The Notion of "Religion" in Nostra Aetate: Said, Unsaid, and Still to Say
Tereza Huspeková
Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5331-8763
Abstract
This article examines the understanding of “religion” in Vatican II’s declaration Nostra aetate, arguing that it reflects an intellectual climate characteristic of mid-20th-century theological reflection. The study is divided into three sections. First, it outlines what Nostra aetate explicitly said about non-Christian religions within the broader conciliar teaching, particularly in relation to fulfillment theology, praeparatio evangelica, and semina Verbi. Second, it identifies what remained unsaid—the tacit, implied assumptions about religion in Nostra aetate, which align with phenomenological and historical approaches prevalent among the Council experts. Finally, it considers what there is still to say, exploring how the interpretation of religion may shift if the historical–phenomenological framework is complemented by recent approaches that view religion as a human, evolutionary phenomenon. This third part proposes (1) a theological engagement with such naturalistic accounts of religiosity, (2) an expanded theological reflection that also includes “non-religion,” and (3) an alternative approach to patristic insights into human religiousness. The study is based on the analysis and interpretation of selected themes in Nostra aetate, in dialogue with relevant sources in religious studies. It concludes by stressing the contextual character of the Council’s approach and opening space for further multiperspective inquiry.
Keywords:
religion, Nostra Aetate, Second Vatican Council, theology of religion, human religiosityReferences
Acta Synodalia Sacrosancti Concilii Oecumenici Vaticani II. 1971. Vol. 2, periodus II, pars I: Congregationes Generales XXXVII–XXXIX. Vatican: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis. (= AS II.1).
Acta Synodalia Sacrosancti Concilii Oecumenici Vaticani II. 1973. Vol. 2, periodus II, pars V: Congregationes Generales LXV–LXXIII. Vatican: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis. (= AS II.5).
Acta Synodalia Sacrosancti Concilii Oecumenici Vaticani II. 1976. Vol. 3, periodus III, pars VIII: Congregationes Generales CXXIII–CXXVII. Vatican: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis. (= AS III.8).
Acta Synodalia Sacrosancti Concilii Oecumenici Vaticani II. 1978. Vol. 4, periodus IV, pars IV: Congregationes Generales CXLVI–CL. Vatican: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis. (= AS IV.4).
Barnes, Michael. 2002. Theology and the Dialogue of Religions. Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barrett, Justin L., and Ian M. Church. 2013. “Should CSR Give Atheists Epistemic Assurance? On Beer-Goggles, BFFs, and Skepticism Regarding Religious Beliefs.” The Monist 96 (3): 311–24. https://doi.org/10.5840/monist201396314. (Crossref)
Bennett, Clinton. 1996. In Search of the Sacred: Anthropology and the Study of Religions. London: Cassell.
Borelli, John. 2017. “Nostra Aetate: Origin, History, and Vatican II Context.” In The Future of Interreligious Dialogue: A Multireligious Conversation on Nostra Aetate, edited by Charles L. Cohen, 23–43. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. (Crossref)
Borelli, John. 2021. “Correcting the Nostra Aetate Legend: The Contested, Minimal, and Almost Failed Effort to Embrace a Tragedy and Amend Christian Attitudes Toward Jews, Muslims, and the Followers of Other Religions.” In Nostra Aetate, Non-Christian Religions, and Interfaith Relations, edited by Kail C. Ellis, 9–34. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978–3-030–54008–1_2. (Crossref)
Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae. 1992. (= CCE). https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism_lt/p1s1c1_lt.htm#I.%20De%20desiderio%20Dei.
Clooney, Francis X. 2010. Comparative Theology: Deep Learning Across Religious Borders. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. (Crossref)
Congar, Yves. 2012. My Journal of the Council. Translated by Mary John Ronayne and Mary Cecily Boulding. Hindmarsh: ATF Press.
Daggers, Jenny. 2013. Postcolonial Theology of Religions: Particularity and Pluralism in World Christianity. London: Routledge. (Crossref)
Daniélou, Jean. 1967a. “Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions.” In Introduction to the Great Religions, edited by Jean Daniélou, 7–39. Fides Dome 55. Notre Dame, IN: Fides Publishers. Originally published in 1964, Notre Dame, IN: Fides Publishers.
Daniélou, Jean. 1967b. “The Transcendence of Christianity.” In Introduction to the Great Religions, edited by Jean Daniélou, 149–59. Fides Dome 55. Notre Dame, IN: Fides Publishers. Originally published in 1964, Notre Dame, IN: Fides Publishers.
