Movements In The Church

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 29 (2007) 131-178

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Alberto Melloni, ed., Movements in the Church (London: SCM Press, 2003), 142 pp.

This edited volume seeks to address the question of how to understand various movements within the Roman Catholic Church, often thought of as beneﬁcial or equally so by others as dangerous. The volume consists of ten chapters divided into four sections on deﬁning movements, historical perspectives, theoretical assessments, and challenges. Melloni argues that the purpose of the volume is not to take sides but to understand movements like Catholic Action, liberation theology, and Charismatic Renewal, and to consider some of the implications for the Church today. At stake is more than terminology, i.e., whether to see these movements as part of the true Church or to see them as associated with politics, agitation, mass expression, and revolution. Melloni identiﬁes three types of movements: reform movements which attempt to inﬂuence the Church, movements of mobilization which are lay oriented like the Charismatic Renewal, and independent church movements which separate and form other organizations. Of concern for the contributors to the vol- ume is the question of how to make sense of the proliferation of movements within the Church and the numbers of people who are attracted to and identify with them. The contributors through these various issues examining how the Catholic Church has responded to movements in the past including higher-criticism in biblical studies, Pela- gianism, lay movements in the middle ages, and Church-state issues. T eoretical treatments focus on how to understand the shift in the Catholic Church from an organic whole to a Church of diversity, the relationship between the universal and the particular, and how movements transcend traditional territories and ﬂow across boundaries and borders. The challenges discussed include how to conceive of movements beyond the traditional approach of distinguishing church-sect when the distinction increasingly makes little sense, and pop- ular expressions among people in regions like Latin America where Pentecostalism and Charismatic Renewal are prominent. Overall, this is an excellent volume that is coherent and thoughtful in the way it addresses these concerns. T ere are however, some chapters that require more explicit attention.

Two chapters are especially sociologically and theologically sophisticated in the way they attempt to deal with the problem of deﬁning these movements in the context of a global society. The ﬁrst, “Increase and Multiply: From Organicism to a Plurality of Models in Contemporary Catholicism” by Enzo Pace, argues that it is a mistake to see the multiplica- tion of movements as bringing disorder to the Church. Rather, the plurality of movements is indicative of a social context which is increasingly characterized as a complex diﬀerentiated social system. The Church in a global society will have to ﬁnd ways to understand the implications of these changes. The second article by Luca Diotallevi, “Catholicism by way of Sectarianism? An Old Hypothesis for New Problems,” takes a social systems perspective to address the problems of conceiving movements. Diotallevi argues that the traditional model of Church-Sect in sociology of religion is unable to account for movements in global society precisely because the very nature of religion as a category is changing. However, this does not mean that the Church will cease to exist in the future as some strong secularization perspectives hold. Rather, the Church will adapt to a world in which movements that tran- scend borders and boundaries become more of the norm than the exception.

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 29 (2007) 131-178

While the subject of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements is dealt with throughout the volume, two chapters deal explicitly with them in very diﬀerent ways. While my com- ments on them should be of importance to members of the SPS, I also found them to be the least satisfactory for a number of reasons. Alexandre Ganoczy argues in “The Ecclesiol- ogy of the Charismatic Communities and the Sects” that there needs to be some theologiz- ing to make sense of the universal and particular aspects of contemporary society, and more speciﬁcally, of the Charismatic Renewal as a particular expression of the universal Church. Ganoczy is critical of those in the Charismatic Renewal with their focus on Charismatic gifts for the individual and not for the ediﬁcation of the whole Church, the role of women, the sectarian stance of the movement and its desire to be recognized by the Church, its emphasis on praxis over theory, and its lack of educated leaders. He believes the movement will be ﬁne if it stays close to the universal teachings of the Church. Overall, his view is that movements represent a phase of chaos and disorder in the Church which will rectify itself in the future through a process of evolution or self-organization. Still, the Church needs to be tolerant in the meantime, even open to dialogue, but on the whole, ought to be critical. Overall, I found his criticisms somewhat stereotypical and unsupported by empirical evi- dence. I do believe his perspective represents the viewpoint of some who see the role of the Church as regulating these movements.

Finally, “Dissidence and Conformism in Religious Movements: What Diﬀerence Sepa- rates the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and Pentecostal Churches?” by David Lehmann, attempts to explain how the Charismatic Renewal and the Pentecostal churches in Latin America and the USA are similar but diﬀerent. Lehmann relies upon the concept of popular religion to demonstrate that these movements are representative of the people who identify with them. In many ways it is diﬃcult to even distinguish culturally Catholic Charismatics from Protestant Pentecostals with their emphasis on speaking in tongues, healing, deliverance, etc. Yet, and here is the catch, while culturally dissident, they are politically and socially con- formist. According to Lehmann, they are unable to transform religion or society and do not deserve to be called movements for movements are primarily about social change. If there was ever a claim that needed to be challenged, it is this one. Much has been written on the social impact of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity that cannot even begin to be addressed here.

Still, my overall view is that this volume ought to be read especially for its sociological perspective on movements in global society and the changes the Roman Catholic Church is facing.

Reviewed by Michael Wilkinson

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