The idea of American exceptionalism has been present through much of American
history. But the idea is often abstracted: The character and purpose of the United
States are rendered as timeless and glorified attributes apart from the sinfulness
and limits of history. In this response to Thomas Massaro’s essay, I examine the
historicized nature of the idea in both a spirit of criticism and construction. If Catholic
social ethics is to contribute to a renewal of the idea of American exceptionalism, it
must do so in an historicized and contextual key.

One prominent plank of the US national creed is American exceptionalism. The roots of this imprecise but influential notion lie in John Winthrop’s portrayal of colonial America as “a city set upon a hill,” intended by God to serve as a light to the world. While this notion has obviously sparked many abuses of arrogant triumphalism, it may nevertheless retain constructive aspects. Catholic social teaching, with its call to universal social concern and even a certain cosmopolitanism of perspective, provides resources capable of salvaging the positive aspects of the double-edged sword of American exceptionalism. While recent events in US foreign policy cast considerable doubt on the ability of a hegemonic America to practice restraint and self-control, a theological evaluation of American exceptionalism, with its supposedly divinely ordained mission for service, nevertheless continues to possess constructive potential.

This article is a critical examination of the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on doctrinal development contained in Dei Verbum 8. Through a survey of preconciliar theological appeals to experience, and by an examination of the conciliar Acta, the article argues that the council’s inclusion of the category of experience was based on a well-trodden Scholastic theological tradition on connatural experience linked to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and that the textual amendments sought to eliminate a Modernist understanding of experience and revelation. The article seeks to contribute constructively to ongoing fundamental-theological discourse on revelation and doctrinal development.

This essay reassesses the life and legacy of the Salvadoran martyr and saint Óscar Romero, focusing on his relationship to liberation theology. Drawing on his writings before and after becoming archbishop in 1977, I argue that the theological category of liberation forms a consistent thread in Romero’s theology from the early 1970s onward, and that his theology of liberation continues to deepen over the remainder of the decade. In Romero’s mature thought, God’s liberative work centers on forming Christian liberators conformed to Christ’s love—a vision that invites renewed reflection on liberation theology as a diverse and contested tradition.

This essay challenges the claim that the practice of Mass intentions is a “Germanic” distortion, foreign to the biblical and patristic tradition. It frames the development of Mass intentions not as a decline narrative but as a natural outworking of the biblical witness to prayer as a divine-human synergy, tracing this development through Augustine, Dionysius the Areopagite, Carolingian liturgical legislation, and Thomas Aquinas.

In recent decades, prominent Christian theologians have described Jesus as the “Torah in person.” This article considers whether such a Torah-in-person Christology falls into a kind of Christian supersessionism (i.e., the suggestion that Christianity sits atop or even takes the place of Judaism). To answer this question, I consider David Novak’s distinction between hard and soft varieties of supersessionism, suggesting that there might be an additional “appropriative” variety. Appropriative supersessionism, exemplified by so-called “Christian Seders,” occurs when Christians problematically lay claim to central elements of the rabbinic tradition. Although Torah-in-person Christology eschews hard supersessionism and underlines the Jewishness of Jesus, it arguably operates in an appropriative supersessionist way. I propose that a covenant Christology features the same advantages that motivate the Torah-in-person category while also circumventing its problematic appropriative aspect.

This article gives an account of the legacy of Pope Francis particularly in his moral teachings and pastoral practices. From the beginning of his reign, he sought to teach as Christ did, welcoming all into the merciful life of the church. I will examine how through his work with the World Popular Movements and the Synods on the family, Francis developed a remarkable responsive listening; it looks then to the work of Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti where he leads us to embrace both the earth and all humankind. It concludes on Dilexit Nos and the Synod on Synodality.

Given how moral subjectivity and action are constituted within networks of interpersonal and social relations as they negotiate emerging questions and insights, this moral note addresses (a) enduring, individualistic signs of the times in cultural, ecclesial, and methodological contexts; (b) models of agency that center our social and finite dimensions; and (c) what such contexts and scholarship suggest for an agenda for moral agency today. It proposes that deeper attention to the function of internalized structures, the graces of failure and disorientation, and responses to ambiguity are warranted to meet the moment, between the times.

The state of democracy is declining worldwide, and that includes the United States, the oldest constitutional democracy. Various scholars have proposed theories regarding the growth and decline of democracy in the twenty-first century. Many commentaries point to a new threat to democracy that goes by a variety of names. This essay aims to understand the cause of the democratic decline and the Catholic Church’s role in supporting democracy.

