The church is much on our minds these days, and many are asking how we arrived at this place in our history. Some blame the Second Vatican Council. Despite firm papal leadership, beginning with Pope Paul VI himself, it seems that for some in the church, the council was a mistake that needs to be corrected, if not reversed. Yet so much of this kind of thinking is devoid of any deeper historical understanding, particularly of how some current streams of thought have their forbears in the church’s intellectual history. For some perspective, this second issue of our 80th volume begins with an article by the distinguished historian John W. O’Malley, SJ, who roots understanding of Vatican II in the traditions of Renaissance humanism, where a pastoral, spiritual intent is made paramount within a rhetoric that is prelude to but not synonymous with modern academic theology. O’Malley thus offers a classically-informed approach to the past and present ecclesial moments. The ruminations of Erasmus, Valla, and their contemporaries are not without value to us today.