Theology and History of Vatican II

De viering van de vijftigste verjaardag van het Tweede Vaticaans Concilie riep in het Nederlandse taalgebied de vraag op naar de actualiteit van de beschikbare vertalingen. De eerste vertalingen verschenen immers spoedig na de afkondiging van een document, zonder afstemming van de documenten op elkaar. Vijftig jaar later stelde men vast dat dit Nederlands vaak niet meer aansluit bij het hedendaagse taalgebruik. Dit vormt voor de jongere generatie soms zelfs een obstakel voor de toegang tot het concilie en de studie ervan. Deze vaststelling zette een groep van Vlaamse en Nederlandse theologen ertoe aan om een nieuwe vertaling te verzorgen die zowel aan het concilie als aan het hedendaagse Nederlands recht zou doen.
Een ploeg van een 20-tal vertalers en een 25-tal theologische adviseurs uit Noord en Zuid zette zich aan het werk onder de leiding van een kernredactie die bestond uit: M. Lamberigts, P. De Mey, H. Witte, K. Schelkens, H. Tercic  en D. Bosschaert. Het geheel werd voorzien van een historische inleiding en elk document kreeg eveneens een inleiding waarin zowel het tot stand komen van het document als de receptie ervan wordt behandeld. In dit boek wordt de nieuwe Nederlandse vertaling naast de oorspronkelijke Latijnse tekst afgedrukt. Een standaardwerk voor al wie betrokken is bij de Kerk en de studie ervan.

Estas páginas suponen por tanto una visita guiada, una invitación a la lectura, una puerta de entrada a los mismos textos conciliares, que pueden ser plenamente comprendidos por el lector o la lectora contemporáneos.

Comienzan por el contexto histórico-religioso del concilio, con especial alusión a las ideas filosóficas y teológicas; después describen el desarrollo de las tareas conciliares, sobre todo desde el punto de vista histórico; en fin, realizan una consideración particular de los documentos conciliares desde el punto de vista teológico.

Proponemos una identificación entre la categoría de semina Verbi y la categoría de praeambula fidei, dentro de la categoría de praepatatio Evangelii. Siguiendo los estudios de autores como Antonio Orbe y otros, podemos hablar de semina Verbi como una participación intelectual, pero también existencial, del hombre en la verdad a través de la acción del Espíritu Santo. Los praeambula fidei hacen posible el acto de fe de manera racional y libre. Por lo tanto, creemos que es lícito, también desde las declaraciones del magisterio, hablar de una acción del Espíritu Santo como praeparatio Evangelii en las semina Verbi hacia el acto de fe.

A 50 anni dalla promulgazione della costituzione dogmatica Lumen Gentium, il documento più importante del Concilio Vaticano II dal punto di vista dottrinale, è forse possibile cominciare a recepirne senza timori la novità e le potenzialità per una autentica riforma pastorale e missionaria della Chiesa. Piuttosto che un commento capitolo per capitolo, il presente contributo opta per una presentazione tematica e trasversale del documento volta a coglierne le linee di forza teologiche in maniera accessibile e sintetica, con particolare attenzione alla dinamica trinitaria, comunitaria e missionaria. Quest’ultima è completata con un commento del decreto Ad Gentes.

Es ist wohl kaum übertrieben zu sagen, dass ganz Europa seit Montagabend unter Schock steht. Die schrecklichen Bilder der brennenden Kathedrale im Herzen der französischen Hauptstadt, welche viele Jahrhunderte das eigentliche Herz der abendländischen Kultur darstellte, haben sich bereits unauslöschlich in das historische Bewusstsein einer ganzen Generation eingebrannt und werden wohl ebenso wie die einstürzenden "Twin Towers" Symbol für das Ende einer Epoche sein: Dort das Ende der politischen Hegemonie der USA, hier das Ende der letzten Illusion christlicher Herrschaft über Europa. Ob analog zur Osterwoche aus dem Ende ein neuer Anfang wird?

Since the 2002 exposure of the extent of the sex abuse cover-up by elements within the Catholic Church, Catholics must come to a renewed appreciation of Augustine’s refutation of the Donatists and defence of the principle that Christ’s merits make the Church’s Sacraments efficacious, not those of her ministers.  Luther anticipated this in his own thought on the co-existence of Christ’s holiness and the subject’s personal sinfulness within the believer’s individual soul, but less well known is how he “institutionalized” this principle to apply to the public ministers of Word and Sacrament operating within the liturgical space of the Church. For Luther, this does not have to do with an indelible sacramental character imprinted on the priest’s soul, but rather on the minister’s ecclesial situation, for which reason he continued to value and defend his own Roman Catholic ordination, even in the face of rampant “Babylonian” corruption within the clergy.  This paper will analyze the history of Roman Catholicism’s interaction with Luther’s theology of ministry, from Luther’s own experience saying the Catholic Mass to the 20th century Catholic theologians whose re-assessment of Reformation theology helped shape Vatican II’s reform of the Mass, concluding with reflections on that teaching’s implications for Catholics and Christians generally trying to make sense of their mission within the world in light of the Church’s well-documented public failings.

