World Theology

Catholic Theology

At the beginning of the 20th century, Catholic theology was influenced by renewal movements that sought to move beyond the neoscholastic theology that had dominated Catholic thinking since the late 19th century. Pope Leo XIII (r. 1878–1903), in his encyclical Aeterni Patris (1879), had given primacy to neoscholastic theology, emphasizing that theology should look back to the work of St. Thomas Aquinas. For some Catholic theologians, this situation narrowed the focus of Catholic thought. It can be argued that Leo XIII's championing of Aquinas set the foundations for the Modernist movement (1890–1910). A group of scholars, including George Tyrrell (1861–1909) and Alfred Loisy (1857–1940), attempted to bring critical historical perspectives borrowed from Protestant theology into Catholic thought. The Modernists were suppressed by the Vatican because their findings on the life of Christ and the nature of the Church were interpreted as being unorthodox.

By the end of World War II, the New Theology (théologie nouvelle) movement had become influential. Scholars who belonged to this movement included Yves Congar (1904–1995) and Henri de Lubac (1896–1991), both of whom sought to recognize the influence of the early Church Fathers on Catholic theology. Karl Rahner's (1904–1984) [Page 1387]writings on grace and the sacraments were also important in the years prior to the 1960s. The writings of these scholars were questioned by some Vatican officials but were taken up by the Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II).

Vatican II (1962–1965) constitutes a point of renewal for Catholic culture and theology, and Catholic theology expanded greatly after the council. Karl Rahner, whose thinking underpinned much of the discussion at Vatican II, interpreted the Church as being a diaspora of the faithful, living in disparate parts of the world but sharing witness to Jesus Christ. For Rahner, Vatican II constituted a leap forward for the Church, from being an institution focused on Europe to becoming a world Church that speaks to global communities.

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