Vatican II Renewal within Tradition

by Lamb, Matthew L; Levering, Matthew

• ISBN13: 9780195332681
• ISBN10: 0195332687
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-04-30
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

From 1962 to 1965, in perhaps the most important religious event of thetwentieth century, the Second Vatican Council met to plot a course for thefuture of the Roman Catholic Church. After thousands of speeches, resolutions,and votes, the Council issued sixteen official documents on topics ranging fromdivine revelation to relations with non-Christians. In many ways, though, thereal challenges began after the council was over and Catholics began to argueover the interpretation of the documents. Many analysts perceived the Council'sfar-reaching changes as breaks with Church tradition, and soon this became thedominant bias in the American and other media, which lacked the theologicalbackground to approach the documents on their own terms. In Vatican II: RenewalWithin Tradition, an international team of theologians offers a differentreading of the documents from Vatican II. The Council was indeed putting fortha vision for the future of the Church, but that vision was grounded in twomillennia of tradition. Taken together, these essays demonstrate that VaticanII's documents are a development from an established antecedent in the RomanCatholic Church. Each chapter contextualizes Vatican II teachings within thatrich tradition. The resulting book is an indispensable and accessible companionto the Council's developments, one that focuses on theology and transcends themass-media storyline of "liberal" versus "conservative."

Table of Contents

A proper hermeneutic for the Second Vatican Council
The constitutions
Nature, mission, and structure of the Church	p. 25
The universal call to holiness	p. 37
Revelation and its transmission	p. 55
Inspiration and interpretation	p. 77
Theology of the liturgy	p. 101
The sacraments of the Church	p. 129
Doctrinal perspectives on the Church in the modern world	p. 147
Pastoral perspectives on the Church in the modern world	p. 165
The decrees
The decree on the bishops' pastoral office in the Church, Christus Dominus	p. 187
The decree on the ministry and life of priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis	p. 205
The decree on priestly formation, Optatam Totius	p. 229
The decree on the appropriate renewal of religious life, Perfectae Caritatis	p. 251
The decree on the apostolate of the laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem	p. 271
The decree on the Church's missionary activity, Ad Gentes	p. 287
The decree on ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio	p. 311
The decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches, Orientalium Ecclesiarum	p. 343
The decree on the instruments of social communication, Inter Mirifica	p. 351
The declarations
The declaration on religious freedom, Dignitatis Humanae	p. 359
The declaration on Christian education, Gravissimum Educationis	p. 383
The declaration on the relationship of the Church to non-Christian religions, Nostra Aetate	p. 397
Anamnesis, Epiclesis, Prolepsis : categories for reading the Second Vatican Council as "renewal within tradition"	p. 411
The challenges of reform and renewal within Catholic tradition	p. 439
Index	p. 443
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.