D’Costa, Gavin. 2000. The Meeting of Religions and the Trinity. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. DIMMID (Dialogue Interreligieux Monastique / Monastic Interreligious Dialogue). n.d. “What is DIMMID.” Accessed October 30, 2025. https://dimmid.org/.
Edwards, Denis. 1999. The God of Evolution: A Trinitarian Theology. New York: Paulist Press.
Eliade, Mircea. 1958. Patterns in Comparative Religion. Translated by Rosemary Sheed. New York: Sheed & Ward. Originally published as Traité d’histoire des religions. Bibliothèque scientifique. Paris: Payot, 1949.
Eliade, Mircea. 1959. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Translated by Willard R. Trask. Harvest Book 144. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. Originally published as
Das Heilige und das Profane: Vom Wesen des Religiösen. Rowohlts deutsche Enzyklopädie 31. Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1957.
Freud, Sigmund. 1927. Die Zukunft einer Illusion. Leipzig: Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag.
Gornandt, Ruth. 2023. “‘Implanted in Us by Nature’: The Cognitive Science of Religion and Its Importance for Theology.” The Heythrop Journal 64 (6): 745–62. https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.14256. (Crossref)
Haight, Roger. 2019. Faith and Evolution: A Grace-Filled Naturalism. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Henriksen, Jan‐Olav. 2023. “Experiencing the World as the Evolved Image of God: Religion in the Context of Science.” Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 58 (2): 485–503. https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12900. (Crossref)
Huspeková, Tereza. 2022. Teologia w kontekście antropologii religii: Dialog z myślą Bensona Salera. Horyzonty Dogmatu 24. Kraków: Wydawnictwo “scriptum.”
Idinopulos, Thomas A., and Brian C. Wilson, eds. 1998. What Is Religion? Origins, Definitions, and Explanations. Studies in the History of Religions 81. Leiden: Brill.
Idinopulos, Thomas A., and Edward A. Yonan, eds. 1994. Religion and Reductionism: Essays on Eliade, Segal, and the Challenge of the Social Sciences for the Study of Religion. Studies in the History of Religions 62. Leiden: Brill. (Crossref)
Irenaeus of Lyons. 1885. Against Heresies. Translated by Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut. In The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Vol. 1 of Ante-Nicene Fathers. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature. (= Adv. haer.). Accessed September 8, 2025. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103.htm.
John Paul II. 1990. Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Missio. (= RM). https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio.html.
König, Franz. 1951. “Der Mensch und die Religion.” In Christus und die Religionen der Erde, edited by Franz König, 1:11–74. Freiburg: Herder.
König, Franz. 1956. “Das Christentum und die Weltreligionen.” In Christus und die Religionen der Erde, edited by Franz König, 3:731–76. Freiburg: Herder.
Kubacki, Zbigniew. 2005. Jedyność Jezusa Chrystusa: O jedyności i powszechności zbawczej Jezusa Chrystusa w kontekście chrześcijańskich teologii religii. Seria Bobolanum 5. Warszawa: Rhetos.
Ledwoń, Ireneusz S. 2006. “…i nie ma w żadnym innym zbawienia”: Wyjątkowy charakter chrześcijaństwa w teologii posoborowej. Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL.
Ledwoń, Ireneusz S. 2012. “Patrystyczne podstawy teologii religii.” In Wczesne chrześcijaństwo a religie, edited by Ireneusz S. Ledwoń and Mariusz Szram, 11–27. Biblioteka Teologii Religii 3. Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL.
Leeuw, Gerardus van der. 1938. Religion in Essence and Manifestation: A Study in Phenomenology. Translated by John E. Turner. Sir Halley Stewart Trust Publications 5. London: Allen & Unwin. Originally published as Phänomenologie der Religion. Neue theologische Grundrisse. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1933.
Liddle, James R., and Todd K. Shackelford, eds. 2021. “An Introduction to Evolutionary Perspectives of Religion.” In The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Religion, 1–17. Oxford Library of Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. (Crossref)
Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1925. “Magic, Science and Religion.” In Science, Religion and Reality, edited by Joseph Needham, 19–84. New York: Macmillan.
Merwe, Piet J. van der. 2017. “Commentary on the Documents Nostra Aetate and Lumen Gentium.” HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 73 (6): 17–26. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i6.4838. (Crossref)
Moeller, Charles. 1957. Silence de Dieu. Littérature du XXe siècle et christianisme 1. Paris: Casterman.
