Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

180 TODD A. SALZMAN
GRISEZ’S “high court” analogy does not end with the magisterial
process of judgment but reflects what may be considered
a punitive component for dissenting theologians as well. GRISEZ
belittles the 1985 assembly of the SYNOD OF BISHOPS’ call for “reciprocal
dialogue between the bishops and theologians…for the
building up of the faith and its deeper comprehension” 29 given
the current state of “radical dissent” within the Catholic Church.
Instead, he proposes the remedies of the first assembly of the
SYNOD in 1967. “Those who are rash or imprudent should be
warned in all charity; those who are pertinacious should be removed
from office.” 30
This juridical model is based on certain premises. First, the
magisterium “should respect” the scholarly authority of theologians.
31 Second, rational arguments do not carry doctrinal
weight. 32 Third, the special sacramental power of popes and bishops,
through grace, gives them supernatural access to truth. 33
Fourth, while recognizing that the magisterium can err in authoritative,
noninfallible teachings, these teachings ought to be
followed because “even when it is not clear that the bishop’s or
pope’s teaching is proposed infallibly, one has a good reason for
assuming that his teaching pertains to divine revelation.” 34
Fifth, the juridical model is based on a hierarchical ecclesiology
represented, for example, in Humani Generis and Lumen
Gentium 25. There is a curious tension here between the BGT reliance
upon Humani Generis to defend the proper relationship
between the magisterium and theologians and GRISEZ’S critique
of this relationship prior to Vatican II. As he notes, “before Vatican
II, too much conformity was demanded of Catholic theologians.
Their work was so closely integrated with the magisteri-
29
SYNOD OF BISHOPS, “A Message to the People of God,” Origins 15/27 (December
19, 1985) 441-50, at 447-48. Cited in GRISEZ, “How to Deal with Theological
Dissent” 443.
30 Cited in ibid. 444. See also, JOHN KIPPLEY, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars
Newsletter 8 (September 1985) 9 (cited in MCCORMICK, Critical Calling 25).
31
GRISEZ, “How to Deal with Theological Dissent” 460.
32
GRISEZ, Christian Moral Principles 853, 856.
33 Ibid. chapt. 35.
34 Ibid. 852 (emphasis omitted).