pitfalls for the unwary. First, many people read this document
through the eyes of scientific reductionism: i.e., interpreting it mainly, if not
soley, within the popularly received social or psychological ideas of their milieu.
Secondly, theologically uninformed people use this lower-level constitution to
interpret the complex theological and pastoral issues discussed in Lumen Gentium,
or even Dei verbum (e.g., the "revelatory" value of the signs of the times). Lastly,
the metanarrative text present (albeit turgidly) in this document may be dis-
torted beyond recognition by the overwhelming problems of social reconstruc-
tion and pastoral management which the constitution calls for. An anthropology
of the peacemaker in such a turbulent context can easily metamorphose into an
anthropology of the liberator .43
Themes developed and yet to be developed for a richer strategic vision
In my estimation one of the most insightful theologians at Vatican II was Canon

Charles Moeller. His brief history of Gaudium et Spes concludes with the themes
included and dropped from this pastoral constitution. 44 Because of their im-
portance as guidelines for future reflection, I summarize them here briefly.
Themes included in the constitution: (1) Christian anthropology, "the elabor-
ation of which is perhaps the most urgent task of the 20th century." The funda-
mental model for such a projected anthropology was provided by the theological
dialectic inherent in Christ's dual role as Logos and Shepherd. (2) The autonomy
of secular activities in their own spheres. (3) The Church which "civilizes by
evangelizing." (4) The ambivalence and paradox of the term, "world," which
contributes further to the dialectical character of the religious reflection of this
document. Themes dropped from the constitution: (1) The Holy Spirit acting
in history both to re-create and renew man "in justice and holiness of truth."
(2) The Church transforming the world through her liturgy. (3) The humanism
of the Sermon on the Mount viewed as the "charter of the kingdom of God."
(4) Christian cosmology: history and the universe viewed from the plan of
salvation. Here I simply conclude with and endorse Canon Moeller's own obser-
vations:
It will be noticed that the four themese that practically disappeared are
closely related to Eastern theology. The tendency of the text, however
rich it may be, remained too Western. What the Orthodox have to say
about it should be very significant.45
Vatican II: Invitation to dialogue
There are many other omissions, shortcomings, or limitations which the unin-
volved critic could call attention to in the Council's formulation of its thought.
But that would be to fasten on miscellaneous details at the expense of compre-
hending the real significance of the Church's complete re-expression of her
existence at this moment of history. As one of the world's oldest and most
traditional institutions, she has resorted to an extremely contemporary mode
of reflection in order to open a phenomenological access into the heart of her
living religious consciousness. By reason of the methodology employed the
noemata, essences, or meanings expressed by the Council documents need not
be totally adequate to the objective reality toward which they are directed. 46
What is required is that they authentically reflect the Church's experience of
that reality and thus reveal her true self in her natural religious attitude. In view
of the critical nature of the times the Church felt compelled to make this totally
honest assessment of herself, her values, and her commitments. Then, of course,
the uninvolved critic could say: "I'm sorry, but my experience differs from
140 CHAPTER 9
yours." The Church can respond quite honestly: "Let us share our experiences
in more detail so that we can get to know one another better. In these critical
times we must not let our differences stand in the way of friendship and working
together for peace. By honesty, empathy, patience, and the desire to know one
another better we can secure our common future in brotherhood."
An invitation to dialogue: that is the most elemental meaning of Vatican II.
Summary
This chapter provided a final analysis of Lumen Gentium, both as regards its
general contents and as the theoretical basis (along with Dei verbum) for a new
type of pastoral theology. The essentially teleological reflection of this consti-
tution was then situated within the challenge to efficiency and the pragmatic
context characteristic of Vatican II as a pastoral Council. The key to under-
standing the life-world as an environment of familiar constancies and as the pre-
condition for successful action was provided by the notion of pragmatism. We
also saw that the path through the life-world is the path to self-identity. There
still remain some serious problems, however, due to the differences between the
religious life-world and the many natural life-worlds existent today. Some
theologians believe these problems can be mitigated, or even eliminated, by
making important changes in the religious life-world, but that line of thought
was not viewed as a particularly productive suggestion. The fact that such
theolOgians may use phenomenology in the construction of their theories need
not be viewed as a continuation of the thought and work of Vatican II.
After categorizing Lumen Gentium as a study of the ChUICh's own con-
sciousness of itself (egology), our study moved on to the objects (noemata)
residing in this ecclesial consciousness. Two different sets of data make up these
objects: the first set derives from God's revelation and the second from every-
day life in society. The revealed data will be discussed in the next chapter on
Dei verbum, but this doctrinal constitution deals with the religious life-world
in the same fashion as Lumen Gentium. "The Church in the Modern World"
(Gaudium et Spes) was appreciated as an application of the pastoral theory
developed by Lumen Gentium and Dei verbum. This lower-level pastoral consti-
tution dealing with global, socio-cultural life has been strongly influenced by
the hominized ontology developed by the two dogmatic constitutions men-
tioned above, and it provides the type of split-level pastoral concepts (e.g.,
communio/socialization) now characteristic of Vatican II's isomorphic type of
pastoral theology. Since the use of phenomenology at the Council implies a
methodological idealism, the essences ("concepts") developed by the Council
need not be totally adequate to the objective reality which they intend. Such
essences (noemata) are more expressive of the authentic experience of the
Church and her true identity in her natural religious attitude. Hence, the most
elemental meaning of Vatican II is an invitation to all men to dialogue and a
sharing of their experiences as a way to the building of friendship and peace.
NOTES
1. See C. Moeller's "History of Lumen Gentium's Structure and Ideas," in Miller [1966],
p. 138.
2. See Carr [1974], esp. pp. 261-266.
3. See Frossard [1984], pp. 59-60.
4. Chapters 3-8 of Lumen Gentium may be found in Abbott [1966], pp. 37-96. Para-
graphs i8, 26 and 27 center the bishop's role and authority in the "sacred power"
which he derives from his ordination. See Abbott [1966], pp. 37,50-51. However,
since the whole context of Lumen Gentium is eschatological, such foundational ideas
are also oriented to mission.
5. Eschatology has an extrinsic, intentional ground in God and His Plan of creation and
redemption. Intrinsically, however, it manifests the cumulative, teleological exigency
of man's obediential potency as it seeks its normal, ontological fulfillment in co-
operation with God's grace. This latter distinction is quite important in relationship
to the thought of Vatican 11 which is grounded in the empirical a priori of experience.
This is also the area in which connatural knowledge most properly functions for
religious insights and judgments.
6. As in Paragraph 13 of Lumen Gentium, so also in this fifth chapter the bishops des-
cribe the human drive to religious fulfillment from its extrinsic foundation: i.e., God's
call for all to seek holiness. See Abbott [1966], pp. 30,65. Once God's grace is oper-
ative, however, there is - in its own order - a natural exigency for holiness.
7. It is interesting to note that Chapter Seven was inserted at the insistence of John XXIII.
See C. Moeller's remarks in Miller [1966], p. 139.
8. C. Moeller in Miller [1966], p. 142 calls attention to the role of Paul VI in reconciling
the opposite positions toward the place of Mary in the Church.
9. See the "Message to Humanity" in Abbott [1966], pp. 3 -7. J. Gremillion in Miller
[1966], p. 541 poses much the same question: "Granting that non-Christians cannot
accept our premises, rooted as these are in the Christian faith, are they able to form
with us a working consensus embracing the consequences of our incarnational view?"
In an otherwise very fine and practical article it is Gremillion's unnuanced espousal of
this "incarnational view" which dates and weakens his argument. Prior to the Council
in France there were two competing schools as regards the theology of history: the
"Incarnational" (de Lubac and Teilhard de Chardin) and the "Eschatological" (Danielou
and Bouyer). See Connolly [1961], p. 149. The Council synthesized and transcended
both of these academic controversies and presented a practical problem in civilization-
building which Gremillion, as a sociologist, does not really appreciate in its full scope.
10. Canon Moeller in Miller [1966] , p. 144 says: "It [Lumen Gentium] implies an anthro-
pology, a vision of Christian existence, especially in chapters two and seven." My
142 CHAPTER 9
own development of this theme, I feel, has been consistent, if not identical, with
seminal insights originally provided by Moeller.
11. I realize this statement is open to some dispute, particularly from a selective theological
interpretation of Gaudium et Spes. For two such interpretations see J. Gremillion and
F. Houtart in Miller [1966], pp. 521-544 and 545-552. My thesis is that the anthro-
pocentric dimensions of Vatican II derive from the way the questions were posed at
the Council (Le., by the phenomenological method) and the context in which they
were posed (Le., the "new moment" in human history). On this basis it is no sur-
prise that the Council developed an anthropocentric theology consistent with its
traditional doctrines. It should be noted, if only in passing, that the concept of a meta-
anthropology - such as the Council has, in principle, developed - makes no sense
except in a phenomenological-existential context.
12. See Abbott [1966], p. 706.
13. See Abbott [1966], pp. 703-704. It is this concrete context which lends Vatican
II its prophetic urgency. As a creative and sapiential display of Catholic theology,
Vatican II certainly carried out the twofold goal set for it by John XXIII in his opening
speech: " ... that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine should be guarded and
taught more efficaciously." See Abbott [1966], p. 713; emphasis added. Without
the context of a "new moment" in human history, however, Vatican II becomes
only an admirable academic study of the status quo antea or an excuse for ad hoc
social activism.
14. See Paul VI [1966], p. 61. Much of Paul VI's pontificate was an effort to exemplify
this model of the Good Samaritan projected by the Council. His encyclical, Populorum
Progressio, boldly laid out the blueprint for this ideal. See Gremillion [1976] , pp. 387-
415.
15. See Schutz and Luckmann [1973], p. 6. See also Paul VI [1966], p. 62: "The modern
mind, accustomed to assess everything in terms of usefulness, will readily admit that
the Council's value is great if only because everything has been referred to human
usefulness." (Emphasis added.)
16. Paul VI [1966], p. 59 describes this process of the Church (i.e., the bishops) "on
retreat":
Men will realize that the Council devoted its attention, not so much to divine
truths, but rather, and principally, to the Church - her nature and composition, her
ecumenical vocation, her apostolic and missionary activity. This secular religious
society, which is the Church, has endeavoured to carry out an act of reflection about
herself, to know herself better, to define herself better and, in consequence, to set
aright what she feels and what she commands. So much is true. But this introspection
has not been an end in itself, has not been simply an exercise of human understanding
or of a merely worldly culture. The Church has gathered herself together in deep
spiritual awareness, not to produce a learned analysis of religious psychology, or an
account of her own experiences, not even to devote herself to reaffirming her rights
and explaining her laws. Rather, it was to find in herself, active and alive, the Holy
Spirit, the word of Christ; and to probe more deeply still, the mystery, the plan and
the presence of God above and within herself, to revitalize in herself that faith that
is the secret of her confidence and wisdom, and that love that impels her to sing,
without ceasing, the praises of God. Cantare amantis est (Song is the expression of a
lover), says St. Augustine.
17. See Schutz and Luckmann [1973], p. 7.

18. See Schutz and Luckmann [1973], pp. 7-8.
19. See Sokolowski [1974], #39, pp. 100-101.
20. As regards the development of the experientially derived topology orgamzmg the
objects (noemata) of the Council's analysis and the acts related to them, it may be
well to recall our discussion in Chapter Six on constitutive (or genetic) phenomenology.
This topic will be more extensively developed in Chapter Ten under the subheading,
"Constituting a religious hermeneutics of revelation and history."
21. For collateral reading here see Schutz and Luckmann [1973], pp. 18-20: "Plans and
Practicabilities. "
22. See Schutz and Luckman [1973],pp.17-18.
23. Perhaps the most prominent of these would be Karl Rahner, S.1. For a concise treat-
ment of his later theology see Mann [1969].
24. For an extensive treatment of this style of theologizing see Muck [1968]. To situate
this movement within the historical context of Catholic thought see Schoof (1970],
pp. 188-194: "Re-orientation within Neo-Scholasticism."
25. See Carr [1974], p. 36. This theoretical stance derived from philosophical phenom-
enology poses a serious obex to entry into the life-world which requires a suspension
of all the sciences and even a philosophical reduction if one is to recapture the natural
attitude. As Schutz and Luckmann [1973], p. 27 describe it: " ... the natural attitude
of daily life has a special form of epoche. In the natural attitude a man surely does not
suspend his beliefs in the existence of the outer world and its Objects. On the contrary,
he suspends every doubt concerning their existence. What he brackets is the doubt
whether the world and its Objects could be otherwise than just as they appear to him."
26. The essence of this mindset is that it represents the theoretical concerns of university-
level intellectuals. This book has discussed the broad contours of this historical, intellec-
tual development. In the postconciliar period its major symptom is an emphasis on
radical "foundational thinking," originally inspired by Heidegger. See Landgrebe
[1966], p. 173 sq. If there is one thing we can be certain about, this type of concern
with abstract theory did not occupy the attention of Vatican II.
27. See Excursus V on Anthropology under the subheading, "The radical nature of Vatican
II's reflection." By reason of its phenomenological methodology Vatican II appears to
be a unique example of one type of Religionswissenschaft (q.v., in the index of Allen
(1978), p. 263). We shall treat of this topic more extensively in the next chapter,
dealing with Revelation (Dei verbum).
28. Donald R. Campion, SJ, in Abbott [1966], p. 184, is quite correct in saying that this
question constitutes "an architectonic theme or central vision" for Vatican II. Our
discussion here hopes to explain how this question functioned in that way.
29. For collateral reading on "egology," see Natanson [1973a], esp. pp. 71-72. It must be
understood, however, that the ego logy of the life-world is not the same as that derived
by the transcendental reduction.
30. See Carr [1974], p. 282 in Index under "Region(s)."
31. It should be emphasized that the objects in the ecc1esial consciousness are noemata.
This has important implications about the significance which one attributes to the
statements of Vatican II in relationship to previous Councils. For a technical dis-
cussion see R.C. Solomon's "Hussed's Concept of Noema," in Elliston and McCormick
[1977], pp. 168-181. Furthermore, do the noemata of Vatican II's religious life-
world, as elements of a totally hominized ontology, differ in significant ways from
144 CHAPTER 9
the noemata of Husserl's philosophical phenomenology and those of Schutz's natural

life-world?
32. The text for Dei verbum ("The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation") may be
found in Abbott (1966), pp. 111-129.
33. For an introduction to the classification of the Council's documents, see Excursus IX.
34. See Abbott [1966], pp. 199-308. In his introduction to this constitution Donald R.
Campion, SJ, provides a good outline of it. See Abbott [1966] , pp. 183-198.
35. This principle applies also to the decrees and declarations of the Council. In Gaudium
et Spes scholastic terminology appears with reference to "natural law." In Excursus IX
(under the subheading, "The interpretation of Council documents") we have provided
an important application of this in the case of Karl Barth. This poses an academic
question: "Is this introduction of a scholastic notion in a phenomenological context
an indication that the phenomenological method is being used imperfectly or that the
scholastic term is receiving a new interpretation?" For one possible interpretation,
see Luijpen (1967].
Inasmuch as Gaudium et Spes deals with both religious and socio-cultural phenom-
ena, there is - as might be expected - a certain potential for disagreement latent in
the document due to the diverse "scientific" methodologies today used to interpret
such data. See Allen (1978], pp. 38-39. On "The Priority of Paradigms," see Kuhn
[1962], pp. 43-51.
36. By a pastoral theology I mean one achieved by a phenomenological analysis of human
experience, as exemplified by Vatican II. In this sense it may be called an anthropo-
logical theology, at least by reason of its methodological Idealism. Both the data of
revelation (as recapitulated in the Glorified Christ) and the phenomenological method
tend to complement one another in achieving a totally hominized ontology of reality.
Such an ontology would certainly characterize the religious life-world as I have em-
ployed that term.
37. "The concept (socialization] has two different meanings, one in social anthropology
and educational theory (which Gaudium et Spes uses], the other in economics (as
Marxists or socialists view such matters]." For further details see "Socialization,"
in Bottomore (1983], p. 447. Since 1978 and more especially with the new Code of
Canon Law, a new link of canonical vocabulary has appeared in this theological-social
concatenation of communio/socialization. We may sum up this complex of juridical
relationships by the term, "mutual relations." Hence, in a descending order the fuller
sequence would be: communio/mutual relations/socialization. See Sacred Congre-
gation For Religious (1978] and Canon Law Society of America [1983], pp. XI-
XXVIII.
38. See Gaudium et Spes, Chapter 2: "The Proper Development of Culture." Abbott
(1966], #53-62, pp. 259-270. This should be read in connection with Pope John
Paul II's address to UNESCO, June 2, 1980. This was published in the English edition
of L'Osservatore Romano, June 23, 1980, pp. 9-12 under the title, "Man's entire
humanity is expressed in culture." By introducing the concept of "culture" the Council
finally reestablishes a linkage with all the modern sciences, especially anthropology,
sociology, psychology, etc. The common ground of all such sciences is human be-
havior. Since intentional "experience" describes the "behavior" of the human con-
sciousness, the Council's phenomenological style of reflection and these contemporary
sciences share a common ground in cultural studies. However, phenomenology enjoys
a certain philosophical priority and normativeness due to the teleological and isomorphic
nature of consciousness. External human behavior can, at most, only be symptomatic

of these more profound, ontological realities inherent in man's nature. See D. Carr's
remarks on the life-world (and culture) cited in Excursus I on the Life-World under the
subheading, "The practical character of the religious life-world."
39. For some important observations on the place of the sciences in Gaudium et Spes see
Excursus I on the Life-World under the subheading, "The natural attitude toward the
sciences in the natural life-world ."
40. See Abbott [1966], p. 186: Emphasis added. The work of doctrinal development is
only carried forward by serious theological studies comparable to that of Walgrave
[1972] or wholesome moral/devotional traditions in the Church. AlI of these, how-
ever, reach factual clarity by doctrinal definitions either in Council (e.g., Vatican I on
the papal primacy) or papal promulgation (e.g., Pius XII on the Assumption). By
reason of its phenomenological descriptive style Vatican II's doctrinal development
needs a great deal of critical scholarly reflection to determine more clearly just What
that development is.
41. See Miller [1966], p. 429: "And in setting up the problem [i.e., of describing today's
world] every effort was insistently made that it be objective, phenomenological and
as little interpretive as possible." In Gaudium et Spes, accordingly, there is a sociological
application of phenomenology. The array of theological teachings are simply pruden-
tial selections drawn from the thematizations previously elaborated in the two dog-
matic constitu tions.
42. Rather than my attempting to catalogue such correlations, the better course would be
for the reader to learn to read Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes as interlinked by
a religio-human isomorphism. As a start, we would recommend Charles MoelIer's two
articles: "History of Lumen Gentium's Structure and Ideas" and "Man, The Church
and Society" in Miller [1966], pp. 123-152 and 413-421. In Lumen Gentium (and
Dei verbum) the Council was intent on formulating an anthropological theology,
the paradigm of which was the Glorified Christ as Logos-Shepherd. This new type of
"hominized" theology contains, in principle, a theological anthropology. In Gaudium
et Spes the Council makes its first attempt, in a speculative-practical way, to start
implementing this theological anthropology as praxis.
43. In order to perceive "structural sin," as many religious thinkers do in modern social
dislocations, one must realIy step outside the completely hominized theology developed
by Vatican II. In this style of reflection only men sin, not structures.
44. See Vorgrimler [1967 -1969], Vol. 5, pp. 71-72.
45. See Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 5, p. 72.
46. See Robert C. Solomon, "Husserl's Concept of Noema," in Elliston and McCormick
[1977], esp. p. 177.
147
CHAPTER 10
THE VERTICAL DIMENSION OF THE NEW ECCLESIAL HERMENEUTICS
Introductory remarks
Upon beginning our reflections of this most complex doctrinal constitution,

Dei verbum, I would only remind the reader that any observations previously
made about the use of phenomenological method in Lumen Gentium apply
equally well here. These two dogmatic constitutions complement one another
not only doctrinally but also in the matter of applied phenomenology. Up to
this point I have interpreted the use of phenomenology at the Council in the
Husserlian tradition of Dasein (Le., the esse intentionale inherent in human
lived-experience), not in the theoretical sense deriving from philosophical
phenomenology but its pragmatic counterpart, the life-world. This interpre-
tation applies equally well to Dei verbum, even though Vatican II in this con-
stitution seems to be engaged, by reason of its sublime subject-matter, in some
sort of "transcendental turn." Here, in a preliminary way, I will outline some
distinctive features implied in the Council's phenomenological reflection on
Revelation. 1
A phenomenological overview of Dei verbum
The revealed matters (revelata) reflected upon in Dei verbum constitute the
religious world as passively received by the Church. As pregiven by God, this
essentially synchronic religious world is the ground upon which all motion,
change, or activity take place in diachronic (eschatological) time, such as we
previously described these things in Lumen Gentium. This "world" neither
moves nor is stationary since it presents God's Eternal Plan as manifested in
history. Within the horizon of this world each object (noema) has its properly
distinctive meaning, but since it is seen against and within a many-layered
field of objects (noemata) with their proper meanings, these also contribute to
the intelligibility of each noema, especially those of a lower order: e.g., symbols
(sacramental or otherwise), the scriptures as materialized in given texts, and
traditions as concretized in historical time. Consequently, in this constitution
there is a very sophisticated application of Husserlian intentionality, apper-
ception, and a concatenation of appresentations not only toward correlated
148 CHAPTER 10
objects on the same level of things but through ongoing higher orders of meaning. 2
The process culminates, finally, in the Glorified Christ, as Logos-Shepherd, who
illuminates this whole system of consciousness throughout all its layers by his
own divinely endowed intelligibility. Once again, this is Dasein as a totally
hominized system of religious consciousness.
The pastoral centrality of the Church in these reflections
In this reflection on Revelation, however, we must not lose sight of the fact that
Vatican II in its totality was a pastoral council with the Church as its dominant
theme. This flows from the fact that the Mystical Body provided the objective
archetectonic paradigm of the Council's reflection on the Church. The consti-
tution, Dei verbum, on the basis of ecclesial subjectivity, reflects on the "mysti-
cal" dimension of the Church, whereas Lumen Gentium projects it as incarnate
body-subject. As Paul VI said in his closing speech to the bishops at Vatican II:
"Men will realize that the Council devoted its attention, not so much to divine
truths, but rather, and principally, to the Church - her nature and composition,
her ecumenical vocation, her apostolic and missionary activity.,,3 Although the
Church in the constitution, Dei verbum, is directly focused on revealed matters,
by reason of her use of the phenomenological method (which reflects on noemata
as they have meaning for her), this constitution is also a case-study of the acting
ecclesial consciousness. (If we view both as studies in ethical reflection, this
constitution has some interesting parallels, as does the whole of Vatican II, with
Wojtyla's The Acting Person. 4 ) This case-study is not, however, any theoretical
reflection on divine truths, but a non-formal, pastoral reflection on these truths
as they exist in the religious life-world of the Church. This reflection derives
from the a priori religious experiences of the bishops in Council as they cor-
porately pondered and responded to that subjectively architectonic question:
"Church, what do you say of yourself?"
Phenomenology and the ecclesial self-analysis
From a pastoral point of view the above interpretation of Vatican II and the
place of Dei verbum within its ecclesial focus seems consonant with all which we
have previously said in this book about the use of phenomenology at the Council.
(This would be doubly true if we add the current "crisis in human beings," but
we shall return to that point later.) After all, the Council is simply the Church
asking herself about her moral responsibilities in the complex situation of the
VERTICAL DIMENSION 149
modern world and what she intends to do about it. As if on retreat, the Church
of today - in an overt way appreciated by everyone - engaged in a corporate
process of self-analysis regarding her essential truths, values, and structures, her
dignity and her destination. Since the world of positivism and empirical research
into socio-cultural forms or history could not provide answers for the profound
questions which she was putting to herself, she had recourse to another avenue
to the transcendent respected by many scholars: i.e., the phenomenological
method. What is not appreciated by most people is that recourse to this method
was part of the Church's effort to measure up to her full moral responsibilities
to communicate with all men. This point may become clearer if we reflect on
phenomenology as a via media between two diverse sets of audiences ad intra
and ad extra to the Church.
The first communication problem was ad intra to the Church. It was the
need to reconcile the theoretical differences between Roman School theology
(realism) and the Transcendental Thomists (idealism). (How this methodology
also met the more practical problems posed by the historians, representing the
interests of empiricism and psychologism, will become clearer later in this
chapter.) The second major problem concerned communication ad extra with
the secular philosophical world: i.e., the entrenched controversy between em-
piricism and idealism, such as Husserl and the more recent phenomenological
tradition of Europe conceived it. By using such descriptive phenomenological
techniques focused on her own experience of her own religious life-world the
Church was enabled to return to the primordial ontology at the heart of her
religious consciousness. Reflection on the Mystical Body as the Church's pheno-
menal body was thematized in a meaningful new way as the People of God.
In doing all this the Church expected that this process would be replicated, in
some practical way, in the lives of her members so that they would equip them-
selves to lead authentic, relevant Christian lives in the contemporary world.
However profound, and even heroic, such a massive process of self-reflection
may have been, it is only one side of the coin.
The problem of ecclesio-monism
The speculative roots of the pastoral problem, which we are about to discuss,
are both religious and methodological. The religious difficulty (to be treated
momentarily) largely indicates that in the minds of the bishops/theologians
the pastoral concept never matured much beyond its doctrinal and kerygmatic
dimensions. 5 We will start, however, with the methodological aspects of the
problem since it highlights the bipolar dialectic at the heart of the Council's
150 CHAPTER 10
phenomenological reflection. Here three dynamic elements make up the sub-

jective field of consciousness or belief: (1) the ego: i.e., our own existence as
that of a believing being; (2) our acts (noesis): i.e., our acts of believing; and
(3) the object (noema): i.e., the thing believed insofar as it is believed and with
all the complexities of its mode of givenness. 6 As an expression of phenom-
enological reflection, all three elements - and only these elements - are present
in the Council's reflection on its own life-world. By reason of the Council's
use of the philosophical and scientific reduction Vatican II "suspended" any
endorsement of the theoretical assumptions underlying HusserI's philosophical
phenomenology. This point would also apply to any post-Husserlian influences
discerned in the Council's workings.
Pope John's call to practical, pastoral renewal laid a great burden on the
shoulders of the Church. Consequently, the bulk of conciliar reflection tends to
be manifestly ecclesiocentric. As part of clarifying her own role-expectations
for new and unfamiliar tasks, the Church constituted out of her own ad intra
experience of her own religious life-world her contemporary sense of her cor-
porate self-identity. From a purely methodological point of view it was fitting,
though not absolutely necessary, that this factual, unrelieved emphasis on the
ecclesial ego be counter-balanced by an equally doctrinal treatment of the
object (noema) ad extra of her belief. The point at issue here is simply the sym-
metrical and balanced treatment of the ecclesial field of consciousness: Le., the
isomorphic relationship between the ego and its noemata. Furthermore, if
Lumen Gentium displays the active noetic acts of the ecclesial consciousness
as it strives for eschatological fulf1llment, Dei verbum portrays the Church
more passively as listening to the word of God. Since the days of Heidegger
and Bultmann most modern scripture scholars have employed phenomenological
techniques as part of their hermeneutical approach to scripture, so such pro-
cedures are not exactly unknown to them. Furthermore, while biblical scholars
represent vested interests in historical methodology, their theological sympathies
tend toward the Transcendental Thomists who have a well-known affinity with
the phenomenological method.
The decisive factor, however, for a positive move in this direction was a
religious one: Le., to avoid the impression of ecclesio-monism.7 That would
describe a situation where the Church's kerygma had somehow become self-
centered rather than God-centered. Instead of pointing beyond herself as any
good herald or prophet ought to do, the Church would seem to be moving
entirely within her own level of existence and making herself the central object
of her own proclamation. (Paul VI was not the only theological engineer at the
Council!) Hence, to balance off the doctrinal statement of ecclesial egology
found in Lumen Gentium, it was theologically fitting that an equally doctrinal
statement be made about the object of the Church's belief, the word of God.
In this constitution the bishops were striving to present the Church as totally
God-centered and Christ-centered: " ... here the whole life of the Church is,
as it were, opened upwards and its whole being gathered together in the attitude
of listening, which can be the only source of what it has to say.,,8 Perhaps the
only point that should be emphasized at this moment is that the ego and the
object are simply two poles of the same field of consciousness. In other words,
the field of consciousness represented in Dei verbum and Lumen Gentium is
the one ecclesial consciousness reflecting its multi-layered ontological structure.
Ecclesial being, human being (Dasein), and God-given being are all welded here
into an isomorphic dynamic unity.
Historical pressures shaping the situation
There were several historical factors pressuring for a formal (Le., doctrinal)
treatment of Revelation, and these - on the surface, at least - are connected
with essentially religious issues. Since the problem of theological modernism
at the turn of the century two groups of scholars within the Church had been
polarized on the basis of their methodological approach to revealed data. These
were the scholastics (realists), who represented the classical understanding of
Thomism, and the historians (empiricists) among whom are the biblical scholars.
Since about 1850 historical theory (with all of its connotations of historicism,
psychologism, and the historicity of human understanding as evolving in time)
has presented a growing epistemological and technical problem for the Church,
particularly in the area of biblical interpretation. 9 As in the Galileo Case scrip-
ture scholars must be the advocates for the "profane facts" accessible to human
reason and scientific research; the only difference is that Galileo represented the
interests of the physical sciences, whereas the biblical scholars represent the
interests of historical research. Part of the reason for the scholastic intransigence
toward both methodologies is that each represents but the "nose of the camel."
Behind Galileo's approach to phYSical facts, as Husserl pOinted out, loomed the
larger philosophical problem of the total mathematization of reality, and that
includes human reality. Only after three hundred years is this problem beginning
to be sorted out. Behind the up-front problem of the errancy of some of the
profane facts found in the bible looms the larger religious problem of the histori-
cal value of the four gospels, and behind that the larger philosophical problem of
the historicity of the human consciousness. to (We shall return to that problem
later in this chapter.)
Furthermore, in view of the ecumenical purpose of the Council an explicit
152 CHAPTER 10
(if not exactly formal) treatment of Revelation seemed imperative to meet the
interests of any group outside the Church concerned about the authentic inter-
pretation of the bible. Preeminent among such groups would, of course, be
members of the various Protestant denominationsY It goes without saying that
such outstanding observers at the Council, as O. Cullmann, were predominantly
oriented to the historical mindstyle. However, all three groups - the scholastics,
the historians, and the Protestants - had one thing in common: their heavy
reliance on some distinctive "scientific" method in their approach to revealed
data. To the extent these groups resorted to a science or philosophy to grapple
with the world of physical facts, they thereby came to be participants in the
world of "positivism.,,12 Behind these essentially religious groups loomed an
even larger world of "positivism" shaped by an evolutionary mindstyle: Neo-
Darwinism, the cosmology of the physical sciences, philosophical anthropology,
humanistic psychology, and Marxism. At the heart of all these movements are
various efforts to shape a new non-biblical narrative, or "myth," to guide man's
evolving self-identity.
The methodolOgical challenge faced by the bishops
The enormous methodological problem facing the bishops here is how to handle
divine and human reality without being trapped into one of the pitfalls provided
by the world of "positivism" catalogued above. This could be done only by
shortcircuiting the whole "scientific" process by acceptable phenomenological
techniques: Le., by the suspension of the sciences and a philosophical reduction,
as previously explained in the book.13 Consequently, by returning to the life-
world of the Church the document on Revelation transcends (or bypasses, if
you will) the world of "positivism" and contemplates the word of God as it
exists in the ecclesial consciousness. Only after clarifying that word of God by
phenomenological reflection does the Church, in a quite generalized way, take
up some selective issues impinging on historical data relative to the field of
sacred scripture. 14 In this conciliar enterprise necessarily concerned with a
review of "profane facts" connected with revealed data the Church manages to
stay out of any technical involvement with the scientific and philosophical issues
without compromising herself on any point of doctrine. The procedure is per-
fectly legitimate in view of the pastoral nature of the Council. Had a really
important technical issue confronted the bishops in their discussions, in all
likelihood it would have been removed from the agenda as Paul VI removed the
birth control issue and entrusted it to a technical commission. Or, as he did
before the fmal vote on Lumen Gentium, the Holy Father could have inserted
a "Prefatory Note of Explanation" clarifying the "authentic sense" of the