After fifty years of Vatican II, it is time to review the events and question the effectiveness of reforms and council resolutions. Nowadays, there are many opinions and trends regarding the interpretation of the Council. The opening speech offers a reading key to understanding of the Council. The Gaudet Mater Ecclesia and so-called reforms, serving us also a criteria for assessing the post-council. This article presents John XXIII speech, followed by a comment, noting the relevant aspects to a proper interpretation of Vatican II Council and choosing for a so-called "hermeneutic of reform", in which the last council is seen in continuity with the previous councils.

Deklaracja o wolności religijnej to wśród tekstów Soboru Watykańskiego II dokument pod wieloma względami szczególny: jeden z najkrótszych -lecz mający największą liczbę kolejnych wersji poprzedzających ostateczną; dokument o niezbyt wysokiej randze -lecz zawierający nauczanie o wielkim znaczeniu; podkreślający na wstępie swój związek z Tradycją -lecz budzący liczne kontrowersje, właśnie ze względu na swą (rzekomą) niezgodność z wcześniejszym Magisterium; uznawany często za wizytówkę Vaticanum II -lecz przyjęty przy opozycji największej w historii głosowań tegoż Soboru.

Jules Isaac est entré dans l’histoire comme celui qui a joué un rôle crucial pour la mise à l’ordre du jour d’un texte sur les juifs au Concile Vatican II. Nombre de ses propositions inscrites dans Jésus et Israël ont trouvé leur réponse dans les différents textes du Magistère. On peut affirmer que l’Église catholique a délibérément rejeté aujourd’hui l’enseignement du mépris. Jules Isaac appartient-il donc maintenant au passé ou bien aurait-il encore quelque chose à dire pour la théologie chrétienne du Judaïsme.

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  Samuele Pinna
Presentazione di Piero Viotto
         
SINTESI
Il volume è un’introduzione al Vaticano II, nata da una rielaborazione di quanto papa Benedetto XVI ha scritto o insegnato, in diverse occasioni, sul Concilio. Il Papa emerito ha più volte richiamato la necessità di ritornare al dato conciliare e di leggere con attenzione i testi. In queste pagine, pertanto, sono riportate alcune riflessioni sul Vaticano II, così come espresse da papa Ratzinger a prescindere dalla loro data di pubblicazione, poiché il suo pensiero procede con continui approfondimenti senza soluzione di continuità e senza contraddizioni. In alcune occasioni le sue parole rappresentano un resoconto su quel grande evento di Chiesa rappresentato dal Concilio, del quale è stato testimone diretto.

For centuries, Christian theology has understood the Eucharist in terms of metaphysics or in protest against it. Today an opening has been made to imagine the sacrament through the method of phenomenology, bringing about new theological life and meaning. In Dialectical Anatomy of the Eucharist, Donald Wallenfang conducts a sustained analysis of the Eucharist through the aperture of phenomenology, yet concludes the study with poetic and metaphysical twists. Engaging the work of Jean-Luc Marion, Paul Ricoeur, and Emmanuel Levinas, Wallenfang proposes pioneering ideas for contemporary sacramental theology that have vast implications for interfaith and interreligious dialogue. By tapping into the various currents within the Judeo-Christian tradition--Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant--a radical argument is developed that leverages the tension among them all. Several new frontiers are explored: dialectical theology, a fourth phenomenological reduction, the phenomenology of human personhood, the poetics of the Eucharist, and a reinterpretation of the concept of gift as conversation. On the whole, Wallenfang advances recent debates surrounding the relationship between phenomenology and theology by claiming an uncanny way out of emerging dead ends in philosophical theology: return to the fray.

