Studying Catholic theology today is often more complicated than students anticipate. Many learners enter the classroom assuming their teachers will be “singing from the same hymn sheet,” only to discover that their instructors approach the tradition quite differently (1). Rowland's volume, part of Bloomsbury's Doing Theology series, provides an overview of many significant approaches and fault lines within contemporary Catholic theology. It introduces students to the big issues in theology today and identifies the “different species of theologians they are likely to encounter” (207).
Rowland begins by describing fifteen general principles for theological inquiry provided by the International Theological Commission (ITC), of which she is a member. Her first chapter offers thought-provoking descriptions of each principle, and in doing so introduces many vital elements of fundamental theology. The first principle argues that “[t]he mystery exceeds any system (7).” This insight serves as a critical foundation for theological study in general, as well as for Rowland's investigation in particular. The book is consistently careful to emphasize that methods and systems are not neutral; rather, they reflect theological commitments. Rowland traces the most significant differences in theology today to the period just prior to Vatican II. Most theologians immediately prior to the council agreed that neo-scholasticism needed to be modified or overcome, but they disagreed fiercely about how this could be achieved. Two distinct tracks emerged: one led by the founders of the journal Concilium and another by the founders of the journal Communio. Rowland observes that although these schools originate at the “common junction” of a shared rejection of neo-scholasticism, the two trajectories subsequently “do not converge or cross, and they end in very different places” (190). Because Catholic theology today is often practiced against this horizon and in conversation, explicitly or implicitly, with these schools, Rowland dedicates the remaining chapters to exploring the roots, priorities, and disagreements between these approaches.
Chapter 2 begins mapping these two tracks by laying out various appropriations of Thomism in history. This chapter, the longest in the volume, notes the differences in the reception of medieval theology and the ongoing impact that these differences exert on the theological landscape. Building on the divergences sketched in chapter 2, chapters 3 and 4 consider the emergence of Communio and Concilium as efforts to build on Vatican II's revisioning of the relationship between mystery and system. These chapters focus largely on the methodologies of the founders of these journals. For the former, these include Hans Urs von Balthasar, Henri de Lubac, SJ, and Joseph Ratzinger; and for the later, Karl Rahner, SJ, and Edward Schillebeeckx, OP. Rowland argues that the development of these schools is realized largely in their efforts to offer an account of the relationship between history and ontology, the challenge which, according to Ratzinger, was at the root of the “most severe theological crisis for the Catholic Church in the twentieth century” (122). Rowland locates the differences in the two schools’ accounts of this relationship in their distinct understandings of modern conceptions of rationality, the autonomy of the world, the importance of philosophy for theology, the authority of experience, and the proper starting point for theological inquiry. Ultimately, a major dividing line between these groups, according to Rowland, is that while the Concilium school generally seeks to naturalize the supernatural, the Communio school generally strives to sacralize the natural (169). The final chapter examines the methodological commitments of liberation theology with special attention to the efforts within this movement to privilege praxis over theory. It concludes by situating Pope Francis in relation to liberation theologians as well as in relation to the fault lines laid out in the previous chapters.
Rowland's book is a valuable guide for students seeking to understand the landscape of Catholic theology today. Among the many strengths of this volume is its ability to convey extremely complicated developments in ways that are simultaneously clear and nuanced. She excels in distilling distinctions between various positions and in selecting quotes from various sides of a debate that capture the nexus of the tension and the heart of each position. Further, throughout the volume, Rowland provides helpful references for additional reading so that students can continue to develop and nuance their understanding of disputed questions. Moreover, Rowland forcefully demonstrates the connection between methodology and theological commitments by stressing the essential point that method is not just an apparatus generically applied to theological positions; on the contrary, it corresponds to the truth they seek to convey. In short, a generative connection exists between mystery and system. It is clear at various points that Rowland is not a neutral observer in these disputes, but this can serve students by forcing them (or classroom discussions) to consider whether they agree with the conclusions presented. Rowland's text is a valuable resource for advanced students who want to better understand the differences they detect in their study of Catholic theology so that they can better learn and “do theology” in service of the church today.
