Christoph Theobald, Un concilio in incognito? Il sinodo, via di riconciliazione e creatività, EDB, Bologna 2024, pp. 192.
Christoph Theobald, An Incognito Council? The Synod, a Path to Reconciliation and Creativity, EDB, Bologna 2024, pp. 192.
The Author is a well-known theologian of German origin, resident in Paris, professor at the Centre Sèvres, the Jesuit institute of the French capital. It may be useful to know that many of his works, including this one, have been translated into Italian, in particular by EDB (publisher of the Dehonians) of Bologna.
Theobald is recognized for his thinking on ecumenical dialogue and for an innovative vision of the role of the Catholic Church in the contemporary world. He affirms, deepens and disseminates the need for a “synodal” and fraternal Church, in line with the reforms promoted by Pope Francis.
The book we present is easy to read and understand, written in a calm style, well documented on the reality of the Synod in progress without a feeling of hypercriticism of which the synodal work is often criticized and even more ignored.
We note well that the Author does not want to express personal thoughts, but to report and interpret the path of the Synod so far. It includes two stages: the result, from the beginning of the work (2021-2022), is summarized in the first Synod (October 2023); a second stage follows that concludes in the second Synod (October 2024). Theobald obviously cannot speak about this, since his text was written first, but he foresees the tasks in light of the documents gradually published by the Pope and the General Secretariat. Significant conclusions and new proposals for the continuation of the synodal journey are to be expected.
The A.’s vision is already expressed in the title: An incognito council? The synod, a path of reconciliation and creativity. For Theobald, the current synod is not the expiration of a commitment among many synods, usual in the history of the Church. First of all, it has a close connection, indeed by root, with the Second Vatican Council, of which it wants to be an extension, not only aspiring to be understood as a council not declared as such (incognito), but to be so in fact, notably with two of its distinctive traits defined as “path of reconciliation and creativity”, for which the Synod in progress is called by him a path, made of openness and dialogue at a religious and social level, with a profoundly innovative, creative purpose, in view of a new evangelization under the guidance of the Spirit of Jesus (or Holy Spirit) that does not make a new Church, but the same Church renewed as in the origins, “not a different Church, but a different Church”.
Theobald’s book is placed within this framework of ideas. It is 190 pages well structured in six chapters of which we give here, in brief summary, the contents. Essential inspiration comes from the Scriptures as a “missionary travel report” that wants to continue in the Synod and is its soul (chap. 1); the A. the question is asked: “if synodality is a “constitutive dimension of the Church”, how is it constituted?”. The answer is clear and dominant: it is based on Baptism which creates a fraternal equality of the baptized; it takes its orientation and inspiration from Vatican II; for which the Church must always be understood as “people of God” (chap. 2); a clarification on the Synod itself follows: it is an intercontinental and intercultural journey (some experiences in Africa and Europe are reported, seen as “gifts” of the Holy Spirit) (chap. 3); a solid reflection on the soul of the synodal journey could not be missing: “A journey of spiritual and institutional conversion” (chap. 4); in chaps. 5 and 6 the strong points of the first synodal stage are summarized (until October 2024). The task that engages the Church in profoundly reforming itself remains central. Chap. 5 mentions the basic contents and problems: the renewed and indispensable participation of women in the life of the Church; the real involvement of all Christians and not only the clergy; a regained credibility especially with regard to scandals and institutional crises, underlining the importance of a structural and spiritual reform to regain the trust of the faithful; to this end the Church must renew its way of exercising authority, transforming it into an “authority of fraternity”, capable of promoting dialogue and inclusion; the Church should overcome internal and social conflicts through a spirit of brotherhood, thus contributing to cohesion in secular societies. Last but not least, theological science must give its contribution to the elaboration of emerging thoughts and proposals. In chapter 6 Theobald expresses, so to speak, his synodal dream with a statement that he repeats elsewhere: “synodality must be seen within a messianic vision of the world”.
He concludes by asking whether the breadth, novelty and depth of the synod can be outlined as “a council incognito?”. It is a question that, reading the book, sounds like a challenge: who and how can one say no?
Cesare Bissoli
Istituto di Catechetica, UPS. Roma