Jacques Dupuis (Jesuit)

Jacques Dupuis (5 December 1923 – 28 December 2004) was a Belgian Jesuit priest and theologian. He spent several decades in India and beginning in 1984 taught at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Jacques Dupuis
Born5 December 1923
Huppaye, Brabant, Belgium
Died28 December 2004(2004-12-28) (aged 81)
Rome
ChurchRoman Catholic
Ordained1954

Career

Jacques Dupuis became a Jesuit in 1941. After early religious and academic training in Belgium he left for India in 1948. A 3-year (1948–51) teaching experience at St. Xavier's Collegiate School, Calcutta, made him discover Hinduism through the way it shaped the personalities of the students entrusted to him. This was a discovery - the variety of religions -, and the beginning of a lifelong search: "does God self revelation necessarily pass for all through the person of Jesus Christ?"[1]

After being ordained priest in Kurseong, India he completed a doctorate in Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome on the religious anthropology of Origen of Alexandria. He was assigned to teach Dogmatic Theology at the Jesuit Faculty of Theology of Kurseong (later shifted to Delhi, and renamed 'Vidyajyoti College of Theology').[2]

Director of the journal 'Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection' Father Dupuis was also an adviser to the Catholic Bishops conference of India. Besides numerous articles on theological and inter-religious topics, he published in 1973 (with Josef Neuner) a collection of Church documents, 'The Christian Faith', that went into seven editions over 20 years: an invaluable instrument of theological learning for generations of students of Catholicism.[3]

In 1984, after 36 years in India, Dupuis was called to teach Theology and Non-Christian Religions at the Gregorian University of Rome. His book Jésus-Christ à la rencontre des religions (1989) was well received and promptly translated in Italian, English and Spanish. He was made director of the journal Gregorianum and appointed consultor at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Under investigation

In 2001, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a department of the Roman Curia, determined that his book Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism contained ambiguities that present "difficulties on important doctrinal points" with respect to the proper understanding of "the seeds of truth and goodness that exist in other religions".[4]

Dupuis was told to clarify his position in relation to that document, but he was never disciplined. Future editions of his book had to include a copy of the Congregation's notification about areas in which it considered his work unclear. A visitor reported in 2003 that "the ordeal he went through with the C.D.F. had caused havoc to his mental and physical health."[5] The notification stated: "It is consistent with Catholic doctrine to hold that the seeds of truth and goodness that exist in other religions are a certain participation in truths contained in the revelation of or in Jesus Christ. However, it is erroneous to hold that such elements of truth and goodness, or some of them, do not derive ultimately from the source-mediation of Jesus Christ."[6]

Subsequently, however, Dupuis's 'pioneering' work was highly praised on the meaning of other religions in "God's plan of salvation of mankind".[7]

Jacques Dupuis died a few days after celebrating 50 years of priesthood, in Rome, on 28 December 2004.

Christology

Many theologians argue for a Christology that is expressly based on the Trinity and an understanding of the interpersonal relationships between Father and Son and between Son and Holy Spirit. In Jacques Dupuis' Who Do You Say I Am?, he argues that, within the one person of Jesus Christ, we can distinguish between his two natures, human and divine, and thus between the operations of his uncreated divine nature and his created finite human nature.

In order to properly phrase the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Father, Dupuis utilizes different terms to describe aspects of Christ's divine and human nature. Instead of "absolute" and "definitive", Dupuis speaks in terms of "constitutive" and "universal". In this way, Dupuis tries to lead the discussion away from dealing in absolutes.

First, our knowledge of God is not absolute or definitive; it is necessarily limited. Second, the absolute Savior is the Father, who is the ultimate source of the risen Lord and of all reality. Hence, the uniqueness and universality of Christ the Savior are 'constitutive.' As the son of God incarnate, Jesus is the center of history and the key to the entire procession of salvation, and his resurrection confers universal significance on his human existence. In this sense, he is 'constitutive' of universal salvation.[1]

Dupuis emphasizes that Jesus' constitutive uniqueness as universal Savior rests on his personal identity as the Son of God.

Books
  • Jesus Christ at the Encounter of World Religions, 1991
  • Introduzione alla cristologia, 1993
  • Who Do You Say I Am?: Introduction to Christology, 1994
  • Toward a Christian theology of religious pluralism, 1997
  • Christianity and the religions, 2002

Notes
  1. Cf. "Examining Jacques Dupuis’ Theology of Religious Pluralism", by Ambrose Mong Ih-Ren, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 22 November 2011.
  2. Cf. "Remembering Jacques Dupuis", by John Allen Jr. on The National Catholic Reporter of 7 January 2005.
  3. Cf. "Jesus with an Asian Face", on Sedosmission.org of August–September 1999.
  4. Sandri, Luigi (1 February 2001). "Vatican Attempts to Clarify Jesuit's Stance on Religious Pluralism". Christianity Today. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  5. Phan, Peter C. (3 February 2003). "Inclusive Pluralism". America. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  6. NOTIFICATION on the book "Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism" (Orbis Books: Maryknoll, New York 1997) by Father JACQUES DUPUIS, S.J.
  7. Cf. "Theological Contributions Of Jesuit Jacques Dupuis Celebrated In Rome", by Gerard O'Connell on USCCB News. Accessed 5 December 2012

Bibliography
  • The Christian Faith, Alba House New York (1973)ISBN 0-8189-0453-4.
  • Jesus-Christ at the encounter of World Religions (1991).
  • Who do you say I am ? Introduction to Christology (1994).
  • Towards a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism (1997).
  • KENDALL Daniel, O'COLLINS Gerald (eds), In many and diverse ways: In Honor of Jacques Dupuis (2003). This book contains a complete bibliography of articles and books of Dupuis.
  • Burrows, William (2013). Jacques Dupuis Faces the Inquisition. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-62032-335-9.
  • Gerard O'Connell, Do not stifle the Spirit; Conversations with Jacques Dupuis, New York (Maryknoll), Orbis Books, 2017.
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