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Document Details : Title: Dignity, Dissent, and Dialogue Subtitle: Agonistic Ecclesiological Practices for a Synodal Church Author(s): BEYT, Adam , STEIDL JACK, Jason Journal: Louvain Studies Volume: 47 Issue: 3 Date: 2024 Pages: 237-258 DOI: 10.2143/LS.47.3.3295266 Abstract : This article argues that the dissent of lay communities offers potent theological resources for a synodal Church. Contemporary reflections on dissent have predominantly focused on the cases involving individual theologians rather than entire communities engaging the Church’s tradition. To address this lacuna, we will offer a model of the Church as an anticipatory sign of the Reign of God. In the work of Dominican theologian Edward Schillebeeckx, dissent plays an integral role within an agonistic ecclesiology affirming conflict and difference. His ecclesiology presents the Church as a community invested in the remembrance, action, and trusting hope of God’s saving presence within human history. He proposes a dialectical model of a community that involves theologians, lay people, bishops, and even dissenting communities, specifically groups radically seeking to enact the Reign of God on earth through defending the humanum, the new humanity announced by God’s saving hope in history. Considering these communities’ negotiation of dissent, this article will also reflect on DignityUSA’s lay-led theological production concerning gender and sexual diversity. The history, ministry, and theological reflection of DignityUSA showcase ecclesial practices of prophetic obedience and responsible dissent while offering a framework for acknowledging tensions concerning non-infallible doctrine. The conclusion will sketch theological criteria for beginning to reflect on dissent through a dynamic ecclesiology working to incarnate God’s Reign within history as a pivotal dimension of synodality. |
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