The Boston Globe reports that Fr. Matthew Lamb, the only non-dissenting theologian in the theology dept. at Boston College is heading south. Guess where. Yup, Ave Maria University.
“The theology department at Boston College is increasingly unable, in my judgment, to provide the kind of serious formation in Catholic intellectual and theological traditions that is essential,” Lamb said in an interview.
Initially this is only a temporary change, but it could become permanent. (How much you want to bet it is?) Fr. Lamb will set up graduate programs at Ave Maria. If this were ten years ago, I seriously think I would be considering Ave Maria over Steubenville for graduate work.
Meanwhile, the BC spokesflack defends the theology department.
Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn defended BC’s standing: Its theologians are regularly consulted by US bishops, he said, and include six past presidents of the Catholic Theological Society of America.
Jack, you’re not reassuring me. You’re only convincing me that Fr. Lamb is right.
Gosh, it’s good to know that BC’s theologians are regularly consulted by US Bishops (who? which ones, really?) Crazy “mandate”. Who would want to do that? Who would want to study under someone who says Yes I believe in the fullness of the Truth and will teach it”. what is this world coming to??
There’s a battle that’s been brewing for a while over what terms like orthodoxy, mainstream, extremist, dissent, fidelity, etc. mean.
No offense to Sock, but I would be very wary of lists of “dissenters” made by groups you don’t know anything about. What some people call dissent, the Church may regard as acceptable diversity within the broad spectrum of the Church’s teaching. Better to go to someone you trust for such determinations.
Good for Father Lamb. Any graduate student who cares about fidelity to the Magesterium should just pack their backs and go South! Then again, if they cared about authentic teaching, they would not have gone to BC in the first place.
Now, I’m just unwashed laity from the third row but I’m pretty sure Theology needs to based on Scripture, the Magesterium and the teaching of ALL the Popes.
I’ve seen Generation Cross..a long time ago…seemed pretty tepid but maybe a good show for people coming back into the Faith, as I was.
Sock,
Actually I only glanced briefly at the lists, but I’m generally wary of “heretics” lists. While we all recognize the big groups and names that might need to be there, eventually names creep that have less to do with heresy and more to do with personal preferences.
As for who I would go to, it’s not so cut and dried. In the past you could count on your bishop and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Now, you just have to latch on to someone who knows more than you and ask them.