Word has reached us that Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., died here in New York early this morning.
Created cardinal for his theological work by John Paul II, Avery Dulles was one of the great figures of the twentieth century: a theologian, an intellectual, a teacher, a writer, a lecturer, and a kind and gentle man.
In his long life, he wrote more than 700 articles and twenty-two books, and it is hard to imagine how anyone today can fill the roles he played in the Catholic world and American public life. As the disease that took his life progressed, his final months were a trial that took away his powers to speak, write, and move. But he seemed, in those months, to live even more serenely, more spiritually, and more beautifully. May God welcome him home.
Among his writings were many works for First Things , including:
Love, the Pope, and C.S. Lewis
The Church in a Postliberal Age
Religious Freedom: Innovation and Development
Catholicism & Capital Punishment
John Paul II and the Truth about Freedom
The Challenge of the Catechism
Historians and the Reality of Christ
Tradition and Creativity in Theology
Ecumenism Without Illusions: A Catholic Perspective
The Eve of St. Agnes¯Green Bay, 2008
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