The Future of Christology

by Roger Haight

In a strongly worded "notification," in February of 2005, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith denounced Jesuit Roger Haight's award-winning, best-selling book Jesus Symbol of God as containing "grave doctrinal errors." Like a number of theologians before him-Hans Küng, Charles Curran, Anthony de Mello, Tissa Balasuriya, and Jacques Dupuis-Haight has been banned from teaching as a Catholic theologian. In its overall criticism of the book, the Congregation, still under the direction of the then Cardinal Ratzinger, charged that Haight "subordinates the contents of the faith to their plausibility and intelligibility in post-modern culture." For his part, Haight "I look at American Catholicism with a population more and more educated in the faith. Many college and university students are used to religious pluralism, and are asking how they can square it with the Catholic faith. I try to put critical words to their experience and keep their experience in touch with the tradition. My fear is that educated Catholics will walk out if there isn't space for an open attitude to other religions." The Future of Christology covers much the same ground as Jesus Symbol of God, though in a much more accessible and compact format. The earlier book was written as a textbook; this one, with a wider audience in mind. In the final chapter, Haight responds to the numerous reviews Jesus Symbol of God received, both pro and con.

Genres: Theology, Religion

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Roger Haight was an American Jesuit theologian and president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. His experiences with censorship led to widespread debate over how to handle controversial ideas in the Catholic church today.

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a beauty in having a coherent view of life based on truth, insofar as as I can discern the truth. That view changes over time, and I have found the theology worked out by Haight extremely helpful to fitting pieces arrived at over years into a whole. It's not about having answers to anyone else, but about arriving at a place that feels like home.
Last summer I worked through his "Dynamics of Theology" re. methodology, and "Jesus Symbol of God" about christology. This later book is more reader-friendly, but it assumes much of the work done in the earlier volumes. In the end, it is really very simple. Like most simple things, it can be a complicated process to arrive there.

[steds · Rating 5 out of 5]

couldn't put it down. fascinating -if you're interested in a post-modern, catholic/christian possibility of religious pluralism, fr. haight is your man. the vatican censure/silencing only makes it better.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice summary of Haight's previous book, Jesus Symbol of God. However, his theology of the cross is seriously lacking, despite the fact thathe has an entire chapter dedicated to the cross.