Amazing Church: A Catholic Theologian Remembers A Half Century Of Change

by Gregory Baum

Book by Baum, Gregory

159 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2005

About the author

Gerhard Albert Baum (1923–2017), better known as Gregory Baum, was a German-born Canadian priest and theologian in the Roman Catholic Church. He became known in North America and Europe in the 1960s for his work on ecumenism, interfaith dialogue, and the relationship between the Catholic Church and Jews. In the later 1960s, he went to the New School for Social Theory in New York and became a sociologist, which led to his work on creating a dialogue between classical sociology (Marx, Tocqueville, Durkheim, Toennies, Weber, etc.) and Christian theology.

In the 1970s, he welcomed the insights of the Theology of Liberation that came from Latin America and other societies. He also became interested in the work of Karl Mannheim and developed a program of ideology critique that he hoped would eliminate the ideological elements in religion, especially those elements that preached contempt for others and allowed Christians to remain unmoved by the suffering of the victims of social injustice and structural violence.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Baum continued his study into ideology critique by integrating the work of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. He connected the Frankfurt School's concept of "the end of innocent critique" with the Catholic Church's "preferential option for the poor". Both concepts extended his interest in ideology critique. Since Baum has always been interested in social ethics, he also studied the work of Karl Polanyi, with whom he sympathized greatly.

Reviews

[Mike Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an active participant in the transitions and debates of the Catholic Church as it has engaged the currents of modernity, Gregory Baum (a theological adviser present at all 4 sessions of Vatican II, d. 2017) offers an equally personal and theological apologia for an understanding of the Church that can and has changed. While each chapter shines the spotlight on the documentary evidence of particular teachings in transition, it is the overall exhibit that Baum is most interested in conveying, an archaeology of a Church in evolution. In collecting and displaying these data points, Baum is also able to point toward the unresolved questions and future trajectories that this new self-understanding of the Church brings about.

Evolution, development, change, reversal – each of these presents a different image of the transitions occurring in the 20th century as the Catholic Church entered into more substantive engagement with modernity. Baum has witnessed each take place within his lifetime and has also witnessed many clamor to avoid admitting that any such thing has taken place. I was once instructed in reading church documents to be alert when reading the phrase “As we have always taught…” for what was sure to follow would be a new teaching. Yet, Baum is unsatisfied with having it both ways – development passed off as continuity. For him it is worth fighting for precisely this recognition of a Church that can change while remaining faithful to its identity and mission.

One of many unresolved questions here is whether this principle of evolution originates from within the impulse of modernity as a “new ethical horizon” or is to be rooted in a theological, Gospel imperative. In one of his most valuable sections, Baum grapples with the complexity that the modern project presents and is unwilling to grant a free pass to all things which present themselves as progress. Yet, just as debates regarding the reception of Vatican II will continue to shape the church of the next century, directly tied to these debates will be competing proposals of how to evaluate the legacy of modernity.

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title of this book grabbed me right from the start, and it did so for many reasons. I was raised Catholic but born post Vatican II. As such, throughout public school, high school and even university careers, I have often heard my elders speak of the days before the council and what the church was like.

This book is an offering from a man who saw many changed in his church and in his own life. As a former Catholic priest, who left the priesthood but maintained his love for his church, he eventually married a former nun named Shirley Flynn.

This book is a unique perspective, because of Baum’s life. He examines the changes that he has observed and forecasts where he believes some of these changes will continue to go. He examines the change in focus and interpretation of scripture and the life of the church in regards to many different categories. The areas he examines are:
The Conversion to Human Rights
God’s Redemptive Presence in History
The Culture of Peace
Rejoicing in Religious Pluralism
The New Teaching
Baum’s easy-to-read style and enthralling personal insights, stories and anecdotes, will keep almost any reader entrapped in the little volume.

Baum engages liberation theology with a zeal: “We stand with the victims of society and support their struggle to change the conditions of their lives; only in doing so will we be able to embrace in solidarity the whole society.” P. 74. He Examines Catholic – Christian, and Catholic – Non-Christian (Jewish, Muslim, Hindu) dialogues. He studies the preferential option for the poor, and the new culture of peace. This section on the culture of peace was amazing in how it shows the official church’s teachings on war, and being against all war in this day and age. Baum states: “Respect for difference is an essential ingredient of the culture of peace. Can Catholics honour Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists for their differences, or must Catholics look upon them as potential converts to the Christian Faith?” p.90

Baum will be giving a public lecture at St. Jerome’s University at The University of Waterloo, Friday, January 20th, at 7:30pm in Siegfried Hall. The title of this lecture is: ‘Muslim/ Christian Relations after 9/11’. Dr. Baum has served in many diverse forums over the years. From 1960-1965 he was an expert for Vatican Council II, he taught Theology at St. Michael’s College I Toronto for nearly 30 years, and since 1968 has been a professor at McGill University in Montreal. If this recent offering of his is a sample of what we can hope to expect, his lecture will be both powerful and riveting.

(First Published in Imprint 2006-01-13 as ‘Five decades in Catholicism Recalled.)