America’s Theologian

America's Theologian: Father Richard McBrien of Notre Dame is an intellectual biography of the Catholic theologian and commentator Richard McBrien (1936-2015), author of the best-selling Catholicism and 24 other books, arguably the most influential American Catholic voice of the 1980s and 1990s. Like Wilson Miscamble’s American Priest: The Ambitious Life and Conflicted Legacy of Notre Dame's Father Ted Hesburgh, this biography gives a respectful yet critical treatment of one of the lions of American liberal Catholicism. Openly radical in his younger days and critical of Vatican II for being too moderate, McBrien was frustrated with the slow pace of religious change in the 1970s but realized that his bold and straightforward approach was not working. His 1980 magnum opus, Catholicism, which sold 150,000 copies in its first edition and 50,000 more in later editions, marked a change of course. From this point forward, he adopted the rhetoric of moderation, used ambiguity to cloak his more radical ideas, and became an outspoken defender of Vatican II. His theology did not change, but he presented himself as a centrist who was defending the legacy of Vatican II. One of those impressed by Catholicism was University of Notre Dame President Ted Hesburgh, who recruited McBrien in 1980 to transform the university’s theology department. During his decade as chair, McBrien turned the Notre Dame theology department into an influential center of liberal Catholic theology.