debated issues.
The ontological character of the constitution
From all we have said about the phenomenological style of reflection employed
at the Council, there is little need to dwell on the ahistorical, transtemporal
view of Revelation formulated by the constitution, Dei verbum. Its topic is
Revelation as experienced and meaningful in the contemporary consciousness
of the Church. IS In His goodness and wisdom God has chosen to reveal Himself
through His Word. This He has done in a twofold way: by creating through His
Eternal Word and by redeeming through the same Word-made-flesh. Accordingly,
God's plan of revelation - whether manifested by deeds or words - possesses
an inner unity deriving from the Risen Christ, as the one Word of God, the
fullness of revelation, and its Mediator .16
Several points are implied in the above affirmation of faith. (1) If God,
motivated by goodness and wisdom, revealed Himself through His Word, pre-
sumably the same motivation would have prompted Him to preserve this Word
in its integrity among men. (2) The Risen Christ is the linchpin of meaning
harmonizing the first and second creations, neither of which can, in principle,
contradict the other. (3) The humanity of the Risen Christ, now fully intelligible
in terms of God's plan of revelation, possesses for us a twofold intentionality:
as the divine value-system rendered comprehensible in human terms and as
humanness fulfilled by being totally united with the ultimate source of life,
wisdom, and love. In a doctrinal sense (though not in the pastoral sense intended
by John XXIII) this is the primordial paradigm for the revelation of man to
himself. (4) A presumptive Principle of Complementarity needs to be employed
by men to discover the inner unity correlating event and truth at every level of
being. This is a necessary derivative of the bipolar isomorphism between act and
object in the phenomenological reflection on consciousness. (5) What is reified
as "Revelation" in this document is really a multi-layered system of conscious-
ness so interrelated as to be called an intersubjective communing (or "dialogue")
between spiritual persons. In such a living compenetration of consciousness
(Le., communio as co-presence) with its primary analogue in the Blessed Trinity
what the document reifies as scripture, tradition, and magisterium are really
vitally balanced thought-patterns (thematizations) of this ecclesial consciousness
as teleologically ordered by the Father, as guided by the Holy Spirit, and as
forming a living unity with the Risen Christ. 17 Here any profane categories of
time no longer apply. On the part of God and His Plan the time frame is the
154 CHAPTER 10
"eternal now," but on the part of tl1e contemporary believers the unfolding
of this plan takes place either in cyclical sacramental time or in eschatological
time. This is the bi- or tri-dimensional timeframe, as you recall, which constitutes
the inner time-consciousness of the Church. IS
Constituting a religious hermeneutics of revelation and history
In Dei verbum where the biblical word, historical traditions, and concrete
symbols are transformed into a higher unitary intelligibility we begin to appreci-
ate, in an applied way, the working relationships between apperception and
constitutive phenomenology. Here it would help if we recalled the example,
given in Chapter Six, of how the map of an unfamiliar city gradually takes shape
in our mind. Experiences of unfamiliar signs, unclear directions received, and the
confusing flow of traffic gradually start to make sense until suddenly we see the
whole pattern of things, not simply as a map, but as an epiphany of a living,
organic unity: Le., a life-world. If this applies to our getting acquainted with any
city of man, it applies equally well to our getting about in the City of God. What
I have described on the basis of Husserl's methodology should not be viewed
as taking place in a religious vacuum. These phenomenological processes oriented
to human being (Dasein) and its experiential meanings (noemata) are redolent
with the sense of words traditionally associated with the idea of Christian
renewal: e.g., transfiguration, metamorphosis, transformation. I9 If this dogmatic
constitution, accordingly, is appreciated within a phenomenological context as
portraying the dialectical interrelationships between an ascending order of
spiritual realities, then it is also appreciated as reflecting in the ecclesial con-
sciousness the Pauline recapitulation of the Divine Plan (Eph. 1: 10): ins tau rare
omnia in Christo, "to restore all things in Christ."
Early in the last chapter we broached the problem of historicity in the context
of Lumen Gentium. In the light of the observations made there and the obser-
vations just made about apperception and constitutive phenomenology in the
traditional sense of renewal shared by the Churches of East and West, it is time
to return to the notion of historicity formulated in Dei verbum. No one has
reflected on the religious sense of this notion better than Pope John Paul II:
[ ... ] the historicity of the events reported in the Gospels [Le., the
Gospels "faithfully relate what Jesus did and taught," Dei verbum, # 19]
enables me to add a remark on the subject of the knowledge or "knowa-
bility" of God [ ... ]. This God in whom as Christians we believe is not
only the invisible creator that our intelligence can attain through the
world and the creatures in it. He is a God who comes towards man and as
a result enters history [which is our natural abode] ...
Man is a being involved in history and therefore subject to passing time,
but he is conscious of the passage of time, which he must fill by fulfilling
himself. He has to establish himself in time and employ it to make himself
into a unique being who will never be repeated. Historicity differs essen-
tially from limitation by time, for all the beings in the world around us
pass away with time. Man alone has a history and he alone creates it. It is
true that he creates it while enmeshed in impermanence, but at the same
time he creates it through that element in him which resists and overcomes
the fleeting character of his existence. When I speak of "historicity," I
am not thinking of the creation of history as culture or knowledge; I am
thinking of the very mode of existence of man as man, of each man with-
out exception.
So conceived, the historicity of man explains the appearance of God on
the horizon and his entry into history. The Revelation reaches its zenith
in the events forming the life of Christ which are recounted by the four
Gospels and confirmed by the other writings of the New Testament, as the
constitution Dei verbum [# 17-20] says. The whole Revelation is histori-
cal in the sense that it refers to "historicity" as man's mode of existence
in this world. It proclaims the "great works of God," namely the effects
of his transcendent action - or rather of his gift to man. In history these
works assume the concrete form of the history of salvation. 2o
In this reflection, which is a select cameopiece in a phenomenology of religion

(i.e., the corporate Catholic consciousness) the Holy Father's stress on the sub-
jective pole of Dasein fuses both religious experience and the modern humanistic
concerns long associated with philosophical anthropology. What is perhaps more
significant, however, is that his ideas would be readily endorsed by the "objec-
tivistic" mindset of scholasticism, not so much on any theoretical basis but from
a connatural knowledge, which has been the scholastic's tool for making sound
judgments about concrete instances of God's Plan as being realized in history.
Such judgments, of course, have been nourished in the rich loam of the patristic
and contemplative literature of many centuries, so they are not without their
commonly recognized patterns and trends. In both of the above religious out-
looks there is at work a presumptive Principle of Complementarity contributing
toward a consensus-building enterprise within the Church. What is distinctive,
however, about John Paul II's remarks is that by identifying with contemporary
thought-categories and humanistic concerns his words reach beyond the Church
to all men.
156 CHAPTER 10
A theoretical problem connected with philosophical phenomenology
Is it possible, in the manner of the later phenomenologists, to go beyond the

Dasein-radicated phenomenology of Hussed and its focus on Seinde (beings)
and still have an authentic, phenomenological interpretation of Vatican II? Is it
possible that through Dasein (Le., esse intentionale) one could rise to Being
(Sein) which, as the supreme reality, would always have an interpretive priority,
and thus transfigure all lower-order realities? Would not such an advance in
theory enrich the pastoral insights of the Council? I have no doubt that such an
advance in philosophical phenomenology is theoretically possible. 21 I also have
no doubt that some of the theological experts at the Council interpreted
phenomenology in the manner of the later phenomenologists, such as Merleau-
Ponty or Heidegger. 22 The point is, however, that such a possible advance is a
theoretical philosophical problem and does not dovetail well with the pastoral
nature of Vatican II which employed both a philosophical and a scientific
reduction in order to return to its own religious life-world. Whether or not this
newer paradigm of phenomenological reflection might enrich the pastoral in-
sights of the Council is something which will have to be settled by theoreticians
and acadamicians. One thing, however, is certain. If this type of theorizing is
not used in a consensus-building fashion, it could jeopardize the pastoral goals
of the Council. In a "worst possible scenario" Vatican II could suddenly meta-
morphose from being a pastoral council into a doctrinal one.
A larger pastoral problem of this constitution
In the faith-description of the sacral, transcendental consciousness of the Church,

as found in Dei verbum, we are confronted with a massive phenomenological
reduction.23 The overarching ontology lending coherence to this document
abstracts from profane history (both present and past), from all "positivistic"
methodologies giving access to either revealed or natural data, and from all
cultural, psycho-social, or linguistic influences as these may have concretely
impinged on the development of contemporary Christianity (e.g., the problem
of Hellenization). I am not questioning the legitimacy of this type of reduction
within the context of a pastoral Council, but I am trying to comprehend its
pastoral intent in relationship to that of Pope John XXIII The above formu-
lation of revelation, taken in itself, has all the "over-spiritualized" connotations
which, prior to Vatican II, Vonier saw connected with the doctrine of the
Mystical Body. The ontology, however, is a predominantly hominized one both
as constituted by the ecclesial consciousness (ego) and as focused on the humanity
of the Risen Christ (object). Within this essentially contemplative matrix all
things, spiritual and temporal, must find their ordered place and be judged.
Confronted with such a quasi-mystical vision of God's loving interrelationship
with man, the bishops had no difficulty approving this as the substance of their
religious experience and belief on the basis of their connatural knowledge. As a
doctrinal and kerygma tic affirmation this is a statement for the ages. In a trans-
temporal way it represents "a doctrinal penetration and a formation of con-
sciousness in faithful and perfect conformity to the authentic doctrine ...
studied and expounded through the [phenomenological] methods of research
and through the [phenomenological] literary forms of modern thOUght. ,,24
The document may, indeed, be a source of religious enrichment, as our several
quotations from John Paul II have pointed out, but the pastoral gravity shift
here seems heavily weighted in favor of very intellectualized religious and
humanistic concerns. This is all a far cry from the more down-to-earth pastoral
challenge formulated by John XXIII in Humanae Salutis.
The pastoral utility of this constitution
In a retrospective way we can, of course, read certain "pastoral" implications

into this constitution, although these implications tend to be somewhat nar-
rowly theological. (1) The document was formulated to counterbalance the
strong ecc1esiocentric tonality permeating the majority of the Council's state-
ments. (2) It is, as one strand in the hermeneutics of the ecc1esial consciousness,
esthetically beautiful and complements the full significance of the People of
God and the New Humanity projected by Lumen Gentium. (3) The document
was also meant to be an internal reconciliation process healing the polarization
over theological method which had divided Catholic scholars since the turn of
the century. (This rebuilding of the we-phenomenon among scholars by way of
consensus-formation at the Council was a quite arduous task, and one can get
a sense of its complexity only by tracking this document through its successive
stages of development.)25 (4) This dogmatic constitution was also meant to be
a gesture of high-level ecumenical outreach directed toward the intellectual
leaders of the Protestant denominations and Orthodox Christians. (5) Lastly,
this document is presumably an important counter-cultural faith-statement
in opposition to any theories of man based on materialistic evolution (e.g.,
Marxism). We will reflect on this important topic in our Epilogue.
However, to appreciate the full complexity of the communication process
involved in this document, one would have to approximate the intellectual
attainments of a Rudolf Otto or a Mircea Eliade. By reason of the sophisticated
158 CHAPTER 10
handling of such complex theological issues, the great majority of the bishops
relied in their ultimate decision-making, not on their professional expertise in
such matters, but on their connatural knowledge. Given the pastoral nature of
the Council and the method of analysis used, such connatural knowledge was
perfectly adequate to the task set before it. That the bishops were intent on
avoiding technical issues is apparent from the type of questions which they
chose not to resolve: e.g., the material completeness of the scriptures, the scope
of critical historical methods in biblical interpretation, the criticism of tradition,
etc. 26 While connatural knowledge proved adequate for the discernment of the
pastoral, religious issues set before it at the Council, we need not believe that
it is any sort of prophetic tool in anticipating derivative problems in pastoral
management flowing from the judgments made in such a discernment process.
The pastoral challenge in search of itself
The constitution, Dei verbum, in a way satisfactory to theological academicians,

did achieve certain commendable purposes. The most important one was the
formulation of a broad theological hermeneutics for the word of God as existing
in the living consciousness of the Church. Within the context of that larger
theological hermeneutics there was also an endorsement of an already growing
scriptural movement and encouragement for the constructive use of the critical
historical method?7 This quest for a theological "penetration and a formation
of consciousness" has, however, been accompanied by an unforeseen pastoral
implosion far from the mind of John XXIII. The central issue seems to be a
radical questioning and rethinking of Christianity, often enough under the
pretext of returning to a certain "biblical simplicity." This quest can take
many forms. In academic circles the theoretical discussion tends to pivot around
a search for a "scientific" methodology (often enough derived from and applied
to human "experience") or a quest for a radically new ontology.28 In a rather
ironic way the methodological idealism, which the Church employed at Vatican
II for pastoral purposes, has been turned against her for philosophical or "scien-
tific" purposes?9 This type of rethinking, however, is not confined merely to
the academic world. Quite often it is done in the name of serving certain con-
crete human or pastoral needs unrecognized or unattended by the Church in
today's world. 30 This multi-faceted religious introversion has especially im-
pacted on three areas: religious socio-political theorizing, traditional Christian
moral values, and catechetics. Unless these problems are constructively resolved,
the pastoral program of the Church will continue to drift erratically and spas-
modically.
Towards a solution of this larger pastoral problem
The only reasonable way, it seems, of reconciling this tension between the
phenomenological contemplative style of Dei verbum and the practical, pastoral
goals of John XXIII is to repeat what I have said previously in the course of this
book. (1) Vatican II was a pastoral council whose primary focus was on the
Church. (2) Although the objective paradigm of the Council's documents is the
Mystical Body, the phenomenological style of reflection used at the Council
thematizes the subjectivistic dynamics of the corporate ecclesial consciousness
(Le., its esse intentionale or Dasein). (3) Dei verbum is a synchronic presen-
tation of the vertical dimension of this consciousness, whereas Lumen Gentium
is a diachronic presentation in linear, eschatological time. (4) The phenomen-
ology of the ecclesial consciousness (as a life-world) found in these two dogmatic
constitutions is brought into a first, tentative correlation with the global life-
world(s) in the constitution, Gaudium et Spes. (5) Therefore, these three consti-
tutions cannot be read intelligently unless they are read as one constitution with
three dialectically interrelated parts and appropriately entitled: "The Church in
the Modern World." It is this integral constitution which meets the full pastoral
challenge as formulated by John XXIII and exemplifies the split-level type of
pastoral theology which he projected as the fruit of Vatican II.
Concluding general remarks
This book has endorsed the thesis that there is a serious human crisis in the
modern world. Consequently, in order to deal with such global problems Pope
John XXIII called a pastoral council, not a doctrinal or reform one. Since this
modern world-crisis is absolutely unique in human history, so Vatican II - as a
pastoral council - became an absolutely unique type of council never before
experienced in Church history. Both Pope John and the bishops had to grow
into the full implications of this new pastoral undertaking, and that growth
process is still going on in the Church today. Faced with such complex issues,
the bishops in council put to themselves the corporate question: "Church, what
do you say of yourself?" The purpose of this book has been to provide some
coherent insights into what and how the bishops responded when answering
that most important question.
The apochryphal literature of early Christianity records another important
question posed at a decisive moment in Church history. As the story goes, St.
Peter was fleeing from Rome to avoid a persecution, and on the road he met
Christ headed for Rome. In some amazement Peter asked, Domine, quo vadis?
160 CHAPTER 10
"Lord, where are you going?" Jesus responded, "I am going to Rome to be
crucified." In the light of this answer Peter realized that fleeing from his moral
responsibilities to his fellow Christians was not the path which Jesus wanted
him to follow in those turbulent times. So, he returned to Rome. Catholics,
and indeed all of mankind, today seem to be meeting the Church as it heads
down the road in the "wrong" direction. The question rises naturally to our
lips, Ecclesia, quo vadis? "Church, where are you going?"
It is in the spirit of that question that we offer the final reflections found
in the Epilogue to this book.
NOTES
1. See Abbott [1966],pp.I11-128.

2. "Appresentation" is defined in Spiegelberg [1982], p. 739, as "the indirect perceptual
presentation of an object mediated through the direct presentation of another, e.g., of
the rear through the frontal aspect, or of other minds through their bodies." However,
if one, for example, is analysing or describing the backside of a lock with a key in it,
one can by appresentation "see" the key-hole and its related key. In the constitution,
Dei verbum, the "keys" to the lower-order noemata are found on the higher levels
until all "locks" (noemata) have one master-key in the concrete universal of the
Glorified Christ as Logos·Shepherd. This section of the chapter should also be read in
conjunction with Spiegelberg [1982], # 3, pp. 699-702, "Apprehending Essential
Relationships." In traditional theology the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception
would be an example of appresentational apperception: in spite of the universality
of Original Sin, it establishes an essential relationship between God's Plan and the
doctrine of Mary as the Mother of God.
3. See Paul VI (1966), p. 59. Emphasis added.
4. See Wojtyla [1979a]. See also A.-T. Tymieniecka, "The Person and the Human Signifi-
cance of Life," and T.P. Brinkman, "John Paul II's Theology of the Human Person and
Technological Parenting," in Moraczewski [1983], pp. 213-257 and pp. 354-381
respectively.
5. Ratzinger has termed the pull between pastoral vs. doctrinal and kerygmatic vs. doc-
trinal "the dilemma of the Council itself." See Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3,
p.169.
6. See "The Phenomenon of Reality and Reality," in Spiegelberg [1975], esp. p. 135.
7. See Ratzinger's remarks on this in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3, pp. 162, 167,
176. In this portion of our essay we are introducing the problem of ecclesio-monism
in its simplest terms: Le., the Church's responsibility, as a faithful herald, prophet,
and teacher, to be a witness of the word received from God to the outside world.
Within the phenomenological framework of this document the problem of ecclesio-
monism is resolved in a twofold way: a parte cogitantis and a parte objectL A parte
cogitantis: in this constitution the ecclesial ego is presented as prayerfully listening
to God's word residing as an object (noema) in the ecclesial field of consciousness
and toward which the ego must, by the nature of things, direct its ad extra attention.
However, once the gnoseological (phenomenological) nature of Dei verbum is under-

stood, then all of the ad intra/ad extra relationships involved between Dei verbum
and Lumen Gentium may then be viewed afresh a parte objecti. In the comprehensive
field of the ecclesial consciousness the role of the Glorified Christ, as the primordial
sacramentum, provides the ad intra principle of intelligibility both for God's revelation
(plan) and for the Church's function as a sacrament. See Abbott [1966], #1, p. 15.
On this ground of total christo centrism the ontological relationship between the two
doctrinal constitutions is: Dei verbum (ad intra) and Lumen Gentium (ad extra), but
since the Mystical Body stands outside the phenomenological framework of these two
documents, it stands as a conceptual and objectivistic norm implying both of their
dimensions.
8. See Ratzinger in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3, p. 167.
9. In this regard see Harvey [1966], Henry [1979], and Smart [1979]. Two balanced
treatments of this problem, as it impinges on Catholic doctrine, would be Connolly
[1965] and Walgrave [1972]. It must be emphasized, however, that the pastoral
concerns of Vatican II need not be identical with the theoretical concerns of a historical
theologian.
10. Under the larger philosophical problem would also be included the Marxist conception
of the historical dialectic, Darwinian evolutionary theories, and any radically material-
istic psychoanalysis.
11. Religious groups are not the only ones who have an interest in matters of revelation.
There is a whole group of modern "sciences" concerned with such matters, and in
America they are generally grouped under the somewhat ambiguous title, "History
of Religions." This important topic will be taken up again when we discuss Vatican II
as a unique case-study in one type of Religionswissenschaft. (See note 18, infra.)
12. "Positivism" is employed by Ratzinger to express that modern spirit which tends to
identify revelation (a religious fact) with its historical presentation, i.e., a form of
scientific reductionism. This mindset, for the most part, reduces revelation to the
confines of critical historical method and any philosophical or theological conse-
quences which follow from that fact. See Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3, p. 191.
The sociology or psychology of religion are simply well-known variants of this wide-
spread "positivistic" outlook.
13. Unless one suspends all the sciences in a phenomenologically consistent way, the only
alternative is to fall into some form of scientific reductionism on the basis of psychology,
sociology, history, politics, race, culture, etc. We have discussed the suspension of the
sciences previously in Chapters Six, Eight, and Nine. How this is verbalized in theo-
logical language when the conceptual process is applied to the data of revelation may
be found in Rigaux's remarks in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3, pp. 254-255.
14. See the few rather general remarks made in "Sacred Scripture in the Life of the
Church," in Abbott [1966], pp. 125-128. As regards the postconciliar relationship
between critical and Church exegesis, historical research and dogmatic tradition, see
Ratzinger's observations in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3, p. 158.
15. This statement may stand equally well for an ("abstract," phenomenological) defmition
of tradition. See Ratzinger's important remarks on Vatican II's abstract notion of
tradition in contrast to Trent's concrete notion in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3,
p. 183. In the phenomenological matrix of Vatican II revelation and tradition are,
in Husserlian terms, a manifold; hence, they are analysed and described simultaneously
in a unified field of consciousness. Therefore, the one phenomenon a parte objecti is
162 CHAPTER 10
revelation, but a parte cogitantis is living tradition. In such a context Ratzinger is

quick to point out that tradition is "the many-layered yet one presence of the mystery
of Christ throughout all the ages." See Vorgrimler [1967-1969J, Vol. 3, p. 184. This
type of tradition may then direct its reflection ad extra to the concrete, empirical
"traditions" (in the Tridentine sense) in order to interpret them in a way consistent
with the revealed noemata. However, any retrospective view of previous theologians
or schools (e.g., German Romantic theology) as being a contributing influence on the
formularies of Vatican II in all these matters would be, at most, a teleological-historical
reflection in the style of Husserl, since phenomenological formulas or thematizations
are transtemporal constructs.
16. See Ratzinger's commentary on article 4 in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3, esp.
p. 175. In the ecclesial field of consciousness the Glorified Christ, as Logos-Shepherd,
constitutes the universal concrete ontology. In chapter eight, as we previously re-
marked, the People of God is the correlated universal concrete ontology embodied in
the Church itself. The Mystical Body, however, as standing outside of the Council's
phenomenological analysis, constitutes the Church's universal abstract (i.e., conceptual-
ized) ontology.
17. See Ratzinger's and Grillmeier's remarks in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3, pp. 196-
198 and pp. 244-245, esp. nos. 3-4, respectively. From a phenomenological point
of view the "analogy of faith" would be a theological way of speaking about the
comprehensive isomorphism permeating the ecclesial consciousness.
18. What we have been describing here approximates the academic discipline known as
the "phenomenology of religion." It is one of the four branches of the "History of
Religions" (once popularly called "Comparative Religion"). In Germany this group of
religious studies is known as Allgemeine Religionswissenscha[t, i.e., "the general
science of religions." See Allen [1978J, pp. 4-5 and Baird [1971J, pp. 28-30. As a
working principle, we may accept the four branches to be those listed by Joachim
Wach: history, phenomenology, psychology, and sociology of religion. For a concise
introduction to how individual theologians tend to employ the phenomenology of
religion for their academic purposes see Hebblethwaite [1980], pp. 23-43.
Vatican II's use of the phenomenology of religion has differed in significant ways
from the usual academic applications of this discipline. Some of the major differences
would be: (1) the Council's analysis and description were done in a communitarian
way; (2) by committed practitioners of the religion; (3) reflecting on their own (cross-
cultural) religious experiences; (4) in quest of a common meaning-for-them (ontology);
(5) for pastoral, not academic, purposes; (6) with a view to developing a new com-
munication process and a global formation~postolic program; (7) which would be
adequate to the challenges of a uniquely critical moment in the history of mankind.
Lastly, the Council has, of necessity, manifested its own unique phenomenology of
religion since its focus is centered on the living consciousness of the Church. When
contemplating objects (noemata) existing in the "eternal now," the Council's analytic
process resembles that of M. Eliade. However, when the Church reflects on its becoming
as incarnate body-subject (People of God) in eschatological time, the analytic process
resembles that of A. Schutz on the natural life-world. We must remember, however,
that only one religious life-world is being reflected upon in this bipolar way.
If we may grant that Vatican II did produce a distinctive phenomenology of the
Catholic religion, did it also produce a theology? Certainly the phenomenological
method was employed at the Council for serious religious purposes and by ecclesiastical
teachers with a special charism to carry out their office. Whether or not the bishops
formulated a theology is really an academic question, properly speaking, and largely
depends on the principles or assumptions on which one bases his definition of "the-
ology." See "Is there such a subject?" in Hebblethwaite [1980], pp. 1-22. By reason
of the pastoral (Le., anthropological) purposes of Vatican II this academic question
regarding a "theology" of Vatican II is quite secondary, and may profitably be relegated
to the speculations of academicians. For myself, I prefer to think that the bishops
formulated a "meta-theology" commensurate with the "meta-anthropology" on which
they were intent.
19. See Ladner (1959], pp. 43-45 and in his Index under "Metamorphosis," "Trans-
formation," and "Transfiguration."
20. See Frossard [1984] , pp. 58-59.
21. As a case in point we cite Heidegger's philosophy. See Boelen [1975], Deely [1971],
and Marx [1971].
22. I will cite only two instances. On Rahner see Hurd [1984]; on Schillebeeckx see
Schreiter [1984], p. 21. My own opinions, however, on these theoretical mindsets
in relation to Vatican II may be found in Excursus V on Anthropology under the
subheading, "The radical nature of Vatican II's reflection."
23. The phenomenology of religion, as employed by Vatican II, poses a serious academic
problem, particularly for historical studies. This problem is discussed in a basic way
by Baird [1971], pp. 152-154, but in a more extensive way in "The Historical-
Phenomenological 'Tension'" in Allen [1978], pp. 173-200. These academic con-
cerns should be read in correlation with "The Project of Transcendental Philosophy,"
in Carr [1974], pp. 260-277. Although such academic concerns were not ignored
by the Council, they were not an integral part of its pastoral goals. This will become
more apparent later when we see how many important technical problems the Council
chose not to deal with. (See note 26, infra.)
24. See Pope John's opening speech at the Council in Abbott [1966], p. 715. Ratzinger
in Vorgrimler (1967-1969], Vol. 3, pp. 186-188 offers an interesting case study
where he resolves by phenomenological means four utterly disparate objections to the
dynamic concept of tradition developed by Vatican II: the objections had been posed
by Ruffini and Leger (Catholic) and Cullmann and Reid (Protestant).
25. The origin and background of this document is narrated by Ratzinger in Vorgrimler
[1967-1969], Vol. 3, pp. 155-166; the stages of the text are listed therein on
pp. 165-166. Part One of Grillmeier's commentary on Chapter III of this constitution
offers a working sample of the conciliar thought being synthesized through the various
stages of the document. See Vorgrimler [1967 -1969], Vol. 3, pp. 199-227.
26. A more comprehensive list of such topics as listed in Vorgrimler [1967 -1969], Vol. 3,
would be: inerrancy and historicity of the gospels (p. 163), the material completeness
of scripture (pp. 157, 162), the controversy over the sensus plenior (pp. 219,238),
the question of the canon of scripture (p. 247), questions concerning the authenticity
of various scriptural writings (p. 247), and the problem of criticizing tradition (p. 185).
27. For a sample of the optimism which reigned at the end of the Council, particularly
as regards the scriptures, see Grillmeier's remarks in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3,
p.246.
28. Such efforts seem to have been originally inspired by Heidegger's call for "foundational
thinking." See Landgrebe [1966], PP. 142-143, 173-175. Perhaps the earliest aca-
demic trend in this direction for North Americans was Dewart [1966].
164 CHAPTER 10
29. The most blatant example of a historicist mindset calling for a new theological episte-
mology on the basis of the Constitution on Revelation (Dei verbum) would be Baum
[1967], pp. 62-63.
30. At the present time the most publicized incident of this trend would be Liberation
Theology. On August 6, 1984, the Sacred Congregation for Doctrine and Faith issued
"An Instruction on the Theology of Liberation." See The Pope Speaks 29:4 (Winter,
1984) 289-310. This should be read in the context of the pope's address to the
cardinals on December 21, 1984: "The charism of Peter: to serve universal unity
by protecting and defending the Gospel's authenticity." See the English edition of
L'Osservatore Romano 3:869 (Jan. 21, 1985) 6-8. In this talk the Holy Father dis-
cusses the authentic sense of the Church's "option for the poor" (#9-10, pp. 7-8)
and substantially formulates the issue in terms of the "dehumanization," which John
XXIII discerned in Humanae Sa/utis. See Abbott [1966], pp. 703-704: "Painful
considerations. "
165
EPILOGUE: THE MORAL CHALLENGE OF THE NEW GLOBAL TASK
As I come to the end of my reflections on Vatican II and phenomenology, what

