Fr. Schrader’s book sheds light on primacy of Jesus as redeemer
From the early days of the Church, theologians have been vigorously debating how and why God chose to send His only begotten Son into the world.
Was it something He planned to do from the beginning, or was it a response to humanity’s persistently sinful behavior?
The answer to these questions sheds light on the nature of God and His purpose for creating humanity.
“It matters! The truth about Jesus matters! It affects the way we live, and that has eternal consequences,” said Father Dylan Schrader, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Westphalia and St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Folk.
Fr. Schrader is moderator of religious education for the Jefferson City diocese. He is author of a scholarly book titled, A Thomistic Christocentrism: Recovering the Carmelites of Salamanca on the Logic of the Incarnation.
Published in 2021 as part of The Catholic University of America’s Thomistic Ressourcement Series, the book was subject to intensive peer review and criticism.
“It’s definitely an academic book,” Fr. Schrader noted. “It’s not a casual read.”
First and foremost
Fr. Schrader broke some of the book’s key points down into simpler terms.
Thomism refers to the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas and his followers.
“Christocentrism means a focus on Jesus,” said Fr. Schrader. “Not just on Jesus as God but on Jesus as man — Jesus of Nazareth.”
The Church has always taught and upheld the centrality of Christ.
“The Second Vatican Council calls Him ‘the center of human history,’” Fr. Schrader noted. “But what does that mean exactly?”
Theologians have taken various approaches to answering that question.
“One of the big conversations in the history of theology is about how to talk about the place of Jesus in God’s plan for the world,” said Fr. Schrader.
“When you think about God planning, in His providence, for human history, for the history of the whole world: Where does Jesus feature in that plan?” he asked.
Some people emphasize Jesus being the first and foundational part of God’s plan — “such that everything else is made for Him.”
Others focus on numerous biblical references to Jesus as the redeemer of humanity — “about His coming being connected to saving us from our sins.”
“Seen in that light, His place is primarily about rescuing us from something gone wrong, from sin entering into God’s creation,” said Fr. Schrader. “Jesus came to rescue us from that.”
Differences arise when people see these two approaches as canceling each other out.
“Some theologians say you can’t have it both ways: that He’s either the first thing or a response to something that happens,” Fr. Schrader noted.
Enter the community of Discalced Carmelite Priests who in the 1600s were studying and teaching in community at the University of Salamanca in Spain.
The Salamanca Carmelites spent about 80 years prayerfully scrutinizing this question and honing a theology that reconciles both approaches.
“I believe that what they taught is basically right and that they articulated the best way to talk about God’s plan for sending Christ into the world,” said Fr. Schrader.
Specifically, the Salamanca Carmelites emphasized the primacy of Christ as Redeemer.
“So, Jesus is the first thing that God wants in His plan, the first thing that God intends, for Him to be our redeemer, and for everything else to be for Him,” said Fr. Schrader.
God, by giving free will to humans so that they can love Him freely, also permitted sin to enter the world by allowing people to reject Him.
He did this for the sake of Christ, Who would come into the world and be its redeemer.
“So, Jesus is not a backup plan — not a Plan B because something has gone wrong and God has to fix it,” Fr. Schroder explained. “But what God always wanted from the beginning is Christ the Redeemer.”
With good reason
The priest pointed out that God is all-knowing, “so He doesn’t have to go through a decision-making process like we do.”
“So by planning, we’re not saying that God is changing His mind and having to think it through, step-by-step,” he said.
Nonetheless, God’s plan is full of different kinds of connections, with some things being dependent on other things.
“For example, God could create a skyscraper all at once, but the top floor would still depend on the floor below it, and that floor would depend on the one below it, all the way down to the foundation,” said Fr. Schrader.
“So, there would be relationships of dependence within that plan,” he said. “In that sense, the foundation is more basic than the top floor, and the top floor depends on it.”
With that understanding, does the coming of Christ into history depend on the need for redemption?
More specifically, would Jesus have come into the world if there were no sin?
“The Carmelites of Salamanca say He would not have come if there were no sin — but that doesn’t mean His coming is secondary or a backup plan,” said Fr. Schrader.
“It means that God permitted sin in the first place with a view toward redemption — that Jesus is the greater good that God brought out of sin,” the priest stated.
Why it matters
Fr. Schrader believes such questions are worth considering as Catholics prepare to celebrate Christmas — the Word of God taking on flesh and making Himself part of human life.
