Past Book Reviews

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Of All Things, Seen and Unseen: Josef Pieper’s Negative Philosophy, Science, and Hope

Looking at the relationship between theological, philosophical, and scientific methods within the thought of twentieth-century philosopher Josef Pieper, the author argues that Pieper’s perspective is ...

The Symbiosis of Philosophy and Theology in Blondel’s Supernatural Hypothesis

Maurice Blondel’s philosophy makes strong claims about the theological enterprise. Namely, philosophy and theology achieve their fulfillment only in mutual dependence and both court superstition ...

Spirituality, Evolution, Creator God

Evolution raises problems for some Christian beliefs, such as the character of God’s creating act, whether God intervenes in nature’s consistency, God’s purpose in the ...

The Catholic Tradition on the Due Use of Medical Remedies: The Charlie Gard Case

The widely publicized British case of Charlie Gard became an international cause célèbre when the treating physicians petitioned the British courts to prevent the parents ...

Internalized Borders: Immigration Ethics in the Age of Trump

The Trump administration’s immigration measures and attendant dehumanizing rhetoric have fanned the flames of nationalism and sown fear in communities. Its internal enforcement strategies are ...

Prophetic Pragmatism and Descending to Matters of Detail

This article names the three most urgent issues today in ethics: first, climate crisis and its impact on the poor and marginalized; second, the tragic ...

Theological Renewal after the Council of Trent? The Case of Jesuit Commentaries on the Summa Theologiae

As part of the Catholic reform after the Council of Trent, the Jesuits Francisco de Toledo, Gregorio de Valencia, and Gabriel Vázquez further developed the ...

Orthodox Observers at the Second Vatican Council and Intra-Orthodox Dynamics

Since Vatican II was convened as an ecumenical council, most Orthodox autocephalous churches initially refused to send observers without full voting rights. For non-theological reasons, ...

The Ghost of Pistoia: Evocations of Auctorem Fidei in the Debate over Episcopal Collegiality at Vatican II

This article explores the evocations of the Synod of Pistoia (1786) at Vatican II, arguing that Pistoia was a “ghost” on the council floor, that ...

Superiority without Supersessionism: Walter Kasper, The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable, and God’s Covenant with the Jews

Nostra Aetate initiated a revolutionary shift in Catholic theology, opposing supersessionism and affirming that Jews remain in a salvific covenantal relationship with God. However, this ...

Christ as the Woman Seeking Her Lost Coin: Luke 15:8-10 and Divine Sophia in the Latin West

Fathers, saints, and Doctors of the Church interpreted the woman of Luke 15:8-10 as a representation of Christ—and identified her with Woman Wisdom (ḥokmāh/sophia), whom ...

Ec(o)clesiology: Ecology as Ecclesiology in Laudato Si’

This article argues that the call in Laudato Si’ for an integral ecology can also be understood as teaching about the church. It first excavates ...

A Place for Communion: Reflections on an Ecclesiology of Parish Life

Theologians have demonstrated curious restraint in assigning theological meaning to the parish. I argue here for a renewed attention to the parish as an “ecclesial ...

Should Deacons Represent Christ the Servant?

Vatican II envisioned a revived permanent diaconate modeled on Christ the servant. That view, well grounded in subsequent church documents and widely appealed to in ...

Mission Impossible? Pope Benedict XVI and Interreligious Dialogue

There exist very different accounts about the attitude of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI to interreligious dialogue. Does interreligious dialogue aim at truth and intertwine with ...

Believing and Seeing

This article reconsiders the relationship between vision and faith, recuperating an understanding of the “ray of darkness” accented by Church Fathers such as Gregory of ...

Theodore M. Hesburgh, Theologian: Revisiting Land O’Lakes Fifty Years Later

Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, was the driving force behind the 1967 Land O’Lakes Statement—a watershed document that affirmed both the distinctive identity of Catholic universities ...

Cup of Suffering, Chalice of Salvation: Refugees, Lampedusa, and the Eucharist

This article explores the significance of the Eucharist in the context of the global refugee crisis. It analyzes this topic in light of the mass ...

Understanding the Shift in Gaudium et Spes: From Theology of History to Christian Anthropology

This contribution reconsiders the rejected but often overlooked “Malines text” (September 1963) as the missing link in the redaction history of Gaudium et Spes and ...

Classical Theism and the Problem of Animal Suffering

In the Western theological tradition, nonhuman suffering was not perceived as a “live” problem until the early modern period. Constrained by classical theism, the early ...
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