impresses me is not so much the Council's sophisticated intellectual process, but
the fact that its religious adaptation recapitulates and redirects human thought-
patterns under development for well over a century. Vatican II and the "signs
of the times" are telling us that the Age of the Enlightenment has come to an
end: man can no longer live by reason alone.! Reason needs to be anchored in a
primordial faith (or myth) larger than itself, a faith which confers self-respect,
clarity of direction, and a hierarchy of fundamental values. At the Council the
Church returned to its own religious life-world to reformulate a creative and
contemporary expression of such a larger faith. This was necessary because
the battleground of the foreseeable future will be a clash of faiths, myths, and
life-worlds rather than a clash of scientific ideas. Vatican II has, accordingly,
brought into historical comparative focus the three great faiths now contending
to shape the man of the future: faith in Reason, faith in the Collectivity, and
faith in God. This context provides us with a better perspective on the three
foremost leaders of these trends in modern times: Hegel, Marx, and John XXIII.2
Myth in the service of ideas
When Husserl made the long journey back to the life-world in the Crisis, he was
in search for the authentic foundation of reason and science. Considered in
itself this quest was quite theoretical in purpose: Husserl desired to elaborate a
unified field-theory of consciousness. In 1937, however, there was another
overriding practical goal which set him on this theoretical quest: the renewal
of European civilization. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Hegel had
also conceived of a comparable return to man's life-world, particularly his
religious life-world. In that self-assured period of the Enlightenment Hegel's
purpose was not at all theoretical, but totally practical and quite revolutionary
in its humanitarian intent. H.S. Harris provides us with the pertinent passage
embodying Hegel's Grand Plan:
Until we make the Ideas aesthetic, that is mythological, they have no

interest for the people [Volk], and conversely until mythology is rational,
166 EPILOGUE
the philosopher must be ashamed of it. Thus in the end enlightened and
unenlightened must clasp hands, mythology must become philosophical,
and the people rational, and philosophy must become mythological, in
order to make the philosophers sensible. Then reigns eternal unity among
us. Never the scornful glance [of the philosopher despising the super-
stitious believer] , never the blind trembling of the people before its wise
men and priests. The first awaits equal development of all forces, of what
is peculiar to each and of what is common to all [... J. No force shall any
longer be oppressed, for then universal freedom and equality of spirit
reigns! - A higher spirit sent from Heaven must found this religion, it will
be the last, greatest work of mankind. 3
Hegel's thought was, perhaps, the last great effort to domesticate religion and
harness it to the chariot of the State as the bearer of enlightened progress. In
modern Western democracies this optimistic view of the State has not signifi-
cantly altered, but civil society, as essentially pluralist, must now view religious
groups as purely volunteer organizations outside of the political process itself.
Hegel's Grand Plan was that of a theorist, formulated at the end of an era when
agriculture and the landed-nobility gave every impression of preserving the
status quo antea into the future. His role in the Prussian educational system
underwrote the trend toward nationalism which, in effect, became the people's
civil religion.4 In Denmark only Soren Kierkegaard raised an isolated and un-
loved voice against this type of coopted religion. 5
By 1848, however, with the full arrival of the Industrial Revolution and social
unrest throughout Europe Hegel's Idealism was in decline. What is far more signifi-
cant, however, is that the Industrial Revolution introduced the age of the urban-
ized masses, and ever since that era there has been a growing sensitivity to the
complexities of this pro blem and concern with managing it constructively. But in
the middle of the nineteenth century men were only beginning to recognize the
outlines of such problems. There arose, then, a need for a new type of theorist
to guide men into a future becoming daily more turbulent. In these first pioneering
efforts Hegel's vision of the unity of philosophers and the lower classes remained
intact, but his conceptual Idealism had to go. By an adroit use of psychological
projection Feuerbach transformed the substance of Hegelianism into absolute
materialism. like Hegel and many modern thinkers, Feuerbach was not desirous
of getting rid of religion, only of reconstructing it according to his own precon-
ceptions. His most significant achievement was to remove psychologism from the
realm of academia and put it to work in the marketplace. In doing this Feuerbach
established a linkage with a new brand of historicism intent on the total re-
organization of society and thereby the eventual elimination of religion.
NEW GLOBAL TASK 167
Myth in the service of the masses
Karl Marx is acknowledged today as the most important thinker of the nine-
teenth century to have recognized that the future belonged to the masses. He
identified these masses, however, with the proletariat of the industrialized
nations. His insights were based on a critical assessment of the political econ-
omy of that era, and his new "science" of history has since become known as
historical materialism. 6 From empiricism Marx took the general content of
history to be materialism, and from Hegel he saw its specific form or content
to be the dialectic. In this way he tried to resolve a problem which has been
a major focus of this book: the conflict between objectivity (Idealism) and
subjectivity (empiricism). To the extent Marx believed that all scientific know-
ledge was conditioned by history and necessarily a developmental process,
he was not really intent on producing a philosophy. That became the lot of
Friedrich Engels, Marx's intimate collaborator. Although Marx in Das Kapital
had formulated the economic theory of historical materialism, it was Engels
in Anti-Diihring who elaborated dialectical materialism, the mythology of
orthodox Marxism in the Soviet Union.
Roy Edgley provides us with a concise sense of what is involved in Engel's
new philosophy:
On its own understanding dialectical materialism is cross-bred from the

union of two bourgeois philosophies: the mechanistic materialism of the
Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment, and Hegel's idealistic dialectics.
The mechanicism of the former, which is incompatible with dialectics, and
the idealism of the latter, which is incompatible with materialism, are
rejected and opposed as "metaphysical" and "ideological." The result is a
philosophy in the sense of a "world outlook," "the communist world
outlook" as Engels calls it (Anti-Diihring, Preface to 2nd ed.): a body of
theory taken to be true of concrete reality as a whole, and conceived as in
a sense scientific, as a kind of "natural philosophy" generalizing and sup-
ported by the findings of the special sciences as they advance to maturity,
including the social science of historical materialism. 7
A revolution succeeds only because there are practical men of action capable
of translating theory into practice. Two such men after the Russian revolution
were Lenin and Stalin. Among other noteworthy achievements Lenin recon-
ceptualized the notion and role of the Communist party.8 Since Marxism, as
dialectical materialism, was not merely a political theory, but a science and a
world view, a new type of party was needed to educate the proletariat in the
168 EPILOGUE
class consciousness appropriate to this world view. With the help ofits intellec-
tuals the cadre party had to first cultivate this consciousness within itself. Then,
as the pedagogues of a new humanity, the cadre party had to transmit this class
consciousness to the working class. Hegel's Grand Plan had returned with a
vengence! Under Stalin all this became dogma and was used to ensure party
discipline. But a unique transformation had now taken place. In the leadership
role of the cadre party a new elite had arisen which combined the roles pre-
viously held by Enlightenment philosophers and the managerial class of capital-
ism. As the working classes of the industrialized nations proved resistant to
Communist propaganda, the new masses became the peasant populations of the
underdeveloped nations. In every instance, however, the people became sub-
servient to a tightly knit elite group of a totalitarian party.
Myth in the service of humanity
John XXIII differed in one important way from Hegel, Marx, and Engels: he was
no theorist. As Humanae Salutis made clear from the start, the pope called the
council because of complex world problems and solicitude for mankind. Since
he had no doubts about the Church's theoretical grasp of doctrine and morality,
he did not call for a council to deal with such matters. 9 Rather, in a critical
global situation he was looking for ways to make his religious truths work more
effectively at all levels so that men would be able to comprehend them in human,
everyday terms. Hence, he called a pastoral council. In such a pastoral council
the key-question is: "Granted we have the truth, how do we get it to work its
purposes in a seriously dislocated world very much in need of it?" The response
of the bishops and theologians at the council was: "As ~ first step we must
project the truth in such a way that it coincides with the authentic desires of
humanity and serves as a focal point for mankind in its collaborative efforts
toward progress and development. As a second step we must rethink our own
religious community, the Church, in these same terms so that our efforts at
renewal and adaptation will provide moral leadership for mankind and en-
courage Catholics to collaborate with any worthwhile program assisting people
to become better human beings. Lastly, we must give an example of peace-
making by healing, as far as possible, the divisions within Christianity itself."
As a result, the Council Fathers totally recast the dynamics of the Mystical
Body into that communion of minds and hearts now known as the People of
God. 1o This new symbolism embodies a mythic-communication process which
intends for Catholics what the Statue of Liberty does for Americans: one
glimpse, and you have the authentic idea and spirit of the whole enterprise!
NEW GLOBAL TASK 169
Without compromIsmg the traditional doctrines found in the conceptual

formularies of the past, the bishops and theologians conceived a new pastoral
theology commensurate with the global human concerns of Vatican II as a
pastoral council. As derived from the corporate experience of the Church, this
theology is quite sophisticated and complex; most of this book has been devoted
simply to the methodology used to construct it. However, the cumulative pur-
pose of the whole process has been to reverse the psycho-cultural impact of the
Copernican Revolution on modern man. ll As we recall, Copernicus transposed
a system of the universe confirmed by everyday experience into a totally con-
ceptual one. In so doing he unwittingly began that process whereby man became
displaced as the center of creation. 12 Most of the advances in modern science
have simply reinforced this awareness, until man today has no significance
except as a member of some collectivity, whether it be political, economic, or
racial. For serious reasons, then, the Church has turned aside from a merely
conceptual grasp of reality to restore modern man's experiential appreciation
of his authentic humanity. This shift is both profound and disturbing. The
temptation, of course, is to make it the subject of academic study and a source
of further speculation: everything, in short, which John XXIII did not want
a pastoral council to be. To fall into this temptation is to miss one of the most
obvious facts of contemporary social history. Vatican II's pastoral goals and
theology constitute a mirror-image of modern Soviet Marxism: two global
forces with opposed dynamics are in confrontation about what it means to be
a human being. The confrontation here is moral, not political.
Dialectical materialism vs. dialectical Christianity
In suggesting this iconographic contrast between Soviet Economic Man and the
People of God I am not implying that the Council consciously constructed this
symmetry-by-way-of-opposition. In the abstract much of the same opposition
exists in the direction of Capitalistic Economic Man. However, the total complex
of concrete global problems which Vatican II set itself to confront made this
comparison with Marxism somewhat inevitable. It was in the context of global
human problems that John XXIII made the temporal order the crucible in which
the efficacy of the supernatural order would be tested. Furthermore, when the
Council opted for a methodological Idealism, this knitted Vatican II into the
Post-Kantian intellectual heritage of Europe from which Marxist theory derives.
Virtually all of the epistemologically related problems treated by this book
(e.g., the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity, historicism, the
historicity of consciousness, praxis, anthropology, and dialectics) are regular
170 EPILOGUE
dietary fare of Hegelians, Marxists, phenomenologists, existentialists, and Tran-

scendental Thomists .13
I am not so much intrigued here with the theoretical implications of the
abovementioned, newly juxtaposed contrast in global strategic visions as I am
with its challenge to pastoral leadership and management. Both viewpoints
have their distinctive recipes for peace and human development. The first says
human nature is determined by the mode of production; its theory of humanism
is essentially a political economy. The second says human nature is a known
constant brought to perfection by moral choices; its theory of humanism is
essentially a religion or, to be more accurate, one specific religious man, Christ.
In our turbulent age I am not inclined to think either party is much interested in
further speculative arguments. Since both have a vested interest in any con-
structive dialogue or praxis oriented to peacemaking, economic progress, and
human development, I assume that is where both factions will be concentrating
their attention for the future. We know what kind of leadership and manage-
ment direction Marxism has fostered over the last half-century. What the Church
can offer is yet to be proved.
Pragmatism, science, and the new humanism
I realize my reflections have assumed a very pragmatic turn. 14 It is difficult to

maintain a distanced and neutral attitude in the face of The Bomb, Humanae
Salutis, and the either/or global choice between social engineering and creative
charity. Recognition of the problem is far more important than the mode in
which we transpose or interpret its meaning. However, as we must admit, Hegel's
vision of the need for a practical unity of minds between theoreticians and the
general populace is being forced upon us by world events. While we may not be
ready for any new religion, we just might listen a bit more carefully to some talk
about an ecumenical ethics and some needed reorganization of human affairs.
Am I also somehow suggesting that in this critical transition period of man-
kind the pursuit of theoretical knowledge for its own sake has been relegated
to secondary importance? To offset this query let me recall an example from
Joseph Weizenbaum which speaks for itself:
In 1935, Michael Polanyi, then holder of the Chair of Physical Chem-

istry at the Victoria University of Manchester, England, was suddenly
shocked into a confrontation with philosophical questions that have ever
since dominated his life. The shock was administered by Nicolai Bukharin,
one of the leading theoreticians of the Russian Communist Party, who told
NEW GLOBAL TASK 171
Polanyi that "under socialism the conception of science pursued for its
own sake would disappear, for the interests of scientists would spon-
taneously turn to the problems of the current Five Year Plan." Polanyi
sensed then that "the scientific outlook appeared to have produced a
mechanical conception of man and history in which there was no place
for science itself." And further that "this conception denied altogether
any intrinsic power of thought and thus denied any grounds for claiming
freedom of thought." IS
Now, one does not have to go to far-off Russia to be exposed to such a virus.
I have encountered the same outlook in the Catholic Church among parochial-
minded clergy and laity, but this overly pragmatic attitude is so endemic to
American culture that I have usually written it off as a deviation from the
larger Catholic heritage. However, we must begin to recognize that the situation
of 1935 is not the situation of 1985! What I am suggesting is that the model of
scholarship, sceptical rationalism, and individualistic humanism which has come
down to us from the Enlightenment is no longer adequate to the complex
challenges of the modern situation. I6 While I readily admit the necessity of
demythologizing the bible, I see a far more pressing need today for demyth-
ologizing our academic preconceptions. This is a necessary precondition for the
reform of our educational system, the quest for a new humanism, and the
practical task of global civilization-building required by our times. I? Such was
the substance of Husserl in the Crisis, and such is the substance of Vatican II.
If we have to wait another twenty years while Catholic theologians do their
"foundational rethinking" and discover a "new ontology," it just may be too
late to get started on this project.
The moral challenge
I, for one, happen to believe that mankind has the technological capacity and
natural resources to solve its problems for the foreseeable future. Whether or not
we have the time available to develop the political and economic structures to
use this technology creatively and effectively is another matter entirely. Much of
our challenge today is not so much cognitive but moral. E.F. Schumacher has,
from a lifetime of experience, achieved a basic spiritual and human insight into
the modern situation which coincides with much Vatican II had to say:
[... ] There has never been a time, in any society in any part of the world,
without its sages and teachers to challenge materialism and plead for a
172 EPILOGUE
different order of priorities. The languages have differed, the symbols have
varied, yet the message has always been the same: "Seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and all these things [the material things which you also
need] shall be added unto you." They shall be added, we are told, here on
earth where we need them, not simply in an after-life beyond our imagin-
ation. Today, however, this message reaches us not solely from the sages
and the saints but from the actual course of physical events. It speaks to us
in the language of terrorism, genocide, breakdown, pollution, exhaustion.
We live, it seems, in a unique period of convergence. It is becoming ap-
parent that there is not only a promise but also a threat in these astonishing
words about the kingdom of God - the threat that "unless you seek first
the kingdom, these other things, which you also need, will cease to be
available to yoU.,,18
This is the new realism at the heart of Vatican II, and it implies a return to
some very elementary truths of Christianity. The problems of our dislocated
world will take the moral and humanistic measure of every man and institution
now in existence and constitute their Way of the Cross for the foreseeable
future. 19 Pope John Paul II has a fundamentally correct insight into this issue.
While addressing university students, he once said: "The cross is the cradle of
the New Man." In this sense we are "in a unique period of convergence," dis-
cerned by John XXIII in Pacem in Terris, when traditional religious insights
are coming into alignment with humanistic values. Such, too, was the insight
Josiah Royce had into the humanistic implications of the doctrine of the atone-
ment. 20 The Catholic renewal of Vatican II involves a uniquely new but humanly
constructive theologia cruciS. 21 The world crisis, which requires us "to reinvent
politics, to reinvent the world," is a challenging moral chgice with an echo of
Hegel in it: " ... it will be the last, greatest work of mankind."
Toward the end of his life Baron F. von Hugel had a profound insight into the
heart of what really constitutes this great modern moral challenge. He wrote:
We need a prophetic and creative love which, by loving the repulsive, the
hateful, ends by making it lovable; a love which sees what is not yet there;
a love which by seeing it, wishing it, loving it, makes it come. 22
NOTES
1. To appreciate this statement in an historical context see "The Eclipse of Thought,"

in Polanyi and Prosch [1975], pp. 3-21. The same topic from a more religious di-
mension would be found in Smith [1982].
NEW GLOBAL TASK 173
2. My choice of these three figures displays my personal bias in favor of the Western
cognitive (scientific) tradition. My assumption is that this tradition will be a major
formative influence in any global civilization of the future. Among the world's major
religions only Christianity has developed commensurately within this cognitive tradition.
Consequently, I have no great confidence in trends suggestive of esoteric religious
syncretism: e.g., Ferguson [1980] and Capra [1982].
3. See Harris [1981], p. 301. Any use of the term, "myth," relative to Hegel, Marx, or
contemporary secular thinkers would also have to take into consideration the nine-
teenth century's outlook on this idea as developed in Comparative Religious Studies.
See Allen [1978], esp. pp. 11-13. When we apply this concept to the Catholic religion
and the work of Vatican II, we shall precise more clearly how we are using the term.
(See note 10, infra.)
4. See Hayes [1960].
5. See Drucker [1971] , pp. 50-65: "The Unfashionable Kierkegaard."
6. See William H. Shaw, "Historical Materialism," in Bottomore [1983], pp. 206-210.
7. See Roy Edgley, "Dialectical Materialism," in Bottomore [1983] , p. 120.
8. See Iring Fetscher, "Marxism, development of," in Bottomore [1983] , p. 311.
9. See Durant [1968], pp. 23 -24: "In the United States the lower birth rate of the
Anglo-Saxons has lessened their economic and political power; and the higher birth
rate of Roman Catholic families suggests that by the year 2000 the Roman Catholic
Church will be the dominant force in national as well as in municipal or state govern-
ments. A similar process is helping to restore Catholicism in France, Switzerland, and
Germany; the lands of Voltaire, Calvin, and Luther may soon return to the papal fold.
So the birth rate, like war, may determine the fate of theologies; just as the defeat
of the Moslems at Tours (732) kept France and Spain from replacing the Bible with the
Koran, so the superior organization, discipline, morality, fidelity, and fertility of
Catholics may cancel the Protestant Reformation and the French Enlightenment.
There is no humorist like history."
10. I understand "myth" here in the sense defined by M. Eliade:
Myth narrates a sacred history; it relates an event that took place in primordial Time,
the fabled time of the 'beginnings.' In other words, myth tells how, through the deeds
of Supernatural Beings, a reality came into existence .... In short, myths describe
the various and sometimes dramatic breakthroughs of the sacred (or the 'supernatural')
into the World ... the myth is regarded as a sacred story, and hence a 'true history,'
because it always deals with realities.
Cited in Allen [1978], p. 13. Eliade expresses a "phenomenological understanding of

myth." See Baird [1971] ,pp. 77 -80. He further states that "the foremost function of
myths is to reveal the exemplary models for all human rites and all significant human
activities." Cited in Allen [1978], p. 13, footnote 29. For some contemporary anthro-
pological implications of Vatican II's radical adaptation of the Church's core-myths
see Allen [1978], pp. 244-246.
11. My assertion does not contravene the fact that there are significant theoretical impli-
cations for science in the Copernican "revolution." See Polanyi [1958] , pp. 3-4.
12. See Lecture XVIII in Freud [1966], who was one of the first to reflect on the three
"humiliations" of Post-Renaissance Man: i.e., the Copernican displacement of man and
his earth as the center of the universe; biological evolution's dethronement of man as a
174 EPILOGUE
"special creation" of God; and the radical relativity of alI human knowledge and values
as revealed by the psychoanalytic revolution and historical scholarship.
13. The mere listing of these schools of thought is enough to indicate that they represent
academic theorists. The first close contact between Catholics and Marxists came during
the Second World War in the French Underground where, often enough, the works of
Teilhard de Chardin provided a common ground for discussion. After the War this
type of dialogical exchange continued with that group of intelIectuals representing
"Western Marxism." See Bottomore [1983), pp. 523-526. Although the method-
ological Idealism of Vatican II may be a product of this European mindstyle, the
meaning and goals of the Council will have to be interpreted into other thought-
categories if it expects to exercise influence beyond the narrow academic community
mentioned above. For pastoral purposes, it seems, the Church has exchanged Latin for
phenomenology as her new "international language" for intellectuals. As Latin once
had to be interpreted into the vernacular, so the same prospect faces the phenom-
enological style of reflection.
14. No one has captured the "sense" of this pragmatic spirit in the Anglo-American
tradition of ethical reflection better than Polanyi and Prosch [1975), esp. p. 10.
Since the late 1960s, however, this spirit of restraint in ethical reasoning has been fast
eroding. See Rieff [1966), pp. 8-9.
15. See Weizenbaum [1976], p. 1.
16. See "Beyond Nihilism" and "The Two Cultures," in Polanyi [1969), pp. 3-23 and
pp. 40-46. For individualistic humanism American-style see Yankelovich [1981).
17. These are all themes found in Muller [1982). The irony of Muller's book is that he sees
more connection with these ideas to Teilhard de Chardin than to the work of Vatican II.
18. See Schumacher [1973), pp. 293-294.
19. This fact applies especially to the Church. See Wojtyla [1979b) and Nichols [1981)
pp.76-77.
20. See Royce [1968), esp. pp. 178-186.
21. The theme of the spiritual significance of human suffering is assuming great importance
in the thought of the present Holy Father. See John Paul II [1984a).
22. Cited in Nedoncelle [1962). See also Muller [1982), pp. 60-64.
175
EXCURSUS I: LIFE-WORLD (LEBENSWELT)
Introductory remarks
Spiegelberg [1982], p. 747 describes the life-world as "the encompassing world

of our immediate experience which can be recovered from the world as given
to scientific interpretation by a special type of reduction." This descriptive
definition is just opaque enough to alert anyone with a theoretical mindset,
whether scientist or theologian, that a return to such a pre scientific social
world of subjectivity, the world of the natural attitude and commonsense,
may involve a serious psychological adjustment and be accomplished adequately
only with some difficulty. This is the phenomenological version of "Unless you
be converted and become as little children ... " (Mt. 18: 3)
Husserl's inspiration for the life-world
It is important to recall, as both Merleau-Ponty and Bidney do, that Husserl

got his inspiration for the notion of the life-world from Levy-Bruhl's Primitive
Mythology. See Natanson [1973b], Vol. 1, pp. 102, 129: In focusing on the
primitive consciousness of these diverse intersubjective communities both Levy-
Bruhl and Husserl are - at least initially - intent on studying the primordial
(and functional) ontology structuring these historically manifest life-worlds
which, as constituted by the pre scientific consciousness to provide human meaning
and to serve human concerns, are essentially anthropocentric. The life-world,
consequently, and the world of science (wherein we must also include phil-
osophical phenomenology and scholasticism) are two diverse worlds dealing
with two different sets of "facts." "The facts of the life-world," as D. Bidney
remarks, "are historic, practical, and relative to the experience of given sub-
jects and their cultural worlds. The facts of objective science are universal, cross-
cultural, and valid for all mankind." See Natanson [1973b], Vol. 1, p. 130.
The life-world in the context of the "Crisis"
It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the theme of the life-world received
its fullest development and prominence from Husserl's book, the Crisis, written
176 EXCURSUS I
on the verge of World War II. John XXIII penned Humanae Salutis, when man-
kind was on the verge of World War III. In essence both men were faced with
much the same problem. Both thinkers recognized that their theoretical prin-
ciples should express their efficiency In the dislocated temporal (human) order:
i.e., the life-world. Both also realized that such life-worlds had established the
human priorities governing the lives of men. Therefore, both men appreciated
that they had to establish a linkage, empirically grounded in these human
priorities, which would provide a two-way bridge between the diverse worlds
of theory and praxis. Both were convinced that such a linkage (ontology or
isomorphism) could be established and that it would be compatible with and
discernible by human subjectivity. Husserl thought this could be achieved by
phenomenological method; John XXIII suggested, at least tentatively, the
traditional connatural knowledge. Vatican II chose to use both approaches and
fused them in a corporate display of transcendental intersubjectivity.
Source materials on the natural life-world
The notion of the life-world was introduced into France by Merleau-Ponty as

early as 1940. Consequently, his ideas too played an important role in popularizing
this motif among European intellectuals. A concise analysis of Husserl's treat-
ment of the life-world may be found in Spiegelberg [1982], pp. 144-147. This
should, however, be compared with his treatment of Merleau-Ponty's conception
of the life-world which seems to approximate the type of bipolar phenom-
enology characteristic of Vatican II's use of the method. See Spiegelberg [1982] ,
pp. 549-556. For a more extended technical treatment grounded in Husserlian
theory see Schutz (1962-1976], Vol. 3, pp. 116-132 ("Some Structures of the
Life-World") and Vol. 1, esp. pp. 120-122, 130-136 ("Phenomenology and the
Social Sciences"). Also to be recommended is C.A. van Puersen, "Life-World and
Structures," in Edie, Parker, and Schrag [1970], pp. 139-153. A book-length
treatment of this theme is Schutz and Luckmann [1973] .
From the natural to the religious life-world
All of the above discussions of the life-world deal only with the natural life-
world, a theme which did not surface in any significant way at Vatican II until
the Council Fathers reflected on Gaudium et Spes, "The Church in the Modern
World." Vatican II's doctrinal focus was primarily on the religious life-world
of the Church. Need it be emphasized that the religious life-world is not the
totality of reality? Just as human beings are composed of soul and body, so the
"split-level" type of pastoral theology suggested by John XXIII and implemented
by Vatican II sees both life-worlds as correlated and working in complementary
fashion. It should come as no surprise, then, that the consciousness of the
LIFE-WORLD 177
Church focuses primarily, and somewhat exclusively, on its own religious life-
world, its own "soul."
From religious life-world to phenomenology of religion
Consequently, the Council displays religious intentionality in action, mani-

fests the pervading structures, typifications, or "styles" of this religious life-
world, and ultimately makes us aware of its (functional) ontology. Often
enough it is the theorist who first introduces us to such a phenomenology of
religion: e.g., Mircea Eliade or Henry Dumery. Such theorists, however, labor-
from a Christian point of view - under a certain "handicap": they view the
religious phenomena as disinterested, scientific observers. Vatican II, how-
ever, exemplifies active participants reflecting on their own religious life-world.
Admittedly, the "scientific" expertise of theologians working on the various
conciliar commissions assisted in the thematization of such reflections. How-
ever, the work of the commissions was only preparatory for the fmal and de-
cisive vote of the bishops as the authentic teachers of doctrine and morals.
(The complexity built into such a decision-process from a phenomenological
point of view will be discussed briefly in Chapter 8, note 3, but from a scholastic
point of view the very nature of the conciliar formularies, as non-formal state-
ments, necessarily involves a use of connatural knowledge.) Instructed by the
above observations, we begin to appreciate that the two doctrinal constitutions,
Dei verbum and Lumen Gentium, represent a phenomenology of a religious
life-world constructed from the inside-out, rather than in the manner of the
outside-in typical of the scientific observer constructing a phenomenology
of religion.
The life-world and the suspension of science
In this book the life-world is discussed in an important way in Chapter 6 in the

section entitled: "Reductive phenomenology: two pertinent types." Spiegelberg
[1982], p. 145 remarks: "As Husserl sees it, a peculiar type of first reduction,
a suspension of science, is indispensable in order to get sight of the life-world
and its structures." (Emphasis added.) This isa key-idea in the development of
my essay, particularly when discussing the Council's prescientific and "ahistorical"
view of its religious realities and when reflecting on the Council's use of phenom-
enology as a via media style of reflection.
178 EXCURSUS I
The natural attitude toward the sciences in the

natural life-world
A somewhat imprudent, if not inaccurate, over-statement occurs in Abbott