“Everything is for Jesus. That’s what it’s about,” he said. “And yet, at the same time, He gives Himself entirely for us as our Savior. So it’s two sides of the same coin.
“Jesus is for us and we are for Him,” the priest continued. “He came to save the world, and the world is made for Him. Both of those things are true.”
How people understand Jesus’s role as redeemer has bearing on how they choose to follow Him.
“Jesus gives Himself to us as our Savior, but we don’t want to think of Him as simply a means to end,” said Fr. Schrader.
“God didn’t just send His Son into the world so His Son could do something for us — but so His Son could be glorified by us,” the priest stated.
“It’s both: He’s for us and we’re for Him. Yet, we are more for Him than He is for than for us.”
Fr. Schrader pointed to St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, in which he writes: “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God Who has loved me and given Himself up for me.” (2:20)
“It’s not that Jesus just does something for us and we’re forgiven and can just do whatever we want,” Fr. Schrader noted.
“Jesus saves us not by leaving us alone and just giving a pass, but by coming to us and integrating us into Himself, which means our life isn’t ours anymore.”
Being redeemed means being transformed.
“Being saved means being rescued from sin, it means being taken out of it,” the priest explained. “He saves us by taking us out of ourselves and integrating us into Him.
“When you understand that, you begin to live a new life, a new creation.”
Never enough
Fr. Schrader holds a doctorate in systematic theology with an emphasis in catechesis from The Catholic University of America.
He is convinced that quests for faith-oriented knowledge and understanding are worthwhile and have bearing on people’s wellbeing in this life and in the next.
He called to mind St. Thomas Aquinas’s assertion at the end of his Commentary on the Gospel of John:
“An infinity of human words cannot grasp God’s only Word. For from the Church’s beginning there have always been writings about Christ — and never enough. In fact, even if the world lasted a hundred thousand years, books could be written on Christ and not fully unpack the meaning of His words and deeds.”
“The point is, we can never say enough about Christ,” said Fr. Schrader. “Our words will never be adequate to the reality of Jesus and the Incarnation.
“But that doesn’t mean we should keep silent about Him,” the priest asserted. “We’ve got to do what we can, and most importantly is that we live according to His word and follow His example.”
Some people are called to study and learn and teach these things in greater depth for the sake of all of God’s people.
“There’s a place in the Church for serious reflection on the trueness of our faith,” Fr. Schrader noted. “A place for asking, ‘Can these truths hold up to scrutiny? What is the best way to talk about God and the things of God?’”
That’s what the Carmelites of Salamanca devoted the better part of a century trying to discern.
“It basically took three generations to finish what they started,” said Fr. Schrader. “I think about that in terms of the legacy they were building. Imagine starting a project you know you won’t live to see finished!”
“Pick up and read”
Fr. Schrader’s passion for learning dates from his childhood and grew with his parents’ help and encouragement.
Taking a high school Latin class from Father (now Monsignor) Marion Makarewicz at St. Thomas Seminary in Hannibal broadened Fr. Schrader’s horizons a thousand-fold.
“I continued to study Latin, and I was then able to read books in Latin,” said Fr. Schrader. “That opens up tremendous possibilities if you’re studying theology of philosophy.”
Nearly countless books from the first 1,900 years of Catholic history were written in or translated into Latin.
“If I hadn’t studied Latin, I would not have been able to study any of these things,” he said.
He is grateful to Bishop Emeritus John R. Gaydos, Bishop W. Shawn McKnight and the people of this diocese for allowing him to pursue and complete his doctorate in theology and put it to good use.
He will teach a class on Christology next year to the men in formation for the Permanent Diaconate.
He plans to start teaching adult faith-formation classes at his parishes in January, just as he did at St. Brendan in Mexico.
There, he also led a 94-part livestreamed journey through the Catechism of the Catholic Church during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also worked with Knights of Columbus Council 1529 in Columbia to teach classes on various Church doctrines through the council’s AED (Adult Education and Devotion) program.
He’s convinced that helping people understand the deeper foundations of their faith will help them live better and convincingly answer questions from people who are curious and open to learning about God.
Toward that end, Fr. Schrader offers this advice from his studies on why Jesus obediently came to share in our human experience:
“Invite Jesus into every part of your life and begin thinking about your life as being for Him, even as He was sent for you.”
