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Language Limitations. Father Daniel C. Maguire of Catholic University goes so far as to suggest that the concept of heresy may disappear as the church "moves away from totally verbal, formal expression to a symbolic expression of belief." For him, as indeed for many other theologians, the problem is that the limitations of language make any doctrinal formulations of belief inadequate and thus always open to clarification and revision. Redemptorist Francis X. Murphy of Rome's Accademia Alfonsiana suggests that most of today's supposed heretics are not in fact denying basic dogmas but simply the outdated concepts that surround them. "It is not deviation in the basic dogma," he says, "but in theological explanations given for these dogmas."
On the other hand, some theologians contend that the notion of heresy ought to be itself redefined rather than dropped entirely. In their view, a heretic is not so much one who questions a specific traditional doctrine but one who fails to live and think in harmony with the essential Christian commandment of love. One form of modern heresy, proposes Bianchi, "might be that which destroys human freedom and man's ability to develop and communicate, such as economic exploitation, racism and imperialistic wars." In a new book called Do We Need the Church?, Father Richard McBrien of Pope John XXIII Seminary near Boston suggests that a selfish exponent of rugged individualism who ignores the plight of the poor is much more of a heretic than someone who doubts, for instance, the Assumption of Mary.
When Dissent Destroys. Nonetheless, Christianity is based on certain axiomatic beliefs—the existence of God, for example—and the church, like any other community, has the right to protect its own identity. But how? Christian thinkers tend to be guarded in their answers. Jesuit Joseph Fichter of Harvard Divinity School proposes that the question of whether a man is a heretic or not "should be left in the hands of God." Episcopal Theologian John Macquarrie suggests that the limits of disbelief should be set "when dissent begins to destroy the community." In any event, reaction to such dissent will not take the harsh form it often did in the past. "Condemnation of their views should be sufficient," says Catholic Philosopher Daniel Callahan. "Even in a reformed church community, people are likely to be swayed by a strong condemnation."
By and large, theologians regard the new papal commission as a promising step forward in dealing with the troubling question of heresy. Although its membership includes several orthodox doctrinaires, it is graced with the presence of such thoughtful progressives as German Jesuit Karl Rahner, Father Walter Burghardt of Woodstock College and Canadian Philosopher Bernard Lonergan. Since some of these men—notably Rahner—have been themselves suspected of heterodoxy in the past, they are unlikely to set a narrow limit on the right of intellectual dissent.
-Who announced last month that he is leaving the Episcopal Church, partially because it is a "dying institution" and partially because Bishop C. Kilmer Myers of San Francisco refused to officiate at Pike's third marriage—to his research assistant, Diane Kennedy.