Peter Kreeft on the 10th Anniversary of Dominus Iesus

Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., professor of philosophy at Boston College and at King’s College in New York City, has written a commentary on the 10th anniversary of Dominus Iesus (published on 6 August 2000 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was headed at the time by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI).

This commentary begins as follows:

Dominus Iesus, published Aug. 6, 2000, by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is one of the most important Church documents of modern times because it concerns what is absolutely central and primary in Christianity, Christ himself, because it defends the most unpopular aspect of the Church’s claim today - its “absolutism” - and because it overcomes the dualism of “liberal” vs. “conservative” by which the media classify and evaluate everything. (I wonder how they will classify the Second Coming when they see it.)

To see these three points, all we have to do is try to classify Dominus Iesus as “liberal” or “conservative.” I put an “L” after all its main “liberal” points and a “C” after all its “conservative” points, and I ended up with 30 Ls and 38 Cs.

But the “kicker” is that it is not half and half, or halfway in between; it is so “liberal” precisely because it is so “conservative.”

To understand this, we should first try to spear those two slippery fish: the “liberal” and the “conservative.” (You can’t fry them if you don’t catch them.)


To continue reading this well-written commentary, please visit:

Peter Kreeft: Dominus Iesus: Liberal or Conservative?

To read the document itself, please visit:

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Dominus Iesus