Infallible? An Unresolved Enquiry

Hans Kung, the brightest light in the intellectual firmament of contemporary Roman Catholicism, has now brought to its logical conclusion the line of thought articulated in such earlier works as The Church. And it is a conclusion that will shake the institutional Church to its foundations. To the question, ""Infallible?"" Kung answers ""No."" No, the pope is not infallible, in any traditional sense of that term; no, ecumenical councils are not a priori infallible simply because they are ecumenical; no, the Bible is not infallible, since it is filled with obvious errors; and no, the People of God -- that is, the community of believers -- itself is not infallible, although it does possess a fundamental indefectibility with respect to truth. Infallibility exists; but it exists only in God and his word -- that is, in the gospel message as such. These propositions are demonstrated in depth on the basis of both history and theology, by both external and internal criticism, in a dazzling display of scholarship that is simultaneously provocative and constructive. Not since the palmy days (or dreary days, depending on one's bias) of the Reformation has there been such a vigorous challenge, and the book will undoubtedly be the single most controversial and influential theological work of our time.