Avery Dulles

Francis Joseph Spellman
Created cardinal	February 21, 2001 by Pope John Paul II
Rank	Cardinal-deacon
Personal details
Born	(1918-08-24)August 24, 1918 Auburn, New York, U.S.
Died	December 12, 2008(2008-12-12) (aged 90) New York City, U.S.
Buried	Jesuit Cemetery, Auriesville, New York, U.S.
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Parents	John Foster Dulles & Janet Avery Dulles
Occupation	Catholic priest, professor, theologian, and author
Motto	Scio Cui Credidi (I know whom I have believed - 2 Tim. 1:12)
Coat of arms

Avery Robert Dulles

He received his primary school education in New York City at the St. Bernard's School and attended secondary schools in Switzerland and the Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut. He then enrolled at Harvard College in 1936.

Dulles was raised a

After both winning the Phi Beta Kappa Essay Prize^[5] and graduating from Harvard in 1940, Dulles spent a year and a half at Harvard Law School, during which time he co-founded the "St. Benedict Center" with Catherine Goddard Clarke. The center later became well known due to the controversial Jesuit priest Leonard Feeney. Dulles served in the United States Navy during World War II, attaining the rank of Lieutenant. For his liaison work with the French Navy, Dulles was awarded the French Croix de Guerre.

Society of Jesus and elevation to cardinal

Upon his discharge from the Navy in 1946, Dulles entered the

Dulles served on the faculty of Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974, and at the Catholic University of America from 1974 to 1988. He was a visiting professor at the Gregorian University (Rome), Weston School of Theology, Union Theological Seminary (New York), Princeton Theological Seminary, Virginia Theological Seminary, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Boston College, Campion Hall, Oxford, the University of Notre Dame, the Catholic University at Leuven, Yale University, and St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie. He was the author of over 700 articles on theological topics, as well as twenty-two books. In 1994, he was a signer of the document Evangelicals and Catholics Together.

Past president of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society, and professor emeritus at the Catholic University of America, Dulles served on the International Theological Commission and as a member of the United States Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue.

Dulles was critical of

Although Jesuits make a promise not to pursue ecclesiastical dignities and do not normally accept promotion within the

Honors and awards

Dulles' awards included

Farewell address and death

In his later years, the cardinal lived with the effects of polio he had contracted in his youth. On April 1, 2008, Dulles gave his farewell address as Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society. As Dulles was unable to speak, Fordham president Fr. Joseph O'Hare, S.J., read his address. In addition to the loss of speech, the use of his arms was impaired but his mind remained clear and he continued to work and communicate using his computer keyboard.^[7] Fr Joseph McShane, SJ also presented him with the university's President's Medal that evening. April 1, 2008 also marked the date the Cardinal's book, Church and Society: The Laurence J. McGinley Lectures, 1988–2007 (Fordham University Press, 2008) was released.

In his Farewell Lecture, the cardinal reflected on his weakening condition:

Suffering and diminishment are not the greatest of evils but are normal ingredients in life, especially in old age. They are to be expected as elements of a full human existence.

Well into my 90th year I have been able to work productively. As I become increasingly paralyzed and unable to speak, I can identify with the many paralytics and mute persons in the Gospels, grateful for the loving and skillful care I receive and for the hope of everlasting life in Christ. If the Lord now calls me to a period of weakness, I know well that his power can be made perfect in infirmity. "Blessed be the name of the Lord!"^[7]

On April 19, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI paid a visit to the ailing Dulles during his visit to the United States. Dulles prepared his written remarks to the pope prior to the visit.^[8]

Dulles died at 90 on December 12, 2008, at Fordham University in the Bronx, where he had lived for many years. His remains were buried in the Jesuit cemetery in Auriesville, New York.^[9]

Works

Dulles wrote 25 books and hundreds of articles and essays. A catalogue raisonné including his many translations, forewords, introductions, reviews and letters to the editor, was published by Fordham University Press in 2012 under the title The Legacy of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.: His Words and His Witness.^[10]

Partial list of publications

• Princeps Concordiae: Pico della Mirandola and the Scholastic Tradition – The Harvard Phi Beta Kappa Prize Essay for 1940, Cambridge, MA: Harvard (1941).
• A Testimonial To Grace
  Sheed & Ward
  , New York (1952); the fiftieth anniversary edition of this book was republished in 1996 by the original publishers, with an afterword containing his reflections on the past fifty years.
• Revelation and the Quest for Unity (1968)
• The Survival of Dogma (1971)
• ISBN 978-0-385-50545-1
• Models of Revelation (1983)
• Dulles, Avery (1985). The Catholicity of the Church. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  ISBN 9780198266761
  .
• Dulles, Avery (1983). "The Catholicity of the Augsburg Confession". The Journal of Religion. 63 (4): 337–354.
  S2CID 170148693
  .
• Models of the Church 2nd ed. (1987)
• The Craft of Theology: From Symbol to System (1992)
• The Assurance of Things Hoped For: A Theology of Christian Faith (1994)
• The Splendor of Faith: The Theological Vision of Pope John Paul II (1999; revised in 2003 for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the papal election)
• The New World of Faith. Our Sunday Visitor Publishing. 2000.
  ISBN 978-0-87973-692-7
  .
• Newman, Outstanding Christian Thinkers series. London, New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. 2002.
  ISBN 978-0-8264-6287-9
  .
• "Models of the Church", Expanded Edition, Image Classics (2002),
  ISBN 978-0-385-13368-5
• A History of Apologetics, Rev. Edition, San Francisco: Ignatius Press (2005),
  ISBN 978-0-89870-933-9
• Magisterium: Teacher and Guardian of the Faith, Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University (2007),
  ISBN 1-932589-38-4
• Church and Society: The Laurence J. McGinley Lectures, 1988–2007, Fordham University Press (2008),
  ISBN 0-8232-2862-2
• Avery Robert Dulles,
  ISBN 978-0-8091-3985-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
  )