The global rise of right-wing authoritarian populism poses a challenge to the Catholic
theology of conscience. For decades, the church has emphasized the connection of
conscience to absolute values in the face of political confrontation with Marxism and
its inchoate totalitarian democratic descendants. But today’s right-wing authoritarian
populist regimes raise different questions: about conscience and relationship,
conscientious objection, and the relationship of the freedom of the church and
freedom of conscience. This article reviews recent literature about this challenge.

This article uses the work of Ignacio Ellacuría to articulate a concept of sin in light
of the literature on how neoliberalism shapes us into homo oeconomicus. Ellacuría
describes sin as the stifling of the theologal dimension of historical reality; it rejects
the fundamental affirmation that all things “have been formed according to the triune
life and refer essentially to that life.” Under neoliberalism, such a concept of sin is
hollowed out, as transgressions are always and only against the market: The always
elusive economic market is the only victim of history. The article ends with how the
denunciation of sin has functioned as a critique of market logics on the southern US
border.

This article argues that friendship is not solely an analogy for eschatological life but can be an explicit object of eschatological hope. Responding to Gary Chartier’s contention that universal eschatological friendship is impossible due to human finitude and the preferential nature of friendship, I engage John Thiel’s account of time and forgiveness in the eschaton. I argue that our finite participation in the eternal life of God, as mediated by time, entails a transfiguration of our finitude that both respects and transcends our creaturely identities. This transfiguration makes universal eschatological friendship a reasonable hope and affirms earthly friendship as a site of eschatological anticipation.

This article traces the development of a tension between the missionary theology of Ad Gentes and Nostra Aetate’s incipient theology of religions through a period of intermediate curial debate toward a resolution expressed in the magisterial teachings of Pope Francis. Shortcomings in both conciliar documents reveal Eurocentric biases in the council’s ecclesial imaginary; further, postconciliar curial reflections, informed by a fear of error and relativism, submit dialogue to the particular missionary goal of conversion of non-Christians. Ultimately, Francis’s description of the theological task as fundamentally comparative in Ad Theologiam Promovendam offers the church a broader range of methodological approaches to diversity and normativity that make intellectually and ethically responsible theology possible in a religiously diverse world.

Bernard Lonergan develops a rich theology of prayer in his article “The Mediation of Christ in Prayer.” When his theology of prayer is integrated with his soteriology, theology of history, and argument for theology as a praxis, it reveals the role of prayer in historical recovery and yields a revitalized theology of the cross. More particularly, Lonergan recommends prayerfully encountering Christ’s redemptive deeds in Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. This encounter cultivates the real apprehension of the mystery of redemption that is both the principle of historical recovery and the heart of a revitalized theology of the cross that neither trivializes evil nor sacralizes violence.

This article proposes an ecumenical understanding of Christian tradition that valorizes the pluralism of Christian confessions as virtuous efforts to receive the gift of divine revelation. Its argument culminates in an eschatological ecclesiology that might serve as an aesthetic for appreciating the role of tradition in ecumenical dialogue.

Contemporary society’s political dynamics, especially the progressive-conservative divide, shape perceptions of the church and color perspectives on its future. Can ecclesiology provide a compelling alternative to political readings of the church, an alternative that is authentically theological, attentive to context, and conducive to realistic hope for the church’s future? To respond to that question, this article develops an “integral ecclesiology” that encompasses the implications that the church’s relationship to God has for its mission, engagement with history, ongoing conversion, and orientation to an eschatological fulfillment. The article concludes by briefly considering the Final Document of the Synod on Synodality (2021−24) as an expression of integral ecclesiology.

For more than a century, canon law has been overwhelmingly understood as the purview of canonists, quite apart from the work of theologians. Insufficient understanding of and appreciation for the history and function of canon law on the part of theologians are both a product of this perceived separation and a factor contributing to its perpetuation. This article argues that the realization of the theological vision of Vatican II, and the success of the Synod on Synodality, will require greater understanding of the form and function of canon law in the Roman Catholic Church.

This essay dwells on a crucially important dimension of the church’s synodal renewal: personal renewal. First, I suggest that, to bring out the notion’s full weight, it is helpful to link it to the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the universal call to holiness and its transformation during the council. Second, I suggest that synodality enriches the council’s teaching by being more specific about what holiness entails and that it may provide the reception of the council’s teaching on holiness with a fresh impetus. In the conclusion, I suggest that thematizing personal renewal balances conceptual and spiritual approaches to ecclesiology.