Neuner, Joseph. 1967. “Introduction.” In Christian Revelation and World Religions. Edited by Joseph Neuner, 7–24. Compass Books 14. London: Burns & Oats.
Neuner, Joseph, and Jacques Dupuis, eds. 1981. The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church. Rev. ed. New York: Alba House.
Otto, Rudolf. 1924. The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry Into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and Its Relation to the Rational. Translated by John W. Harvey. London: Milford; Oxford University Press. Originally published as Das Heilige: Über das Irrationale in der Idee des Göttlichen und sein Verhältnis zum Rationalen. Breslau: Trewendt et Garnier, 1917.
Pius XII. 1943. Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi. (= MCC). https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_29061943_mystici-corporis-christi.html.
“Pope Francis Stirs Controversy With Interreligious Remarks.” 2024. The Pillar (September 13, 2024). Accessed September 30, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20250209122208/www.pillarcatholic.com/p/pope-francis-stirs-controversy-with.
Radcliffe-Brown, Alfred. 1945. “Religion and Society.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 75 (1–2): 33–43. https://doi.org/10.2307/2844275. (Crossref)
Rahner, Karl. 1982. Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity. Translated by William V. Dych. New York: Crossroad.
Rahner, Karl. 1983. “On the Importance of the Non-Christian Religions for Salvation.” In God and Revelation, 288–95. Translated by Edward Quinn. Theological Investigations 18. London: Darton, Longman & Todd.
Rusecki, Marian. 2007. “Objawienie Boże podstawą religii.” Biblioteka Teologii Fundamentalnej 2:157–82.
Saliba, John A. 1976. “Homo Religiosus” in Mircea Eliade: An Anthropological Evaluation. Leiden: Brill. (Crossref)
Schilbrack, Kevin. 2012. “The Social Construction of ‘Religion’ and Its Limits: A Critical Reading of Timothy Fitzgerald.” Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 24 (2): 97–117. https://doi.org/10.1163/157006812X634872. (Crossref)
Second Vatican Council. 1964. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium. (= LG). https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html.
Second Vatican Council. 1965a. Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions Nostra Aetate. (= NA). https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html.
Second Vatican Council. 1965b. Declaration on Religious Freedom Dignitatis Humanae. (= DH). https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vatii_decl_19651207_dignitatis-humanae_en.html.
Second Vatican Council. 1965c. Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church Ad Gentes. (= AG). https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vatii_decree_19651207_ad-gentes_en.html.
Second Vatican Council. 1965d. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes. (= GS). https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html.
Smith, Christian. 2017. Religion: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It Matters. Princeton–Oxford: Princeton University Press. (Crossref)
Strange, Daniel. 2014. Their Rock Is Not Like Our Rock: A Theology of Religions. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Tan, Loe-Joo. 2013. “Things Are Not What They Seem: Dominus Iesus, Ecumenism, and Interreligious Dialogue.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 48 (4): 523–34.
Thomas Aquinas. n.d. Summa theologiae. (= ST). Accessed October 10, 2025. https://aquinas.cc/.
Tiele, Cornelis Petrus. 1897–99. Elements of the Science of Religion. 2 vols. Edinburgh–London: Blackwood.
Tulej, Andrzej. 2019. Drugi Sobór Watykański o Żydach i judaizmie: Historia powstania tekstu Nostra aetate 4. Kraków: Tyniec Wydawnictwo Benedyktynów.
Vázquez Jiménez, Rafael, ed. 2024. Unitatis redintegratio, Dignitatis humanae, Nostra aetate. Vol. 2 of Comentario teológico a los documentos del Concilio Vaticano II. Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos 143. Madrid: Maior Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos.
Wąsek, Damian, Marek Gilski, and Tereza Huspeková. 2025. Nostra aetate: Sobór Watykański II o religiach niechrześcijańskich. Sobór na Nowo Odczytany 5. Kraków: Wydawnictwo “scriptum.” https://doi.org/10.15633/9788383700991. (Crossref)
Zuckerman, Phil, Luke W. Galen, and Frank L. Pasquale. 2016. The Nonreligious: Understanding Secular People and Societies. New York: Oxford University Press. (Crossref)
Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5331-8763
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The author(s) grant (s) to the Licensee a non-exclusive and royalty-free license in accordance with the provisions of the Appendix: LICENSE TO USE THE WORK
