GBPress.net Gregorian & Biblical Press

Figueiredo, Anthony J.

“Tesi Gregoriana Teologia” 75

2001, pp. 536

978-88-7652-893-4

This study presents contemporary theological conceptions of the magisterium-theology relationship in the United States as found in the writings of “classical” theologians, and three “elder statesmen” of theology: Avery Cardinal Dulles, Fr. Francis Sullivan, and the late Fr. Richard McCormick. It also examines the pronouncements of the U.S. Bishops, both as a Conference and as individuals, on this theme. The work addresses such important issues as the relationship between theological reasoning and magisterial statement, dissent, the natural moral law, the “grades” of Church teaching and the “conditioning” of dogma. The study aims to determine the definitive foundation for a correct rapport between magisterium and theologians.

Anthony J. Figueiredo is a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, U.S.A. After a career in international banking in England, he entered the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Newark. Ordained in 1994, he served as a missionary in Baltic Lands. In his four years in Rome he was awarded a licence in Spiritual Theology from the Angelicum University, and a licence and a doctorate in Dogmatic Theology from the Gregorian University.