Schillebeeckx

              Edward Schillebeeckx: Betting Our Lives on Christ
James J. Bacik
Introduction
1. Edward Schillebeeckx (1914-2009); pronounced SKIL-uh-bakes; abbreviated here ES) born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium; 6th of 14 children;
attended Jesuit secondary school; 1934 joined Dominican Order, 1941 ordained a priest; 1946 postgraduate studies Sorbonne in Paris where he
encountered Chenu and Congar (New Theology); 1958 joined the faculty of the Catholic University of Nijmegen where he taught until retiring in
1983; advisor to Cardinal Alfrink and Dutch bishops during Vatican II; helped prepare the New Dutch Catechism (1961); helped found the
journal Concilium; from 1968-1981 the Vatican investigated his writings for heresy but no formal censures or penalties were put in place; he
was known as reserved, charming and gracious (cf NYT obituary by Peter Steinfels). He was attuned to "fragments of salvation" when persons
relate to one another and human love serves as a sacrament of God's love (Mary Catherine Hilkert).
2. Making Christ central and decisive in our lives based on our own experience in dialogue with the experience of the early disciples of Jesus.
There are over 2 billion followers of Jesus today (Pew study estimate in 2010). The task is to make Christ central and decisive for our lives (bet
our lives on him.)
3. Books by ES: Jesus: An Experiment in Christology (1979) a 767 treatment of the historical Jesus; Christ the Experience of Jesus as Love, a 927
page examination of the experience of grace in the New Testament; The Interim Report, a short, more readable summary of his big books.
Our situation
A. Description
1. Globalization, tribalism, polarization, wars
2. Personal estrangement from self, others, world, God
B. Salvation
1. Wholeness, healing, integrity, liberation
2. The limited nature of therapy, material possessions, modern science, social change, self-help programs-they are important and valuable
but do not touch the deepest level of human existence.
3. There is a quest for transcendent salvation that Christians find in Jesus Christ.
Approach
A. We have access to Jesus through the interpreted experience of the original disciples as expressed in the New Testament.
1. The New Testament is a collection of community experiences of Jesus as the one in and through God imparts salvation.
2. This produces a pluralism of primary experiences of Christ.
3. These witnesses interpreted their experiences in the light of available models, outlooks and expectations drawn largely from the Hebrew
scriptures.
4. The earthly Jesus remains the source and foundation for Christian faith. Our faith is in a person and not a philosophy or a text.
5. We approach the experience of the early followers with our own experience of encountering Jesus as the prime source of God's salvation.
B. Recovering the historical Jesus
1. The Gospel writers are not eyewitnesses. The Gospels are documents of faith written by 2nd and 3rd generations of Christians.
2. Positive criteria: multiple attestations (Jesus associating with outcasts); unique sayings and deeds (referring to God as Abba); execution
criteria (cleansing Temple); embarrassment criteria (baptism by John); editorial process (Mark sees Jesus as a miracle worker while trying
to play this down).
3. Three types of material: (1) authentic deeds and sayings; (2) central core derives from Jesus; (3) material created by the community in
response to the experience of Jesus.
Content
A. Public life
1. Grew up in Nazareth.
2. Baptized by John: Jesus submits to baptism, a symbolic act endorsing John's mission.
3. Jesus preached the kingdom (not a major theme at the time except with Zealots) calling for radical conversion which involves accepting that
God's love is universal and we are to live according to kingdom ideals.
4. Jesus is a parable of God's love and taught in parables that challenge conventional thinking and call for a decision. Probably part of his
table talk and not his general teachings. Conclusions and moral points are later additions.
5. His beatitudes (Luke is more faithful) offered hope to the poor and sorrowful.
6. He was seen as one who did marvelous deeds, healing and exorcisms, by friends and foes.
7. He shared meals with outcasts, showing himself to be the eschatological messenger.
8. He appointed co-workers and sent them to preach about the coming kingdom.
9. He criticized the way the Pharisees interpreted the Law. Jesus is the true teacher of the Law which is a gift from God.
10. Cleansing the Temple was a prophetic act to engender conversion. Probably done in the middle of his ministry bringing popularity with the
people and enmity of leaders.
11. The core of Jesus' life and ministry is the "Abba experience" or immediate awareness of God as a loving Father.
B. Rejection and Death
1. Jesus died freely; killed as previous prophets; the suffering of a just man; his death is an atonement of sin.
2. At the Last Supper Jesus knows he is in danger and speaks of his death as an act of self-sacrificing love which will bring salvation to others.
3. The Agony in the Garden represents an inner conflict over his mission that is running out of time and the silence of his Father.
4. His first session before the Sanhedrin failed to convict Jesus, but in a second session they decided to hand him over to the Romans who
executed him on political grounds.
5. His death appears to be the failure of his mission.
C. After his death
1. The disciples somehow let Jesus down and were not present at the cross. The story of Peter's denials highlights this.
2. Peter took the lead in regrouping, perhaps assisted by Mary of Magdala.
3. The empty tomb tradition grew up in Jerusalem where they knew the site and gathered to celebrate the risen Lord.
4. There is an early tradition of an appearance to Mary of Magdala and other Galilean women.