Aftershocks of the U.S. bishops\u2019 doctrine committee\u2019s moves against theologian Sr. Elizabeth Johnson spread Monday as the College Theology Society issued a statement saying the bishops\u2019 moves represent a \u201cfundamental breach\u201d in the call for dialogue in the church and wounds the \u201centire community of Catholic theologians.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Monday statement from the College Theology Society, which represents lay and religious undergraduate theology faculty, is the latest in a months-long saga over Johnson\u2019s book Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God, which the bishops first blasted in March.<\/p>\n
In late October, the bishops\u2019 Committee on Doctrine reconfirmed their condemnation, which touched off questions of why the bishops hadn\u2019t first attempted dialogue with the St. Joseph sister and what that might mean for the practice of theology.<\/p>\n
The theology society\u2019s statement, signed by its seven board members and four officers and addressed to the society\u2019s membership, expresses \u201csadness and grave concern\u201d over the bishops\u2019 October statement because the bishops went forward \u201cwithout entering into a process of dialogue with [Johnson] about the issues being raised.\u201d<\/p>\n