Edward Schillebeeckx
Encyclopedia
Edward Cornelis Florentius Alfonsus Schillebeeckx (icon ; 12 November 1914 – 23 December 2009) was a Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 Roman Catholic theologian born in Antwerp. He taught at the Catholic University
Radboud University Nijmegen
Radboud University Nijmegen is a public university with a strong focus on research in Nijmegen, the Netherlands...

 in Nijmegen. He then continued writing. In his nineties, he still wanted to finish a major book about the Sacraments.

He was a member of the Dominican Order
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

. His books on theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 have been translated into many languages, and his contributions to the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...

 made him known throughout the world.

Early life and ordination

After being educated by the Jesuits at Turnhout, Schillebeeckx entered the Dominican Order in 1934. He studied theology and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 at the University of Louvain
Catholic University of Leuven
The Catholic University of Leuven, or of Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. The university was founded in 1425 as the University of Leuven by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V.During France's occupation of Belgium in the...

. In 1941 he was ordained to the priesthood. In 1943 he finalized his studies in Turnhout, and moved to Ghent, where he studied at the Dominican house, and was strongly influenced by Dominicus De Petter's courses in phenomenology
Phenomenology of religion
The phenomenology of religion concerns the experiential aspect of religion, describing religious phenomena in terms consistent with the orientation of the worshippers. It views religion as being made up of different components, and studies these components across religious traditions so that an...

. After three years of Philosophy Study at Ghent, Schillebeeckx heeded the call up of the Belgian Armed Forces in 1938, leaving the army again in August 1939. But, one and a half month after that, he was summoned to return, due to the start of World War II and he left the Army only after the defeat of the Belgian Armed Forces by the German occupant. Schillebeeckx then entered the Dominican Study house at Leuven, where he stayed until 1945. From that year to July 1946, he studied at the Dominican study centre Le Saulchoir at Étiolles, near Paris, where representatives of the Nouvelle théologie
Nouvelle Théologie
Nouvelle Théologie is the name commonly used to refer to a school of thought in Catholic theology that arose in the mid-20th century, most notably among certain circles of French and German theologians...

-movement such as Marie-Dominique Chenu
Marie-Dominique Chenu
Marie-Dominique Chenu was a progressive Roman Catholic theologian and a founder of the reformist journal Concilium. He entered the French Province of the Dominican Order in 1913. His earlier theological work was on St. Thomas Aquinas, employing an historical method...

 and Yves Congar
Yves Congar
Yves Marie Joseph Congar was a French Dominican cardinal and theologian.-Early life:Born in Sedan, in northeast France, in 1904, Congar's home was occupied by the Germans for much of World War I...

 introduced him to modern Catholic Theology as well as to the thought of Calvinist theologians like Karl Barth
Karl Barth
Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...

.

Doctoral thesis

During these years he also studied at the Sorbonne
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

, and in July 1946 he did his doctoral exam at the École des hautes études of the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

. In 1952 he defended and published his doctoral thesis at Le Saulchoir, De sacramentele heilseconomie (The redeeming economy of the sacraments). After that, Schillebeeckx became master of the Philosophy Study House of his order in Leuven
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

, and in 1957 he spent one year teaching Dogmatics at the Faculty of Theology, Catholic University of Leuven
Faculty of Theology, Catholic University of Leuven
The Leuven Faculty of Theology, — a branch of the Catholic University of Leuven — is the oldest Theological Faculty in the Low Countries, and one of the oldest faculties in the world. The faculty was established in 1432, as a part of the existing Old University, and closed its doors in 1797 when...

. Then, in 1958 the Catholic University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands made him a professor of dogmatic theology
Dogmatic theology
Dogmatic theology is that part of theology dealing with the theoretical truths of faith concerning God and his works, especially the official theology recognized by an organized Church body, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Dutch Reformed Church, etc...

 and history of theology. His inaugural lecture Op zoek naar de levende God (In Searching of the Living God) introduced Dutch theologians to the Nouvelle Théologie founded by Chenu, Congar, Hans Urs von Balthasar
Hans Urs von Balthasar
Hans Urs von Balthasar was a Swiss theologian and priest who was nominated to be a cardinal of the Catholic Church...

 and others.

Second Vatican Council

During the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...

, 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 his mostly negative comments on the schemata prepared by the Preparatory Theological Commission (headed by Ottaviani) anonymously. 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
Dei Verbum
Dei Verbum was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on November 18, 1965, following approval by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2,344 to 6.23...

and Lumen Gentium
Lumen Gentium
Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council. This dogmatic constitution was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on November 21, 1964, following approval by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2,151 to 5...

. Concerning the latter document, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Schillebeeckx was mainly involved in the debate on episcopal collegiality
Collegiality
Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues.Colleagues are those explicitly united in a common purpose and respecting each other's abilities to work toward that purpose...

