Thursday, January 12, 2012

Fordham Theology Department "Under Fire"

Terrence Tilley is the theology department chair at Fordham University and past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America.  He has been a critic of Ex corde Ecclesiae and in 2009 drew some criticism of his own from Fr. Thomas Weinandy, executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Doctrine, who said Tilley had been guilty of “doctrinal ambiguity and error”:
“If the bishops continue along this path of censuring or making statements without engaging in dialogue with the theologians,” Terrence Tilley said, “theology may be laughed out of the university as mere propaganda.”
Last year, the U.S. bishops’ doctrine committee released a statement condemning the 2007 book by Fordham University theologian Sr. Elizabeth Johnson for “misrepresentations, ambiguities and errors” that do “not accord with authentic Catholic teaching on essential points.” The U.S. bishops wrote that Quest for the Living God “completely undermines the Gospel and the faith of those who believe in the Gospel” when it addresses doctrine of the Trinity.  They criticized the book for “misrepresentations, ambiguities and errors” that do “not accord with authentic Catholic teaching on essential points.”
Link (here) to the Cardinal Newman Society

5 comments:

kate said...

Just want to say..... as a victim of a perp Jesuit, that Fordham is the only place that wrote me a first intelligent letter and then wrote again and stayed intelligent.


Jesuits, at least on the East U.S. coast, usually have a problem with staying the course.

But in my experience, mine, the leader of Jesuits at Fordham remembered what he said.


I also, while dealing with so much bad crap, audited a course in spiritual direction at Fordham because I needed to talk about God and that worked.

Just wanted to expand your sources.

kate said...

P.S. I can tell you a lot more about the other "smart" Jesuits who mess up. I'm smart too so I catch it. Maybe in 20 or 30 years someone else does the dissertation.

Anonymous said...

They're always "under fire" by conservatives. Big deal.

Anonymous said...

Fordham never says its Catholic
Jesuit yes

Andrew said...

Fordham definitely claims to be a Catholic university. Just read its Mission page - there is an entire section on what it means to be a Catholic university.

http://www.fordham.edu/discover_fordham/mission_26603.asp

Besides, since the Society of Jesus is a CATHOLIC religious order, a "Jesuit" institution must also be a Catholic one.