Catholic crackdown: Elizabeth Johnson and the bishops

In March the Committee on Doctrine of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a critique of Elizabeth Johnson's 2007 book Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God (Continuum). Though Johnson faces no official sanctions (like those handed down to other American Catholic theologians, most recently to Roger Haight), the bishops declared that her book is marred by "misrepresentations, ambiguities, and errors" and fails to "accord with authentic Catholic teaching on essential points." The U.S. bishops have investigated and disciplined other women theologians in conjunction with their positions on ethical issues and women's ordination, but this appears to be the first time they have investigated a woman theologian on account of her writings.

In a letter accompanying the 21-page critique of Johnson, Cardinal Donald Wuerl asserted that the bishops were moved to act out of concern for the spiritual welfare of students who might encounter Johnson's work and "be led to assume that its content is authentic Catholic teaching."

In Quest for the Living God, Johnson, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, New York, and professor of systematic theology at Fordham University, gathers recent Christian reflection from various cultures and contexts around the world. The book includes chapters on post-Shoah, feminist, black, Latino, interreligious and ecological theologies and draws widely from contemporary Catholic and Protestant voices.