, attempting to move Catholic ecclesiology
Ecclesiology
Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...

 away from a purely hierarchical structured vision of the church, focusing too heavily on Papal authority (as a result of the declaration of Papal infallibility
Papal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...

 in Vatican I's constitution Pastor Aeternus
Pastor aeternus
Pastor aeternus is the incipit of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, issued by the First Vatican Council, July 18, 1870. According to The Modern Catholic Dictionary, Pastor aeternus defines four doctrines of the Catholic faith: the apostolic primacy conferred on Peter, the...

). 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. Already in 1963, together with Chenu, Congar, Karl Rahner
Karl Rahner
Karl Rahner, SJ was a German Jesuit and theologian who, alongside Bernard Lonergan and Hans Urs von Balthasar, is considered one of the most influential Roman Catholic theologians of the 20th century...

, and Hans Küng
Hans Küng
Hans Küng is a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and prolific author. Since 1995 he has been President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic . Küng is "a Catholic priest in good standing", but the Vatican has rescinded his authority to teach Catholic theology...

 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
Paul Brand
Dr. Paul Wilson Brand, CBE was a pioneer in developing tendon transfer techniques for use in the hands of those with leprosy. He was the first physician to appreciate that leprosy did not cause the rotting away of tissues, but that it was the loss of the sensation of pain which made sufferers...

 and Antoine Van den Boogaard, and which promoted "reformist" thought.

Exegesis

In the postconciliar period Schillebeeckx' attention shifted somewhat from thomism to Biblical exegesis. 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
Celibacy
Celibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...

. Precisely on this matter, Schillebeeckx played an influential role during the National Pastoral Council (Landelijk Pastoraal Concilie) held at Noordwijkerhout
Noordwijkerhout
Noordwijkerhout is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 23.40 km² and had a population of 15,121 in May 2006...

 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.

Controversies with the CDF

In Jesus: An experiment in Christology (Dutch ed. 1974), Schillebeeckx argued that we should not imagine that the belief of the disciples that Jesus had risen was caused by the empty tomb and the resurrection appearances. It was quite the opposite: A belief in the resurrection - “that the new orientation of living which this Jesus has brought about in their lives has not been rendered meaningless by his death – quite the opposite” - gave rise to these traditions. 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 October 20, 1976 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...

 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 the Church authorities for his repeated writings. His christology
Christology
Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...

 was criticized by Cardinal Franjo Šeper
Franjo Šeper
Franjo Šeper was a Croatian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1968 to 1981, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965....

 and then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, whom Schillebeeckx already knew at Vatican II, and who was later elected Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

.

In 1984, his orthodoxy was called into question by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Schillebeeckx was summoned to Rome to explain his views expressed in The Ministry in the Church, which were regarded as Protestant. A third time then, in 1986, Schillebeeckx' theological views were put into question, again regarding the sacramental nature of office in the Roman Catholic Church. More precisely, in The Church with a Human Face Schillebeeckx argued, on biblical-historical grounds, that the consecration to Catholic priesthood does not necessarily gain its validity from, and can therefore be detached from apostolic succession, rather the choice of priests (and as a consequence the celebration of the Eucharist) is dependent on the local church community.

However, despite three investigations with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the writings of Schillebeeckx were never condemned.

Schillebeeckx continued to publish after his retirement. A major study on sacramental theology is still expected to appear. His oeuvre, surveyed in several bibliographies, has been the subject of many studies and controversies.

Later life

Until his death he lived in Nijmegen, in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, where he taught at the Catholic University of Nijmegen until his retirement. He was awarded the Erasmus Prize
Erasmus Prize
The Erasmus Prize is an annual prize awarded by the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation, a Dutch non-profit organization, to individuals or institutions that have made notable contributions to European culture, society, or social science. The Praemium Erasmianum Foundation was founded on 23 June 1958 by...

 in 1982, and (as the only theologian) the Gouden Ganzenveer
Gouden Ganzenveer
The Gouden Ganzenveer is a Dutch cultural award initiated in 1955, given annually to a person or organization of great significance to the written and printed word. Recipients are selected by an academy of people from the cultural, political, scientific, and corporate world. Members meet once a...

 in 1989.

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).

Edward Schillebeeckx Foundation

At Nijmegen, the Edward Schillebeeckx Foundation, led by Nico Schreurs, was founded in 1989. As indicated on its website, the foundation sets itself the goal of collecting, organising, preserving and rendering accessible the entire output of, and material about Edward Schillebeeckx. The Foundation seeks to safeguard for the future the spiritual, scientific and social values contained in Schillebeeckx' work.

Archives

The personal papers of Edward Schillebeeckx are being conserved in two archive centers. The largest part of the collection of Schillebeeckx' writings are kept at the Katholiek Documentatie Centrum (KDC) of the Radboud University at Nijmegen (not consultable). As regards the council papers of Edward Schillebeeckx, these are held at the Centre for the Study of the Second Vatican Council, at the Faculty of Theology, Catholic University of Leuven
Faculty of Theology, Catholic University of Leuven
The Leuven Faculty of Theology, — a branch of the Catholic University of Leuven — is the oldest Theological Faculty in the Low Countries, and one of the oldest faculties in the world. The faculty was established in 1432, as a part of the existing Old University, and closed its doors in 1797 when...

.

External links

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