Growth of the Christian Idea: An Application of Bernard Lonergan’s Thought to Discourse on Doctrinal Development

Abstract

There are three aspects of the problem of development of doctrine with which approaches have had to contend: the historicity of doctrines, the role of reason in development, and the supernatural motion of development. Historically, there has been a tendency to give primacy to one of these aspects at the expense of others, which has led to various forms of reductionism. I propose that Bernard Lonergan’s thought, which is often overlooked in development scholarship, can provide organizing principles for the conversation about doctrinal development so that the historical, rational, and supernatural aspects of the problem can be non-competitively situated. By putting Lonergan into dialogue with different kinds of theorists, I simultaneously advance an interpretation of his thought on development that accentuates the underestimated role of reason in his account.