[1966] , p. 190: "What the Constitution [Gaudium et Spes] accepts as its point
of departure is the emergence of valid new intellectual disciplines, chiefly
those of the psychological, social, and historical sciences, as well as the unfolding
of world-wide trends such as urbanization and industrialization with their
inevitable impact on man and his works." This is simply an uncritical expression
of the natural attitude toward the sciences in the natural life-world, and it
conveys the type of unnuanced euphoria which seemed to grip some minds
toward the close of the Council. What the Constitution accepts as its point of
departure is the pastoral theology of the religious life-world of the Church as
formulated in Lumen Gentium and Dei verbum. In the pastoral constitution,
Gaudium et Spes, the Council Fathers are - in a first, tentative way - trying
to correlate the phenomenologically thematized theology of the above-
mentioned two dogmatic constitutions with a phenomenology of a global
natural life-world. They are hardly going to compromise or jeopardize their
essentially theological enterprise (which technically involves the suspension of
the sciences) by endorsing the unqualified validity of such contingently judg-
mental "sciences" as psychology, sociology, and history. Acknowledging their
existence, utility, or sociocultural influence is not to be equated with any
theoretical endorsement of their validity. See also J. Sittler's remarks in Miller
[1966], pp. 424-427.
For a truly nuanced statement consider this response of Canon Moeller to a
question posed about Gaudium et Spes's position on a scientific point, as re-
corded in Miller [1966], p. 430:
Question: In the light of what we know about the history of life before
man emerged, was created, can we any longer say that man would have
been immune from bodily death except for "his sin?
Moeller: It is a difficult question, and I must say that I am unable to
answer it alone. Article 18 speaks of "that bodily death from which man
would have been immune had he not sinned." In this text we avoid taking
a position on the biological, paleontological problem; it says only that
without sin man would have been without ordination to death [Le.,
Heidegger's "being-toward-death"?]. This does not affirm any theory
about natural immortality or natural mortality.
LIFE-WORLD 179
The practical character of the religious life-world
Vatican II's religious life-world may reflect the primordial consciousness of the
Church, but as a pastoral consciousness it is very much oriented to the twentieth-
century and beyond. Although pretheoretical and intuitively given, this pri-
mordial consciousness has correlated itself with the authentic demands of a
scientific and technological age. In no way must Vatican II be construed as a
study in "historical primitivism" or in the operations of the "primitive mind"
in some anthropological sense. See Levi-Strauss [1966]. The religious life-
world of Vatican II, however, is more encompassing than the scientific advances
of anyone generation and always remains the background against which such
achievements play out their roles.
Important as the world of Rcience may be for advances in human knowledge
and achievement, the life-world - whether natural or religious - is the ultimate
custodian of our very humanity. This is so because the life-world is:
not theoretical at all, but rather practical. For consciousness at this level,
the world is the domain of ends to be attained, projects to be carried
out, materials to be used in carrying them out. It is not a mathematical
manifold of entities to be known with theoretical exactness, but a pre-
given horizon of the useful and the useless, the significant and the in-
significant, the relevant and the irrelevant .... In much of what Hussed
says about the perceived world here, one is reminded of Merleau-Ponty's
warning that perception must not be analysed as if it were an "incipient
science." The orientation of the perceived world around the lived body
is a practical orientation of movement and accomplishment, not a theor-
etical orientation. Similarly, culture does not essentially present us with a
"theory" of the world, but envelopes us in a domain, articulated according
to spheres of action, providing norms and directives for getting around.
The cultural world may contain a scientific theory among its elements,
but it is not exhausted in the stock of objective truths the theory provides.
Not that the concept of truth has no relevance here, for hand in hand with
Husserl's new descriptions of consciousness and the world goes a new
concept of truth. Here he refers to "situational" or "practical" truth,
which is properly characterized as "merely relative" - i.e., relative to the
subject or the community, relative to the project under consideration -
only by contrast to the notion of "objective" truth, truth-in-itself about
the world-in-itself.
See D. Carr in Elliston and McCormick [1977] , p. 211.

180 EXCURSUS I
"World" vs. life-world
When reading post-Husserlian phenomenologists, the reader should not think

they are necessarily talking about the life-world in their discussion of "world."
For quite serious theoretical reasons these scholars have chosen to depart from
Husser!. The train of their thought has been well summarized by Robert R.
Ehman:
The radically new dimension in the recent phenomenological thought

of Merleau-Ponty, Fink, Heidegger, and Dufrenne is the attempt to correct
the idealist bias of the Husserlian approach without returning to the naive
ontological realism of the tradition. These thinkers do not reduce being
to meaning; nor on the other hand do they pass over meaning in favor of
an exclusive concentration on being. They attempt to put them both in a
dialectical interrelation in which each has an equal part in the constitution
of a world in which we find our place. While there remains a tension
between the idealist and realist poles, there is a genuine endeavor to
transcend the old dilemmas between idealism and realism in which Husserl
is still enmeshed. The endeavor to transcend these dilemmas focuses on the
phenomena of the world: it is world that is to provide the perspective
from which we can do equal justice to both poles without allowing either
to suppress the other.
See Robert R. Ehman, "The Phenomena of the World," in Edie, Parker, and
Schrag [1970] , pp. 85-86, emphasis added.
The above development represents a very high level of philosophical theorizing
parallel to the type of philosophical phenomenology which Husserl engaged in
prior to the Crisis. In such theorizing the term, "world," can even become
synonymous with Being itself. The phenomenologists at Vatican II were certainly
alert to the intent of such theorizing, and it did influence their thinking. In one
place Ratzinger alludes approvingly to "the problem of understanding, the
emergence of which over the last decades has dissolved the clear antithesis of
object and subject, without leading to an identification of both." See Vorgrimler
[1967-1969] , Vol. 3, p. 188. However, Vatican II was such a pastoral council, and
its membership came from so many different "schools" of phenomenology
employed at disparate levels for different purposes, that the theoretical positions
catalogued above had little direct impact on the Council's thinking. About the
only thing which the phenomenologists at the Council had in common was the
methodology itself. Since there are so many parallels between the "renewal"
concerns of Husserl and the anthropocentric concerns of Vatican II originating,
LIFE-WORLD 181
as these did, with John XXIII in Humanae Salutis this methodology and its
results make best sense when interpreted within the purview set for it by Husserl
himself.
Although the Council may have been sensitive to newer theoretical issues raised
by post-Husserlian phenomenologists, it by-passed them all by focusing on a
phenomenology of its own religious life-world. Here there is already vitally
operative a quasi-fusion or dialectical interrelation of anthropocentrism, christo-
centrism, and theocentrism orchestrated by the paradigm of the Glorified Christ
as the Logos-Shepherd. "We know that God reveals Himself in Jesus Christ and
that at the same time, according to the constitution Gaudium et Spes [#22],
Jesus Christ reveals man to man: 'The mystery of man is truly illuminated only
in the mystery of the Word incarnate.''' See Frossard [1984] , p. 67.
The thematization of the life-world at Vatican II
The thematizing of the ecclesial life-world was the work of the theological
commissions assigned to develop the documents into their finally accepted
form. This complex task required that such bishops/theologians safeguard the
pastoral nature of the Council while doing their phenomenological analysis in
a professionally competent way. G. Funke in Natanson [1973b], Vol. 2, p. 29,
captures some of the delicacy of this task:
[ ... ] The consciousness that uncovers the meaning of the relationships

in the life-world is itself no longer a consciousness within the life-world.
[... ] we must emphasize that the comprehension of structures and the
understanding of constitution is not just a simple knowing of intentional
acts or experiences that runs along with such acts, but is something that
can be disclosed only through a post eventum regressive reflective analysis
and with the aid of the most diverse clues. The consciousness that is within
the life-world cannot achieve what a later reflection, itself an eventful
occurrence, can achieve.
The religious life-world and its modern "ecumene"
While Vonier [1937] never developed the notion explicitly, the appropriation
of his theme, the People of God, by Vatican II did - in the context of modern
global problems - occasion the need for some serious reflection about the
nature and scope of a Christian ecumene in the modern world. Voegelin [1978],
pp. 203-204, describes that concept in the following way:
182 EXCURSUS I
To Herodotus we owe the concept of the ecumene, meaning the entire

known world of culture that potentially might be organized. He mentions
it in the context of the Persians. The concept of the ecumene then appears
again in Polybius as a designation of the telos of Roman expansion.
Finally it figures in Christianity and Manicheanism as the term for the
telos of missionary expansion. The ecumene, meaning the respectively
contemporaneous cultured humanity as a field of potential organization,
seems to be a social field of consciousness that belongs to the structure
of political reality. The problem deserves special attention because in our
time the global ecumene has become just such a potential field of organiz-
ation by ideological empires as the smaller ecumene of the Persians was in
Herodotus'time.
Maritain [1973], pp.127-255, as you may recall, grappled with a comparable

idea under the rubric of a "New Christendom." Reflecting on "The Church in
the Modern World" (see Abbott [1966], pp. 198-308) and the Council's ex-
tensive reflection on culture and acculturalization (see Abbott [1966], pp. 761-
762 in the subject index under "Culture"), we appreciate that such Conciliar
ideas are simply the expression of the telos inherent in its religious life-world.
Tentative though Vatican II's reflection on world and culture may be, still such
reflections give body and reality to its religious life-world formulated in the
doctrinal constitutions, Lumen Gentium and Dei verbum. The Epilogue of this
book presents some reflections on the two opposed ecumenes of the modern
world.
Concluding remarks
For American readers perhaps the earliest intimation (pace W.R. Boyce Gibson)
of the above "existentialist" trend in philosophical reflection appeared in Tillich
[1944], pp. 44-70. Certainly this was much the case for most Catholic intel-
lectuals, as may become more apparent when this book discusses the encyclical,
Humani Generis. See Weigel [1951]. Only quite recently have I become aware
of a process philosopher-theologian, Bernard Meland, who "suggests the skill of
appreciative awareness as a corrective measure situated in the gap between
subjectivism and objectivism." See Mueller [1984], p. 65. Although this may
indicate some growing closeness between process thinking and phenomenology,
there is no indication that process philosophy had any significant influence
on Vatican II.
183
EXCURSUS II: SACRAMENTAL TIME-CONSCIOUSNESS, ANAMNESIS,

AND THE COMMUNION OF LIFE
The Judeo-Christian religious time-consciousness
As in all religions, both Judaism and Christianity possess an "eternal now,"

which is proper to their central religious mysteries. The basic sense of the
"eternal now" is defined a parte Dei according to his transtemporality over any
human sense of time and typically implies a primordial eternity grounding all
the derivative mundane types of time. A parte hominis, however, the "eternal
now" has a double aspect: punctive (punctuational) time and cyclical time.
Punctuational time is achieved by philosophical or mystical contemplation
(e.g., Plotinus). Cyclical time is expressed serially in the liturgy since its memorials
of the central religious mysteries are structured on annual, seasonal or human
life-cycles. This "eternal now," which is a totally synchronic view of events,
expresses the vertical, ontological structuring of religious time-consciousness.
Distinctive to the Judeo-Christian tradition, however, is another co-ontological,
diachronic structuring of religious time-consciousness in a horizontal way. This
is the unfolding of God's Eternal Plan in profane chronological time. Within this
time-consciousness function prophecy, messianism, eschatology, and the authen-
tic mission of the Church. Since the rationale of such unfolding events depends
on God's revelation, their teleological-historical sense often cannot be discerned
except retrospectively. This would certainly be the case for the religious inter-
pretation of the Old Testament as provided by the New Testament.
These two types of religious, ontological time-consciousness have been well-
treated by Eliade [1954]. In his reflections on comparative religion Eliade
uses an essentially phenomenological method, which makes his observations of
special pertinence to the reflective process of Vatican II. See Eliade [1954],
p. 73. While his analysis may be grounded on the critical historical method as
a preliminary phase of research, the actual analysis requires a methodological
suspension of contemporary physical and historical science in order for the
student of comparative religion to be able to return to the primordial ontology
or archetypal world at the heart of the primitive religious experience. See
Eliade (1954], pp. 44-48. Inasmuch as Eliade's use of phenomenological
hermeneutics plays an important role in our interpretation of Vatican II, we
refer the reader to two important studies drawing out some of the implications
184 EXCURSUS II
of Eliade's methodology as impinging on historical studies: i.e., Allen [1978]

and Baird [1971]. Recommended collateral reading for the professional scholar
would be Uvi-Strauss [1966].
Anamnesis
Anamnesis is primarily a liturgical term referring to the prayer, Unde et memores,

in the Latin Mass whereby the Church memorializes the redemptive acts of
Christ. For a compact history of this liturgical usage see either Lallou [1945]
or Smolarski [1982], pp. 67-70. See also Jungmann's comment on memoriale
in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 1, p. 33. Although this religious concept is
not identical with phenomenological "recollection," the two concepts are
worthy of comparison. See Carr [1974], pp. 94-95.
The religious reality involved in anamnesis is much larger than any liturgical
prayer since we are dealing with the vertical dimension of religious ontological
time in which the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, operate. Anamnesis,
then, is a term appropriate for that primordial process whereby the religious
man suspends profane time to reestablish a faith-contact with the exemplary
events at the heart of his real world. See Eliade [1954], pp. 73-92. We are,
accordingly, dealing with a punctuational time-consciousness of the "eternal
now" achieved in and through the celebration of liturgical mysteries. In the
tradition of Christian mysticism the suspension of profane time is a process
somewhat more comprehensive than any mere suspension of the sciences, and
once a Christian thinker has embarked on'thls course, his only sure guide would
be his connatural knowledge.
The communion of life
The type of theological reflection engaged in at the Council is comprehensible

only as a "doctrinal penetration" of the exemplary events at the heart of the
Church's religious life-world. The reality of such events occurs in "Sacramental
Time," as discussed previously, and that is especially true of the Eucharist,
whose unique effect is "the edification of the Church, the communion of life."
See Tillard [1967], pp. 268-291, esp. p. 280. In the scholastic understanding
of sacraments as signs and instrumental causes used by Christ, the sacraments
not only signify what they cause, but cause what they signify. As mentioned
in Chapter 3, note 7, when discussing "symbolic realism," such "non-objective"
symbols "organize and regulate the flow of interaction between subjects and
SACRAMENTAL TIME-CONSCIOUSNESS 185
objects, or [... J attempt to sum up the whole subject-object complex or even

point to the context or ground of that whole."
By contemplation of the exemplary events symbolized by the liturgy, the
bishops quite naturally encountered the Glorified Christ in his Paschal Mystery.
This faith-experience was constituted by several factors working together: the
depth of the bishops' personal doctrinal penetration, the spiritual co-presence
established among themselves by their religious dialogue, and each one's ac-
quired connatural knowledge of spiritual realities. Thus in a corporate way,
arising from an environment of shared faith, the bishops achieved a renewed
sense of "communion of life" both with Christ and with one another.
This first faith-experience, acquired early in the Council from reflection on
the liturgy, provided the germinal pattern later expanded in the doctrinal pene-
tration displayed by the corporate ecc1esial consciousness in Lumen Gentium
and Dei verbum. The reflective style of the Council, having originated out of a
faith-experience focused on the exemplary events symbolized in the liturgy,
never became theological in an academic, "scientific" sense. Rather, it preserved
a "eucharistic" tonality descriptive of a grateful Church at prayer and contem-
plating the mysteries shaping its religious life-world. Although this style of
reflection may provide a good example of mystical theology, it needs a good
deal of clarification to appreciate it as a pastoral theology. To do that, of course,
has been the intended purpose of this book.
187
EXCURSUS III: CONCRETE HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS AND

CARDINAL SUENENS
Although the focus of the bishops throughout the Council was totally religious,
in the first session of the Council two factors were at work shaping their deliber-
ations: (a) a reaction against the objectivist, abstract approach of scholasticism
and (b) the fact that the dominant bishops and theologians at the Council
(Le., the Northern European Alliance) had been influenced by a generation
of phenomenological thinking in Europe. In such an environment seemingly
pragmatic or otherwise insignificant suggestions could open "new horizons"
or vistas not available to those unfamiliar with the phenomenological mind-
style.
For example, when Cardinal Suenens made his intervention on December 4,
1962, he later submitted its written form, accompanied by further extended
suggestions, to the Central Commission. These suggestions contain a memorable
line: "De necessitate Ecclesiae duo notare volo. Primo, necessarium est ut variae
categoriae hominum relate ad pertinentiam ad Ecclesiam concrete indicentur,
ita ut omnis controversia praecaveatur." See Latin Texts [1970-1980], Vol. I,
pars IV, p. 225. (The emphasis in the text is that of Cardinal Suenens.) While
the above suggestion is made in the context of seeming utilitarianism (Le., to
avoid unncessary technical controversy), in the larger European phenom-
enological context where Erlebnisse meant concrete mental states, this suggestion
of Cardinal Suenens was about as subtle as sending up a signal flare. See
Landgrebe [1966], pp. 20-21 and Carr [1974], p. 11 sq. Being a quite intellec-
tual man, the Cardinal knew exactly what he was doing. For all practical purposes
his outline on the proposed De Ecclesia document, as contained in his "adno-
tationes additae," became the substance of Lumen Gentium as we know it today.
See Latin Texts [1970-1980], Vol. I, pars IV, pp. 225-227. Bouyer [1982],
p. 166 ignores Suenens' contribution in the development of the Franco-Belgian
text out of which Lumen Gentium developed and prefers to mention only
Fr. Congar, Mgr. Charles Moeller, and Mgr. Philips.
Once we appreciate that there is a certain Franco-Belgian intellectual axis
shaping the tonality of Lumen Gentium, if not its substance, then the association
of phenomenological method with this constitution becomes more credible.
Reflection on concrete human relationships has, as one of its several important
purposes, a deepening of the experience involved in intersubjective relations.
188 EXCURSUS III
One of the well-known pioneers in this style of thinking was the Catholic phil-
ospher, Gabriel Marcel, who experienced:
the haunting sense of the concrete interpersonal relations which phil-

osophy has to confront in the "mystery" of our inescapable involvement
with others. To do this requires an empiricism more concrete and more
profound than what has traditionally gone under that name. It requires
a new concept of experience.
It is therefore not only Being but beings in which we are involved, in
whom we participate, and who are at the focus of Marcel's thought. The
idea of participation is fundamental for Marcel's conception of human
existence. Existence is actually being-in-a-situation, and the fundamental
situation is our participation in Being and in beings. In fact, being-with-
others is the very nature of selfhood. It is easy to see that such a con-
ception of existence, once granted, has no difficulty in accounting for the
connection of an isolated subject with its objects, with other subjects,
and even with God.
See Spiegelberg [1982], pp. 452-453, emphasis added. The idea of the need
for a new concept of experience and a new empiricism traces, as you may recall,
as far back as Brentano. See Spiegelberg [1982], pp. 33-36. Marcel's notion
of a "participation in beings" suggests a certain "gravity shift" in philosophical
reflection congenial to Vatican II's preoccupation with its own religious life-
world, where participation in Being and beings can be pastorally fused in Christ
as the Word Incarnate and the authentic "self' of both the Church and the
faithful. The influence of Marcel, and more proximately that of Merleau-Ponty
(see Spiegelberg [1982], esp. pp. 549-571) lends such a theoretical aura to any
French reflection on the life-world that it always seems to come off as a specu-
lative enterprise rather than a practical (or pastoral) one.
However, the pioneering thought of Marcel and Merleau-Ponty does lend
itself to the pastoral concept of the "enrichment of faith," so emphasized by
Wojtyla [1980], pp. 15-18. It does so, however, in a somewhat etherialized
and amorphous way.
[Marcel's] conception of the primary function of his philosophy [ ... ]

is not to provide us with ready-made answers. Its real mission is to awaken,
to sensitize and to appeal, rather than to teach and to give transferable
information. The sense of "research" can only be conveyed by making the
reader participate in the search. A "concrete philosophy" such as Marcel
envisages it can be changed only by concrete experiences and by promoting
concrete experience in others.
189
CONCRETE HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
See Spiegelberg [1982], p. 453. This formulation of Marcel would probably be

one valid philosophical interpretation of John XXIII's pastoral goal, expressed
in Humanae Salutis, of revealing men to themselves. See Abbott [1966], p. 707.
Just what its efficiency rating would be in today's turbulent world seems some-
what problematical. If the Church's being-in-a-situation is that described by
"The Church in the Modern World," then perhaps the more viable approach
would be had in A. Schutz's down-to-earth ideas.
191
EXCURSUS IV: "THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES"
Pope John XXIII's use of this terminology
The "signs of the times" is an important theme in the thought of John XXIII.
The inspiration for this terminology is to be found in some remarks which Jesus
directed to his Jewish critics: "You know how to read the face of the sky
[Le., the signs forecasting a change in the weather], but you cannot read the
signs of the times." (Mt. 16:3) The text may be an interpolation, but its sense
is reasonably clear. The "times" are the messianic age, and the "signs" are the
miracles and teachings of Jesus portending the arrival of the messianic age. In
this context Jesus declares that the definitive sign will be the "sign of Jonah"
(Le., his death and resurrection).
Inasmuch as the fullness of revelation has been given in Jesus to his apostles,
Catholic theology does not allow for any substantially new revealed data from
God - regardless what may be the "signs of the times" today. Consequently,
Pope John's usage of this biblical terminology is metaphorical, just as he spoke
of his hope that the Council would occasion a "New Pentecost." See Staff of
the Pope Speaks Magazine [1964], pp. 444-445. However, as our study of
Vatican II hopes to display, one can have a "New Pentecost" without implying
any substantial change in the Catholic understanding of its religious truths.
(See Chapter 8 under the subheading, "The new religio-social hierophany.")
The two most important locations where Pope John employed the expression,
"signs of the times," were in Humanae Sa/utis and Pacem in Terris. See Abbott
[1966], p. 704 and Carlen [1981], Vol. 5, # 126-129, p. 121. In both cases he
used this terminology to give an optimistic interpretation to essentially human
developments which were tending toward moral values espoused by the Church.
In other words Pope John was engaged in a process of spiritual discernment
in order to alert the Church to the unique spiritual opportunities of this age.
Spiritual discernment, as I employ the term, always implies the theory of con-
natural knowledge.
A post-conciliar controversy
Gremillion [1976], p. 135 allueds to a post-conciliar development in some
Catholic writers when he asks: "Does the 'signs of the times' approach to
192 EXCURSUSN
God-world relations introduce another source of 'revelation' differing from or

adding to the revelation of Scripture and Christian tradition? ... Do the 'signs
of the times' offer true loci theologici for theological reflection?" Essentially
the same questions were asked in the days of Joachim of Fiore (c. 1135-1202)
and the Spiritual Franciscans; the answer then and now is no. The global human
events, which Pope John grouped under the "signs of the times," are merely
natural events which may be subjected to any legitimate analysis deriving from
science, ethics, or religion. In many respects the Holy Father's resume of the
situation tells us more about the religious paradigm guiding his reflections than
about the turbulent events which he is contemplating. Such "signs of the times,"
then, are not a new source of revelation on a par with Christ, scripture, tradition,
etc. The question really implies a serious misconception about the Council's
pastoral use of phenomenology, and if this issue is not clarified, Vatican II will
gradually metamorphose from a pastoral council into a doctrinal one. (This
technical issue is discussed in notes 38 and 39 of Chapter Nine.)
Gremillion further asks: "Does the Church therefore learn from Galileo,
Darwin, Marx, Freud, Einstein, Gandhi?" I should hope so, and in the course
of this book I have purposely focused on Galileo in order to illustrate this point.
Possibly this case-study, so central to Husserl's theorizing in the Crisis, will
prove illuminating to all parties. There is another question, however, which in
all fairness needs to be voiced: "In a dislocated world with awesome atomic
weaponry can the descendent of Galileo, Darwin, Marx, etc., learn from the
Church?" If the substance of this book is appreciated, possibly the message of
Vatican II will be appreciated in its true grandeur and the men of this age will
be more disposed to reflect more profoundly on what the Church is saying.
In summary, then, the "signs of the times" refer only to empirical human
data illumined by a wholesome (and I would add, consciously optimistic)
spiritual discernment, in order to foster hope and constructive collaboration in
a dislocated world. Another type of wholesome discernment could equally
point out that such pastoral optimism occasionally needs to be nuanced. See
Ratzinger's remarks in Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 3, pp. 173-174. For the
postconciliar development of the "signs of the times" in papal teachings see
Gremillion [1976], #147-150, pp. 561-562.
EXCURSUS V: ANTHROPOLOGY, ANTHROPOGONY, AND 193
PHENOMENOLOGICAL METHOD
Anthropology
There are at least six modern definitions of hermeneutics today. See Palmer
[1969], pp. 33-45. For each type of hermeneutics it is possible to construct
a speculative science of man (Le., an "anthropology"). This intellectual prob.
lem was pioneered by I. Kant as early as 1800 when in his Introduction to Logic
he asked, "What is man?" and simultaneously raised the whole question of
philosophical anthropology. See Schrag [1980], pp. 30-31. A book·length
treatment of "Kant as Philosophical Anthropologist" may be found in Pitte
[1971] . H.O. Pappe has a good introductory article on the more contemporary
aspects of "Philosophical Anthropology," in Edwards [1967], Vol. 6, pp. 159-
166. However, the term, "anthropology ," is used so loosely by some writers
today that any "science" (e.g., history, sociology, etc.) may be used as a foun·
dation for developing a science of man.
Catholic reflection on this topic may be found in Rahner [1968-1970],
Vol. 3: philosophical anthropology (pp. 358-361); biblical anthropology
(pp. 361-365); theological anthropology (pp. 365-370); for metaphysical
anthropology see Rahner [1968-1970] , Vol. 2, p. 294a.
It should be emphasized that in Pacem in Terris Pope John has formulated
the rudiments of a pastoral (Le., practical) anthropology which is not to be
equated with any of the theoretical types listed above. His "theological her·
meneutics" is grounded in his Catholic consciousness which, as we know, was
both integralist and quite traditionalistic when it comes to matters of faith
and morals. The object of his spiritual discernment in this encyclical is trends
in the modern global human consciousness which under pressures generated by
modern global problems are gradually coming into alignment with goals and
values espoused by Christianity. The paradigm of human values outlined in
Pacem in Terris may be somewhat conveniently catalogued as a Christian anthro·
pology, provided it is not immediately preempted by one of the speculative
types listed above. The anthropology, which Pope John XXIII outlined in a
rudimentary way, Vatican II took up and brought to perfection in a highly
sophisticated way.
194 BXCURSUSV
Anthropogony
The new humanistic anthropology, which both Marx and John XXIII - in their
different ways - discerned as under development in their respective eras, has
some of the awesome characteristics of a new anthropogony. This latter term
is used in the comparative study of religions to refer to the mythological origins
of man. See Eliade [1954], p. 22. Possibly, a more familiar term, drawn from
modern empirical anthropology, would be anthropogenesis, but this term is
really limited to the scientific origin and development of man. There is, of
course, a compromise way of constructively using both terms in a correlated
way in order to express the split-level type of pastoral theology intended by
Pope John XXIII. At the religious level we may use "anthropogony" to express
the new religio-social hierophany or mythic projection of the New Humanity,
formulated in Lumen Gentium, Vatican II's document on the Church. (See
Chapter 8 of this book.) At the empirical level its counterpart-to-be-developed
would involve a socio-cultural "anthropogenesis" since human evolution would
now be seen dependent, not so much on the older biological causes, but rather
on the socio-cultural influences shaping the progress and development of cor-
po rate mankind. In such a context, perhaps, the thought of Teilhard de Chardin
and John XXIII may find a working compatibility, if not total reconciliation.
The anthropogony, which I am talking about here, may not only be seen in
correlation with the various life-worlds existent today (as Vatican II intended),
but also in some relationship with the various social archetypes, which have
had a role in sociological theorizing for the last half-century. In Western intel-
lectual history Max Scheler was the first to call attention to these social types,
but in America they have best been explained by Drucker [1939], p. 45:
Every organized society is built upon a concept of the nature of man

and of his function and place in society. Whatever its'truth as a picture of
human nature, this concept always gives a true picture of the nature of
the society which recognizes and identifies itself with it. It symbolizes the
fundamental tenets and beliefs of society by showing the spheres of human
activity which it regards as socially decisive and supreme.
In 1939 Drucker felt that since the fall of Rome three ideal types had suc-
cessively dominated social change in Western civilization: the Spiritual Man
(Christendom), the Intellectual Man (Reanaissance), and Economic Man (In-
dustrial Revolution). With the advent of Fascism in Europe a new type seemed
to be developing: Heroic Man. In an article, today largely forgotten, Tolman
[1941] developed a new social model which has since gained a great deal of
ANTHROPOLOGY 195
currency in America: Psychological Man. On how this conceptualization of man

