By Alex Bush
June 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Dr. Janet Smith, professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, and Dr. Michael Waldstein, professor of theology at Ave Maria University, have responded once to Dr. David Schindler, from the JPII Institute in Washington. They are both calling for Schindler to bring forth hard evidence to substantiate his claim that Christopher West's take on John Paul II's Theology of the Body is theologically lacking.
“It surprises me that Prof. Schindler defends his use of unsubstantiated examples taken out of context in his critique of the work of West,” Smith said, “West has published books and has many CDs and DVDs. Those should be more than sufficient to find missteps if there are such.”
Waldstein argued that “[t]he best way to show the pattern of West's theology would be to present the evidence of his recent writings and talks as a systematic whole.” However, Waldstein notes that Internet articles would be inadequate for this purpose, saying that such a “demonstration would require a lengthy article or a small book.”
Smith continues her critique of Schindler's method of approaching the theological problems that West may have, saying, “Schindler raises the possibility that there may be serious theological errors in West's work and, of course, he is free to do so, but must do so responsibly.”
However, she suggests that Schindler take pause in his accusations “[s]ince it is not yet sufficiently established that West has made serious theological errors, Schindler should be very careful about airing his concerns on an Internet blog; he should make them known through proper channels.”
“Schindler seems to me to risk sliding into sound bites as criticism rather than textual citation as criticism. It is time for more citation of texts; not sound bites, not implication, but substantiated criticism,” she said.