[Recent Vatican documents affirm a unique salvific efficacy for the Catholic Church by establishing its representations of the Absolute as uniquely close to the Absolute. But what is the human problem necessitating salvation? Buddhist traditions have defined that problem as the human tendency to absolutize and cling to representations, in daily life and in religious

[Adherents of a particular religion consider their own tradition as absolutely authoritative for them in regard to ultimate destiny and norms for human living. The author here examines three views of the Supreme Way in Japanese Buddhism, namely, of Kūkai, Dōgen, and Nichiren. He then sets these views in conversation with Catholic perspectives on key

[The author summarizes the content of Jacques Dupuis’s latest work, Christianity and the Religions: From Confrontation to Dialogue (Orbis, 2002) and indicates some of the points where it differs from his earlier, longer book, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism (Orbis, 1997). He then reflects on the terminological and substantial issues that Dupuis has

[In this segment of the Notes on Moral Theology, the author argues that overcoming one’s suspicion of eros in Christian ethics would lead to a more integrated vision of the human person, moving beyond the dichotomies between rational knowledge and emotional cognition, spirituality and sexuality, agape and self-love. At the same time, positive recognition of

[In this final section of the Notes on Moral Theology the author explores the extensive work of Catholic moral theologians reflecting on morality and the lives of gay and lesbian persons. He demonstrates that moral theologians not only critically engage a variety of statements by the different offices of the magisterium, but also investigate the

[Recognizing that the Christ event has done away with sacrifice in the history-of-religions sense of the word, this article attempts to unveil the true meaning of Christian sacrifice from trinitarian and liturgical perspectives which enable us to see that sacrifice is, first, the self-offering of the Father in the gift of the Son, and then

[Franciscan theologians posit an integral relation between Incarnation and Creation whereby the Incarnation is grounded in the Trinity of love. The primacy of Christ as the fundamental reason for the Incarnation underscores a theocentric understanding of Incarnation that widens the meaning of salvation and places it in a cosmic content. The author explores the primacy

[In his encyclical Fides et ratio, John Paul II favorably cited Antonio Rosmini. Since many propositions taken from Rosmini’s thought had been proscribed by the 19th-century magisterium, such citation called for a rethinking on the part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In a Note issued in 2001, its prefect, Joseph Ratzinger,

[At Vatican I fides et mores were key terms, ordinarily translated as “faith and morals” and understood as separable terms. Were they always so distinguished? Did mores traditionally mean “morals”? Piet Fransen traced their origin to a letter of St. Augustine and followed their use through the Middle Ages to the Council of Trent. Afterwards,

[Roman Catholic teaching on marriage focuses on interpersonal love of spouses, of which sacramentality and procreation are dimensions. Post Vatican II disputes about sexual morality, divorce, and birth control have taken place in this general context. A new generation of scholars—married, with children—argues for a more social view of marriage, with special concern about socioeconomic