John Courtney Murray SJ (September 12, 1904 – August 16, 1967) was an American Jesuit priest and theologian who was especially known for his efforts to reconcile Catholicism and religious pluralism and particularly focused on the relationship between religious freedom and the institutions of a democratically structured modern state.

During the Second Vatican Council, he played a key role in persuading the assembly of the Catholic bishops to adopt the council's ground-breaking Declaration on Religious Liberty, Dignitatis humanae.

Early life and education

John Courtney Murray was born in New York City on September 12, 1904. In 1920, he entered the New York province of the Society of Jesus after attending Xavier High School. He studied Classics and Philosophy at Boston College. He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1926 and 1927, respectively. After graduation, he traveled to the Philippines, where he taught Latin and English literature at the Ateneo de Manila.[1]

Career

In 1930, Murray returned to the United States. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1933. He pursued further studies at the Gregorian University in Rome and in 1937 completed a doctorate in sacred theology.[1]

After his return from Rome to the United States, just before the beginning of World War II, he joined the Jesuit theologate in Woodstock, Maryland and taught Catholic trinitarian theology. In 1940, Murray still fully supported the Catholic doctrine that there was no salvation outside the Church.[2]

In 1941, he was named editor of the Jesuit journal Theological Studies. He held both positions until his death.[1]

As representative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and consultant to the religious affairs section of the Allied High Commission, he helped draft and promote the 1943 Declaration on World Peace, an interfaith statement of principles for postwar reconstruction. He successfully promoted a close constitutional arrangement between the restored German state and the Church, which included the sharing of tax revenue with the churches.

By 1944, Murray's endorsement of full co-operation with other theists led many Catholics to complain that he endangered American Catholic faith, which then recommended minimal co-operation with non-Catholics for fear that lay Catholic faith would be weakened.[2]

Similarly, Murray advocated religious freedom and pluralism as defined and protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which contradicted Catholic doctrines of church-and-state relations before Vatican II.[2]

Death

In August 1967, Murray died of a heart attack in Queens, New York, one month before his 63rd birthday.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "John Courtney Murray, SJ (1904-1967)", Ignatian Spirituality
  2. 1 2 3 "Murray, John Courtney, American theologian". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  3. ↑ Murray, John Courtney, "We Hold These Truths", Lanham, MD: Sheed and Ward, 1960, Foreword, x.
  4. ↑ Murray SJ, John Courtney. We Hold These Truths: Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition, (Sheed & Ward, 1960)
  5. ↑ "Time Magazine cover: John Courtney Murray". Time. Time. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  6. ↑ Ashley, J. Matthew (27 December 2011). "An Ignatian Spirit Avery Dulles's Theological Journey". Commonweal Magazine. Society of Jesus. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  7. ↑ Kirby, Dianne. "Book Review: John Courtney Murray, Time/Life, and the American Proposition: How the CIA's Doctrinal Warfare Program Changed the Catholic Church by David A. Wemhoff". Federal Bar Association. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  8. ↑ "Religion: Man of the City". Time. 25 August 1967. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  9. ↑ "Religious freedom-- Vatican II modernizes church-state ties," Agostino Bono, Catholic News Service, 12 Oct 2005.
  10. ↑ "Dignitatis humanae personae", Second Vatican Council, 1965, retrieved 15 May 2007
  11. 1 2 S.J. Leon Hooper,Murray Biography from American National Biography Edited by John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999

Further reading

  • Baxter, Michael J. "John Courtney Murray." The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology (2004): 150–164. online
  • Bersnak, P. Bracy. "John Courtney Murray, SJ, and the Development of Doctrine." Catholic Social Science Review 27 (2022): 57–68. online
  • Cadeddu, Francesca. "A call to action: John Courtney Murray, SJ, and the renewal of American democracy." Catholic Historical Review (2015): 530–553. online
  • Cadeddu, Francesca. "John Courtney Murray." The Oxford Handbook of Reinhold Niebuhr (Oxford University Press, 2021) pppp. 180–198. online
  • Curran, Charles E. Catholic moral theology in the United States: A history (Georgetown University Press, 2008) online.
  • Diaz, Miguel H. "An Unfinished Project: John Courtney Murray, Religious Freedom and Unresolved Tensions in Contemporary American Society." Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 50 (2018): 1+. online
  • Ferguson, Thomas P. Catholic and American: the political theology of John Courtney Murray (Rowman & Littlefield, 1993). online
  • Hollenbach, David. "Religious Freedom, Morality and Law: John Courtney Murray Today." Journal of Moral Theology 1.1 (2012): 69–91. online
  • Hooper, J. Leon, and Todd Whitmore, eds. John Courtney Murray & the growth of tradition (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996). online
  • Komonchak, Joseph A. "The American Contribution to" Dignitatis Humanae": The Role of John Courtney Murray, SJ." US Catholic Historian 24.1 (2006): 1-20. online
  • Lovin, Robin W. "Religious Freedom and Public Argument: John Courtney Murray on the American Proposition." Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 50 (2018): 25+. online
  • Whelan, Gerard. "John Courtney Murray on Church and State." Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 106.421 (2017): 70–94. online
  • Witte, John, and Frank S. Alexander, eds. The teachings of modern Roman Catholicism on law, politics, and human nature (Columbia University Press, 2007).
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Courtney_Murray