factually operates today in secular America see Yankelovich [1981] and Ferguson
[1980] .
During the Industrial Revolution Marx discerned the genesis and development
of a new humanistic type of Man. Within the general social paradigm of Economic
Man his intuition or insight into human economic relationships underwent a
certain "gravity shift" from the minority group of the capitalistic managerial
class to the majority group of the workers. The resulting "shift in the visual
Gestalt" regarding Economic Man constituted a new social archetype which
today may possibly be called Socialist (or Proletarian) Man. A century later,
however, Pope John XXIII discerned that critical global problems were shaping
the birth of a new moral humanism, the social archetype of which would be the
Peacemaker or, if you will, the Peace-builder. See Gremillion [1976] ,# 137-138,
p. 559; also J.T. Noonan, Jr., "From Social Engineering to Creative Charity,"
in Ong [1969], pp. 179-180. At the Second Vatican Council, however, when
the bishops returned to the depths of the primordial ecclesial consciousness by
way of an essentially phenomenolOgical method, out of these same depths they
educed a new religious anthropogony synthesizing the humanistic, social, and
anthropological vision which John XXII - somewhat like Moses viewing the
Promised Land - perceived on the horizon, but with an old man's eyes. A dis-
cussion of these matters may be found in Chapter 8: The New Ecclesial Her-
meneutics.
Vatican II's consequent openness to phenomenological method
The use of an essentially descriptive-analytic style of reflection at the Council

becomes more understandable if we recall a few of the circumstances shaping
Vatican II itself. First, in a quite real sense the Council was simply a necessary
theological stop-over on the way to creating an anthropology adequate to the
needs of modern times. As Pelikan has remarked, " ... if the problem of history
and of historicity has created difficulties for traditional christology, it has
proved disastrous for traditional anthropology." See Pelikan [1969-1970],
Vol. 2, p. 20. This merely means that while religion may be confronted with
important theoretical problems, none of these are anywhere as serious as the
practical problem of what constitutes an authentic human being in the world
today. Both Max Scheler and John XXIII recognized the primacy of this prac-
tical problem, and Humanae Salutis formulated the pastoral goal of Vatican II
in the light of this problem.
Secondly, Ratzinger is quite faithful to the pastoral nature of Vatican II
196 EXCURSUS V
when he remarks, " ... it is in accordance with the best conciliar tradition that
the Church's teaching office should not decide academic controversies at a
council." In the past such academic disputes were viewed quite narrowly as
confined to schools of scholasticism within the Church: e.g., Thomism, Scotism,
Molinism, etc. In to day's world, however, theoretical controversies have
broadened to include all scientific ideas and methodologies on collision-course:
e.g., natural science, history, psychology, scholastic theology, biblical theology,
etc. In the first session of Vatican II there was a strong reaction against Roman
school theology favored by the Curia. As a result, the majority of bishops tried
to avoid the scholastic intellectualism of the past which had come to be identified
with a defensive spirit, attachment to verbalistic formulas, static views of historical
change, and a legalistic spirit. This is a journalistic over-simplification of things,
but there was enough wooden practice of scholasticism and canon law to lend a
justified credence to the accusation. Intent as they were on positive and prac-
tical community-building, the bishops did not want to get involved in refereeing
academic disputes among theological technicians, but they were on the lookout
for fresh ideas which would promote pastoral flexibility and creativity in a world
that lived and breathed. See Ratzinger's comments in Vorgrimler [1967-1969],
Vol. 3, pp. 159-161,172, et passim.
Thirdly, by turning to Northern European theologians for their fresh new
ideas the majority of bishops also accepted their descriptive-analytical style of
reflection, but only the more educated ones with some academic exposure to
this European style of reflection recognized the full implications of this trans-
ition. In this category we would certainly have to place Pope Paul VI. This new
style of reflection allowed the bishops to put scholasticism "on hold" for the
duration of the Council. That handful of highly educated bishops and theologians
trained in phenomenology knew that a Council was no place to bring up the
theoretical problems inherent in the fact of the existing "sclJools" of phenom-
enology or academic problems associated with the use of this methodology.
Those points could be argued out after the Council by the theological and
philosophical technicians. Rather, the Council's common project to develop
a new Christian anthropology for practical, renewal purposes at:ld the Council's
common focus on the role of the Glorified Christ welded their methodology
into a working unity and into an instrument of consensus-building regarding the
religious life-world of the Church.
The radical nature of Vatican II's reflection
When the bishops at the Council "bracketed" scholasticism, they did not intend
to reject it. Nonetheless, this procedure meant that - in phenomenological
ANTHROPOLOGY 197
terms - they had performed their first suspension of a "science," Le., of schol-
astic philosophy as the sole epistemological theory with which the vast majority
of bishops were acquainted. As a religious move, this was quite legitimate since
they were now putting their reliance, not in an ontology deriving from a phil-
osophy, but in one deriving from a Person, Le., the Glorified Christ. Let us not
decieve ourselves: the bishops always remained scholastics. If they bracketed
scholastic theory, they also bracketed Husserlian theory and that of the later
phenomenologists. They exemplified the same outlook as the members of the
Societe Thomiste in 1932: they recognized "the possibility of an assimilation
of the phenomenological approach by Catholic philosophers without commit-
ment to Husserl's or Heidegger's conclusions." See Spiegelberg [1982], p. 433.
Anyone, therefore, who tries to impose a rigidly philosophical or scientific grid
of interpretation on Vatican II, as a pastoral council, is doomed to failure.
Having learned its lesson in the Galileo Case, the Church - in this instance at
least - has relinquished all scientific expertise and returned to its own religious
life-world.
The reduction of the sciences, operative in an imperfect and controverted
way in the first session, prepared the way initially for the bishops to enter their
religious life-world in their reflections on the liturgy. However, it is the con-
temporary seriousness of the anthropological problem which justifies this
"bracketing" of the Church's first line of defense in epistemological controversies.
In philosophical matters this would be the equivalent of either Russia or the
United States developing their future war strategies in total abstraction from
their nuclear weaponry.
Once such a radical path into the life-world had been taken, it had to be
followed to its logical conclusion if a new Christian anthropology were to be
formulated. In the conciliar documents there soon appeared a further suspension
of historical "science," as noted by Cullmann in Chapter Three of this essay.
Ultimately, of course, the Council's discussion of the religious significance of
creation, as applicable to both cosmos and man, involved a final suspension of
all the sciences, Le., the natural sciences, especially paleontology. For an example
of this see Canon Moeller's remarks in Miller [1966], p. 430. As this process
gradually evolved at the Council, the only academically responsible way of
interpreting such radical procedures was to see it as a phenomenological inquiry
into the religious life-world of the Church. In this regard we have a religious
process now paralleling the philosophical reflections of a growing number of
philosophers inquiring into our natural life-world for serious humanistic reasons.
Two quite recent examples of this would be Schrag [1980] and Bernstein
[1983] .
198 EXCURSUS V
The shift of the visual Gestalt and its dialectical resolution
Toward the end of Chapter Eight in this book I referred to the radical shift in
the visual gestalt of Christianity, as orchestrated by the reflections of the Second
Vatican Council. By the new ecclesial hermeneutics the christo centric focus of
the Church has been involved in a serious anthropocentric gravity-shift. Such a
radical shift in religious dynamics can be psychologically very damaging to
religiously sensitive people. The experiments of Bruner and Postman [1949],
pp. 206-223 illustrate that when a shift of the visual gestalt cannot be assimi-
lated in one's ordinary functionings, there is the possibility of complete dis-
orientation, if not breakdown.
Often enough, clarification of this religious gravity-shift has been sought by
way of scientific reductionism. In America this usually means psychology or
sociology. Since the Vision of the New Humanity implies some reordering of
our socio-political priorities, many religious thinkers have been quick to "politi-
cize" the teachings of the CounciL In more academic circles clarification has
been sought by way of philosophical reductionism, which transmutes Vatican II
from being a purely pastoral council into one with great epistemological impli-
cations comparable to Kant's "Copernican Revolution" in philosophy. The
immediate consequence of this most serious misinterpretation is the need to
reconceptualize and reconstruct all of theology. See Dewart [1966] .
The most intelligent resolution of all the above difficulties has been given
by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical, Dives in Misericordia (see Carlen [1981] ,
Vol. 5, # 4, p. 276). There on the basis of a bipolar phenomenology, which calls
for christo centrism and anthropocentrism to be held in a dialectical inter-
relationship, he says:
The more the Church's rrusSlOn is centered upon man - the more
it is, so to speak, anthropocentric - the more it must be confirmed and
actualized theocentrically, that is to say, be directed in Jesus Christ
to the Father. While the various currents of human thought both in
the past and at the present have tended and still tend to separate theo-
centrism and anthropocentrism, and even set them in opposition to each
other, the church, following Christ, seeks to link them up in human
history in a deep and organic way. And this is also one of the basic
principles, perhaps the most important one, of the teaching of the last
council.
See also Paul VI [1966], p. 62, where substantially the same idea is emphasized.
See also Frossard [1984], pp. 185-186.
199
EXCURSUS VI: DIALOGUE, MARTIN BUBER, AND THE COUNCIL
Paul VI on dialogue
Paul VI's extended reflections on dialogue in Ecclesiam Suam (#58-118)

make good pastoral sense ad extra (Le., outside the Church), particularly in an
age of intellectual pluralism and religious ecumenism. This type of converse,
as typically understood today, intends "to bring about greater understanding
and better human relations in an atmosphere of sincerity, integrity, respect for
persons, and mutual confidence." See "Dialogue," in Meagher, O'Brien, and
Aherne [1979], Vol. 1, p. 1050. Such dialogue typically aims at doing away
with antiquated or artificial barriers, promoting cooperation in commonly
agreed upon projects, or cultivating an honest search for truth. Paul VI also
recognized the pastoral value ad intra (Le., within the Church) since he estab-
lished the Synod of Bishops on September 15, 1965. See Abbott [1966],
pp. 720-724. Being a quite educated man, however, Paul VI realized that the
very concept of dialogue was fraught with serious dangers for the magisterium
of the Church.
Martin Buber
Although dialogue has a rich and diversified history in philosophy, literature,

and even science (e.g., Galileo) dating back to the era of Plato, the twentieth-
century notion of dialogue developed within a quite specific intellectual environ-
ment, quite different from anything ever known in the past. This newer approach
was first popularized by Martin Buber, the Jewish philosopher. His writings
seem to have had more impact on Christian intellectuals than Jewish ones.
Buber addressed himself to the two major philosophical problems of the early
twentieth century: first, the impasse between subjectivity and objectivity; and,
secondly, the relationship between life's spontaneous immediacy and the de-
tached, deliberative character of spirit (mind). See Wood [1969], p. xi. Like
Husserl and with a descriptive method approximating phenomenology, Buber
formulated an ontological a priori termed "Presence," which eliminated the
dichotomy between the subjective and objective. Here in the region called the
"Between" the subject and object were bound together in an identity-in-difference.
200 EXCURSUS VI
It is in this context of experiential and unsystematic Post-Kantian speculation

that Buber formulated his reflections on dialogue and I-Thou relationships.
The religious hazards of dialogue
Paul VI, accordingly, was quite sensitive to this intellectual background and the
hazards which it posed for the axiom of doctrinal integralism and the role of the
magisterium. Intellectual pluralism and proliferating academic specializations
have had their impact on changing methodologies in theology. In the light of
such speculative and technical issues as posing a potential danger for Catholic
theology itself, Paul VI's pastoral endorsement of dialogue is prudently guarded
in Ecclesium Suam. The Holy Father was quite aware that some Catholic theo-
logians were insisting that such speCUlative problems could only be solved on a
dialogical basis. See Roberts [1967], pp 272-275. However, there is no indi-
cation that any modern popes have entertained so expansive a notion of the
magisterium, at least when it comes to faith and morals.
From cautious endorsement to real sensitivity
It is easy enough to endorse dialogue as an abstract issue, but what its practical
implications are can only be discerned in its actual practice. The essential pur-
pose of dialogue is to be a tool of community-building. "One-on-one" dialogue
does not present too much difficulty, but the process becomes quite compli-
cated when a whole group proceeds to dialogue with another group, or simply
among themselves. Genuine dialogue promotes growth in sensitivity, and there
was evidence of this at the Council particularly as regards the audience ad extra
(Le., outside the Church). While speaking on a preliminary draft ("Clause 13")
of the Church in the Modern World, Bishop K Wojtyla remarked:
In the text that we see here, the Church is doing nothing but instructing
the world, since she speaks from the treasures of truth that are hers
alone ...
Clause 13, on the contrary, must so express itself that the world will
recognize that we ... are working together with the world to seek a true
and just solution to the difficult problems of human life. The question is
not whether the truth is manifest to us, but rather how the world can find
and appropriate the truth to itself. Every teacher knows from experience
DIALOGUE 201
about what is called the "heuristic method:" the student is enabled, so to

speak, to find the truth within himself. The method excludes anything
that betrays a "clerical" approach: for example, the hue and cry over the
alas! lamentable state of the world today ... or the all-too-thoughtless
appropriation by the Church of all the good that exists in the world ...
such attitudes place obstacles in the path of dialogue with the world, from
the outset; and so this dialogue remains a monologue, a soliloquy. Let
us take care that our Clause 13 not become a monologue.
See Hebblethwaite and Kaufmann [1979] , p. 70.
The popes as monitors of group dynamics
The growing sensitivity which the Council Fathers displayed toward groups
outside the Church did not always function toward the minority group of bishops
within the Council. Anyone who has ever engaged in dialogue within a fairly
large group knows that the trouble starts once the group dynamics sort out the
majority group. From that point on the minority group is in real difficulty: first,
it is patronized, then it is ignored, and finally it is resented. Such developments,
intensified by the tight time-schedule under which the group is operating, work
against the very process of dialogue which is intended to build community,
consensus, and solidarity. When this pattern of majority insensitivity developed
at the Council, it was typically the popes who moderated it by showing concern
for the sensibilities of the minority.
A sensitive, comprehensive study should be made of John XXIII's and Paul
VI's interventions at the Council. In general, such interventions were motivated
by three broad reasons: (l) to safeguard some point of religious ontology;
(2) to assist in the consensus-building process by showing adequate concern for
the minority's anxieties; and (3) to display an empathy toward a serious de-
votional concern (e.g., the inclusion of St. Joseph's name in the Canon of the
Mass). Commenting on Paul VI's opening speech at the third session, September
14,1964, Gerard Philips, remarks:
This speech [which emphasized the forthcoming document, Lumen

Gentium] was clearly aimed at winning over a certain number of Fathers,
who were still hesitant about the draft put before them for their vote. A
council does not in fact try to establish the view of a majority against that
of a minority; by its very nature it must strive to bring about practical
202 F,XCURSUS VI
unanimity. Paul VI was tireless in his efforts to achieve this end, so per-
sistent in fact that he evoked a psychologically understandable reaction
among the large number who were favourably disposed to the draft. He
could congratulate himself finally on having brought the opposition to
consent, without their being oppressed by a sense of defeat.
See Vorgrimler [1967-1969], Vol. 1, p. 127.
Post-conciliar dialogue and the problem of insensitivity
The solicitous concern of Paul VI for the difficulties raised by the minority
of bishops is not to be interpreted in a patronizing way. Among such bishops
were some very learned and capable men who recognized, perhaps only dimly,
some of the complex implications of the Council's deliberations. Not too long
after the Council their anxiety was shared even by outstanding Catholic lay
intellectuals. Two of these are worthy of special mention: Eppstien [1971], an
authority on internationallaw, and Maritain [1968] , the well-known philosopher.
As early as 1966, however, Leslie Dewart of St. Michael's College in Toronto
alerted the English-speaking world that the minority of bishops at the Council
had focused on some very serious problems connected with the work of Vatican
II. Dewart [1966],p.14writes:
[... ] it follows that the differences between "conservative" and "liberal"

Catholic opinion today [ ... ] run considerably deeper than liberals have
ordinarily admitted. The conservatives may have been closer to the mark
when they have "alerted" the Church to a profound division within the
Catholic faith. For these two ways of thinking manifest fundamental
differences in one's most basic orientation towards the problem of the
relation of the Catholic faith to the contemporary (and, indeed, to any
given) stage of human development. We have to do here with divergent
orientations towards the meaning of the Christian faith, towards the
meaning of religion itself - and therefore towards the Catholic's very under-
standing of his self-disposition towards God. Ultimately, we may have to
do with divergent conceptualizations of the God of Christian belief.
Dialogue in the context of eschatology
The above type of highly intellectual difficulties are not the only ones to have
surfaced in the postconciliar era. The eschatology which permeates Christianity
DIALOGUE 203
constitutes something of a "ticking time-bomb" under its normally placid sur-
face. Whenever the Catholic Church notices an eschatological movement de-
veloping anywhere, she tries to channel its essentially charismatic energies into
some ecclesiastical structure: e.g., the religious life, secular institutes, or some
form of Catholic Action. In his essay, "Von Ranke," written about 1840, Lord
Macaulay remarked: "She [the Catholic Church] thoroughly understands what
no other Church has ever understood, how to deal with enthusiasts." As a
result - until the era of post-Vatican II - the last serious threat to institutional
stability from such an internal source was the Spiritual Franciscans in the Middle
Ages, inspired by the millennarianism of Joachim of Fiore (c. 1135-1202).
Modern millennarianism is largely of Protestant inspiration deriving from
Thomas Munzer and the radical Anabaptists. This type of religiously inspired social
revolution later percolated through the Diggers and Levellers of Cromwell's rebel-
lion, and flamed anew in Gracchus Babeufs "conspiracy of equals" during the
French Revolution. Thereafter, it "passed into the common currency of the revol-
utionary movements of the nineteenth century." See Bell [1962], esp. footnote
on p. 281 . In the postconciliar era where there has been such a confusing prolifer-
ation of liberation-type movements, supposedly of religious inspiration, it is be-
coming more and more difficult to distinguish these movements from the revol-
utionary movements described above. In a dislocated and destabilized world,
armed with nuclear weapons, such religious movements cannot be allowed to
develop in isolation but must be drawn into a larger dialogical relationship with
the Church.
The above situation is complicated by a further factor. In the Catholic
Church there is a sense of realized eschatology by reason of her tradition of
contemplative mysticism and the traditional view that sanctifying grace here
on earth is an inchoative participation in the state of the redeemed in heaven.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the documents of Vatican II project
a certain realized messianism. Some of this comes from John XXIII's call to
religious efficiency or efficaciousness, as voiced in Humanae Salutis. A charis-
matic sense of eschatology wedded to an urgent drive toward a realized mes-
sianism is a powder keg of trouble, unless constructively channelled. The theme
of realized messianism is not a popular one as yet; the only Catholic writer I am
aware of who has discussed it is Henry Dumery. See Farley [1975], esp. foot-
note 45, p. 255. Unless this concept and others like it are dialogued in the spirit
and manner of Vatican II, they can easily be appropriated by the tradition of
millennarianism deriving from Thomas Munzer.
Concluding remarks
Given the complex nature of Vatican II, it seems that the postconciliar dialogue
is very much in need of some sort of "monitor," as the popes exemplified at
204 EXCURSUS VI
the Council. Here I do not wish to be misunderstood: I am simply suggesting

the need for some regulatory agency to promote dialogue in a truly constructive
and productive way on a regular basis. Whether one calls such persons or groups
"facilitators," "arbitrators," or "courts of final appeal," such agencies must be
institutionalized according to circumstances and in a productive way.
205
EXCURSUS VII: OBEDIENTIAL POTENCY
The scholastic notion
In his Summa Theologiae (III, q. 11, a. 1) St. Thomas writes:
In anima humana, sicut in qualibet creatura, consideratur duplex potentia

passiva, una quidem per comparationem ad agens naturale; alia vero
per comparationem ad agens primum, quod potest quamlibet creaturam
reducere in actum aliquem altiorem actu, in quem reducitur per agens
naturale: et haec consuevit vocari potentia obedientialis in creatura.
[Emphasis added.]
In scholastic theology obediential potency is used to "explain" in a post

factum way the revealed truth that there can be genuine commerce between the
absolutely transcendent divine order and the natural order. The outstanding
example of this would, of course, be the Incarnation of Christ. In this mystery
the human nature of Christ must have at least an "obediential potency" to be
united with the divine nature through the Person of the Logos. Obediential
potency, however, has a broader application to all men since the call to sal-
vation is also a call to every individual to be ultimately united with God in the
supernatural order. In this latter case obediential potency is grounded on two
biblical truths: God's infinite power and man's nature as somehow created in
God's image. Man, as such, has no natural capacity to be united immediately
with the transcendent God, but God's "image" in him constitutes a potential
(i.e., an ontological principle) subject to or obedient to God's infinite power.
A phenomenological interpretation
As customarily used in scholastic theology obediential potency is generally

expressed in a context of efficient causality: e.g., the log has an obediential
potency to be made into a table, the woman has an obediential potency to
conceive a child. However, the same concept can easily be transposed into
Husserlian phenomenology by recognizing that the natural world has an obedi-
ential potency to be understood by consciousness. This provides a new modality
206 EXCURSUS VII
for conceptualizing the relationships implied in obediential potency. What was

previously viewed in terms of active agent/passive recipient may now be viewed
in a new set of intentional relationships: i.e., in terms of consciousness (noesis)
and any objects (noemata) in potency to be understood or have meaning. In
such a relationship it is the egological consciousness which provides the in-
tentional entelechy whereby such objects take on meaning.
An application to the ecclesial consciousness
Since the intentional ground of the ecclesial consciousness is totally christo-

centric (Le., theocentrism as brought to focus in Christ as the perfect imago Dei
and as Mystical Body), in a religious sense the Church can "see" only human
beings and only to the extent they have an obediential potency to be conformed
to Christ. Only indirectly, or on the "fringes" of the Church's religious horizon,
does non-human or infra-human nature enter into this religious paradigm of
reality. The direct focus is always God, man, and the relationships consequent
upon this spiritual order. Certain objects and relationships, which we customarily
interpret as falling outside this spiritual order, are transmuted once they are
incorporated into it. For example, the ecological awareness typical of modern
educated people would go through a certain christo centric reorientation when it
is integrated into the above religious paradigm of reality. Such a noetic "gravity-
shift" is an intentional transmutation of objects (noemata) derived from the
natural order, and is not merely the work of the imagination. It is greatly facili-
tated by an awareness of the cosmotheandric role which Christ plays in the
Catholic religion or by the moral consciousness-raising which an ecological
sensitivity tends to foster in people. In the Christian order of things there can
be no morality apart from Christ. A striking example o~, the American scene
of such a religious transmutation would be the christo centric reorientation
being given to management by the concept of Servant Leadership. See Greenleaf
[1977].
The implications of obediential potency at the Council
Once we have a basic understanding of obediential potency, we can begin to

appreciate the totally "hominized" paradigm of religious reality which Vatican II
presents for our reflection and how this paradigm naturally lends itself to the
challenge of Christian Anthropology.
We may start out by asking: "If we may assume that the interventions of the
OBEDIENTIAL POTENCY 207
bishops at Vatican II are based on the empirical a priori of their concrete religious
experiences, just what are the bishops describing?" Each bishop is intent on
voicing the ordered religious meaning for him of these experiences (phenomena)
as constituted in his individual consciousness. While these experiences may have
originated from historical or other natural human influences, their total religious
ordering, or intentional character, derives from the christocentric paradigm
shaping each bishop's "natural attitude" as a believing Christian.
The originary historical experiences grounding the Catholic consciousness
derive from the New Testament, and may be summed up by the phrase, "the
word received and believed." The teleological-historical sense of these events -
both in the past and at the present - is exemplified by the living Christ, the
Logos, as the fullness of God's revelation. Consequently, unless a person, thing,
or event has at least an "obediential potency" to be related to Christ, under-
stood as the primordial paradigm of intelligibility and meaning, it can have no
religious sense. Hence, the principle both of ordered meaning and of religious
intersubjectivity is radicated in an interpersonal faith-relationship with the
transcendent Christ, who grounds any noesis/noemata relationship found at the
Council. We need not be dismayed by the comprehensive role faith plays at the
Council. Such a "faith-relationship" is always involved with any use of the
phenomenological method, even when it confronts the realities of the natural
life-world: " ... believing-in-the-world is the paradigm of normality." See
Natanson [1973a], p. 15. In this sense, then, we can say that Vatican II's
reflection on its own religious life-world also presents us with a paradigm of
normality
Critiquing such ideas
If the documents of Vatican II deal with such a primordial religious life-world

and use scholastic notions adapted to the needs of phenomenology, how can we
possibly critique their contents? The Council did not presume to answer that as
an academic question. As Ratzinger remarks: "Vatican II ... has more or less
ignored the whole question of the criticism of tradition." (See Vorgrimler
[1967-1969], Vol. 3, p. 185, but also pp. 186-198 for the full context.) If
such is the case, the Council said even less about the modality in which such
traditional truths were expressed.
Once one understands the phenomenological methodology employed at the
Council, even the refusal to be critiqued by scientific methodologies of any
type becomes quite legitimate; to allow the contrary would be a concession
to scientific reductionism in one form or another. Such academic questions,
208 EXCURSUS VII
however, fell beyond the original pastoral goals for the Council as formulated
by John XXIII in Humanae Salutis. There he evidenced a far greater concern
for the judgment which a seriously dislocated world could exercise on both the
Church and mankind unless they changed their ways of thinking and acting.
The efficiency of these transcendent truths in the temporal order was the
canon of criticism formulated by John XXIII.
209
EXCURSUS VIII: THE MYSTICAL BODY AS GROUND OF VA TIC
The Mystical Body in Lumen Gentium
If paragraph eight of Lumen Gentium is read in conjunction with the sources

in footnotes 17-21 (see Abbott [1966], pp. 22-23), then we appreciate that
Vatican II is not simply presenting a biblical image of the Church as understood
by early Christianity but the developed doctrine, as then-understood at the time
of the Council. In such a context the technical observations of O'Connor [1984]
make eminent good sense. What the above paragraph eight does is establish the
Mystical Body as the doctrinal or "epistemological" ground of the Christo-
centric focus of the ecclesial consciousness. (In a quite true sense this chapter
of Lumen Gentium, especially as it culminates in paragraph eight, stands out-
side the pastoral focus of Vatican II: it provides the "objectivistic," conceptual
source of light for that focus.) In the anticipated correlation of the Mystical
Body and the People of God at the Council there is a hierarchy of "form" to
"matter" in the juxtaposition of these two ideas.
This interpretation of the conceptual and structural role of the Mystical
Body in its developed doctrinal state is important since there are two dangers
latent in the Council's phenomenological style of theologizing: (1) a tendency
for theological theorists to employ the methodology in such a way that they
drift off into the type of solipsism sometimes attributed to Hussed; or (2) for
the theologically uninformed to fall victim to scientific reductionism in inter-
preting the anthropocentric aims of the Council. In such a context the theoretical
concerns of Paul VI centering on this doctrine become clear, both in his December
5, 1962 speech (see Latin Texts [1970-1980], Vol. I, pars IV, esp. p. 292) and
in his encyclical, Ecclesium Suam (see Carlen [1981] , Vol. 5, #35-38, pp. 141-
143). Inasmuch as the Council is about to present its new pastoral directions for
the Church, Paul VI prudently abstracts from any concrete pastoral applications
historically associated with the doctrine of the Mystical Body, except those
which flow from its very nature. See Carlen [1981], Vol. 5, #37-38, pp. 142-
143.
The fact that the Council assigned this epistemological importance to the
Mystical Body does not mean that this doctrinal data-base is the only one which
could carry such a load. By reason of the isomorphism which permeates the
doctrinal deposit of Catholicism any of the New Testament images of the
210 EXCURSUS VIII
Church listed in the first chapter of Lumen Gentium could, in theory at least,
have been used in the same pastoral way as the Mystical Body in the Council's
phenomenological style of reflection. The biblical image in this regard which
comes most readily to mind is the Church as the Spouse of Christ. See Abbott
[1966] , #5-6, pp. 17-20. However, in view of their pastoral objectives, which
included a serious anthropocentric emphasis, the bishops chose the Mystical
Body as their epistemological anchor since its doctrinal clarity had been exten-
sively developed in this century and correlated well with the pastoral and human
aims of the Council. The Mystical Body, accordingly, provided the basic score
which the bishops were about to transpose into a "new key."
Lastly, while I have insisted on the epistemological (Le., doctrinal) importance
of the first chapter, paragraph eight, of Lumen Gentium, it also serves other
purposes. When Vonier was on the verge of formulating his views on the People
of God, he first voiced the common sentiments of Catholics toward that image
of the Church projected in Lumen Gentium, #7-8:
that particular sentiment awakened in us by what we read concerning

the Church in the New Testament. It stands there as an unsurpassable
power of sanctification, as a pillar and column of truth, as a continuation
of Christ's Person, as an organism vivified by the Paraclete. These aspects
are directly the sources of light for Catholic theology which is chiefly
concerned with the ways of man's salvation.
See Vonier [1937], p. xvi, emphasis added.
The Mystical Body as integrating the pastoral sense of Vatican II
The key-role which the doctrine of the Mystical Body plays in integrating the
"pastoral sense" of the major constitutions of Vatican II may be found in
Chapter Ten under the subheading, "Towards a solution of this larger pastoral
problem."
211
EXCURSUS IX: THE INTERPRETATION AND CLASSIFICATION

