The article examines changes in teaching and practice endorsed by Vatican II. What “combination of continuity and discontinuity” (Pope Benedict XVI) shaped those reforms? Several conciliar documents set out principles guiding the changes by retrieving neglected traditions (ressourcement) and bringing the church’s life up to date (aggiornamento). The article suggests going beyond such schemes as

Since Vatican II the Latin American church has come of age to become an autochthonous and distinctive expression of the universal church. The article enlists the postconciliar general conferences of Latin American bishops to explore the creative reception of the council and how it has shaped the identity and mission of this church. Three theological

The centenary of Walter Ong’s birth offers an occasion to reflect on how his research into culture, language, orality and literacy, and communication practices can contribute to the work of those engaged in theological research and reflection. This article argues that his work helps us understand how shifting information handling (from classical rhetoric to writing

Both Thomas More and John Henry Newman understood the human subject as a historically situated, responsible, and dynamic being that realizes itself through conscientious moral action amid the ambiguities of history. Both men were also obliged to come to terms with the tensile relationship between loyalty to conscience and loyalty to tradition. Their lives and

The average Christian who accepts or rejects purgatory usually views it as a demi-hell set up by divine justice between heaven and hell to punish those who have died without having made sufficient reparation for their sins. This article contends, however, that the purgatorial stage of the consciousness of the mystics, caused by their intense

The author explores John Courtney Murray’s thought on the telos of Catholic higher education. Although best known for his political writings on church and state and for his advocacy of religious freedom within a pluralistic society, Murray has also written extensively on Catholic higher education. After reviewing some of the core principles that guided his

This response to Kenneth Garcia’s article explores the challenges of “translating” John Courtney Murray when conversation partners no longer depend on shared cultural assumptions. Drawing on a set of literary keys in Murray’s “Towards a Theology for the Layman,” it suggests the sensitivities, methods, content, and tone that may reach students and colleagues—in Murray’s turn

Few ideas have impacted the church more than reform, but in recent centuries it virtually disappeared from theological discourse. That changed on December 22, 2005, when Pope Benedict XVI, in his address to the Roman Curia, introduced “hermeneutic of reform” as the proper category for interpreting Vatican II. John O’Malley here traces the history of

Contemporary proposals regarding an appropriate hermeneutic for interpreting Vatican II vary in their emphasis on three elements: the conciliar process, the conciliar documents, and the shifting contexts from which future generations interpret the council and its documents. Drawing on these insights, this article outlines six principles, which the author proposes as basic for ensuring a