[The author describes how the medieval tradition answered the question of whether one can legitimately speak of collective ecclesial sin. Using principally Bonaventure as a focal point, he examines how the notion of ecclesial sin functioned simultaneously as reform rhetoric and an ecclesial apologetic of humility. Finally, he applies Bonaventure’s analysis of ecclesial sin to

[The author argues for the use of hagiographical texts to expand the evidence for the theological tradition, precisely during the early Middle Ages when more obvious sources are wanting. Her thesis is that there is sound basis for reading the lives of the saints through the lens of doctrinal theology. After giving this evidence, she

[The author reviews the discussion between Kasper and Ratzinger on the ontological priority of the universal Church, and then summarizes several studies by Kasper on the papacy and episcopacy at Vatican I, on Aquinas’s teaching about the bishop’s ministry, and Vatican II’s teachings on the institution of the bishop’s office, as well as the pastoral,

[Catherine Mowry LaCugna’s God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life (1991) constitutes a paradigm shift in present-day trinitarian theology. LaCugna was convinced that the standard paradigm of the economic and immanent Trinity was fraught with a variety of limitations. She offered as an alternative framework the principle of the inseparability of theologia and oikonomia,

[The moral category of human rights has been in jeopardy since the beginning of the UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948) because of an indefiniteness about the complementary category of whose responsibility it is to meet their moral claims. Lonergan’s understanding of responsibility is presented here as valuable for supplying this hiatus. Even though he

[The author argues that Christian parents have a dual vocation: to care for their children and to contribute to the larger society. Recent theology on the family shows that most writers emphasize only one part of that dual vocation. The author argues that this tendency diminishes family ethics. She roots the obligation to care for

[The author first examines the application of the qualificatio theologica or theological norm as an aid to doctrinal interpretation in Catholic neo-Scholastic theology. He then explores the emergence of related interpretive questions at Vatican II, particularly with regard to two sections of Lumen gentium. His examination suggests a hermeneutical principle for interpreting the documents of

[The author provides a brief examination of Roman Catholic norms for sharing communion with non-Catholic Christians. He then discusses three areas of concern with respect to these norms as currently formulated: the Eucharist as the cause and expression of unity; the Eucharist in the context of Christian initiation; and Christian ministry with respect to eucharistic

[The conviction that the common teaching of the bishops was a sure guide for Christian faith goes back to the earliest centuries. In the decades since Vatican II, appeals to this category of common episcopal teaching, now referred to under the rubric “ordinary universal magisterium,” have grown dramatically. The author here documents the expanded appeals

[Pope John Paul II in Apostolos suos has decreed that doctrinal statements to be issued by episcopal conferences either must have been approved unanimously, or, if approved by a two-thirds majority, must have received the recognitio of the Holy See. The author argues that these requirements are consistent with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s opinion that the