COUNCIL'S DOCUMENTS
The interpretation of Council documents
To the extent the intentional core of Vatican II's major documents is the product
of phenomenological method as explained by this book, this fact should have
some impact on the principles of interpretation brought to bear both on the
Council's promulgated documents and even on the various theological com-
missions' reports recorded in Latin Texts [1970-1980]. The use of a technical
scholastic term, such as "subsists" in Lumen Genium (#8), may simply mean it
is employed consistently with its previous scholastic usage, not identically.
Luijpen [1967] also recognizes that a similar sensitivity must be shown in even
larger scholastic clusters of ideas, such as natural law. This type of careful and
nuanced approach to the interpretation of Vatican II's promulgated documents,
their resource materials, and themes is required not merely by the phenom-
enological method employed at the Council but also by the global scope of the
religio-cultural renewal formulated at Vatican II. At a minimum, this program
is comparable to early Christianity's adjustment to the larger hellenized world,
but as you may recall from our discussion in Chapter Seven (note 11), Vatican II
in all likelihood surpasses the Deuteronomic reform in the Old Testament.
Let us recall again the well-meaning attempt in O'Connor [1984] to interpret
the technical sense of some scholastic terminology in Lumen Gentium. Necessary
as such efforts may be, a rigidly scholastic and defensive mindset has to be
avoided lest such narrow technical analyses unwittingly distract us from the
larger issues which the Council was trying to grapple with. Much the same can
be said of a similar case where Cardinal Cicognani sent a technically correct
(and even biblically based) response to Karl Barth on November 11, 1968,
when the Lutheran theologian wrote to Paul VI regarding the papal teaching
found in Humanae Vitae. See Barth [1981], pp. 314,487-488. The technical,
theological answer was given, but the larger human and religio-cultural issues
in the modern world went unnoticed.
It should be recalled that at the Council the religious issues as pastorally
focused, not their related technical questions, were the center of discussion.
However, if an enquiry (modus) is presented to a conciliar commission in a
technical way, generally the formal response (relatio) will answer the problem
212 EXCURSUS IX
raised within the technical confines of the enquiry (e .g., history, philosophy,
etc.). This does not necessarily mean that the statement found in the promul-
gated document and regarding which the enquiry was made must be understood
in terms of the technical strictures of the formal response, but only in a way
consistent with it. The Council, having suspended the sciences as part of its
methodology, would hardly contradict itself and endorse scientific reductionism
as the path to its authentic interpretation. Accordingly, a post conciliar work
such as Charles and Maclaren [1982], while quite orthodox and conservative in
its use of Vatican II's documents, stands in need of important nuancing due to
its heavy reliance on historical method. A more mature postconciliar work,
Walgrave [1972], makes no reference whatsoever to Vatican II as somehow
underwriting its technical research.
Situating the constitution on the liturgy
It is no easy task to situate the important constitution on the liturgy within the
phenomenological pattern of reflection which I have discerned in the two
dogmatic constitutions (Lumen Gentium and Dei verbum) and more imperfectly
in the pastoral constitution (Gaudium et Spes). This is to be expected since the
liturgy document was formulated prior to the mature methodology of Lumen
Gentium and served as something of a consensus-building vehicle for the bishops
in the early stages of the Council. The Council Fathers recognized the somewhat
ambivalent character of this constitution and did not categorize it either as
doctrinal or pastoral.
Since the constitution's Chapter One, Part I, "The Nature of the Sacred
Liturgy and Its Importance in the Life of the Church" (see Abbott [1966],
pp. 139-143) deals with the substantive issue of liturgy itself, it can be corre-
lated with theological topics in the dogmatic constitutions which we discussed
in the book within a phenomenological framework. The portion which deals
with the nature of the liturgy must be related to matters in Sacramental Time
(see Excursus II) since the liturgy deals with such things in a cyclical time-
frame. Hence, this portion is most closely associated with the matters dealt
with in Dei verbum (Revelation), which also functions in Sacramental Time but
in a punctuational time-frame. The portion which deals with the importance
of the liturgy seems to be directed to the People of God, their essentially religious
mission, and appropriate roles; these are all topics of Lumen Gentium which
functions in an eschatological time-frame.
Chapter One, Part II, "The Promotion of Liturgical Instruction and Active
Participation" (see Abbott [1966], pp. 144-145), seems to be a "declaration"
COUNCIL'S DOCUMENTS 213
ofintent (Le., a policy statement) meant for Church members, whereas the appen-
dix on calendar reform (see Abbott [1966] , pp.177-178) is a declaration meant
for all men. The rest of the document (see Abbott [1966] ,pp. 146-178) seems
to consist of generic "decrees," Le., the establishment of normative guidelines.
As a document elaborated outside of the genetic development of the Council's
mature intellectual process, the document on the liturgy seems to be a mixture
of all the types of documents eventually developed as proper to the Council.
Since it is a constitution, the bishops meant it to be one of the major documents
of the Council. At the same time its early positioning in the work of the Council
seems to have attenuated its content as pastoral theology. For that, one should
read this document within the more mature reflections of Dei verbum and
Lumen Gentium, but something more is also required. As our book has indicated,
liturgy in abstraction from the global pastoral concerns formulated by John
XXIII in Humanae Salutis is not a pastoral liturgy in the sense intended by
Vatican II. Consequently, the pastoral constitution on "The Church in the
Modern World" (Gaudium et Spes) is an integral background document for any
authentic interpretation of the liturgical constitution.
The classification of the Council's documents
At this time I would like to reflect on the generally-accepted classification of

Vatican II's documents, but from a phenomenological perspective. This is not
an easy task, since the canonical classification is freighted with such long-
standing associations that it is somewhat difficult to maintain a phenomeno-
logical focus when reflecting on these matters. We may, however, start out with
the canonical nomenclature and classifications as presented by an American
canonist, Morrisey [c. 1975] ,p. 7:
Four different types of documents were prepared by the Council

Fathers: Constitutions, Decrees, Declarations, and Messages. It is quite
difficult to state precisely why one document is given a specific qualifi-
cation rather than another. It would seem that the Constitutions are
addressed to the universal Church, while the Decrees are directed more
specifically to a given category of the faithful or to a special form of
apostolate, V.g., to members of the Eastern Churches, to Bishops, religious,
and so forth. The Declarations are policy statements giving the ordinary
teaching of the Church, while the Messages are exhortations addressed to
various categories of people at the conclusion of the first session of the
Council.
214 EXCURSUS IX
It is probably the matter itself which determined whether a particular

document was to be given a certain title. The declarations presented
teaching that, for the time being, was evolving and had not yet reached
a definitive stage.
The pheonomenology of the religious life-world, which this book has ad-
vanced, allows us to accept the canonical classification, given above, but re-see
the Council documents in their vital coherence ("communio") as expressions
of the consciousness, attitudes, and prioritized values of the Church in the
modern world. The phenomenological focus of this book has centered on the
two dogmatic constitutions (Dei verbum and Lumen Gentium) as correlated
with the practical, pastoral challenge of Humanae Salutis and Gaudium et Spes.
It would, consequently, nuance the classification of the conciliar documents
on the basis of two important themes of Vatican II: i.e., (Christian) anthro-
pology and "service of the world."
The notion of Ozristian anthropology is by now, I hope, the easier to under-
stand. We have spoken of it extensively, particularly in Chapters 8-10 and in
the Epilogue. Fundamentally it is the (ad intra) ecclesial expression of religious
humanism, and as a pastoral goal of the Council it embodies the elements of a
formation-program for all the faithful in today's world. The notion of the
"service of the world" simply expresses the ad extra dimension (praxis) of the
same pastoral concept as Christian anthropology. Hence, as I am using the
phrase here, the "service of the world" means the "service of human beings"
by providing them with whatever is necessary to achieve their authentic
humanity. The religious values shaping Christian anthropology and the "service
of the world," which are both pastoral notions, derive from the Logos-Shepherd
ontology structuring the contemporary ecclesial consciousness. As viewed in the
abstract, this ontology is simply traditional Catholic belief or theology. It is,
however, the "new moment" of human history, "the crisis in human beings,"
as described by this book, which provides this abstract ontology with its pastoral
specificity. It is the turning point in world history which provides the rationale
for such a serious shift in the Catholic consciousness to human and social con-
cerns. If at some future date these grave problems were solved, then a new
gravity shift could occur to meet other needs.
When we reflect on the canonical classification of the conciliar documents,
we can do so more productively if we keep a background question in mind:
"What does this classification tell me about Christian anthropology and 'service
of the world'?" As ecclesiastical documents, all these writings directly address
members of the Church. In a sense, people outside the Church are being given
an opportunity to eavesdrop, so to speak, as the corporate ecclesial consciousness
COUNCIL'S DOCUMENTS 215
reflects on its own presentday attitudes, values, and concerns both for its own
members and mankind made in God's image.
The Constitutions, by traditional definition, are the most important docu-
ments of the Council. Two of these constitutions (Lumen Gentium and Dei
verbum) deal with doctrinal matters, and in an experiential, pastoral way provide
the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the religious consciousness which
should inform any Christian anthropology. Gaudium et Spes, the pastoral
constitution, is a first, tentative effort on the part of the Church to apply the
new Christian anthropology to the "service of the world." All three consti-
tutions, however, should be vi~wed as a comprehensive pastoral unit, which
might easily have been given the title, "The Church in the ModemWorld." This
correlation of Christian anthropology and the "service of the world" (praxis)
exemplifies the split-level type of pastoral theology conceived by John XXIII.
(The fourth constitution on the Sacred Liturgy has already been discussed in
the earlier portion of this Excursus; by simply recalling that discussion the
constitution on the liturgy can be integrated into the pastoral paradigm, out-
lined above.)
The declarations and decrees, as the beginnings of a pastoral formation-
program for the faithful or as tentative steps toward "service of the world"
(praxis), should be read against the background of pastoral theology, discussed
above. An appreciation of their pastoral sense maybe found in Wojtyla's remarks
recorded earlier. (See Preface, note 9.) An exception to the above general
principle would be the "Decree on the Instruments of Social Communication,"
which is the Ishmael of the Council. (See Chapter 5, note 16.) The Declarations
combine broad policy statements and teachings (not to mention attitudinal
stances) under development, as Morrisey pointed out above. The two declarations
on Education and Religious Freedom offer additional aspects to Gaudium et
Spes. The Decrees may be viewed as having some generic directive force for
various groups in the Church. But such decrees (and the Declaration on Non-
Christian Religions) should be seen in relationship to the "horizons" of humanity
found in the second chapter of Lumen Gentium. In this panorama of mankind
the need for revitalized human relationships, the formation of attitudes, and
"service of the world" assume their authentic religious and global importance.
Final canonical observations
From a purely canonical point of view only the constitutions, declarations,

and decrees are officially part of the documentation of Vatican II. You may
find the Messages of the Council in the documents listed in the back of Latin
216 EXCURSUS IX
Texts [1966], pp. 839-1102. Here you will find many documents connected
with the Council (e.g., Humanae Salutis) but really not a part of it, if matters
are viewed in a very technical sense. These documents contain a rich mine of
religious source material for interpreting the pastoral theology and sense of
Vatican II.
217
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Faith. Trans. by Ernan McMullin and John Burnheim. Pittsburgh: Duquesne
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Harper & Row.
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247
Humanity, message to: 25,29,60,141. 113,123,126,136,153,162,175-

See: Radio broadcast (Sept. 11, 1962); 176,187,207. See: Subjectivity; Alter
Peace, problem of; Integralism. ego; Communio; Phenomenology of the
natural a ttitu de.
I-Thou relationships: 200. See: "We-pheno- Intuition: (a) in general: 9,85,92. (b)
menon;" Dialogue; Participation; Con- eidetic: 61, 76, 80, 83, 92, 95, 103,
sensus-formation; Communio. 185. (c) affective: 10,23,26-27,53,
Idealism: (a) Post-Kantian: 3, 5, 74, 83, 80,91,120,182,185. (d) individual:
128,149,166-167,169,180,200. (b) 26,45,51,68,74,78-79,89,108. (e)
methodological (of Vatican JI): 16, corporate: 29-30,45,50-52,68,74,
73-74,135,140,144,158,169,174. 76,78-79,81,86,95,101,108,169,
See: Hegelianism; Materialism; Via 185. See: Meaning; Intentionality; Ap-
Media; Methodology; Theology, Pastoral. perception; Connanural knowledge;
Imagination, Free variation in: 71, 78, 81, Phenomenology.
93,206. See: Phenomenology of ap- Isomorphism: 52,62,86,89,101,103-
pearances; Esthetics; Artistic enterprise 104,113-116,124,129,133-134,
(of Vatican II). 140,144-145,150-151,153,162,
Induction (in phenomenology): 16,61. 176,198,209. See: Teleology (telos);
See: A priori (empirical); Appresen- Homeostasis; Analogy (of proportional-
tation(s). ity); Complementarity, Principle of;
Industrial revolution: See Economic Man; Order, concept of; Ontology.
Masses, Rise of the; Capitalism; Marx-
ism, Social Catholicism; Psychological Jesus Christ: 21-23,42,45,86,155,181,
man; Crisis; Mater et Magistra; Humanae 191,205. See: Christocentrism; Word
Salutis; Populorum Progressio. (Logos); Glorified Christ; New Adam.
Integralism: (a) as a historical movement: Journal of a Soul: 10,15,44,98-99,106
27 -28,38, 193. (b) from a doctrinal See: Architectonic theme (of Vatican
viewpoint: 9, 28-29, 31, 33, 38,44-46, II); "Church, what do you say of your-
59-60,64,67-69,72-73,78,105- self?"; Retreat (Vatican II as a spiritual).
106,112,153,159,169,193,200-
202,209. See: Modernism (theological); Kantianism: 6, 13, 83, 101, 193, 198.
Humani Generis; Humanae Salutis; See: Idealism; Anthropology; Hegelian-
Humanae Vitae. ism.
Intention(ality): (a) philosophical: 3, 11- Kerygma: 12,16,34-35,54,93,96,121,
12,32,46,80,93-94,99,102,107, 149,157. See: Evangelization; Cate-
144,147,206. (b) religious: 45, 73, chesis; Communication; Integralism.
92,98-99,101-103,120,136,147,
153,177,206-207,211. See: Meaning; Laicism: 119. See: Secularism; Enlighten-
Hominization; Discernment; Connatural ment.
knowledge; Phenomenology. Leader(ship), Pastoral: 21,39,167-168,
Interpretation: 11,25,27,32,37,41,43, 170-171. See: Servant leader(ship);
70,75-76,85,87,102,107,113, Service; Management theory (Pastoral);
115,121,123-124,126,142,144, Logos-Shepherd; Good Samaritan.
147,156,170,183,189,191,209, Lebenswelt: See Life-world.
211-213. See: Discernment; Hermeneu- Leib: See Body-subject, incarnate (Leih).
tics. Liberation theology: 34, 138, 164, 203.
Intersubjectivity: 23,27,44,48,71,74, See: Goal(s) of Vatican II; Populorum
76,78,89,100,102,107-108,112- Progressio; Poverty (worldwide); Poor,
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239
THEMATIC INDEX
Pedagogical utility has shaped the design of this index. It intends to assist the reader in
three ways:
(1) To see the topics indexed, not so much as subjects (or "concepts"), but as themes
typifying the human consciousness in its natural or religious functioning.
(2) To see a spectrum of isomorphic relationships, ranging from the speculative to the
practical order, between the more overtly related themes. After most entries, therefore, a
list of related topics, introduced by the italicized word See, is presented in a "sense order,"
rather than alphabetically.
(3) To see the internal cohesion pulling together a whole "region" of consciousness or
reality such as - for example - Phenomenology, Vatican II, etc. Such larger clusters of
themes are a small index unto themselves.
A priori, empirical: 3, 16,26,38,43,51, Aggiornamento: 7-8, 11, 15,21,30,63,

55-58,60-61,63,79-80,82,86-87, 67,130. See: Renewal; Deuteronomic
92,97,102-103,111-112,131,133, reform; Goal(s) of Vatican II; Pastoral,
135,140-141,148,183,185,192, concept of; Strategic vision.
199,207. See: Experience, concrete Alliance, Northern European: 41,49,
(Erlebnis); Horizon; Time-consciousness, 76-77,86,96,107,187, 196. See:
ecclesial; Empiricism. Thomism (Transcendental); Resource-
Abstraction, philosophical: 41, 83, 101. ment; Historical theology; Roman
See: Essence(s); Universal(s); Pheno- school theology; Roman Curia.
menology, Reductive; Concrete(ness) Alter ego: 74,100,107,188. See: Ego/
in phenomenology; Noema(ta). egology; Intersubjectivity; Communio;
Acculturalization: 69, 72, 74, 81, 85, Participation; Person(hood).
103, 138, 182. See: Culture; Two Analogy: (a)offaith: 37,45, 116-117,
Cultures, Facets of the problem of the; 153, 162. (b) of proportionality: 45,
Communication; Socialization; Partici- 53,92,94, 114, 116-117, 124. See:
pation; Life-world; Evangelization; Order, concept of; Ontology; Isomor-
Integralism. phism.
Acta Synodalia: 79. Anamnesis: 43,48,50, 184. See: Sacra-
Ad intra/ad extra distinction: 14-15, 30, mental time; "Eternal now;" Memory
33,46-49,52-53,55,67,75,77, (ecclesial); Time-consciousness (ec-
86,88,93,100-101,103-105,107, clesial); Historical consciousness.
111, 116-11~ 119, 125, 129, 136, Anawim (Le., "Poor of Yahweh"): 48, 54.
141,149-150,160-162,199-201, See: Poor, Option for the; Poverty
214. See: Dialectic; Phenomenology of (worldwide); Dehumanization; Third
the natural attitude; Experience, con- World; Good Samaritan.
crete (Erlebnis); Consciousness, (ec- "Anthropocentric turn:" 74, 123. See:
clesial). "Theocentric turn;" Horizon; Christo-
Ad Petri Cathedram: 9, 33. centrism; Dialectic.
240
Anthropocentrism: 48, 90, 96, 111, 129, See Prejudice(s); "Presuppositionless"

131,142,175,180-181,198,210,214. Philosophy.
See: Experience, concrete (Erlebnis); Atomic war: See Nuclear war.
Horizon; Phenomenology of the natural Atonement: See Cross, Theology of.
attitude; Life-world; Theocentrism; Attitude: (a) in general: 10,16,27,72,
Christocentrism; Logos-shepherd; New 74, 113, 134. (b) natural: 56,75, 83-
Adam; People of God; Vision of the New 84,89,91,101,103,124,131,133,
Humanity. 136,143,145,175,207. (c) religious:
Anthropogenesis: 120,169,171,194- 35,50,72,74,86,91,105,112,124,
195. See: Anthropogony, New humanis- 136,139,141,151,171,201,214-
tic; Meta-anthropology. 215. (d) attitude-formation: 32,37-
Anthropogony, New humanistic: 58,63, 38,62,67,70,78,102,121,170.
121. See: Anthropology; Transf'IgUr- See: Phenomenology of the natural
ation; Vision of the New Humanity. attitude; Life-world; Participation;
Anthropology: (a) theoretical/philosophi- Se1f(hood).
cal: 4, 13,62,87,90, 126, 134, 143-
144,155,163,169,179,193,195.
Being: 4, 12, 16,45,92, 101, 114, 124,
(b) practical/pastoral: 13,57-58,60,
128,151,156,180,188. See: Dasein;
62,70,78,122,130,138-139,141,
Sein; Existence, Act of; World in Post-
144-145,163,173,193-196,206,
Husserlian phenomenology.
214-215. See: Consciousness; Inten-
Belief (phenomenological sense): 44, 150,
tion(ality); Meaning; Hominization:
157,165,207. See: Consciousness;
Horizon; Humanism; Christocentrism;
Phenomenology of essences; Pheno-
Anthropocentrism; Model (Demon-
menology of the natural attitude; Fides
stration-model); Good Samaritan;
quaerens intellectum.
Peacemaker; People of God; Vision of
Better World Movement: 32. See: Crisis;
the New Humanity.
Christendom, New; Ecumene; Vision of
Apostolic community: 30,44,86, 106,
the New Humanity.
211. See: Pentecost, New; Christo-
Birth-control: 39,45,68,74, 152, 173.
centrism; New Adam; Kerygma; Ac-
See: Humanae Vitae; Integralism.
culturalization.
Body-subject, incarnate (Leib): 35, 73,
Apperception: 26,103,120, 147, 154.
100,106,108,117,136,148,162.
See: Meaning; Intentionality; Intuition;
See: Consciousness (natural); Homini-
Connatural knowledge; Discernment.
zation; Historicity; Community; Partici-
Appresentation(s): 147,160. See: In-
pation; Society, visible, ecclesial; Mys-
duction (in phenomenology); Intuition;
tical Body; People of God.
Connatural knowledge.
"Bracketing" (in phenomenology): See
Architectonic theme (of Vatican II): 143,
Phenomenology, Reductive.
148. See: "Church, what do you say of
yourself'?"; Retreat (Vatican II as a
spiritual); Theme(s)/thematization; Capitalism: 5, 168. See: Economic Man;
Good Samaritan. Marxism; Humanae Salutis.
Artistic enterprise (of Vatican II): 17, 27, Cartesianism: 3,5, 13. See: Subjectivism.
31,38,69,120-121. See: Esthetics; Catechesis: 125, 158. See: Communication;
Communication; Phenomenology of Evangelization; Kerygma; Creeds (reli-
appearances; Imagination, Free vari- gious); Integralism.
ation in; Connatural knowledge. Central and Northern European alliance:
Assumptions (i.e., in phenomenology): See Alliance, Northern European.
241
Christ: See Jesus Christ; Glorified Christ; 72,74-75,78,101,121-122,128,

Logos-Shepherd; New Adam. 132,134-135,138,149,157,162,
Christendom, New: 120,182. See: Ecum- 168,174, 188,200-201. See: Humanae
ene; Better World Movement; Vision of Salutis; Goal(s) of Vatican II; Revel-
the New Humanity. ation; Word; Symbols; Esthetics; Dia-
Christocentrism: 48,60,63-64,74, 79- logue; Kerygma; Evangelization; Cate-
80,85,99,106,111,115,128,130, chesis.
151,154,161,181,198,206-207, Communio ("co-presence"): 48-51, 58,
209. See: Glorified Christ; Logos- 100,102,117,126,129,132,137-
Shepherd; New Adam; Anthropocen- 138,140,144,153,168,184-185,214.
trism; Theocentrism. See: "We-phenomenon;" I-Thou relation-
Church (i.e., as a transtemporal entity): 15, ships; Mutual relations; Participation;
21-22,29,33,37,41,47-48,50, Socialization; Society, visible ecc1esial;
52-53,56,67-68,72-73,75,80-81, Community; Solidarity.
87,94-95,97-10~102-104,107- Communism: See Marxism.
108,113-114,116-119,121-122, Community: (a) natural: 201. (b) ecclesial/
124-130,132,134,136-137,139- religious: 27,44,51,71,78,101,104,
142,147-149,158-159,162,169, 113. See: Communio; Intersubjectivity;
176,178-179,185,188,191,210. Communication; Participation; Mutual
See: Lumen Gentium; People of God; relations; Solidarity; Society, visible
Mystical Body. ecc1esial; People of God.
Church in the modern world (i.e., oriented Comparative religious studies: 62, 143,
to contemporaneity): 7, 15, 24, 25, 161-162,173,194. See: Phenomen-
30,36,39,42,44-47,53,57,60,63, ology of religion.
75,77,86,111,127,130,136-138, Complementarity, principle of: 33, 55,
140,159,176,182,189,200,213- 57-58,60-62,84,97-98,104,125,
215. See: Gaudium et Spes; Goal(s) 153, 155. See: Intentionality; Ontol-
of Vatican II. ogy; Order, concept of; Teleology
"Church, what do you say of yourself?": (telos); Isomorphism; Homeostasis
99, 107, 136, 148, 159. See: Archi- ("vital balance"); Dialectic.
tectonic theme (of Vatican II); Retreat Concrete(ness), in phenomenology: (a)
(Vatican II as a spiritual); Phenomeno- universals/essences: 16,51,81,88,92,
logy of the natural attitude. 97,103,123-124,128,156,162,
City of God vs. city of man: (a) City of 187. (b) human relationships: 26,43,
God: 26,30,104,154. (b) City of Man: 88,100,107,111-112,119,124,
26,30,154. See: Theme(s)/themati- 128,135,155,187-188,198,207.
zation; People of God; Secularism; See: A priori, empirical; Experience,
Science, World of; Dehumanization; concrete (Erlebnis); Phenomenology of
Crisis; Humanae Salutis; Good Samari- essences; Noema(ta); Horizon; Life-
tan. world; Facticity.
Collegiality: 41, 75, 106, 112. See: Com- Connatural knowledge: 9, 16-17, 22-23,
munio; Mutual relations; Participation; 26,31,35,37,43,45,48,53,56,
Dialogue; Subsidiarity. 58,60,70,80-82,91,120,133,141,
Commissions, theological: (a) preparatory: 155,157-158,176-177,184-185,
24,31,34,36,79,177. (b) conciliar: 191. See: Subjectivity; Empathy; In-
34,52,76,81,86,96,100-102,181, tuition; Discernment; Phenomenology
211. See: Consensus-formation. of the natural attitude; Esthetics.
Communication: 5,6,8,21,31,45,69-70, Consciousness: (a) natural: 13,16,39,
242
52-53,70,75,81,83-84,93-94, Crisis: (a) in the sciences: 3-4,68,84. (b)

121,124,127,144-145,150-151, in human beings: 4, 6-7,19-20,23,
153,165,175,178~179,181-182, 33-34,57-58,72-73,77,80,84,
193, 205 - 206 . (b) religious, ecclesial: 118,127,195,197,214. (c) in modern
29,33,35,37,41-42,49-52,75,78, world: 8, 19,32,34,37,39,42,46-
82,84,87,98,102-104,106-108, 47,57,68-69,76-77,85-86,88,
111-113,121,124,126-127,130, 96,106,117-118,127,130-132,
133,136,139-140,142-143,148- 137,139-140,142,148,159,162,
162,179,185,193,195,206-207, 168-172,193,195,200,211. See:
209, 214-215. See: Belief (phenomeno- Philosophy ("as a rigorous science");
logical sense); Meaning; Intentionality; Dehumanization; Hiroshima; Humanae
Evidence; Phenomenology; Egojego10gy; Salutis; Pacem in Terris; Populorum
Horizon; Life-world. Progressio; Goal(s) of Vatican II; Good
Consensus-formation (or consensus- Samaritan.
building): 35,42,51-52,54-55,59, Crisis of European sciences and transcen-
79,86,90-91,101,106-107,141, dental phenomenology, The (Le., Hus-
155-157,185,196,200-20~21L sed's book): 10, 19,31-32,63,69,
See: Goa1(s) of Vatican II; Communio; 86,88-89,123,127,131,134,165,
Intersubjectivity; Dialogue; Connatural 171, 175, 180, 192. See: Mathemati-
knowledge; Empathy; Discernment; Phe- zation of nature; Teleological-historical;
nomenology of the natural attitude; Phenomenology of the natural attitude;
Servant leadership. Phenomenology, Reductive (scientific
Constitutive phenomenology: See Pheno- reduction); Renewal.
menology, Constitutive. Cross, Theology of: 33,57-58,172,174.
Contemplation: 26,42,51,90,94,96, See: Crisis; Good Samaritan; Logos-
103,108,120,128,136,155,157, Shepherd.
159,162,183,185. See: Mysticism; Cuban missile crisis: 25,55. See: Crisis;
Fides quaerens intellectum; Theology Pacem in Terris.
(pastoral & speculative); Connatural Culture: 74-76,81,84,96,115,127,
knowledge; Transfiguration; Retreat 134,137,144-145,171,175,179,
(Vatican II as a spiritual). 182. See: Two cultures, Facets of the
Copernican Revolution: 82,94, 114, 169, problem of the; AcculturaJization; Life-
173,198. See: Gestalt; Gravity shift. world; Anthropology; Counter-cultural
Counter-cultural values of Vatican II: 119, values of Vatican II.
157. See: Christocentrism; New Adam;
Cross, Theology of; Marxism; Capital- Dasein: 53, 85, 148,151, 154-156, 159.
ism; Dehumanization; Crisis; Two cul- See: Intentionality; Being; Sein.
tures, Facets of the problem of the. Decree on the instruments of social com-
Counter-reformation Humanism: See Hu- munication: 75, 215. See: Communi-
manism (devotional). cation.
Creation theology: 20,22-33,56,58,64, Dehumanization: 19,62,131,164. See:
85,99,119,128-129,153,169,173, Hiroshima; Nuclear war; Marxism; Capi-
205-206,215. See: New Adam; Obedi- talism; Humanae Salutis; Good Samari-
ential potency; Vision of the New tan; Goal(s) of Vatican II; Vision of the
Humanity; Ecology. New Humanity.
Creeds (religious): 38,45-46,53. See: Dei verbum: 37,49,52,73-74,84,90-91,
Ontology; Order, concept of; Pheno- 94-95,103-104,108,111-112,123-
menology, Hermeneutic. 124,126,129,136-138,140,143-145,
243
147-148,150-151,153-156,158- centrism; Anthropocentrism; Dialectic.

