Edward Schillebeeckx

Edward Cornelis Florentius Alfonsus Schillebeeckx (November 12, 1914 – December 23, 2009) was a Belgian Catholic theologian born in Antwerp. He taught at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. He was a member of the Dominican Order. His books on theology have been translated into many languages, and his contributions to the Second Vatican Council made him known throughout the world.

Early life and ordination

He was born in Antwerp on 12 November 1914, the sixth of 14 children in a middle-class family. After that, Schillebeeckx became master of the Philosophy Study House of his order in Leuven, and in 1957 he spent one year teaching dogmatics at the Faculty of Theology, Catholic University of Leuven. In 1958 the Catholic University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands made him a professor of dogmatic theology and history of theology.

Second Vatican Council

During the Second Vatican Council, Schillebeeckx was one of the most active theologians. He drafted various council interventions for Dutch bishops such as Cardinal Bernard Jan Alfrink, and gave conferences on theological ressourcement for many episcopal conferences present in Rome.

Due to his having been the "ghost writer" of the Dutch bishops' Pastoral Letter on the upcoming Council in 1961, he was rendered suspect with the Congregation of the Holy Office, led by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani (President) and the Dutchman Sebastiaan Tromp (Secretary). This was the first of three instances in which Schillebeeckx had to defend his theological positions against accusations from the Roman authorities.

As a result, Schillebeeckx drafted anonymously his mostly negative comments on the schemata prepared by the Preparatory Theological Commission, headed by Ottaviani. These anonymous comments on the theological schemata debated at Vatican II, and the articles he published, also influenced the development of several conciliar constitutions such as Dei verbum and Lumen gentium. Concerning the latter document, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Schillebeeckx was mainly involved in the debate on episcopal collegiality, attempting to move Catholic ecclesiology away from a purely hierarchical, structured vision of the church, which he thought was focused too heavily on papal authority (as a result of the declaration of papal infallibility in Vatican I's constitution Pastor aeternus). This, according to Schillebeeckx and many others at Vatican II, was to be balanced by a renewed stress on the role of the episcopal college.

In this way, his influence was far greater than that of a formal peritus, a status the Dutch bishops had not granted to him. Not being a peritus also allowed him more time to give talks to the bishops attending the council, and to explain to them the "new theology" or understanding arising with the council.

Already in 1963, together with Chenu, Congar, Karl Rahner, and Hans Küng, he was involved in preparing the rise of the new theological journal Concilium, which was officially founded in 1965 with the support of Paul Brand and Antoine Van den Boogaard, and which promoted "reformist" thought. He became widely known through the English translation in 1963 of his book Christ the Sacrament of the Encounter with God. On the basis of his study of the earliest Christian sources – often drawing upon the exegetical insight of his Nijmegen colleague Bas van Iersel – Schillebeeckx confronted such debated questions as the position of priests, e.g., by supporting a proposal to disconnect sacramental priesthood and the obligation to celibacy. Precisely on this matter, Schillebeeckx played an influential role during the National Pastoral Council (Landelijk Pastoraal Concilie) held at Noordwijkerhout from 1968 to 1970. At the sessions of this synod, the Dutch bishops, intellectuals, and representatives from many Catholic organisations tried to implement what they perceived as the major progressive objectives of the Second Vatican Council. Schillebeeckx, well known in the Netherlands and Belgium through his many interventions in the media, was by then known as the leading Dutch-speaking contemporary theologian. The empty tomb was, in his opinion, an unnecessary hypothesis, since "an eschatological, bodily resurrection, theologically speaking, has nothing to do, however, with a corpse." That was merely a "crude and naive realism of what 'appearances of Jesus'" meant.

Although the books were followed by a couple of articles where Schillebeeckx defends himself against criticism and tones down his radicalism, on 20 October 1976 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote to him with various objections. As a result of the ensuing correspondence, he was asked to come to Rome to explain his position. In December 1979, he met with representatives of the congregation. Due to international pressure, the drive for a trial was ended. The conclusions of the congregation, however, left the impression that a genuine accord had not been reached, and he continued to receive notifications from Church authorities for his repeated writings. His christology was criticized by Cardinal Franjo Šeper and then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, whom Schillebeeckx already knew at the Second Vatican Council and who was later elected Pope Benedict XVI. and (as the only theologian) the Gouden Ganzenveer in 1989. He died on 23 December 2009.

Resources

Selective bibliography

De sacramentele heilseconomie (Antwerp 1952)
Christus, sacrament van de Godsontmoeting (Bilthoven 1959) – tr. Christ the sacrament of the encounter with God (New York 1963)
Op zoek naar de levende God (Nimwegen 1959)
Openbaring en theologie (Bilthoven 1964) (Theologische Peilingen, 1) – tr. Revelation and theology (London 1979)
God en mens (Bilthoven 1965) (Theologische Peilingen, 2)
Wereld en kerk (Bilthoven 1966) (Theologische Peilingen, 3)
De zending van de kerk (Bilthoven 1968) (Theologische Peilingen, 4)
Jezus, het verhaal van een levende (Bloemendaal 1974) – tr. Jesus: an experiment in Christology (London 1979; New York 1981)
Gerechtigheid en liefde, genade en bevrijding (Bloemendaal 1977) – tr. Christ: the Christian experience in the modern world (London 1980)
Tussentijds verhaal over twee Jezusboeken (Baarn 1978)
Evangelie verhalen (Baarn 1982) – tr. God among us : the Gospel proclaimed (London 1983)
Pleidooi voor mensen in de kerk. Christelijke identiteit en ambten in de kerk (Baarn 1985) – tr. The Church with a human face: a new and expanded theology of ministry (New York 1985)
Als politiek niet alles is... Jezus in de westerse cultuur (Baarn 1986) – tr. On Christian faith: the spiritual, ethical and political dimensions (New York 1984)
Mensen als verhaal van God (Baarn 1989) – tr. Church. The human story of God (New York 1990)
I Am a Happy Theologian (London 1994)
The Eucharist (2005/1948)

Bio-bibliographical literature

Erik Borgman, Edward Schillebeeckx. A Theologian in His History. Vol. 1: A Catholic Theology of Culture (London, New York NY, 2003).
Bibliography of Edward Schillebeeckx 1936-1996. Compiled by Ted Schoof and Jan Van de Westelaken (Baarn, 1997).
The Schillebeeckx Case. Official Exchange of Letters and Documents in the Investigation of Fr. Edward Schillebeeckx by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1976-1980. Edited with introduction and notes by Ted Schoof (New York NY, 1980).
Jennifer Cooper, Humanity in the Mystery of God: the theological anthropology of Edward Schillebeeckx. (London, T&T Clark, 2011).