The Christological Increment of the Logos Protreptikós in the Formulation Praeparatio Evangelica at the Second Vatican Council

How does this favor a Positive Theological-Dogmatic Understanding of Religions?

Abstract

This article presents the relevance of the use of patristic references, during the Second Vatican Council, for a positive doctrinal conception about religions. This also offers contributions to theological thinking about the meaning of religions. This achievement was made possible by the Christocentric emphasis on the theme of religions in the conciliar reflection on religions in the Decree Ad gentes, deriving from Clement’s conception of Logos protreptikós, which brings the dimension of the vast economy of Logos that reaches the origin of religions. As a result of this Christocentric approach, the meaning of the world’s religions, in terms of preparation for the promulgation of the Gospel, ends up being understood less in terms of their replacement, and more as a participation of religions, in their own way, in the saving design of God in Christ. That said, the article is divided into two parts. The first of these presents, in Clement’s patristic theology, the procedural character and fundamental presence of the Logos-Christ in the religions of the world, attributing importance to them in the history of salvation. The second, the use of Clement’s theology associated with that of Eusebius of Caesarea in the Decree Ad Gentes n. 3 and the possibility of a rereading of the meaning of the formulation evangelical preparation, applied to religions.