Fruits of American Intercultural studies in abroad. Intercultural communication has evolved due to the activity of The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in the United States, in a result of efforts to make more effective the FSI’s activity in communication with another nations or civilizations. – In parallel, actually, the church evolved its own theory and practice of intercultural communication, too, since and after the Second Vatican Council. Especially in Saint John Paul II’s activity, who was canonized in 2014 by the recent Pope Francis, who seemed to follow his great predecessor and it was evaluated by such Israeli politicians as Simon Perez. – Saint John Paul II’s entire pontificate was full of intercultural actions: praying together with the Dalai Lama in Assisi (1986), while putting a Buddha on the altar; and he was who has first visited the Jewish synagogue of Rome. -- All these led to the culmination of the interfaith communication in his address to the Muslims in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, May 6, 2001. - He was criticized by the conservative wing of the church, but his activity was developed ahead by the posterity, when the recent pope Francis went ahead by modernisation of the church.

Yves Congar and the priesthood of the faithful: Educating, serving and representing Twenty-five years this week since the death of the Dominican theologian, Yves Congar on 24 June 1995! Although I was studying canon law in Paris at that time, I unfortunately could not go to his funeral. Just a few months earlier, however, I did attend the ceremony at which, seated in a wheelchair, he received his red cardinal's hat from Dutch Cardinal Jan Willebrands. Unusually, the service took place not in Rome but at the St Louis des Invalides Cathedral in Paris since Congar was too frail to travel. A former World War II prisoner of war who was then 90, he had already been ill for many years and was living at the Military Hospital near the cathedral. Afterwards, I made enquiries about meeting Congar but by that time he was unable to receive visitors. Nearly, 20 years later, however, while researching my PhD thesis, I was finally able to "meet" him and learn more about his links to Cardijn and the JOC through his archives located at the Dominican convent in Paris known as Le Saulchoir. As a young friar, Congar had in fact studied and taught at Le Saulchoir, which was then located at Kain across the border from Lille and not far from Tournai in Belgium.

« Allons-nous refaire la paix ? Aujourd'hui même ? Ici ? Le Pape sera-t-il de nouveau l'ami des artistes ? » 3. Cette salve d'interrogations au milieu du discours de Paul VI adressé aux artistes en un lieu exceptionnel - la Sixtine - et en un temps non moins exceptionnel - le Concile -, est significative de la préoccupation qui traversa l’archevêque de Milan devenu pape.

We welcome applications in any field of European History by MA graduates. The PhD Program in History of Europe of the University of Teramo is looking for 5 young scholars. The selected PhD students will be awarded with full time research grants (approximately € 1.000 per month) for three years. Two grants are dedicated to graduates who have completed their MA degrees in a non Italian University. The University of Teramo to encourage the applications from abroad, in addition to the research grants, will provide to each selected foreign PhD student € 500 monthly, for a total amount of € 18,000, for three years, as reimbursement of the expenses.

Il nome di J. Ratzinger, come teologo prima, come prefetto della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede poi e, infine, da papa, è strettamente legato al Concilio Vaticano II. L'articolo propone una panoramica storica degli interventi di Ratzinger negli anni conciliari e una lettura sintetica del suo apporto in ambito ecclesiologico.

Genezę uchwalonej na Soborze Watykańskim II Konstytucji o świętej liturgii należy opisywać w dwóch wymiarach. Pierwszym jest to, co można by nazwać "fizyką‖ tej genezy: ułożony w linii czasu zespół wydarzeń bezpośrednio kształtujących dokument. Daje nam to podstawowy obraz sytuacji, którą jest powstawanie konstytucji. Jednak już w tej warstwie natykamy się na elementy, których zrozumienie wymaga wyjścia poza ową "fizykę‖. W ten sposób przechodzimy do kontekstu co prawda nie tak szczegółowego i bezpośredniego, ale tak samo rzeczywistego i sprawczego, obejmującego przyczyny tyleż oddalone, co powszechniejsze w stosunku do warstwy bliższej -który nazwijmy "metafizyką‖ tej samej genezy. Zaproponowane przez nas odróżnienie pod pewnymi względami jest podobne do sformułowanego przez strukturalizm odróżnienia diachronii i synchronii, jednak pozostaniemy przy terminologii nawiązującej do klasycznej filozofii chrześcijańskiej.

L’étude retrace les difficultés d’accès au concile Vatican II (1959-1965) pour les interlocuteurs juifs, qui contactent le Vatican au sujet du schéma De Judaeis. 
Ces difficultés s'expliquent par la forte asymétrie des relations, les juifs étant en position d'entrants. Vu les effets de segmentation dans ces réseaux, l’apport du moment conciliaire réside in fine moins dans les transferts d’idées entre représentants de groupes religieux distincts, que dans de nouvelles pratiques d’échange. Les relations entre représentants juifs et ecclésiastiques s'autonomisent des voies d'accès et des modes de discussion diplomatiques, pour donner naissance à une diplomatie interreligieuse. L'article se concentre ici sur les voies d'accès dont disposent ces interlocuteurs (mémorandums et discussions avec le Secrétariat pour l'Unité des Chrétiens, dont les théologiens chargés de la "question juive" étaient principalement des convertis) et revient sur les difficultés inhérentes à ce type d'échanges.

