Controversial theologian to give lecture at Aquinas Institute By Tim Townsend Saturday, Dec. 22 2007 c/o STL

Controversial theologian to give lecture at Aquinas Institute
By Tim Townsend

Saturday, Dec. 22 2007

In a document issued earlier this month, the Roman Catholic bishops in the U.S.
publicly called into question the orthodoxy of a book written by prominent
Asian-American theologian the Rev. Peter Phan.

The bishops were acting at the behest of the Vatican, which also is
investigating Phan's 2004 book, "Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian
Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue."

Phan is one of the most respected theologians in the American church, so it
comes as no surprise that the leaders of the Aquinas Institute of Theology in
St. Louis asked the Georgetown professor and former president of the
Theological Society of America to give its prestigious Aquinas Lecture on Feb.
3 at St. Francis Xavier (College) Church.

But Friday evening, responding to a question from the Post-Dispatch, Archbishop
Raymond Burke said in a statement that after reading the document from the U.S.
bishops' Committee on Doctrine, he has concluded that Phan's book "presents
central tenets of the Catholic faith in a manner which is confusing and
misleading," and he has concluded that "Father Phan is not a reliable teacher
of the Catholic faith."

Burke said he was concerned that Phan had not responded to the bishops' request
for clarifications about his book, and that while he knew Phan was coming to
speak in the archdiocese, he had not known the results of the doctrine
committee's investigation of the priest's book.

The Rev. Richard A. Peddicord, who will assume the presidency of the Dominican
seminary next month, and who was interviewed Friday before Burke sent his
statement to the paper, said the school had asked Phan 18 months ago to give
the 2008 lecture, "long before there was any knowledge that his work was being
looked into."

In their document, the bishops cited three areas of "serious concern" with
Phan's book:

— Jesus Christ as the unique and universal Savior of all humankind.

— The salvific significance of non-Christian religions.

— The church as the unique and universal instrument of salvation.

For the Vatican, Phan's book represents the doctrinal sin of "relativism," the
idea that belief in Christ is just one road to salvation — a special concern of
Pope Benedict XVI.

According to the National Catholic Reporter, which obtained correspondence
between Phan and the Vatican, Rome's investigation of Phan's book began in
2004, soon after its publication. The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith has asked that Phan address its theological concerns and direct
his publisher, Orbis, not to reprint the book, according to the paper.

Phan could not be reached for comment.

Phan's Aquinas lecture is titled "Asian Christianity Meets Western Theology,"
and the school's website says the priest will "explore the ways in which the
lived spirituality of Asian Christianity influences and is influenced by the
western theological tradition."

Peddicord said he hoped that the lecture will not delve into Phan's
controversial theology.

"I'm very happy about the fact that his lecture is not touching on the points
the bishops highlighted in his book," said Peddicord. "The reason we invited
him was to open up a dialogue between Asian Christians and western ways of
doing theology."

In his statement, Burke said he had not been able to talk to Aquinas leaders
since completing his study of the U.S. bishops' document on Phan's work, but
that, "I will be speaking with them about Father Phan's scheduled lecture at
the Institute."