David /. Hassel, S./.
The Priest-Expert A Philosophical-Theological Assessment By medialift8 between the Church and secular culture, the prielt~ert keep• the Church re~ to her age.
In the' rapidly changing 1960's, one question keeps sounding in the ears of the Church with an especially piercing quality: Is the Church keeping her message relevant to the times? Is she succeeding or failing in her witness to Christ? A previous article (CHICAGO STUDIES, Fall, 1963), taking an historical view of this current problem, traced the developing role of the priest-expert in the Church and found that his media¡ tion of expert knowledge was of great importance for the Church's witness to Christ. In the present article, an attempt will be made to give this historical finding both a philosophical and a theological explanation. These tentative explanations aim to describe concretely how the priest-expert mediates between the Church and the world of secular learning in order to develop Christian wisdom in both communities. 201