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Cardinal Dulles' Christ-Centered Theology

Robert P. Imbelli, SJ*

Two years after the death of Cardinal Avery Dulles

December 12th marked the second anniversary of the death of Cardinal Avery Dulles, one of the finest theologians the Church in the United States has produced, and the first to be named a Cardinal. As is well-known, Dulles converted to Catholicism while a student at Harvard University, and, after military service during the Second World War, entered the Society of Jesus. His love for the "company of Jesus" was surpassed only by his love for the Church and for the Lord Jesus himself.

Dulles became known throughout the theological world for his creative employment of the notion of "models" in the doing of theology. His most famous work in this regard was his 1974 book, Models of the Church. In it he distinguished five models or ways of understanding the mystery of the Church: Church as institution, community, sacrament, herald, and servant.

Dulles' purpose in doing so was two-fold. First, at a time of increasing pola

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Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ, was the first U.S. theologian to be named to the College of Cardinals. Avery Dulles was also the first American Jesuit to receive that honor.

Avery Dulles was the son of former U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. While his parents’ religious background was Presbyterian, Dulles was raised in a generally secular household. It was through the study of philosophy in college that he began to explore the meaning of life. Aristotle taught him to have confidence in human reason. Plato led him to contemplate the nature of the absolute being as the foundation for the moral order. Reading the Gospels led Dulles to the loving and merciful God who redeemed us in Jesus Christ.

Dulles continued his studies and was led closer to the Catholic faith through them. He especially admired Thomistic philosophers Etienne Gibson and Jacques Maritain. Dulles was also attracted to the active Catholic liturgical life he observed in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Finally, Dulles asked a Jesuit priest to instruct him in the faith, and he was received into the Church in 1940.

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Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J. was born on 24 August 1918 in Auburn (New York), USA. The son of U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, he was raised a Protestant but converted to the Catholic faith while a student at Harvard College. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he entered the Society of Jesus and was ordained on 16 June 1956. He holds a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.

He taught theology at Woodstock College (1960-1974) and the Catholic University of America (1974-1988), and was a visiting professor at numerous other institutions. The author of 23 books and over 750 articles, he was President of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society. He was also a member of the International Theological Commission and the U.S. Lutheran/Roman Catholic Dialogue, and a consultor to the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Doctrine. Hewas the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University, New York (1988-2008).

Created and proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in the consistory of 21