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For progressivists, theology is no longer the science of the word of God (from the Greek: logos = the word, Theou = of God) revealed from on high. They claim that God is immanent in each man and thus "reveals" Himself. As a consequence, theology should no longer be deductive, based on perennial data of Revelation. It should become inductive, experimentally drawing from fragments of "revelation" that would exist in men's souls, the secular sciences, the modern world, and so on.
This position constitutes a frontal attack to the immutable nature of Catholic Dogma. Fr. Bernard Lonergan, perhaps the most famous Canadian theologian, defends it.
Below, we reproduce a facsimile of the original English edition of the book Renewal of Religious Thought, the first volume of two entitled Theology of Renewal. These volumes include the lectures given at an international congress of theology that took place in Toronto in August 1967, under the presidency of Cardinal Paul Leger.
At right, is the frontispice of volume I, in it the speech of Fr. Lonergan figures as the first of the congress.
(Bernard Lonergan, "Theology in its New Context," in Theology of Renewal, Montreal: Palm Publishers, 1968, vol. I, pp. 37-38)
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