Cet article a été approuvé et publié par le comité de lecture des Éditions du CTHS dans le cadre des actes du 140e Congrès national des sociétés historiques et scientifiques tenu à Reims en 2015.

La conmemoración de los 50 años de la IIa. Conferencia General del Episcopado Latinoamericano, celebrada en la ciudad de Medellín entre agosto y setiembre de 1968, constituye hoy una oportunidad para hacer memoria agradecida y desafiante de la propuesta eclesiológica contenida en las "Conclusiones". Hacer memoria agradecida significa recordar la historia de nuestra región, sus desafíos y sus esperanzas, y la decisión de los obispos reunidos en Medellín de asumir ese contexto como un "lugar" teológico para la reflexión y acción eclesial. Por ello, se debe dar gracias porque la conferencia episcopal en Medellín fue el inicio de un nuevo caminar para la Iglesia latinoamericana comprometida con la historia latinoamericana.

This thesis studies the contribution of Joseph Cardijn and other bishops and theologians from the YCW (JOC) movement in helping develop the Vatican II vision of lay apostolate, and in the Council’s adoption of the jocist see-judge-act methodology and vision of a Church deeply concerned with the present world.

Congar famously stated that Vatican II 'has begun to give back to us the pneumato-logical dimension of the Church .... Has begun, we said, for the Council stopped half-way'. This article explores how Lumen gentium (LG) conceives the Holy Spirit, how that conception renders the pneumatological dimension of the Church, and how the renewal stops halway. We will see that LG is more consistent in refering to the Holy Spirit than Mystici corporis (MC, 1943) and that LG is more specific in articulating the Spirit's active contribution to the Church than MC. Genetical exploration reveals that both developments are (also) the fruit of Conciliar deliberations. Yet textual and genetical exploration suggests LG sometimes still overlooks the Holy Spirit and treats the Spirit in isolation , and that LG sometimes still is Christ and hierarchy focused.

RESUMO: Entre agosto de 2009 e junho de 2010 desenvolvemos uma pesquisa que visou analisar o pensamento político-teológico do católico leigo mineiro e historiador João Camillo de Oliveira Torres . Para tanto, a investigação pautou-se na reflexão a partir dos seguintes objetivos: pensar a conjuntura religiosa no Brasil da primeira metade do século XXjá que é nesse período que nasce João Camillo e que desenvolve seus interesses particulares -; analisar o campo da chamada história das idéias e dos principais trabalhos historiográficos sobre o pensamento católico no Brasila fim de tentar compreender as principais personagens do período e suas relações com o católico mineiro -; compreender a atuação da Igreja católica de Belo Horizonte como pano de fundo da emergência do intelectual, com seus nomes principais, entre leigos e clérigos, e aqueles autores estrangeiros que influenciavam o catolicismo da capital mineira, e por fim, apreender algumas influências analisadas a partir de escritos de João Camillo, visando apontar para algumas pistas teóricas para futuras verticalizações.

The question which leads me in this paper is whether the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, often called this Church’s “best-kept secret”, is being developed in a way which is sufficiently aware that “the doctrine of justification is measure or touchstone for the Christian faith” and that “no teaching may contradict this criterion.” (JDDJ) In response to the title I felt bound to pay quite some attention, in the first two sections of my paper, to the two documents of the Second Vatican Council dealing with the Church, the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium (1964) and the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes (1965). In Lumen Gentium chapter five deals with ‘The Universal Call to Holiness’ and this theme is very much present in the first part of Gaudium et Spes as well. I am aware that some of these passages have earlier on been treated in the response paper on “Justification and Sanctification” which Annemarie Mayer gave last year, but I hope to shed also some new light on the same theme which after all is a crucial one for our entire dialogue round. In the third and fourth section of my paper I will explore whether the encyclicals of Pope Benedict XVI and the first apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis reflect the same strong focus on Christology and on charity as the human response to God’s love for us.

