Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

174 TODD A. SALZMAN
cerned through the people of God in its entirety – the magisterium,
theologians, and the faithful alike. There is a “trialogue,” if
you will, among the three groups guided by the Holy Spirit with
Scripture and human experience at the very center of this conversation.
It is this ongoing conversation that moves the pilgrim
Church through history towards a fuller recognition, knowledge,
understanding, and appreciation of God’s self-communication
to humanity. While the magisterium still maintains authority in
this model, and there is a presumption of truth regarding its
teaching, this authority is qualified by its role as learner-teacher.
The faithful and theologians facilitate, contribute to, and sometimes
may even challenge noninfallible magisterial teachings in
this learning-teaching process.
The BGT espouses a hierarchical ecclesiology. GRISEZ and
SHAW note, “God prescribes that there be a visible human community
which is ‘the Church’ and that it be organized hierarchically
rather than democratically or in some other way.” 8 Within
such a model, hierarchical authority, and obedience and conformity
to that authority, are key. While the BGT recognizes the importance
of the contributions of both theologians and the faithful
in this model, how does it explain their respective roles in relation
to the magisterium? It is the task of theologians to aid the
magisterium by eliciting “the testimony of witnesses of faith on
matters about which the magisterium must judge” and to propose
“the material or conceptual content for possible judgments
by which the faith will be freshly articulated and developed, or
challenges to it answered.” In addition, “the faithful at large can
propose material from their experience.” 9 What happens if the
experiences of the faithful conflict with the authoritative judgments
of the magisterium? “A sound method in moral theology
will not allow the moral experiences and judgments of some of
es: The Ecclesiology of Communion, R.C. DE PEAUX (trans.) (Collegeville, MN:
The Liturgical Press, 1992).
8 GRISEZ and SHAW, Fulfillment in Christ: A Summary of Christian Moral
Principles (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991) 130.
9 GRISEZ, “How to Deal with Theological Dissent,” in CURRAN and MC-
CORMICK, eds., Readings in Moral Theology No. 6: Dissent in the Church (New
York: Paulist Press, 1988) 442-72, at 460-61.