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CHICAGO STUDIES
At the same time, the strong emphasis among the German Protestant theologians on Holy Scripture as the "place" where the dialogue between God and man normally takes place should remind those of us in the Roman Catholic tradition that a distinction must be made, in theology as in other academic disciplines, between primary and secondary sources. The primary sources out of which a Roman Catholic theologian should do his theologizing are, as already mentioned, Scripture, the official pronouncements of the magisterium, and the sacred liturgy as the focal point of the Christian way of life. Yet it often happens that these primary sources are ambivalent with respect to a new and unprecedented situation within the Church. Here the theologian can and should draw upon the secondary sources of theology, i.e., the writings of other contemporary theologians, the findings of experts in fields related to theology, e.g., psychology, sociology, philosophy of religion, etc. To bring order and method, however, into the study of theology, these secondary sources should be continuously evaluated in the light of the primary sources, not indeed to defend the traditional interpretation of the sources, but rather to make clear the doctrinal tradition within which the theologian does his theologizing and to which he must make a contribution, if his opinions are to have any enduring value. Secondly, with respect to the audience addressed, the theologian should realize that he is addressing himself to a faithcommunity which is hierarchically ordered. Hence, while his general aim is to awaken each of the faithful, bishop, priest, and layman alike, to a new awareness of the Word of God in his or her existential situation, in practice he must remember that his own role as interpreter or "hermeneut" of the \Vord of God is subordinate to the magisterial teaching authority of the Church. This is not to say that he cannot take issue with some past decision of the hierarchy, if it seems clear to him that their decision was biased or at least one-sided. But his dissent from the official teaching of the Church must be expressed in such a way, that the authority of the magisterium itself is not called into question. The responsibility for the unity of doctrine in the Church is, after all, primarily in the hands of the bishops, and only secondarily the concern of the theologians, who seek to "interpret" the Word of God anew in each new situation.