161,163-164,177-178,182,185,
212-215. See: Revelation; Word; Com- Ecclesiam Suam: 23,67,72-74,78,83,
munication. 94,97-98,101,103,105,113,119,
Demythologizing: 12,171. See: Bracketing; 135,199-200,209. See: Mystical
Epoche; Phenomenology, Reductive; Body; Integralism; Dialogue.
Hermeneu tics. Ecclesio-centrism: See Ecclesio-monism.
Deuteronomic Reform: 106,211. See: Ecclesio-monism: 108, 119, 150, 157, 160.
Renewal; Aggiornamento; Hellinization, See: Monadology; Life-world; Pheno-
Problem of. menology of the natural attitude; Mis-
Development: (a) of people: 55,58,68, sion, ecclesial.
125,130,144,166,168,170,191, Ecology: 33,39,63-64,206. See: Order,
194-195. (b) of doctrine: 27,61,73, concept of; Teleology (telos); Isomor-
91,106-107,113,116,135,137, phism; Creation theology.
143,145,156-157,187,210,213. Economic Man: 169,194-195. See: Marx-
See: Humanae Salutis; Popu1orum ism; Capitalism; Masses, Rise of the;
Progressio; Integralism; Modernism Social archetypes.
(theological). Economy of salvation: 43. See: Plan of God.
Diachronicity: 102, 120, 147, 159, 183, Ecumene: 52, 125, 181-182. See: Tele-
212. See: Time-consciousness (eccle- ology (telos); Christendom; New; Better
sial); Eschatology; Synchronicity. World Movement; Unity of mankind;
Dialectic: 6, 26,42,48-49,54,58,79, Mission, ecclesial; Strategic vision.
81,88,90,103-104,107,116-117, Ecumenical Ethic: 15,62, 130, 170. See:
121,126,135,139-140,149,151, Human front, United; Unity of mankind;
154,159,161-162,167,169,176, Goal(s) of Vatican II.
180-181,198. See: Ad intra/ad extra Ecumenism: 25,69,108,157,168,199.
distinction; Idealism; Materialism; See: Humanae Salutis.
Logos-Shepherd. Efficiency in the temporal order: 20,27-
Dialogue: 5,6,12,23,27,48,67-68,71, 28,32-33,38,45,53,57,60,62,73,
73,78-79,90,98,105,107-108, 98,122,131,133,135,140,168-
132, 137, 141, 153, 170, 174, 185, 169,176,189,203,208. See: Humanae
199-201,203,204. See: Communi- Salutis; Social Catholicism; Crisis;
cation; Consensus-formation. Pastoral, concept of; Goal(s) of Vatican
Dignitatis Humanae Personae: 107. See: II; Populorum Progressio.
Freedom, religious; Person(hood); Ego/egology: (a) individual: 74, 100, 102,
Revelation (humanistic). 129,143,150-151,206. (b) trans-
Discernment: (a) in general: 10, 16, 20-21, cendental: 14,94-95,108,117. (c)
35,42,56-57,60-61,68,72,91,94, corporate (religious): 52, 106, 108,
97,115,191-192. (b) perceptional 136,140, 150, 156, 160. See: Mona-
paradigm (gestalt): 28, 82, 91, 93, 98, dology; Alter ego; Self(hood); Person
119, 123, 129, 173. (c) judgmental (hood); Communio; Participation.
paradigm: 22,26,28,36-37,81,93, Eidetic phenomenology: See Phenomen-
101,123,158,177. See: Meaning; ology of essences.
Intentionality; Phenomenology of Emotion(ality): 80,91,120-121. See:
essences; Gestalt; Apperception; In- Connatural knowledge; Empathy;
tuition; Connatural knowledge; Em- Masses, Rise of the; Revolutionary
pathy; Interpretation; Hermeneutics. movements, modern.
Dives in Misericordia: 198. See: Christo- Empathy: 22,27,35,71,78,126,140,
244
201. See: Connatural knowledge; Dis- Esthetics: 10, 17, 22, 38, 62, 70, 75-76,
cernment. 91,120-122,157,165. See: Artistic
Empiricism: (a) scientific: 3,9, 14, 16,95, enterprise (of Vatican II); Phenomeno-
114,124,128,149,151,167,194.(b) logy of appearances; Imagination, Free
"new empiricism:" 84, 95, 128, 176, variation in; Metanarrative text; Vision
188. (c) religious application: 10, 20- of the New Humanity.
21,31,56,114,119,128,162.See: "Eternal now:" 43,102-103, 120, 129-
Facticity; Positivism; Pragmatism; A 130,132, 154, 162, 183-184. See:
priori, empirical; Concrete(ness) in Synchronicity; Sacramental time; Time-
phenomenology; Experience, concrete consciousness (ecclesial).
(Erlebnis); Humanae Salutis; Efficiency Evangelization: 21,28,118,125, 131,
in the temporal order. 139. See: Communication; Kerygma;
Enlightenment: 4, 15, 58,63, 76, 165- Catechesis; Mission, ecclesial; Integral-
168,171-172. See: Science, world of; ism.
Mathematization of nature; Material- Evidence: 83,92,113. See: Intuition;
ism; Secularism; Romanticism, German; Phenomenology of essences; Revelation.
Crisis; Humanae Salutis. Evolutionism: 6, 73, 152, 157, 161, 167,
Enrichment intended by Vatican II: 8, 20, 173. See: Relativism; Humani Generis;
27,30-31,35,42,48,69-70,76,78, Development; Integralism.
80,85,121, 156-157, 188. See: Es- Existence, Act of: 13,20,22,33,34,57,
thetics; Artistic enterprise (of Vatican 85, 155, 188. See: Being; Ontology;
II); Vision of the New Humanity; Creation theology.
Transfiguration; Pentecost, New; Pheno- Existentialism: 4,6,11, 13, 23, 34, 51, 70,
menology of religion. 170. See: A priori, empirical; Concrete-
Epistemology: 4, 11-12, 14, 71, 92, 101, (ness) in phenomenology; Facticity;
151,169,197-198,209-210. See: Experience, concrete (Erlebnis); Per-
Meaning; Intention(ality); Ontology. sonalism, Christian.
Epoche: 83,87,95,111, 122, 143. See: Experience, concrete (Erlebnis): 16,27,29,
Phenomenology, Reductive. 34,37-38,43-44,51,73-74,78-83,
Erlebnis(se): 43,48,51,100,187. See: 87,89,91,93,99-102,104-105,
Experience, concrete; Concrete(ness) 111-115,119-120,122,126-128,
in phenomenology. 130-133,135-136,139-142,144,
Eschatology: 43,57,63,91,102,108, 147-149,153-155,157--158,162,
120,122,126-127,129-130,141, 169,175,183,185,187-188,207,
147,150,154,159,162,183,202- 215. See: A priori, empirical; Con-
203,212. See: Diachronicity; Time- crete(ness) in phenomenology; Inten-
consciousness (ecclesial); Providence tion(ality); Intuition (eidetic); Noema-
(divine); Messianism; Revolutionary (ta); Horizon; Life-world.
movements, modern.
Essence(s): (a) scholastic (abstract): 80, Facticity: 51, 101-102, 128. See: Empiri-
87, 92. (b) phenomenolOgical (con- cism; A priori, empirical; Concrete(ness)
crete): 27,51,80,83,92-95,108, in phenomenology; Experience, con-
113,115,123,128,139-141.See: crete (Erlebnis); Existentialism; Evo-
Universa1(s); Noema(ta); Abstraction, lutionism; Relativism.
philosophical; Phenomenology, Reduc- Fascism: 5,14,194. See: Revolutionary
tive; Concrete(ness) in phenomenology. movements, Modern, Masses, Rise of the;
Essential phenomenology: See Pheno- Marxism; Capitalism; Personalism,
menology of essences. Christian.
245
Feminist theology: 34. See: Mary, Blessed of; Crisis; Humanae Salutis; Vision of the
Virgin; Goal(s) of Vatican II. New Humanity.
Fides quaerens intellectum: 86,95. See: Good Samaritan: 7, 15,33,42,105, 122,
Belief (phenomenological sense); Pheno- 125, 131, 142,214. See: Therapy/thera-
menology of essences; Phenomenology peutic; Service; Servant leader(ship);
of the natural attitude; Phenomenology Logos-Shepherd; Hominization; Model
of religion; Contemplation; Mysticism. (Demonstration-model).
Freedom, religious: 55,61,106-107, Gravity shift: (a) intellectual: 12,67,72,
112,215. See: Dignitatis Humanae 81-82,91-92,94,123,126,136,
Personae. 195,198,206. (b) pastoral (humanistic):
96,120,157,188,214. See: Gestalt;
Galileo Galilei: (a) standard Galileo: 3,31, Anthropocentrism; Copernican revolu-
59,63,93,114, 151, 19~ 197, 199. tion.
(b) new Galileo: 32,63. See: Objec- Group dynamics: See Consensus-formation.
tivism: Mathematization of nature;
Cartesianism. Hegelianism: 6,63, 166-167, 170, 172.
Gaudium et Spes: 35,47,53,57,60,64, See: Idealism; Dialectic; Myth; Material-
92,10~103-104,111,127,136-13~ ism; Marxism.
140,142,144-145,159,176,178, Hellenization, Problem of: 156,211. See:
181,212-215. See: Church in the Deuteronomic Reform; Teleological-
modern world. historical; History of ideas; Historical
Genesis creation story: See Creation theology; Renewal; Aggiornamento.
theology. Hermeneutic phenomenology: See Pheno-
Genetic phenomenology: See Phenomeno- menology, Hermeneutic.
logy, constitutive. Hermeneutics: (a) textual, biblical: 12,
Gestalt: 32,44, 82, 91, 94, 97 -99, 113, 85,95,150,152,161,163,193. (b)
117,119, 123,126,132~133,154- phenomenological, theological: See
155,185,206-207. See: Copernican Phenomenology, Hermeneutic. See:
revolution; Gravity shift, intellectual; Interpretation; Hominization.
Theme(s)/thematization. Hierophany: 17,122,191,194. See:
Glorified Christ: 43-45,47,50,54,56, Hominization; Transfiguration; Vision
60,64,81,87-88,98-99,112,116- of the New Humanity; Phenomenology
117,119,122,124,126-127,133, of religion.
138-139,142,144-145,148,153, Hiroshima: 7. See: Crisis; Cuban missile
157,160-162,170,181,184-185, crisis; Nuclear war; Dehumanization.
188,196-198,206-207,210. See: Historical consciousness: (a) academic:
Ontology; Hominization; Logos-Shep- 42,89,151,155,174,195. (b) Catholic:
herd; Jesus Christ; New Adam; Word 19,30,43-44,48,102,104,155.
(Logos); Paschal Mystery. See: Historicism; Time-consciousness
Goal(s) of Vatican II: (a) religious: 25, (ecclesial); Memory (ecclesial); Anam-
29-30,41-42,91,97-98,108,122, nesis.
136,142,151,159,174,202,208. Historical theology: 12,28,36,41,50,
(b) humanistic: 39,69-70,89,91, 52,78,90, 118, 125, 161. See: Resour-
114, 122, 138, 158, 168, 189, 196, cement; Salvation history; Historicism;
214. (c) ultimate practical: 30,37,49, Modernism (theological).
69,71,90-91,93,96,99,114,117- Historicism: 3,6,11,161,166-167,169.
118,12~ 131, 136, 143, 156,163, See: Reductionism; Psychologism;
168-169,210. See: Pastoral, concept Facticity.
246
Historicity: (a) secular notion: 11-12, 20, Life-world; Anthropology; Christo-

51,84,91,94,107,127-129,151, centrism; Anthropocentrism; Model
169,195. (b) religious notion: 128- (Demonstration-model); Glorified
129,147,154-155. See: Historical Christ; Logos-Shepherd; New Adam;
consciousness; Body-subject, incarnate Good Samaritan; People of God; Vision
(Leib); Time-consciousness (ecc1esial); of the New Humanity; Mary, Blessed
Sacramental time; Phenomenology of Virgin; Revelation; Word; Symbols;
religion. Tradition vs. traditions; Reification.
History: (a) status quo (antea): 7, 8, 24, 26, Horizon: (a) phenomenological: 32, 84,
32,125,142, 166. (b) "new moment": 100,103, 105, 125, 179, 187-188. (b)
7,8,10,14,24,26,27,32,76,86, ecclesial: 32,45,102-105,119,126-
125,142,162,172,214.(c)influence 127,129,147,155,179,182-183,
on John XXIII: 8, 10, 17, 25, 134. 195,206,215. See: Hominization;
(d) "new science": 167. See: Humanae Consciousness; A priori, empirical;
Salutis; Pacem in Terris; Crisis. Intentionality; Concrete(ness) in pheno-
History of ideas: (a) philosophical: 14,23, menology; Experience, concrete (Er-
31-32,36,63,96,125,128. (b) social: lebnis); Life-world, Communio; Body-
14,23,36,51,77,165, 169.(c)~ subject, incarnate.
tentional: 32,37. See: Teleological- Human front, United: 39,59, 140-141,
historical; Materialism; Marxism; Time- 171,174. See: Crisis; Pacem in Terris;
consciousness (ecc1esial); Pacem in Unity of mankind; Ecumenical ethic;
Terris. Solidarity.
History of religion(s): See Comparative Humanae Salutis: 7, 15, 19, 20, 24,30-33,
religious studies; Phenomenology of 38-39,46,49,53,55,60,62,75-77,
religion. 96,118,121,125,131,135,137,
Holiness: See Theocentrism; Christocen- 157,164,168,170,176,181,189,
trism; Anthropocentrism; Dialectic; 191,195,203,208,213-215. See:
Hominization; Participation; Glorified Crisis, Efficiency in the temporal order;
Christ; Logos-Shepherd; New Adam; Revelation; Signs of the times; Radio
Good Samaritan; Mission, ecclesial; broadcast (Sept. 11, 1962); Goal(s) of
Communio; Mary, Blessed Virgin; Vatican II.
People of God; Cross, Theology of; Humanae Vitae: 53,-68, 74, 211. See:
Service; Servant leader(ship); Liturgy, Birth-control; Integralism.
Sacred. Humani Generis: 6, 11, 14, 17, 73, 118,
Holy Spirit: 44, 52, 86, 113, 117, 124, 125,182. See: Integralism; Evolution-
139, 142, 153. See: Communio; Homeo- ism; Relativism.
stasis (''vital balance"); Memory (ec- Humanism: (a) American-style: 13, 71,
clesial). 173-174,195. (b) Christian: 8,14,
Holy Trinity: 117,125,153. See: Com- 19-21,57,74,112,139,170,194,
munio; Intersubjectivity; Participation; 214. (c) devotional: 34, 195. (d) Marx-
Creation theology. ist: 58, 167, 169. (e) existentialist:
Homeostasis (''vital balance"): 44, 52, 67, 64, 155. (g) of Vatican II: See Anthro-
113. See: Isomorphism. pogony, New humanistic; Vision of the
Hominization: 37,45,56,59,61,64, New Humanity; Peacemaker; Good
119-120,126-127,129,138,140, Samaritan; Goal(s) of Vatican II. See:
144-145,148,153-154, 156, 188, Psychological man; Anthropology; Ma-
206. See: Consciousness; Meaning; terialism; Crisis; Humanae Salutis; Two
Intention(ality); Dasein; Horizon; cultures, Facets of the problem of the.
247
Humanity, message to: 25,29,60,141. 113,123,126,136,153,162,175-

See: Radio broadcast (Sept. 11, 1962); 176,187,207. See: Subjectivity; Alter
Peace, problem of; Integralism. ego; Communio; Phenomenology of the
natural a ttitu de.
I-Thou relationships: 200. See: "We-pheno- Intuition: (a) in general: 9,85,92. (b)
menon;" Dialogue; Participation; Con- eidetic: 61, 76, 80, 83, 92, 95, 103,
sensus-formation; Communio. 185. (c) affective: 10,23,26-27,53,
Idealism: (a) Post-Kantian: 3, 5, 74, 83, 80,91,120,182,185. (d) individual:
128,149,166-167,169,180,200. (b) 26,45,51,68,74,78-79,89,108. (e)
methodological (of Vatican JI): 16, corporate: 29-30,45,50-52,68,74,
73-74,135,140,144,158,169,174. 76,78-79,81,86,95,101,108,169,
See: Hegelianism; Materialism; Via 185. See: Meaning; Intentionality; Ap-
Media; Methodology; Theology, Pastoral. perception; Connanural knowledge;
Imagination, Free variation in: 71, 78, 81, Phenomenology.
93,206. See: Phenomenology of ap- Isomorphism: 52,62,86,89,101,103-
pearances; Esthetics; Artistic enterprise 104,113-116,124,129,133-134,
(of Vatican II). 140,144-145,150-151,153,162,
Induction (in phenomenology): 16,61. 176,198,209. See: Teleology (telos);
See: A priori (empirical); Appresen- Homeostasis; Analogy (of proportional-
tation(s). ity); Complementarity, Principle of;
Industrial revolution: See Economic Man; Order, concept of; Ontology.
Masses, Rise of the; Capitalism; Marx-
ism, Social Catholicism; Psychological Jesus Christ: 21-23,42,45,86,155,181,
man; Crisis; Mater et Magistra; Humanae 191,205. See: Christocentrism; Word
Salutis; Populorum Progressio. (Logos); Glorified Christ; New Adam.
Integralism: (a) as a historical movement: Journal of a Soul: 10,15,44,98-99,106
27 -28,38, 193. (b) from a doctrinal See: Architectonic theme (of Vatican
viewpoint: 9, 28-29, 31, 33, 38,44-46, II); "Church, what do you say of your-
59-60,64,67-69,72-73,78,105- self?"; Retreat (Vatican II as a spiritual).
106,112,153,159,169,193,200-
202,209. See: Modernism (theological); Kantianism: 6, 13, 83, 101, 193, 198.
Humani Generis; Humanae Salutis; See: Idealism; Anthropology; Hegelian-
Humanae Vitae. ism.
Intention(ality): (a) philosophical: 3, 11- Kerygma: 12,16,34-35,54,93,96,121,
12,32,46,80,93-94,99,102,107, 149,157. See: Evangelization; Cate-
144,147,206. (b) religious: 45, 73, chesis; Communication; Integralism.
92,98-99,101-103,120,136,147,
153,177,206-207,211. See: Meaning; Laicism: 119. See: Secularism; Enlighten-
Hominization; Discernment; Connatural ment.
knowledge; Phenomenology. Leader(ship), Pastoral: 21,39,167-168,
Interpretation: 11,25,27,32,37,41,43, 170-171. See: Servant leader(ship);
70,75-76,85,87,102,107,113, Service; Management theory (Pastoral);
115,121,123-124,126,142,144, Logos-Shepherd; Good Samaritan.
147,156,170,183,189,191,209, Lebenswelt: See Life-world.
211-213. See: Discernment; Hermeneu- Leib: See Body-subject, incarnate (Leih).
tics. Liberation theology: 34, 138, 164, 203.
Intersubjectivity: 23,27,44,48,71,74, See: Goal(s) of Vatican II; Populorum
76,78,89,100,102,107-108,112- Progressio; Poverty (worldwide); Poor,
248
Option for the; Cross, Theology of. Dialectic; Leader(ship), Pastoral; Servant
Life-world (Lebenswelt): (a) natural: 12, leader(ship ).
16,21,32,34,62,71,77,83-85, Marxism: 5,6,24,26,59,63,118, 134,
88-89,91,93,95,106,108,112, 144,157,161,167,169-170,173-
114,123,132-134,140,143-145, 174,192,194-195. See: Masses, Rise of
147,154,159,162,165,175-179, the; Economic Man; Capitalism; Dia-
181,188, 194, 199, 207. (b) religious: lectic; Crisis; Dehumanization; Humanae
16,26-27,32,43-45,48,52,61,78, Salutis.
80,84-85,87,90,95,101,103,105- Mary, Blessed Virgin: 81, 86, 93, 129-
106,108,111-112,119,121,123- 130,141, 160. See: Model (Demon-
126,131-137,140,143-144,148- stration-model); Hominization; Values;
150,152,156,159,165,176-179, Motivation; Attitude; Service; Church;
181-182,184-185,188,196-197, People of God.
207,214. See: Consciousness; Horizon; Masses, Rise of the: 166-168. See: Revolu-
Hominization; Phenomenology of the tionary movements, modern; Myth/
natural attitude; Ecumene; World in mythology; Marxism; Fascism; Third
Post-Husserlian phenomenology; Science, World.
World of. Mater et Magistra: 8,59,61. See: Social
Liturgy, Sacred: 12,37,41-43,47,49- Catholicism; Poverty (worldwide);
50,74,102,119,139,183-185,197, Humanae Salutis; Efficiency in the
212-213, 215. See: Goal(s) of Vatican temporal order; Good Samaritan; Popu-
II; Sacramental Time; Anamnesis; lorum Progressio.
Mysterium (sacramentum); Glorified Materialism: (a) in general: 19,157,161,
Christ; Contemplation; Mysticism; 166-167,171. (b) historical: 58, 167,
Participation; Consensus-formation. 173. (c) dialectical: 167, 171, 173.
Logos-Shepherd: 48, 54, 116-117,122, See: Enlightenment; Idealism; Marxism;
139,145,148,160,162,181,214. Dehumanization; Crisis; Humanae
See: Glorified Christ; New Adam; Salutis.
Mission, ecclesial; Service; Good Samari- Mathematization of nature: 32,63,127,
tan; Leader(ship), Pastoral; Servant 151,167,179. See: Galileo Galilei;
leader(ship); Dialectic; Management Science, World qf; Two cultures, Facets
theory (Pastoral). of the problem of the.
Lumen Gentium: 35,43,45,49-50,52, Meaning (i.e., "the being of the object for
67,74,84-85,90-91,95,97-98, me" in consciousness): 12, 16, 26,
100,102-106,108,111-112,114, 79-80,84,92,99,101-102,113,
116-117,119,122-124,126-127, 116,119,124-125,127-128,133,
129,13~135-13~140-141,145, 136,147-148,153-154,162,175,
147-148,150-151,154,157,159, 179-181,207. See: Intentionality;
161,177-178,182,185,187,194, Dasein; Subjectivity; Hominization;
201,209-215. See: Church; Mystical Connatural knowledge; Discernment;
Body; People of God; Communio. Phenomenology .
Memory (ecclesial): 43-44, 184. See:
Management theory (pastoral): 54, 125, Historical consciousness; Time-con-
138,158,170,182,206. See: Glorified sciousness (ecclesial); Sacramental
Christ; Logos-Shepherd; New Adam; time; Anamnesis.
Communio; Participation; Crisis; Goal(s) Messianism: 43, 183, 203. See: Eschatology;
of Vatican II; Good Samaritan; Vision Millenarianism; Revolutionary move-
of the New Humanity; Humanism; ments, modern.
249
Meta-anthropology: 84-85,95,114,119- 82,171,194. (b) religious/spiritual: 6-

120,142, 163. See: Anthropology. 7,15,27,33,46,49,69-72,75,77,
Metamorphosis: 46, 154, 156, 163, 192. 82,99,105,115,119,131,137,139,
See: Transfiguration. 142, 173. See: Intention(ality); Gestalt;
Metanarrative text: 75, 121-122, 138. See: Methodology; Hominization; Christo-
Esthetics; Artistic enterprise (of Vatican centrism; Dialectic; Logos-Shepherd;
II); A priori (empirical); Experience, Good Samaritan; Mary, Blessed Virgin;
concrete (Erlebnis); Phenomenology, People of God; Servant leader(ship).
Hermeneutic; Transfiguration; Vision Modernism (theological): 9, 16, 28,67,
of the New Humanity. 151. See: Integralism; Humani Generis;
Metaphenomenology: 79, 105. See: Pheno- Relativism; Evolutionism; Historicism;
menology, Hermeneutic. Existentialism.
Methodology: (a) empirical: 16,32,50,71, Monadology: (a) phenomenological: 89,
76,88,113,144,158,207. (b) histori· 108,209. (b) ecclesial: 103. See: Ec-
cal: 11,32,37,39,41-44,50-51, c1esio-monism.
85,124,149-152,158,161-163, Motivation: 10,14,16,102,131,136,
183,212. (c) scholastic: 19,21,27, 153,201. See: Values; Teleology (telos);
51-52,67. (d) phenomenological: Gestalt; Attitude.
10,19,22-23,3~35-36,45-46, Mount Tabor, New Vision on: 119. See:
49,51-52,54,56,68-71,74,77-78, Vision of the New Humanity; Trans-
86,88-89,90-91,93-94,96,100- figuration; Contemplation.
102,105,107-108,124,128,130- Mundanity: 100, 104. See: World in Post-
131,134-137,139,142-145,147- Husserlian phenomenology; Horizon;
150,157,161-162,169,176,180- A priori, empirical.
181,183,187,195-197,199,207, Mutual relations: 144. See: Communio;
209,211-212. (e) comparative (of Participation; Socialization.
John XXIII): 27,29,55-56,60-61, Mysterium (sacramentum): 37,43,50-51,
63,69-70,74,76. (f) heuristic: 201. 79-80,90,98,116,129,142,161-
(g) of Vatican II: See Idealism (metho- 162,183-184,205. See: Plan of God;
dological). See: Belief (phenomeno- Contemplation; Mysticism; Anam-
logical sense); A priori, empirical; Evi- nesis; Connatural knowledge; Liturgy,
dence; Intentionality; Meaning; Gestalt; Sacred; Phenomenology of religion.
Intuition; Hominization; Isomorphism; Mystical Body: 67-68, 73, 94, 98, 103-
Model (Demonstration-model); Dia- 106,111-114,116,118-119,122-
lectic; Operationalism. 125,127,131,134-135,148-149,
Michaelangelo: 27, 121. See: Esthetics; 156,159,161-162,168,206,209-
Artistic enterprise (of Vatican II); Two 210. See: Ontology; Experience, con-
cultures, Facets of the problem of the. crete (Erlebnis); Body-subject, incarnate
Millenarianism: 203. See: Revolutionary (Leib); Time-consciousness (ecc1esial);
movements, modern; Messianism. Lumen Gentium; Dei verbum.
Mission, ecc1esia1: 21,54,58,73-74,93, Mysticism: 10,17,119,157,183-185,
97,124,129,139,141,182-183,212. 203. See: Mysterium (sacramentum);
See: Holiness; Evangelization; Christo- Fides quaerens intellectum; Contem-
centrism; Logos-Shepherd; Efficiency plation.
in the temporal. order; Service; Good Myth/mythology: (a) in religion: 71, 165-
Samaritan; Servant leader(ship). 166,168,173,175,184-185,194.
Model (Demonstration-model): (a) philo· (b) in socio-political area: 58, 152,
sophical/scientific: 32,58,71,75, 165-167,173, 182. See: Phenomeno-
250
logy of religion; Hegelianism; Marxism; 48,53-57,62,72,78-80,87,92,

