Church and state after Vatican II : the abiding significance of John Courtney Murray and Bernard Lonergan

Abstract

John Courtney Murray, a theological expert at Vatican II, was from the USA and was the “main scribe” of the conciliar Declaration on Religious Freedom Dignitatis humanae (DH). He was convinced that the question of how Catholics think about religious freedom is the central issue involved in how they think about Church-state relations. In addition to making this link, Murray also became increasingly aware that one cannot discuss issues of religious freedom without addressing the deepest of issues of philosophy and theology. Murray increasingly found a resource for the most “foundational” of thinking in the work of Bernard Lonergan, who spoke of the need for a shift of horizon in Catholic theology from “classicism” to “historical consciousness”. This shift to historical consciousness remains a key task for the Church today.