Vatican II and Fundamental Theology

Abstract

This article describes and evaluates what the teaching of Vatican II has contributed to the development of fundamental theology in four areas: (1) the salvific self-revelation or self-communication of the tripersonal God; (2) the conditions that enable human beings to respond to this divine self-communication with faith; (3) the credibility of God’s self-revelation that makes Christian faith a reasonable option; and (4) the transmission and interpretation (through tradition and the inspired scriptures) of the experience of God’s self-revelation. The article also indicates how the teaching of John Paul II has been significant for developing further fundamental theology: for instance, in what he wrote about revelation being also a present reality communicated through the medium of human experience and about the Holy Spirit operating at the heart of each person’s ‘religious questioning’ (Redemptoris Missio ).