Social Archetypes. 94-95,98,102-103,106,113,115,
117,123,126,129,138,140,143-144,
Natural law: 35,55,64,90, 144, 211. 149,153,156,161-162,183,206-
See: Order, concept of; Ontology; 207,214. (d) of the life-world: 52, 95,
Teleology (telos); Isomorphism. 108, 115, 124, 133-134, 151, 158,
New Adam: 35,56, 119, 153. See: Creation 181. (e) "new" ontology: 95, 171,
theology; Unity of mankind; Logos- 198,202. See: Being; Existence, Act of;
Shepherd; Transfiguration; Vision of the Hominization; Horizon; Analogy; Teleo-
New Humanity. logy (telos); Mystical Body; Glorified
"New theology" (Nouvelle Theologie): (a) Christ; New Adam.
prior to Vatican II: 6, 14. (b) of Vatican Operationalism: 3, 12. See: Empiricism;
II: 29, 102. (c) post- Vatican II: 34, 71, Pragmatism; Positivism; Evidence.
76, 134, 138, 140, 158, 163, 198, Order, concept of: (a) in scholasticism: 33,
202. See: Integralism; Humani Generis; 35, 115. (b) in Catholic belief: 25,39,
Modernism (theological). 55-56,157,206-207. See: Ontology;
Noema(ta): 33,52,75,81-82,86,93, Analogy; Isomorphism; Complementa-
96,101,103,123-124,128,136, rity, principle of; Creeds (religious).
139-141,143-145,147-148,150,
154,160,162,206-207. See: Es- Pacem in Terris: 10,28,33,36-37,39,
sence(s); Universal(s); A priori, em- 46,49,53,55,59-60,62,69,73,
pirical; Phenomenology of essences; 75-77,79,82,88-89,118,121,135,
Noesis. 137,172,191,193. See: Hiroshima;
Noesis: 52,82,93,96, 101, 150, 206- Cuban missile crisis; Nuclear war; Crisis;
207. See: Consciousness; Belief (pheno- Peace, Problem of; Peacemaker; Anthro-
menological sense); Noema(ta). pology; Unity of mankind.
Nuclear war: 10, 19,30,39,58,62, 131, Parousia: 86.
170, 176, 192, 203. See: Hiroshima; Participation: 83, 102, 105, 128, 162,
Humanae Salutis; Cuban missile crisis; 177,188,203,212. See: Hominization;
Pacem in Terris. Communio; Alter'~go; Socialization;
Self(hood); Motivation; Attitude; Praxis;
Obediential potency: 45,63,74,85,91, Cross, Theology of; Liturgy, Sacred.
99,106,119,126,129,141,205- Paschal Mystery: 43,50,57-58,116,185.
207. See: Creation theology; Teleo- See: Reification; Glorified Christ; Logos-
logy (telos); Isomorphism. Shepherd; New Adam; Liturgy, Sacred.
Objectivism: 4, 11-12,33-35,38,53, Pastoral, concept of: 14-15,20,24,28,
56,61,68,72-73,77,83,88,90, 30-31,34,36,38,43-45,50-54,
94, 101, 104, 106, 112, 114, 116, 59-60,67-69,71,75-82,85-87,
127-128,130,135,148,155,159, 93,95,100,106,111,115-116,125,
161,167,169,179-180,182,187, 130-131,135,139,148-150,152-
199,209. See: Mathematization of 153,156-159,161-162,168-169,
nature; Subjectivism; Via media; Two 174,179-181,188,192,195,197-
cultures, Facets of the problem of the. 200,208-211,213-215. See: Specula-
Ont{)logy: (a) theoretical/philosophical: tive vs. practical (order); Goal(s) of
4,12,45,58,64,90,95,111,113- Vatican II; Efficiency in the temporal
115,124,145,176,197. (b) functional: order; Communication; Strategic vision;
52,92,104,113,116,122,124,125, Hominization; Participation; Unity of
177. (c) religious: 20,28,38,43-46, mankind; Renewal.
251
Pastoral goal(s) of Vatican II: See Goal(s) Experience, concrete (Erie bnis); Con-
of Vatican II. crete(ness) in phenomenology; Body-
Pastoral theology: See Theology, Pastoral. subject, incarnate (Leib); Evidence;
Peace, problem of: 25,26,30-31,47, Transcendental logic; Scholasticism and
55,57,60,67-68,76, 140, 170. See: phenomenology. (b) religious: See
Hiroshima; Nuclear war; Crisis; Humanae Phenomenology of religion; Pheno-
Salutis; Radio broadcast (Sept. 11, menology of the natural attitude; Time-
1962); Cuban missile crisis; Pacem in consciousness, ecclesial; Sacramental
Terris; Anthropology; Unity of man- time; Life-world; Communio. (c)
kind. social: See Sociology of knowledge;
Peacemaker (or Peace-builder): 56,60-61, Phenomenology of the natural attitude;
82,138,168,170, 195. See: Pacem Life-world; Socialization. (d) historical,
in Terris; Anthropology; Model (Demon- textual: See Hermeneutics; Pheno-
stration-model); Good Samaritan; menology, hermeneutic. (e) psycho-
Strategic vision; Servant leader(ship); logical: technically speaking, this topic
Vision of the New Humanity. is not directly treated in this book.
Pentecost, New: 120,191. See: Com- Properly phenomenological topics with
munication; Revelation; Enrichment application in psychology are, e.g.:
intended by Vatican II; Transfiguration; Motivation; Values; Prejudice(s); Ego/
Vision of the New Humanity; Human- egology; Person, etc. See: Metapheno-
ism, Christian. menology.
People of God: 35,45, 81-82, 87, 97- Phenomenology, constitutive: 12,27,45,
98,102-104,106,111-113,115, 51,56-57,61-62,82-84,86-87,
117-127,129,133-134,136,138, 92,94,96,112,115,128,143,150,
149,157,162,168-169,181,209- 154-155,185, 207. See: Noesis.
210,212. See: Church; Mystical Body; Phenomenology, descriptive: 79,99,112.
Communio; Participation; Body-subject, Phenomenology, hermeneutic: (a) philo-
incarnate (Leib); Vision of the New sophical: 57,62,85,88,183. (b) theo-
Humanity. logical, ecclesial: 52,56-57,60-62,
Person(hood): 5, 14, 17,33,59,136, 75,85,87,95-97,105,112,120,
148,153,160,197,205,210.See: 122, 143, 157-158, 193, 195, 198.
Motivation; Attitude; Values; Partici- See: Hermeneutics; Phenomenology of
pation; Self(hood); Ego/egology. religion.
Personalism, Christian: 5,13-14,197. Phenomenology of appearances: 9,81,87,
See: Humanism, Christian; Fascism; 92-93. See: A priori, empirical; Imagi-
Marxism; Capitalism. nation, free variation in.
Phenomenology: (a) philosophical: See Phenomenology of essences: 9, 56, 80,
Phenomenology, constitutive; Pheno- 87,94,112,119. See: A priori, em-
menology, descriptive; Phenomenology, pirical; Noema(ta); Essence(s); Uni-
hermeneutic; Phenomenology of ap- versal(s); Concrete(ness) in phenomeno-
pearances; Phenomenology of essences; logy; Experience, concrete (Erlebnis).
Noema(ta); Noesis; Phenomenology, Phenomenology of religion: 86,90, 155,
reductive; Monadology; Consciousness; 162-163,173, 177. See: Comparative
Belief (phenomenological sense); Mean- religious studies; Phenomenology of the
ing; Intention(ality); Teleology (telos); natural attitude.
Teleological-historical; Horizon; Homini- Phenomenology of the natural attitude:
zation; Participation; Self(hood); Ego/ 74,84-85,89,112,114,122,126,
egology; Alter ego; A priori, empirical; 132-133,181,207,214. See: Sociology
252
of knowledge; Communication; Life- Science, World of; Empiricism, Reduc-

world; Participation; Community; tionism; Operationalism.
Phenomenology of religion. Poverty (worldwide): 39. See: Mater et
Phenomenology, reductive: (a) "bracketing" Magistra; Humanae Salutis; Goal(s) of
(Le., eidetic reduction for noematic Vatican II; Third World; Poor, Option
analysis): 12,45,83-84,92,94, 101, for the.
111,123,134,143,177,184. (b) trans· Practical (order): See Speculative vs. prac-
cendental/phenomenological reduction tical (order).
(Le., for noetic analysis): 69, 89, 94- Pragmatism: (a) in science and philosophy:
95,111,143. (c) scientific reduction 20,142. (b) in the life·world: 131,
(Le., for life-world analysis): 37, 50, 56, 140, 142, 147, 170, 174, 179. See:
63,75,83-84,88,91,95,106,111- Speculative vs. practical (order); Em-
112,135,143,150,152,156,161, piricism; Sociology of knowledge;
175,177-178,183-184,196-197, Phenomenology of the natural attitude;
212. See: Epoche; Abstraction, philo- Life-world.
sophical. Praxis (in phenomenology, a human act or
Philosophy: (a) scholastic: See Thomism behavior): 6, 16,56,62,69-70,73,
(Neo-Thomism); Scholasticism and 84,86-87,93-94,96, 102, 113, 119,
phenomenology. (b) modern: See 132-133,140,142,144-145,168-
Idealism; Kantianism; Hegelianism; 170, 176, 179, 200, 214-215. See:
Materialism; Marxism; Pragmatism; Speculative vs. practical (order); Life-
Utilitarianism; Fascism; Existentialism. world; Pragmatism; Goal(s) of Vatican
(c) "as a rigorous science": See Pheno- II; Christocentrism; Horizon; Homini-
menology (Le., philosophical); "Pre- zation; Dialectic; Anthropocentrism;
suppositionless" Philosophy; Trans- Participation; Discernment; New Adam;
cendentallogic. Good Samaritan; Service; Servant
Plan of God: 37,43,73,102,119,139, leader(ship); Cross, Theology of; Social-
141-142,147,153,155,160-161, ization.
183. See: Mysterium (sacramentum); Prefatory note of explanation: 53, 107,
Word (Logos); Economy of salvation; 153. See: Integralism; Development
Christocentrism; Creation, Theology (of doctrine); Enriphment intended by
of; New Adam. Vatican II; Consensus-formation.
Platonism: 92-93,103,199. See: Ideal- Prejudice(s): 15,76,91, 108, 116, 133.
ism. See: "Presuppositionless" philosophy;
Pluralism: (a) intellectual/philosophical: Assumptions; Hominization; Partici-
5,12,27,36,68-69,72,97,166, pation; SeJf(hood).
199-200. (b) cultural: 74, 81, 134, "Presuppositionless" philosophY: 69, 79,
140,144. See: Integralism; Relativism; 91. See: Prejudice(s); Assumption(s);
Acculturalization; Two cultures, Facets Philosophy (Le., "as a rigorous science")
of the problem of the. Progress. See Development.
Poor, Option for the: 47,54, 164. See: Providence (divine): 25-26,31,61-62.
Anawim; Poverty (worldwide); De- See: Plan of God; Christocentrism;
humanization; Humanae Salutis. Eschatology; Discernment; Connatural
Populorum Progressio: 68, 73, 142. See: knowledge.
Crisis; Dehumanization; Humanae Psychological man: 13, 195. See: Social
Salutis; Goal(s) of Vatican II; Good archetypes; Humanism (American-
Samaritan; Vision of the New Humanity style); Economic Man.
Positivism: 3, 16, 95, 149, 152, 161. See: Psychologism: 3,68,70,72,74, 112,
253
161,166. See: Reductionism; Histori- Renewal: (a) Husserl (socio-cultural): 13,

cism. 19,24,58,69,71,75,77,108,165,
180. (b) Church Fathers: 53, 154-155,
Quadragesimo Anno: 5. See: Social Catholi- 163. (c) Vatican II: 7-8, 29,30-31,
cism; Masses, Rise of the. 38-42,46,54,64,67-68,73,77,99,
106,116,121,211. (d) in history of
Radio broadcast (Sept. 11, 1962): 25, ideas: 125. See: Aggiornamento; Deu-
30-31,36,47,53,55,100,118,137. teronomic Reform; Goal(s) of Vatican
See: Goal(s) of Vatican II; Humanae II; Good Samaritan; New Adam; Cross,
Salutis; Good Samaritan. Theology of.
Realism: (a) philosophical: 11-12,14,35, Rerum Novarum: 8. See: Industrial revolu-
38,73,83,91,106,151-152,160, tion; Masses, Rise of the; Social Catholi-
180. (b) new (of John XXIII): 20,31, cism; Mater et Magistra; Poor, Option
39,62,172. (c) symbolic: 50, 129- for the.
130,184. (d) historical: 50, 152. See: Resourcement: 12,44. See: Sources, Hus-
Utopia (of Pope John XXIII). sed's return to; Historical theology.
Redemptor Hominis: 35, 53. See: Christo- Retreat (Vatican II as a spiritual): 99,
centrism; Dialectic; Anthropocentrism; 132, 142, 149, 185. See: Architectonic
Anthropology; Life-world. theme (of Vatican II); "Church, what do
Reduction, phenomenological: See Pheno- you say of yourself?"; Contemplation;
menology, Reductive. Good Samaritan.
Reductionism (Le., a form of "scientism"): Revelation: (a) religious/scriptural: 11,24,
(a) in general: 11,71,76,84,138, 35,44,55-56,73,90,103-104,108,
144,161,207,209,212. (b) scientific: 123-124,127,129,134,136,138,
3,53,112,124,198. (c) historical: 140,143-144,147-148,151-153,
38,50,53,161. (d) psychological: 155-156,161-162,164,173,183,
14. (e) philosophical: 198. See: Mathe- 191-192,207,212. (b) psychologistic
matization of nature; Science, World of; (Le., "the revelation of religion to
Materialism; Empiricism; Two cultures, itself," Feuerbach): 23,70, 139. (c)
Facets of the problem of. phenomenological (Le., "the revelation
Reductive phenomenology: See Pheno- of consciousness to itself," Hussed):
menology, Reductive. 23, 121. (d) humanistic (Le., "the
Reification: 37,46,56,80,116,153. revelation of man to himself," John
See: Objectivism; Structural sin; Paschal XXIII): 21-23,31,34-35,57,60,
Mystery; Consciousness; Hominization; 70,75,120,128,153,181,189,201.
Horizon; Christo centrism; Revelation. See: Dei verbum; Consciousness; Homi-
Relativism: (a) in philosophy: 6, 20, 77, nization; Signs of the times; Word;
174. (b) in faith and morals: 33,38, Symbols; Tradition vs. traditions.
68. See: Evolutionism; Modernism Revolutionary movements, modern: 38,
(theological); Humani Generis; Inte- 71, 108, 158, 167, 203. See: Escha-
gralism. tology; Messianism; Millenarianism;
Religionswissenschaft: See Comparative Masses, Rise of the.
religious studies; Phenomenology of Roman Curia: 25,36,41,91, 196. See:
religion. Roman school theology; Trent, Council
Renaissance: 27, 117, 121, 194. See: of; Vatican I, Council of; Alliance,
Humanism; Michaelangelo; Mathe- Northern European; Two cultures,
matization of nature; Galileo Galilei; Facets of the problem of the.
Two Cultures, Facets of the problem Roman school theology: 36,96, 101,
of the. 149,196. See: Roman Curia; Alliance,
254
Northern European; Methodology. Samaritan; Servant leader(ship).

Romanticism, German: 4,51,118,162. Signs of the times: 55-56,61,67,71,
See: Enlightenment; Two cultures, 138,165,191-192. See: Crisis; Hu-
Facets of the problem of the. manae Salutis; Radio broadcast (Sept.
11,1962); Pacem in Terris; Revelation.
Social archetypes: 13, 120, 169, 194-195.
Sacramental Time: 43, 50,63,102,107, See: Economic Man; Psychological man;
129,154,183-184,212. See: Historical Sociology of knowledge.
consciousness (Catholic); Time-consci- Social Catholicism: 5, 10, 16,32,47. See:
ousness (ecclesial); "Eternal now"; Rerum Novarum; Quadragesimo Anno;
Synchronicity; Anamnesis; Memory Crisis; Humanae Salutis; Efficiency in
(ecclesial) . the temporal order; Populorum Progres-
Sacramentum: See Mysterium. sio.
Salvation history: 27,43,48,50,57,63, Social relevance: 20,33,52, 119. See:
155,173. See: Historical theology; Laicism; Secularism; Goal(s) of Vatican
Plan of God; Eschatology; Teleological- II; Good Samaritan.
historical. Socialization: 137-138,140-141,144.
Scholasticism and phenomenology: (a) See: Communio; Mutual relations;
convergences: 5, 9, 12, 16-17,19-20, Participation; Praxis; Life-world.
22-23,31,34-35,43-44,56-57, Society, visible ecclesial: 117, 142. See:
61,69-70,79-80,100-101,116, Mystical Body; BodY-SUbject, incarnate
205-206,209. (b) differences be- (Leib); People of God; Communio;
tween: 11-12,20,45,68-69,73, Community.
93. See: Thomism (Neo-Thomism); Sociology of knowledge: 10,84,112,123,
Phenomenology; Philosophy. 139,161,167-168, 194. See: Pheno-
Science, World of: 12,23,51,83-84,90, menology of the natural attitude.
92,114,127,144-145,167,171, Solidarity: 119, 165-166, 168, 170, 201.
173, 175, 199. See: Mathematization See: Communio; Society, visible eccles-
of nature; Life-World; Two cultures, ial; Participation; Community; Sociali-
Facets of the problem of the. zation; Human front, United.
Secularism: 5,41,67,119. See: Reduction- Sources, Husserl's,r,eturn to: 3,9,12,44,
ism; Materialism; Laicism; Capitalism; 79,95. See: Resourcement.
Marxism; Fascism; Economic Man; Speculative theology: See Theology, Specu-
Psychological man_ lative.
Sein: 156. See: Being; Dasein. Speculative vs. practical (order): (a) specu-
Self(hood): (a) individual: 22, 35, 72, 74, lative: 4,19,24,79-80,113,160,
140,150,165,188. (b) corporate: 166-167,170,173,180,188,200. (b)
35,64,67,71,80,87,95,99,108, practical: 24-25,67,79-80,113,
133,136,139,142, 149-150, 15~ 160, 165, 173, 196. See: Order, concept
188. See: Participation; Egojegology; of; Pastoral, concept of; Goal(s) of
Person(hood). Vatican II; Communication; Homini-
Servant leader(ship): 118,122,125,206. zation; Logos-Shepherd; Isomorphism;
See: Goal(s) of Vatican II; Good Samari- Dialectic; Myth/mythology; People of
tan; Peacemaker; Dialectic; Logos- God; Vision of the New Humanity;
Shepherd; Management theory (pas- Efficiency in the temporal order; Prag-
toral). matism; Life-world.
Service: 8,44,48,89,104,122,129- Split-level religious concepts: See Theology,
130, 158, 214-215. See: Praxis; Mis- Pastoral; Ad intra/ad extra distinction;
sion, ecclesial; Logos-Shepherd; Good Dialectic.
255
Strategic vision: 19-21,31,54,59-60, Economic man; Masses, Rise of the;

63, 126, 133, 170. See: Pastoral, con- Capitalism; Marxism; World War I;
cept of; Goal(s) of Vatican II; Renewal; Fascism; Psychological man; Existen-
Good Samaritan; Vision of the New tialism; World War II; Dehumanization;
Humanity. Hiroshima; Third World; Poverty (world-
Structural sin: 145. See: Reification; wide); Nuclear war; Crisis; Humanae
Pastoral, concept of; Goal(s) of Vatican Salutis; Goal(s) of Vatican II; Counter-
II; Good Samaritan. cultural values of Vatican II; Good
Subjectivism: 3,6,35,88, 102. See: Car- Samaritan; Peacemaker; Servant leader-
tesianism; Psychologism; Objectivism; (ship); Cross, Theology of; Anthro-
Via media; Two cultures, Facets of the pology; New Adam; Vision of the New
problem of the. Humanity; Communio; Hominization.
Subjectivity: 31,35,38,61,74,76-78, Teleological-historical: 11,31,44, 102,
94,100-101,107,127-128,134- 106-107,113,126-127,129,140-
135,148,150,155,159,169,175- 141,144, 153, 162,183,207.See:
176,179-180,182, 199. See: Pheno- History of ideas; Time-consciousness
menology; Intention(ality); Meaning; (ecclesial); Eschatology.
Horizon; Hominization; Discernment; Teleology (telos): 20,45,51-52,87-88,
Connatural knowledge; Intersubject- 106,121,130,182,206. See: Order,
ivity. concept of; Ontology; Natural law;
Subsidiarity: 41, 75. See: Communio; Isomorphism; Ecumene.
Participation; Strategic vision; Leader- Theme(s)/thematization: (a) in pheno-
(ship), Pastoral; Management theory, menology: 96, 113, 123, 132-134,
Pastoral. 142,162,175-176. (b) in theology:
"Subsists in": 90,211. See: Thomism; 45,55-56,87,96,99,112,132-133,
Natural law; Interpretation. 136, 138-139, 145, 148, 153, 159,
Syllabus of errors: 107. See: Freedom, 174,177-178,181,191,203,211,
religious; Dignitatis Humanae Personae; 214. See: Gestalt; Apperception: Hori-
Integralism; Modernism (theological). zon; Christocentrism; Hominization;
Symbols: 45, 50-51, 91,126,129,147, Anthropocentrism; Life-world; Dis-
154,168,172,184-185,194. See: cernment; Architectonic theme (of
Mysterium (sacramentum); Commu- Vatican II).
nication; Hominization; Realism (sym- "Theocentric turn": 112,147. See: "An-
bolic); Christocentrism; Word (Logos); thropocentric turn"; Horizon; Revel-
Glorified Christ; Myth/mythology. ation; Dei verbum; Dialectic.
Synchronicity: 102, 120, 147, 159, 183- Theocentrism: 48, 94, 103, 108, 150-151,
184,212. See: "Eternal now"; Sacra- 181, 198, 206. See: Christocentrism;
mental time; Time-consciousness (ec- Anthropocentrism; Dialectic.
clesial); Anamnesis; Diachronicity. Theology, Pastoral: 34,54,57,60,62,69,
Synod of Bishops: 199. See: Pastoral, 72,84,100,111,119,121-122,125,
concept of; Communio; Participation; 134,137-138,140,142,144-145,
Mutual relations; Collegiality; Sub- 156,159, 176, 178, 185, 194, 213,
sidiarity. 215. See: Efficiency in the temporal
order; Humanae Salutis; Communi-
Technology: for the historical context and cation; Goal(s) of Vatican II; Strategic
moral dimension of this crucial topic: vision; Life-world; Unity of mankind;
See Mathematization of nature; En- Vision of the New Humanity.
lightenment; Industrial revolution; Theology, Speculative: 21,24,34,36-37,
256
42,45,52,54,67-68,71-72,76,82, crete (Erlebnis); Phenomenology of

86,90,96,99,116-117,119,125, essences; Apperception; Horizon; Chris-
134,141,143,149,153,156-158, tocentrism; Participation; New Adam;
169,184-185,192,195-196. See: Connatural knowledge; Self(hood);
Speculative vs. practical (order); Thorn Phenomenology, Hermeneutic; People
ism; Phenomenology (Philosophical & of God; Isomorphism; Vision of the
religious); Integralism. New Humanity; Pentecost, New; En-
Therapy/therapeutic: 20. See: Crisis; richment intended by Vatican II.
Humanae Salutis; Goal(s) of Vatican II; Transformation: 24,77,83,154,163,168,
Good Samaritan; Strategic vision; 206. See: Transfiguration.
Peacemaker. Trent, Council of: 24, 29, 36, 77, 162.
Third World: 115. See: Revolutionary See: Renewal; Vatican I, Council of;
movements, modern; Masses, Rise of Integralism; Roman Curia.
the; Marxism; Poverty (worldwide); Two cultures, Facets of the problem of the:
Crisis; Goal(s) of Vatican II; Evangeli- See: Galileo Galilei & Michaelangelo;
zation; Poor, Option for; Communi- Mathematization of nature & Human-
cation; Efficiency in temporal order; ism: Reification & Hominization;
Acculturalization; Integralism. Science, World of & Life-world; Ob-
Thomism (Neo-Thomism): (a) classical: jectivism & Subjectivism; Enlighten-
5,11,13,36,71,76,95,101,114, ment & Romanticism, German; Idealism
151. (b) transcendental: 6,13,23,33, & Historicism; Scholasticism & Historical
36,70,90,101,107,123,135,143, theology; Vatican I, Council of &
149-150,170. See: Theology, Specu- Vatican II, Council of; Mystical Body
lative; Objectivism; Realism; Reification. & People of God; Marxism & Goal(s)
Time-consciousness (ecclesial): (a) syn· of Vatican II; Social archetypes &
chronic: 50, 102-104, 128-129, 153- Vision of the New Humanity.
154,183-184. (b) diachronic: 102-
104,127-129,154,183. See: Histori- United Nations: 39, 55, 68, 71, 76, 134.
cal consciousness (Catholic); Sacramen- See: Unity of mankind; Pacem in Terris.
tal Time; Eschatology; Anamnesis; Unity of mankind: (a) in John XXIII:
Memory (ecclesial). 30,39,41, S8-59, 114. (b) in Vatican
Tradition vs. traditions: 56, 126, 145, II: 116, 120. See: Goal(s) of Vatican II;
147,153-154,158,161-163,207 New Adam; Vision of the New Human-
See: Consciousness; Horizon; Homi- ity.
nization; Christocentrism; Dei verbum; Universal(s): (a) scholastic (abstract): 92,
Revelation; Teleological-historical; 162. (b) phenomenological (concrete):
Isomorphism; Dialectic; Experience, 16,92,113, 124, 128, 162, 175. (c)
concrete (Erlebnis); Life-world. "ur-universal" (Le., Glorified Christ as
Transcendental logic: 89,92. See: Inten- Logos-Shepherd"): 87, 124, 160, 162.
tion(ality); Meaning; Essence(s); Uni- See: Essence(s); Abstraction, philo-
versal(s); Philosophy (Has a rigorous sophical; Concrete(ness) in pheno-
science"); Isomorphism; Teleology menology; Phenomenology, Reductive;
(telos). Phenomenology of essences; Noema(ta);
Transcendental turn:" See HTheocentric Transcendental logic.
turn." Utilitarianism: 20,59,117,179,187.
Transfiguration: 103, 120, 126, 154, 156, See: Science, World of; Pragmatism;
163. See: Consciousness; Hominization; Life-world; Sociology of knowledge.
A priori, empirical; Experience, con- Utopia (of Pope John XXIII): 26,31,39.
257
See: Crisis; Humanae Salutis; Goal(s) 101,128,149,177,180,199. See:

of Vatican II; Strategic vision; Realism. Objectivism; Subjectivism; Phenomeno-
logy; Dialectic; Two cultures, Facets
Values: 4, 8, 15,27,42,46,48,59,62,74, of the problem of the.
80,86,91,93,99,112,121,124, Vision of the New Humanity: 120-122,
130,136,139,149,153,158,165, 157,168,172,194-195,198.See:
172,191,193,199,214-215. See: Strategic vision; Humanism; New Adam;
Prejudice(s); Attitude; Life-world; Transfiguration; Anthropogony, New
Horizon; Participation; Self(hood); Humanistic; People of God; Unity of
Counter-cultural values of Vatican II. mankind.
Vatican I, Council of: 24, 29, 36, 111.
See: Trent, Council of; Roman Curia; "We-phenomenon": 157. See: Communio
Integralism. ("co-presence"); Participation; I-Thou
Vatican II, Council of: (a) occasioned by: relationships; Dialogue; Consensus-
See Crisis. (b) pastoral aims: See Hu- formation.
manae Salutis; Goal(s) of Vatican II; "Whole Christ": 80-81,91. See: Mystical
Pastoral, concept of; Efficiency in tem- Body; People of God; New Adam;
poral order; Communication; Revel- Vision of the New Humanity; Human-
ation; Strategic vision; Good Samaritan; ism.
Unity of mankind. (c) methodology: Word: (a) scriptural: 43,126,129,147,
See Phenomenology of the natural at- 150-152,154,158,160,207.(b)
titude. (d) empirical a priori: See Ex- Logos: 33,37,51,120, 142, 153, 181,
perience, concrete (Erlebnis); Body- 188,205,207. See: Communication;
subject, incarnate (Leib). (e) horizon: Revelation; Jesus Christ; Glorified
See Life-world; Sacramental time; Time- Christ; Logos-Shepherd; New Adam;
consciousness, ecclesial; Glorified Symbols.
Christ; New Adam. (f) theological World in Post-Husserlian phenomenology:
achievement: See Phenomenology of 139,180. See: Horizon; Mundanity;
religion. (g) pastoral achievement: See Life-world.
People of God; Vision of the New World War I: 4-5, 118. See: Crisis.
Humanity. World War II: 6, 176. See: Nuclear war;
Via media (Le., the phenomenological Marxism; Third World; Dehumanization;
"scientia media"): 14,61,77,88,90, Humanae Salutis.

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STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

1. FREUND, E.R. Franz Rosenzweig's Philosophy oj Existence: An Anal-

1985 MARTINUS NIJHOFF PUBLISHERS ~.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Ubrary of Congress Cataloging-in-PubIication Data

(Studies in philosophy and religion ; v_ 8)

ISBN-13: 978-90-247-3194-7 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-010-9936-3

© 1985 by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht.

1. From Phenomenology to Pope John XXIII 3

5. The Ambiguities: Integralism, Pluralism and Communication 67

8. The New ECc1esial Hermeneutics III

Epilogue: The Moral Challenge of the New Global Task 165

Technical Excursus (I-IX) 175

THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

FROM PHENOMENOLOGY TO POPE JOHN XXIII

Some introductory remarks on phenomenology

The historical origins of philosophical phenomenology are quite well known

Phenomenology in Europe after World War II

The influence of Hussed has revolutionized continental philos-

I am not interested in tracing this new lease on life which phenomenology

Catholic intellectuals and phenomenology

What is of more pertinent interest, however, is the following passage from

One of the most important events for the introduction of phenom-

The period from approximately 1930-1950 in France was an important

style of thinking French intellectuals embarked on a course decidedly subjec-

Humani Generis and the new intellectual environment

By 1950, however, the Catholic effort at communication and dialogue had

to some new theological developments taking place in Europe, and every-

Aggiornamento in the new moment of human history

John XXIII as an observer of human behavior

modernism. 38 He always remained a staunch defender of the unity of doctrine,

They [watch] with an affection and absorption that ultimately [begins]

This chapter has concentrated on the prevailing intellectual atmosphere found

many Catholics since they entertain a rather simplistic compJehension of the

1. See Spiegelberg (1982), pp. 74-76.

See Husserl [1975), pg. LXXIII.

10. Cited by Spiegelberg (1982) , p. xxiii.

20. See Carlen [1981), Vol. 3, pp. 415-443.

FROM HUMANAE SALUTIS TO THE OPENING OF THE COUNCIL

The strategic vision of Humanae Salutis

On December 25, 1961, Pope John XXIII issued an apostolic constitution,

Verumtamen supernus ordo ad alterum ordinem, temporis finibus

This supernatural order must, however, reflect its efficiency in that

Scholastic presuppositions of the strategic vision

While the previous quotation simply reaffirms traditional Catholic ethics, it

The new communication process intended by the strategic vision

Quamvis Ecclesia ad terrestrem fin em in primis non contendat, tamen

A brief technical excursus on the key-sentence

Novit eadem se, cum Christi luce homines collustret, id conferre, ut

Literally: That same [Church] knows [that] when [she] illumines on

Connatural knowledge and phenomenology in alignment

The emphasis on intersubjectivity in recent existential and phenom-

The rapproachment to phenomenology in its historical context

John XXIII's practical ideas and preparation for the Council

scholastic way as to be out of step with new trends intent on wide-ranging

The paradoxical optimism of John's opening speech

In the present order of things, Divine Providence is leading us to a new

Connatural knowledge: The basis for John's optimism