Religion: Why Priests?

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Vilified as a heretic by most conservative Catholics, dismissed as a maverick by many moderates, Küng still has some support among progressive theologians who defend him as a courageous thinker even while often disagreeing with his specific positions. Thus, some of his most sympathetic colleagues have complained of oversimplifications in Kung's 118-page treatment of the priesthood—for example, his insistence that the New Testament view of ministry means that the Eucharist can be celebrated by any believer—and of outright historical inaccuracies in his book on infallibility. Writing in a recent issue of America magazine, New Testament Scholar Raymond E. Brown also argues that Kung's thinking suffers from a "one-sided contact with the liberal and intellectual element of the church." So far, in fact, U.S. reviews of Why Priests? reveal a growing feeling that Küng may be as out of touch with grassroots Catholicism as the old guard whom he criticizes.

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