This article connects the work of M. Shawn Copeland to a dialogue between Bernard
Lonergan and Emmanuel Levinas. Exploring these authors’ insights on intersubjectivity,
alterity, dialectic, and embodiment, the article develops a framework for engaging
and overcoming contemporary crises of relationality. These resources are then used
to reframe questions of otherness in terms of the imitation of Christ, advocating
encounter grounded in open, prayerful engagement with the marginalized.

The recent call by Pope Francis for the church to develop a “theology of women” raises
more fundamental and prior questions about the very nature of gender and sexual
identity. Drawing on the metaphysics developed in Lonergan’s Insight and his heuristic
structure of a scale of values found in Method in Theology, this article explores these
prior questions in a way that avoids the extremes of either gender essentialism or of
complete gender fluidity. It proposes a form of heteronormativity that is statistically
structured allowing for a greater flexibility than suggested by gender essentialism,
while still constraining the social and cultural construction of gender within certain
biological realities. The authors also present Lonergan’s scale of values as a further
heuristic for anticipating the force of this constraint in a differentiated way.

In his address commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the institution of the Synod
of Bishops, Pope Francis expressed hope for a more synodal church. Consulting
recent theological literature aids the discovery of potential—if only partial—steps
towards a synodal church in three areas: spiritualities and structures of discernment;
theological methodologies; and ecumenical gifts of synodality.

In the aftermath of Vatican II, questions have been raised about the exercise
of magisterium in the church. This study first examines the teaching authority of
the episcopal conference, the doctrinal committee of episcopal conference, the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Synod of Bishops. Next it examines
the primary and secondary objects of episcopal magisterium, with special attention to
the non-defined dogma and the “definitive doctrine” taught by the ordinary universal
magisterium. Lastly it suggests ways forward in the understanding and exercise of
the teaching function of the church, especially the priority of learning as the sine qua
non condition for effective teaching, the shift from magisterium (in the singular) to
magisteria (in the plural), and new modes of teaching appropriate for our digital age.

The author proposes a development of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conference’s
theology of church as a sacrament of harmony, drawing in particular from the East
Asian concept of yin-yang unity and integration. In Daoist beliefs, yin and yang are
the generative forces of the cosmos whose blending and balancing result in harmony
or the unimpeded flow of Qi-Ch’i. Yin and yang are opposite, complementary, nondualistic, and fluid qualities of beings/things relative to particular contexts. The yinyang symbolism can be fruitful for reimagining man–woman, cleric–lay, and other
dualities in the church as fluid polarities.

Given increased attention to the themes of relationality and intersubjectivity in
contemporary Christian systematic theology, the author argues that these terms
are best understood within the context of a new socially ordered metaphysics in
which human beings enjoy a richer life through active participation in various forms
of community life. He then applies this analysis to the life of the church.

The eighty years of Theological Studies bear witness to the birth of American Catholic theology. This article traces that development through five stages. During its first two decades scholasticism reigned and authority was watchful. Vatican II then introduced a period of change, followed by a thirty-five-year creative phase in which a modern consciousness discussed new issues. By the final period corresponding to Francis’s papacy, an American Catholic theology was in place.

A recurrent myth in the Bible about God “slaying a dragon,” primarily in the Old
Testament, provides a test case for using the “study of Scripture as the soul of
theology” without depending on historical accuracy or indeed on “salvation history”
at all. Freeing us from the dangers of a resurgent focus on history in theological
interpretation, this article shows how the dragon-slaying myth speaks powerfully to
theodicy and the problem of evil.

This article provides an update on the logic undergirding Karl Rahner’s theology
of mystery through a dialogue between Rahner and Jean-Luc Marion. It focuses on
Rahner’s account of truth in Aquinas and Marion’s Gifford Lectures on revelation.
Marion’s distinction between “alethic” (modern-epistemological) and “apocalyptic”
(phenomenological-Christian) logics elucidates anew Rahner’s commitment to
mystery as deep, abiding truth. Also addressed is Marion’s Balthasarian concern about
Rahner and “anticipation,” expressed as criticism of the “anonymous Christian.” The
article aims to encourage future, robust theological reflection on truth, an always
timely endeavor.

This article connects the work of M. Shawn Copeland to a dialogue between Bernard
Lonergan and Emmanuel Levinas. Exploring these authors’ insights on intersubjectivity,
alterity, dialectic, and embodiment, the article develops a framework for engaging
and overcoming contemporary crises of relationality. These resources are then used
to reframe questions of otherness in terms of the imitation of Christ, advocating
encounter grounded in open, prayerful engagement with the marginalized.