Date of Award
2024
Degree Name
Master of Philosophy (Theology) School of Education, Philosophy, and Theology
First Supervisor
Professor Tracey Rowland
Second Supervisor
Dr Mariusz Biliniewicz
Abstract
Since the First Vatican Council’s solemn definition of papal primacy and infallibility, the Catholic ecclesial consciousness has been shaped by a unique form of devotion to the office of the Supreme Pontiff. While the scope of these charisms had been clearly defined and delimited, a sentiment described as “creeping infallibility” has nevertheless complicated the proper understanding of the Petrine office and its demands on the faithful. Before the episcopal college, local church communities, the laity at large, and the individual churchman, this office has been regularly viewed in tensions that feel the prerogatives either of institution or charism threated. Even with developments since the Second Vatican Council, the primarily epistemic and juridical functions of primacy and infallibility still appear to determine the Catholic understanding of the papacy, in a way that continues to suggest the enduring presence of ultramontanism within ecclesial life.
The works of Erich Przywara and Hans Urs von Balthasar approach the challenge that this office presents by situating the ministry of Peter among the other aspects of the Church’s life that, beyond procedural or doctrinal measures, more clearly reveal the nature and mission of ecclesial office. This study reviews their presentations of the charism–institution question, with focused reference to the office of the pope, in order to discern their understanding of a viable “middle way” that does more than relativise or downplay either side of the equation. Using their visions of analogy and the Christological constellation, as well as their “sacramental representational” understanding of the papacy, we will attempt to provide a model for the exercise of, and adherence to papal office capable of integrating those factors that, while long noted as necessary, seemingly still await a clear path forward.
Publication Details
Uremovic, D. (2024). "Where You Do Not Wish To Go": Petrine Ministry Between Charism and Institution, in the Thought of Erich Przywara and Hans Urs von Balthasar [Master of Philosophy (Theology) School of Education, Philosophy, and Theology]. The University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/451
