But then the Roman Catholic bishops acted collectively at Vatican II and changed the church's official teachings that had concerned Blanshard. Thus "Tradition" in the Roman Catholic Church should be understood to mean the current-tradition as operationally defined by the bishops. In any event, it is fair to say that the bishops themselves are temperamentally paleo-conservative Roman Catholics.
Now, the American Jesuit theologian John Courtney Murray's thought was instrumental in bringing about certain changes that were officially decreed in Vatican II. As a result of his influence, Murray appeared on the cover of TIME magazine.
Scribner does discuss Blanshard but only as a so-called opponent, and Murray.
Concerning Murray, see Garry Wills' new book THE FUTURE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WITH POPE FRANCIS (Viking, 2015; see the index for specific page references).
Of course there is still no shortage of rubbish in the other official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, most notably regarding sexual and reproductive morality based on the Catholic tradition's natural-law moral theory.
ONG'S PUBLICATIONS
Scribner gives no evidence of being aware of Ong's critiques of his fellow 20th-century American Catholics in his books FRONTIERS IN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM (Macmillan, 1957) and AMERICAN CATHOLIC CROSSROADS (Macmillan, 1959).
In a lengthy review essay published in a Roman Catholic journal in 1952, Ong was one of the first American Catholics to call his co-religionists' attention to the thought of the French Jesuit paleontologist and religious thinker Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955). Ong never tired of mentioning Teilhard's thought.
In Teilhard's lifetime, Vatican paleo-conservatives had blocked the publication of his books. However, after his death, his books were published posthumously.
Teilhard's two most widely known books are (1) THE PHENOMENON OF MAN, translated by Bernard Wall (Harper & Row, 1959; orig. French ed., 1955) and (2) THE DIVINE MILIEU: AN ESSAY ON THE INTERIOR LIFE (Harper & Row, 1960; no translator is identified; orig. French ed., 1957).
No doubt Teilhard's posthumously published books were far more widely read in the 1960s by both Roman Catholics and non-Catholics than anything by Murray was.
In addition, Teilhard's books were far more widely read than were any of the subsequent books by the Roman Catholic theocons that Scribner discusses.
But Scribner gives no evidence of being aware of Teilhard's posthumously published books.
Unfortunately, Teilhard has not yet been declared to be a Doctor of the Church by church officials, just as Ong has not.
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