16 May 2019

Hermeneutics of Magisterium (2)

Cardinal Mueller wrote, while he was still Prefect of the CDF: "In Europe, theologians immediately have to have the exact council text ready when words like 'faith' or 'mercy' are used. This kind of theology with which we are familiar doesn't exist in Latin America. They are more intuitive there ... they look at a text without considering it as a part of a whole. We must somehow respect and accept this style. But I nevertheless wish that as far as teaching documents are concerned clear theologicsal preparation must take place."

This perceptive analysis must sure be a valuable tool when we are analysing texts issued under this pontificate.


2 comments:

PM said...

Indeed it is an instructive, and disconcerting, exercise to read the decrees of Vatican II and see what they actually said, rather than what purveyors of the so-called spirit of Vatican II think they must have said.

John F. Kennedy said...

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”