Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church by Bishop Geoffrey Robinson Johngarrett publishing, 2007, ISBN 1920721479, pp 307.
Reviewed by Arthur Grimshaw
This is a splendid and thought-provoking book written by a Roman Catholic bishop
— which ought to be required reading for theological students and informed lay folk of all denominations.
Anglican emphasis since the 1th Century on the three-fold nature of Christian revelation has linked the three streams of Scripture, Reason and Tradition.
In his book Bishop Robinson identifies these streams under slightly different titles, as the wisdom of God contained in the bible; the wisdom of the present studies of the world around and within us; and the wisdom of the past embodied in what has been handed down in the tradition of the church.
He makes the point that Tradition pre-dated the Scriptures, and indeed defined which Scriptures were counted as authentic by the Church.
He also reminds us the tradere also means ‘to betray’ and thus in the creative and imaginative process of handing on what we have received it is always possible to betray what had been handed on to us.
Spiritual discernment is needed to interpret each of these streams of the wisdom of God.
The tradition which has been handed on from the Lord and his witnesses was the transmission of the living faith and corporate life of the infant Church.
Before long it was recognised that to preserve the memories of Jesus and his life and teaching beyond the early generations of adherents, some written record of the events and teachings would be needed.Thus the tradition preceded the writing of the New Testament.
In the century after Christ’s death and resurrection there were many apocryphal writings in addition to the four Gospels now recognised by the Church as authentic witnesses (e.g. the Gospels of James, Thomas, Nicodemus, and many others).
In discerning whether or not a sacred writing was accepted into the general life of the Church, three principles were adopted:
o antiquity – was the scripture written and used while the eyewitnesses were still alive, or was the authenticity attested by reliable eyewitnesses?
o universality – was the particular Gospel accepted for reading in all the churches, or only a few?
o authenticity – was there in the writing integrity with the teaching of the other gospels; did they lead to a deeper understanding of Jesus and of God?
Only four conformed to these standards – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
It was important to the early Church that the very diversity of the four gospels assisted Christians to come to a deeper understanding of Jesus and of God.
The ‘canon’ of scripture was not settled until some four hundred years later.
The Scriptures were created to assist the process of preserving the ‘tradition’.Without tradition we would have no Scriptures.
The wisdom of God as mediated through contemporary studies in more recent times is perhaps a more difficult area, with greatly divergent notions and understandings, especially in such matters as the place of men and women in society, the scientific understanding of sexuality and its implications in our reflecting on homosexual matters, or scientific research in a world which is very different from that encountered in the Scriptures.
The following paragraphs are quoted verbatim from Bishop Robinson’s book:
“Within the Anglican Communion there are three branches that are sometimes called evangelical, catholic and liberal.
All three have great respect for the bible, all three acknowledge that specifically Anglican ways of doing things have been handed down and all three would consider themselves reasonable and rational. “Nevertheless, relative to each other, the evangelical branch gives more weight to the bible, the catholic branch gives more weight to what has been handed down, and the liberal branch gives more weight to the wisdom of the world around us and within us. The same preferences can be seen in other churches.
“I mention this fact to stress the difficulty of finding the right balance between the wisdom of God contained in the bible, the wisdom of the present studying the world around and within us and the wisdom of the past embodied in what has been handed down. “Much thought needs to be given to this matter and nothing less than the collective wisdom of the entire Christian world will be sufficient.The extremes of all three tendencies must be sternly resisted and we must work towards an understanding where each of these means of knowledge is properly balanced by the other two.” (p.74)
Such writings from a Roman Catholic source are evidence of stirrings of questioning within the Catholic tradition which hopefully will lead to deeper theological encounter across the borders of denominational difference.
Having established this groundwork, Bishop Robinson goes on to reflect on the nature of the church that originated in Jesus and the knowledge that Jesus brought to his mission to universally proclaim the reign of God.
He goes on to note the developments in papal power over the centuries quoting the devastating comment by Yves Congar, a noted theologian, who spoke of being “crushed, destroyed, excommunicated by a pitiless system which can neither amend itself nor even recognise its errors, but is run by men who are disarming in their goodness and piety”. (p.128)
The author examines the beginnings of change initiated by the Second Vatican Council, and leads into his reflections on the questions of morality arising from the scandals of widespread sexual abuse within the churches and how they have been handled.
This area of concern was Bishop Robinson’s particular brief for six years after he retired from his ministry as auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, and was elected by the Australian Catholic Bishops to the National Committee for Professional Standards (of which he was co-chairman).
Robinson’s chapter ‘A dark grace, a severe mercy’ is particularly pertinent for those given the task of planning rehabilitation for former offenders.
The four chapters on moral issues are followed by four chapters on the beliefs of the church – equally ground-breaking and disturbing to traditionalists.
His vision is for the church to model in its members the responsibility appropriate to adults rather than the obedience appropriate to children.
As the dustcover summary proclaims: “Readers will love or hate this book, but will not be neutral”.
This is compulsive reading, with opportunities for meditation and reflection at the end of each chapter. The author pre-supposes a prayerful disposition in those who reflect on the issues raised by his book, and these meditations at the end of each chapter would be a valuable resource for an ecumenical study group willing to take the journey offered by the bishop, and willing to grow in the kind of maturity Bishop Robinson seeks for our future in this world.
Fr Arthur Grimshaw is Dean Emeritus of St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane.