John J. BURKHARD. The “Sense of the Faith” in History: Its Sources, Reception, and Theology. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press Academic, 2022. pp. 442. $59.95 pb. ISBN 9780814666906. Reviewed by Peter C. PHAN, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. 20054.

 By any standard, both in terms of physical size and theological scholarship, Burkhard’s book is a huge magnum opus and destined to be the go-to work on the subject for a long time to come. Burkhard puts the expression “Sense of the Faith” in quotation marks to indicate that it has a special theological meaning, one that is still unfamiliar to most of the faithful. Two Latin expressions are used to refer to this reality: sensus fidei (the sense of the faith) and sensus christianus fidelium (the Christian sense of the faithful). They refer to “the role of every believer in the church to witness to the church’s faith and to participate in understanding, formulating, and determining that faith” (xi).

In eleven chapters Burkhard expounds on the sources, reception, and theology of the “sense of the faith” chronologically. Chapter 1 locates the emergence of the concept of the “sense of the faith” in the Great Western Schism in the fourteenth and fifteen centuries, the ensuing Protestant Reformation, and the reform of the Council of Trent. Chapter 2 describes the stirrings of the “sense of the faith” in nineteenth-century Germany, especially in the writings of Johann Adam Möhler and Roman Catholic canon lawyers. Chapter 3 describes the important role of the “sense of the faith” in the definition of the Marian dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX (1854). Chapter 4 evaluates the contributions of (Saint) John Henry Newman to the expansion of the understanding of the “sense of the faith,” in particular the laity. Burkhard highlights Newman’s emphasis on the “breathing in unison” of the bishops and the lay faithful; the unique contribution that only the laity can make to the faith; the active character of this contribution; the “sense of the faith” as a genuine act of cognition that includes pre-reflective elements, the imagination, analogy, logic, concrete experience, and judgment; and the organic, whole, unified character of the Christian life. Chapter 5 chronicles the gains and losses of the theological understanding of the “sense of the faith” in the nineteenth century in Matthias Joseph Scheeben Johann Baptist Franzelin and Johann Baptist Franzelin respectively. Chapter 6 analyses the growth in the concept of the “sense of the faith” in the twentieth century thanks to the works of Francisco Marín-Sola and Mannes Dominikus Koster. Chapter 7 surveys the consolidation of the “sense of the faith” in the works of Yves Congar and Clément Dillenschneider. Chapter 8 explains the role of the “sense of the faith” in the dogmatic definition of Mary’s Assumption into Heaven. Chapter 9 studies how Vatican II expands the understanding of the role of the “sense of the faith,” especially in Lumen Gentium,12 and 35. Chapter 10 outlines the reception of this concept of the “sense of the faith” in the aftermath of Vatican II, especially in the Revised Code of Canon Law and the Code of the Canons of the Eastern Churches, the magisterium of Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the International Theological Commission. Chapter 11 offers a synthesis of the theology of the “sense of the faith” by elaborating an epistemology of the “sense of the faith” that includes the role of experience, historical consciousness, the human act of questioning, the use of language and symbol, a fuller understanding of revelation and Tradition, and a more robust pneumatology.      

This brief overview of Burkhard’s book barely does justice to the depth and breadth of his scholarship. Virtually every page is replete with lengthy bibliographical references which are not just for show but offer detailed discussions of the works mentioned. Liturgical Press deserves a note of sincere thanks, at least from me, for printing the notes at the foot of the page, truly “footnotes,” rather than at the end of the book, which allows for and encourages careful consultation. An indication of Burkhard’s erudition is the “Index of Names” which has eight double-column pages! To render his book a truly useful instrumentum laboris, Burkhard appends a chronological bibliography of the “sense of the faith” from 1940 to 2020 (387-427), for which future researchers will be eternally grateful.

The Sense of the Faith is the fruit of Burkhard’s over 40 years of teaching ecclesiology. Blessed indeed were the students who had the grace of taking his course and benefitted not only from the depth and comprehensiveness of his thought but also his magnificent didactic skills which can be gathered from his lucidly written pages. Burkhard says that throughout the book he places the expression, the sense of the faith, in quotation marks to emphasize its technical meaning and its current unfamiliarity for most of the ordained and lay Christians, and looks forward to the day when the quotations marks can be removed because its meaning and import will have been more broadly understood and received in the church.  Despite the massive amount of pages and erudition, Burkhard regrets that he has not been able to fully develop certain themes. He promises to address these and several other pressing ecclesiological concerns in “a follow-up book” (footnote 7 on p. 379). I hope to live long enough to see its birth and learn from it. In the meantime, I enthusiastically nominate The Sense of the Faith for the Best Theological Book of 2022.