Abstract
Using Jacques Rancière’s concept of dissensus as a lens, this contribution investigates the theological role of conflicts that accompany change in the church. Are inner-ecclesial controversies to be avoided at all costs, or could there perhaps be a theological significance to disagreement in the church? The Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region that took place in October 2019 was perceived by many as a gathering towards change of current church practices, and was, as such, a controversial event. It offers a rich case study to explore the role of conflict in ecclesial theologies and practices.
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Notes
- 1.
This is one of the central questions that motivated one of Gerard Mannion’s major research projects. The working title of his final book was The Art of Magisterium: A Teaching Church That Learns.
- 2.
Jacques Rancière, The Politics of Aesthetics: The Distribution of the Sensible (New York: Continuum, 2011), 36.
- 3.
Rancière, Politics, 36.
- 4.
Rancière, Politics, 33 et passim.
- 5.
Cf. Rancière, Politics, 42.
- 6.
Cf. Rancière, Politics, 69.
- 7.
Cf. Rancière, Politics, 80.
- 8.
Rancière, Politics, 149.
- 9.
Gudrun Sailer, “Der vielfältige Klang der Amazonas-Synode,” katholisch.de, October 15, 2019: https://www.katholisch.de/artikel/23262-der-vielfaeltige-klang-der-amazonas-synode (accessed Feb 22, 2020).
- 10.
Jacques Rancière, “Überlegungen zur Frage, was heute Politik heißt,” Dialektik. Zeitschrift für Kulturphilosophie 1 (2003): 113–122, here 122. (my translation).
- 11.
This focus on the personae probatae should by no means detract from the fact that the priority of the synod was to devise an ecclesial response to the global ecological crisis; pastoral reforms were discussed insofar as they contribute to ecological conversion. However, the significance of the viri probati debate in this very context cannot be dismissed. Among others, two points call for a critical appraisal. First, can the church believably call for buen vivir for all, which includes just human relations, when patriarchal discourses continue to shape inner-ecclesial structures? Second, in which ways can a focus on the church’s extra-ecclesial mission towards global climate justice and its advocacy for the marginalized become a (perhaps all too convenient) tool to detract from inner-ecclesial problems of injustice?
- 12.
Charles Collins, “A married priesthood not the real revolution in ‘ordained elders’ proposal,” Crux Now, October 9th, 2019.
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Gruber, J. (2021). Towards a Theology of Dissent. In: Chapman, M.D., Latinovic, V. (eds) Changing the Church. Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53425-7_4
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