EDWARD SCHILLEBEECKX Biographical Sketch
Edward Cornelius Florentius Schillebeeckx is renowned as one of the most significant, and possibly one of the most controversial Roman Catholic theologians of the 20th century. He was born in Antwerp, Belgium on the 12th of November 1914 and of 14 children in the family he was the sixth. Is parents were devout Catholics who attended daily Mass and prayed with their children, but his father is said to have had no great respect for clergy.
Edward's early education was under the tutelage of the Society of Jesus who ran the school that he and his eight brothers attended. He found Jesuit community life too rigid so when he sensed a vocation to religious life he felt drawn more to the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) which he considered to be much less formal in practice and more open. During his formation as a Dominican he spent his novitiate in Ghent, then 3 years studying philosophy at the University of Louvain – the three years he described as having been the best in his life. It was at Louvain that Edward was first introduced to the writings, officially banned by the Church, of Kant, Hegel, and Freud.
In 1938 he was conscripted to military service but was allowed to freely continue the pursuit of his studies for the most part. After a period of one year Edward was permitted to return to Louvain only to have the outbreak of World War II draw him almost immediately back into military service. Belgium having succumb immediately to German occupation saw no significant military response to the German advance so Edward was soon back to his studies. He again returned to Louvain where he completed a three year program in Theology after which, in 1943, he was ordained a priest.
After completing his Ph.D. Schillebeeckx taught dogmatic theology at Louvain until 1945 after which he went on to further studies in Paris where he came under the influence of fellow Dominican theologians Yves Congar and Fr. Marie-Dominique Chenu. Chenu was a controversial figure in his time whose works were twice been condemned by Church authorities, however, Edward considered Chenu to be the greatest theologian of the 20th century and it seems he chose to follow in his mentor's footsteps in terms of pushing the envelope regarding official Church teaching / practice in his own theological research.
At Louvain Schillebeeckx was engaged in teaching, pastoral work in local prisons and parishes, as well as student ministry. He was considered too lax with students by university authorities and was not averse to introducing students to persons at the forefront of service to those suffering and marginalised. It was perhaps due to his reputation as one who was not committed to the status quo that he was invited to lecture throughout the Netherlands and to write articles for publications that dealt with church reform. In 1958 Edward was made professor at the University of Nijmegen. It was during his tenure there that he became involved in the preparations that the Dutch church was making for the commencement of Vatican II.
Leading up to the Second Vatican Council the bishops of the Netherlands issued a controversial letter in which they challenged the church leadership in Rome to implement substantial reform and lessen the power of the Vatican over the wider church. Schillebeeckx was widely held to have been the major contributor to the content of this document and as a result he was not listed as an official theological consultant to the Council. Edward was nevertheless in attendance at Vatican II as an adviser to the Dutch bishops and during the years of the Council was often called upon to elucidate bishops from around the world on the strong and weak points of the Council's documents. Ultimately Schillebeeckx had significant, albeit indirect influence upon the final drafts of the Council's official statements and documents, however, in the long term he remained disappointed in Vatican II's final outcomes feeling that church reform was not sufficiently implemented. In light of this fact in 1989 he was one of 163 signatories of a letter that made a highly critical assessment of the conservative policies of Pope John Paul II.
Throughout the 1970's Schillebeeckx became increasingly involved in the anti-nuclear weapons movement as well as developing a significant interest in liberation theology in the Latin American context. Liberation theology was important to him as an 'integral part of theological exploration' and not just something fashionable. Possibly in light of such sympathies he was summoned to Rome in 1979 to provide formal clarification of his thought and writings to authorities, and explain how they were compatible with official church teaching. He was twice investigated later in his career but none of his thought or output (over 400 published pieces of writing, including many books) has been formally condemned. What was of concern to church authorities in his thought was his perceived overemphasis upon the humanity of Jesus as 'prophet' which could result potentially in the deemphasizing Christ's divinity. Additionally, in his critique of the development of the church's life he held the view that little of her structure and organisation could be unequivocally considered fixed or final. While Schillebeeckx was one who did not fear to raise difficult questions regarding the faith and the church he was not interested in controversy, tried to be extremely clear in the qualification of his views, and was always seen to be humble and open to new and better ideas with a willingness to revise his positions when he felt it appropriate.
Fully incorporating modern Biblical criticism in his approach to the New Testament, Schillebeeckx was one of only two major Catholic theologians to do so in the 20th century. His great interest was to see the laity fully engaged in the experience of the Catholic faith so that being a Christian had real impact on their day to day living. This being said, his own capacity to communicate his theological insights in a manner that the lay Christian could readily understand was limited. He has a reputation for extremely dense, meandering, and complex argument in his theological writings.
Edward retired from his position as lecturer at Nijmegen in 1982 and lessened his literary output. Additionally, Catholic authorities in the Netherlands at this time had moved toward greater theological conservatism so his views were of less interest within official church circles. Nevertheless, Schillebeeckx's reputation as a theologian of immense significance for the contemporary church remains even beyond his death last year on 23 December 2009.
SOURCES
London Telegraph. "Father Edward Schillebeeckx." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/religion-obituaries/6927952/Father-Edward-Schillebeeckx.html (accessed 22 September 2010).
Schillebeeckx, Edward. 1987. The Schilebeeckx Reader, Robert Schreiter, ed. From 'An Orientation to His Thought'. p. 1-24.
