More on the Hermeneutic of Continuity...

The other day I posted about a statement that the Pope made about hermeneutics and Vatican II. You can read that post here:
The Pope and the Hermeneutic of Continuity

More statements have come out that further expound on the the Pope's ideas concerning Vatican II and hermeneutics. For those that don't know what hermeneutics are, or why it is important, let me explain:

Hermeneutics are essentially the theory or interpretation of theory - how something is interpreted. When we discuss hermeneutics regarding Vatican II, we are talking about the direction of the Church after the council. There are generally two side theories:

• The Hermeneutic of Continuity: Where the Church remained the same after Vatican II, with changes to secure a more full and deep meaning towards the heart of the Church. That the past was one with the present and future to create a seamless faith and belief structure. [This is VERY simplistic, but I want to keep this base level for those that have never read about this before.]
• &
• The Hermeneutic of Rupture: That the Church broke with the past after Vatican II, and that the council represented a drastic change and evolution that essentially broke ties with the past to create a type of new existence, which moving forward would continue to grow and be organic OUTSIDE of the tradition and teachings of the past. 

Pope Benedict, who was actually one of the young "progressive" writers during Vatican II, has consistently called for there to be a hermeneutic of CONTINUITY. As I stated in the previous post, the Pope was quite clear recently regarding this issue. Again, statements have come out which solidify the fact that he stresses to the faithful how we must view the council of Vatican II as a hermeneutic of continuity:

"Just as the hermeneutic of continuity is revealing itself to be ever more important for an adequate understanding of the texts of Vatican Council II", he added, "in the same way we see the need for a hermeneutic we could describe as 'of priestly continuity', one which, starting from Jesus of Nazareth, Lord and Christ, and over the two thousand years of history, greatness, sanctity, culture and piety which the Priesthood has given the world, comes down to our own day".

To read more see:
Pope continues discourse on hermeneutic of continuity (From: New Liturgical Movement)


-Posted by: Joe