The memoirs recently published in Catalan by the Publications Service of the Abbey of Montserrat of the ordinary professor of the history of theology, Josep Ignasi Saranyana (Barcelona 1941), are a source of joy and intellectual and literary satisfaction. Moreover, for all of us who have had the good fortune to work at his side in the Department of Church History and Theology of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarra, many moments of illusions and fulfilled aspirations are added. Truly, every past time was better.
Professor Saranyana's intellectual fecundity could be discovered by simply browsing through his abundant publications; articles, monographs, conferences and congresses, where his interventions were always eagerly awaited, due to their sharpness and sympathy. But there is one facet that I would like to highlight in this brief commentary on his memoirs: the wisdom imparted in his classes, in the direction of undergraduate and doctoral theses, and in the plethora of disciples he has left in many universities, among whom I am honored.
I have well recorded the many conversations I had with Dr. Saranyana in Pamplona, in Madrid, in Seville and, of course, the classes I received in the licentiate and doctorate in Church History and theology during my years of studies in Rome and Pamplona. Logically, he always exercised his patronage delicately because he knew that my thesis director and perpetual teacher would be Juan Belda Plans and also Paulino Castañeda, one in the History of the School of Salamanca and the other in the History of America.
My friendship and dealings with Professor Saranyana have continued throughout my professional life, since the history of theology and the history of the Church have been the object of my study and research up to the present day, and Dr. Saranyana has always been a reference to study his works and collaborate with him in projects and publications at the request of a party or by confluence of interests and always out of friendship.
As a young professor I tried to find some time each week to share views and learn from the then director of the Department of History of Theology and Historical Theology, Josep Ignasi Saranyana, who had replaced the venerable Professor José Orlandis.
I remember the detailed advice on how to write a book review or a book review. On how to teach a subject of cycle I or cycle II in the Faculty of Theology or how to deal first of all with the mail that was arriving to my office in the morning, matters on which I should give my opinion or how to wish Christmas greetings to fellow historians I was getting to know with the offprints of my first articles or book reviews.
From reading these exciting notes and impressions of life, I have been especially interested in the whole period of Dr. Saranyana's incorporation to the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarra in the sixties when it was taking its first steps and it was necessary to learn the fundamental languages for research and dealing with colleagues: French, English and German.
I was especially interested in the biographical profiles and sketches of Alfredo García Suarez, Pedro Rodríguez, José Luis Illanes, Ildefonso Adeva, Amador García Bañón, of whom I had heard or met at the Faculty. Now I am reading the summary of the letter that the Founder of Opus Dei and Grand Chancellor of the University wrote to the faculty of the Faculty of Theology in March 1971, in the midst of the crisis of the phenomenon of contestation in the Church (p. 202). As Dr. Saranyana points out: "he wanted unity and peace in the academic faculty of the Faculty of Theology and demanded fidelity to the pontifical magisterium, which was logical and in accordance with the spirit he had transmitted. Moreover, he promoted authenticity of life and coherence, that is, that we should live what we preach. He wanted us to be pious (theology and piety must go hand in hand), because at that time, as we have already said, the theological world was in turmoil" (pp. 202-203).
It is very interesting the way he uses to acknowledge the profound teaching of Alfredo García Suárez, the first dean of the Faculty, and immediately the imprint of Dr. José Luis Illanes who in 1978 took over the deanship and transmitted serenity and optimism in the environment. Of course, also the unforgettable figure and the theological fecundity of Dr. Pedro Rodriguez (p. 205). Such tributes are logical, to which we should add Professor Saranyana, founder of the journal Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia, well known to historians around the world, because, quite simply, universities are what the great masters who have worked, taught and researched in them are.
Another matter to which we must refer in this brief review is the history of theology itself. When Dr. Saranyana began to study it in the sixties and seventies, he started working in parallel on the history of theology and the history of philosophy and in fact he will be considered in the academic world as a master of both specialties. To prove it, it is enough to read the first university manual on the history of theology signed by Dr. Illanes and Dr. Saranyana, published in the collection "Sapientia fidei" of the BAC in 1993.
Years later, Dr. Saranyana himself will carry out a gigantic work in several volumes on the History of Theology in Latin America, published by Iberoamerica-Vervuet, completed in 2007, and finally, as a book of maturity, let us point out the monumental history of Christian theology (750-2000), published by Eunsa in 2020. Truly, in these three manuals are collected his research, readings and extensive teaching throughout his academic life. We can affirm that the history of theology has in Professor Saranyana a main reference. Particularly interesting is the close relationship between the history of philosophy and theology and, secondly, the speculative load. Finally, let us remember the contribution of Dr. Saranyana to the evangelization of America in the V Centenary of the same, as can be deduced from the Acts of the Symposium that he organized in Pamplona in 1992.
Believe and look to understand. Memoirs of a historian of philosophy and theology.
