Renewal Within Tradition series
Vatican II represents a watershed in the history of Catholic
ecclesiology. Although it stands in organic continuity with previous
magisterial teaching, distortions of its teaching have proliferated
since the time of the Council, leading many to conclude that the
Catholic Church changed her position regarding the identity that exists
between the One Church of Christ and the Catholic Church.
Stephen A. Hipp’s The One Church of Christ: Understanding Vatican II refutes
that conclusion and explains the Catholic understanding of how Christ’s
indivisible Church relates to the Catholic Church, to non-Catholic
Christian communities, and to other religious societies. Hipp thoroughly
examines the controversial statement that “the Church of Christ
subsists in the Catholic Church” from terminological, historical, and
theological perspectives, showing that Vatican II introduces nothing
doctrinally new to the Church’s self-understanding, but provides a more
nuanced way of speaking about the unicity and universality that define
Christ’s Church. He reveals that Vatican II thereby establishes
ecumenism and interreligious dialogue on fruitful ground, while calling
Catholics to a greater appreciation of the extraordinary gift of the
Church’s subsistence.
Pages: 336. Hardcover.
About the author:
Stephen A. Hipp is Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Saint Paul
Seminary and University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His
areas of specialization include Trinitarian theology, Christology,
ecclesiology, Thomistic studies, and metaphysics. Author of numerous
books and articles, he is internationally recognized for his
contributions to the philosophy and theology of personhood and
subsistence. He holds a Doctorate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical
University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Endorsements:
“Hipp brings together cool logic, sharp metaphysics, historical
light, and linguistic subtlety to understand what it means to say the
Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church. Oh, yes—and an ardent
theology moved by love of the Church! It is just this subsistence of the
Church, just this perfect way of existing as a concrete agent, that
lets the Church be present and active in non-Catholic Christian
communities and makes them real, if imperfect, ways of Christian
salvation. Just because the elements of Christian sanctification and
truth outside her visible bounds belong rightly to her, a more than
manmade or sociological ecumenism is possible for non-Catholic
Christians, and for the same reason, a properly theological ecumenism is
necessary for the custodians of Catholic truth. As Hipp makes his way
from chapter to chapter, the majesty of the Church as the sacrament of
salvation shines out more and more as the key to the universal saving
providence of God in Christ, and every reader will learn humility. There
is no text as good as this on the unity of the one Church of Christ and
her role in the economy of salvation.”
- Guy Mansini, OSB
St. Meinrad School of Theology
“Stephen Hipp’s The One Church of Christ is
without a doubt the most thorough and nuanced treatment of the Second
Vatican Council’s ecclesiology I have encountered. With meticulous
precision reminiscent of the Angelic Doctor, upon whose work he draws
extensively, Hipp makes a compelling case that the council’s
oft-misunderstood phrase subsistit in (the Church of Christ “subsists in” the Catholic Church) represents an authentic development of pre-conciliar doctrine.”
- Matthew Ramage
Benedictine College
“In this precise and penetrating book, Hipp uses philosophical
analysis (a significant trend in conciliar scholarship) in order to
elucidate the most disputed term to emerge from Vatican II, ‘subsistit in,’
and the ecclesiology that it represents. He offers readers a forceful
and carefully argued study which now stands as constitutive reading for
research into Vatican II’s teaching on the Catholic Church and its
relationship with other Christian communities.”
- Thomas G. Guarino
Seton Hall University
“In this dogmatic and ecumenical study on the fundamental
ecclesiological question regarding unity and diversity in the one
Church, the Catholic Church, and the corresponding meaning of the term ‘subsistit in,’
Stephen Hipp demonstrates that he is a master interpreter not only of
Catholic theology but also of the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican
Council. Hipp’s study is probably the definitive work showing that
Vatican II’s ecclesiology introduces no doctrinal change to the Church’s
traditional self-understanding, although it does represent a
significant doctrinal development. This study embodies an exercise in
the hermeneutics of Vatican II, what Benedict XVI called ‘the
“hermeneutic of reform,” of renewal in the continuity of the one
subject-Church which the Lord has given us.’ May Hipp’s marvelous work
bear fruit in our understanding of Catholic ecclesiology and the ongoing
reception of Vatican II.”
- Eduardo J. Echeverria, Ph.D., S.T.L.
Sacred Heart Major Seminary