Ministry, leadership in the community of Jesus Christ

The Reverend Father Schillebeeckx here attempts to gather into one cohesive whole a variety of writings and speeches from a variety of venues, much as the Reverend Father Leonardo Boff did with Church, Charism and Power: Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church. Unfortunately such collections from various sources present an informational disconnect and a jarring discontinuity to the unsophisticated reader and thus these rather mild texts presented an opportunity for uncomprehending reactions. One must wonder therefore why the rush to publish, if these two dedicated and religious theologians (the former a Dominican preacher and professor, the later a Franciscan friar) were under no contractual obligations. Certainly the Reverend Father Schillebeeckx attempted to republish this material in a more unified and cohesive and clear manner in his later The church with a human face: A new and expanded theology of ministry but met with the same obstinate unwillingness to read with comprehension or not to read at all. Just as he was under no contractual obligation to write it, no one is obliged to read it outside certain enlightened and serious seminaries. But do not condemn these wise and well-researched words from the gracious pen of this Doctor of Theology without having read them. Father Schillebeeckx recognizes this shortcoming in continuity in his Foreword, in which he explains this gathering of a quater century's worth of work, and his attempts to forge a unified whole. He concludes this Foreword, written upon his anniversary of ordination to the priesthood, with these words: "A theologian knows that what he says will not be welcome to everyone. However, convinced as he is of the liberating power of the truth (including the historical truth) which he is honour bound to pursue, he does not have the right to impose censorship in advance on his own insights: he is obliged to make public the results of his investigation. Historical arguments can be countered only by historical arguments to the contrary. (p. vi)" Thus we find in these pages the brilliant and Reverend Father writing freely, and can trace the evolution of his historical research over a quarter century, in some of the most interesting phases of our Church history. He begins his exploration of the charism of ministry in the Church with an introduction to chruch leadership, then follows with an historical examination of the New Testament communities, developing the theme of apostolicity. The second section considers the First and Seocnd Christian Millenia, including the development of our liturgy and the Council of Chalcedon. This section closes with the modern view of priesthood developed in the sixteenth century and the Council of Trent, from which we receive a bit of what is still called Tridentine (although not all that is now considered Tridentine comes from this Council which gave its name). The Third section explores continuity and divergence between these two millenia, a