negli scritti di Padre Pio l. IrIarte, Esercizi spirituali con Francesco e Chiara La teologia spirituale oggi. Identità e missione, a cura di p. MartInellI IstItuto francescano dI spIrItualItà, Maschile e femminile, vita consacrata, francescanesimo, a cura di P. MartInellI Nuova evangelizzazione e carisma francescano. Prospettive e testimonianze, a cura di p. MartInellI W. Block, Vivere il vangelo con Francesco d'Assisi. Temi e figure della fraternità minoritica l. BortolussI, Le stigmate di san Francesco nei dibattiti del '900 Pionieri dell'ecumenismo spirituale, a cura di A. BorGhIno -p. MartInellI p. resta -l. tIraBoschI -a.M. VIlla, Un rogo di carità. L'eredità francescana della beata Francesca Rubatto, a cura di G. MerlattI Arte e spiritualità. Studi, riflessioni, testimonianze, a cura di p. MartInellI -W. Block Fedeltà e perseveranza vocazionale in una cultura del provvisorio. Modelli di lettura e proposte formative, a cura di p. MartInellI -W. Block V. Johan, La spiritualità di santa Veronica Giuliani (1660-1727). La missione espiatrice di «essere mezzana» nel Diario a. GrazIolI, Fragili e perseveranti. La vita consacrata al tempo della precarietà «La grazia di lavorare». Lavoro, vita consacrata, francescanesimo, a cura di p. MartInellI -M. Melone La vita consacrata e il nuovo ambiente digitale. Sfide e opportunità formative, a cura di A. schMuckI -d. forlanI Scrutare gli orizzonti. La vita consacrata francescana 50 anni dopo il Vaticano II, a cura di L. BIanchI Arricchirsi vicendevolmente. Famiglia e vita consacrata nell'unico corpo di Cristo, a cura di l. BIanchI -a. GrazIolI Storia della spiritualità francescana. 1. Secoli XIII-XVI, a cura di M. BartolI -W. Blocka. MastroMatteo La ricerca della verità in un'apertura alla comunione. Spiritualità francescana e vita universitaria, a cura di A. schMuckI -l. BIanchI P. MartInellI, Vocazione e forme della vita cristiana. Riflessioni sistematiche K. sannIkoVa, La spiritualità del Sangue di Cristo. Il contributo di p. Winfried M. Wermter «Se vuoi, o Leone, venire da me, vieni!». Accompagnare la fede dei giovani oggi, a cura di A. schMuckI -l. BIanchI l. lehMann, Caritas et Sapientia. Raccolta di studi francescani, a cura di B. MolIna -l. BIanchI In dialogo. Metodo scientifico e stile di vita, a cura di L. BIanchI -r. dI Muro frontesp BIANCHI-DI MURO -In dialogo.indb 5

From amazon.com:
""Whoever needs an act of faith to elucidate an event that can be explained by reason is a fool, and unworthy of reasonable thought." This line, spoken by the notorious 18th-century libertine Giacomo Casanova, illustrates a deeply entrenched perception of religion, as prevalent today as it was hundreds of years ago. It is the sentiment behind the narrative that Catholic beliefs were incompatible with the Enlightenment ideals. Catholics, many claim, are superstitious and traditional, opposed to democracy and gender equality, and hostile to science. It may come as a surprise, then, to learn that Casanova himself was a Catholic. In The Catholic Enlightenment, Ulrich Lehner points to such figures as representatives of a long-overlooked thread of a reform-minded Catholicism, which engaged Enlightenment ideals with as much fervor and intellectual gravity as anyone. Their story opens new pathways for understanding how faith and modernity can interact in our own time.

Lehner begins two hundred years before the Enlightenment, when the Protestant Reformation destroyed the hegemony Catholicism had enjoyed for centuries. During this time the Catholic Church instituted several reforms, such as better education for pastors, more liberal ideas about the roles of women, and an emphasis on human freedom as a critical feature of theology. These actions formed the foundation of the Enlightenment's belief in individual freedom. While giants like Spinoza, Locke, and Voltaire became some of the most influential voices of the time, Catholic Enlighteners were right alongside them. They denounced fanaticism, superstition, and prejudice as irreconcilable with the Enlightenment agenda.

In 1789, the French Revolution dealt a devastating blow to their cause, disillusioning many Catholics against the idea of modernization. Popes accumulated ever more power and the Catholic Enlightenment was snuffed out. It was not until the Second Vatican Council in 1962 that questions of Catholicism's compatibility with modernity would be broached again.

Ulrich Lehner tells, for the first time, the forgotten story of these reform-minded Catholics. As Pope Francis pushes the boundaries of Catholicism even further, and Catholics once again grapple with these questions, this book will prove to be required reading."

This study proposes a close historical reading of Dei Verbum 11-13, in order to overcome a false division between scientific exegesis and theology. Two readings of DV 12 are possible: (i) scientific exegesis is complete in its genre, but it has to be supplemented by a theology, to avoid the deadlocks of rationalism; (ii) Biblical exegesis cannot be truly scientific without being ecclesial, in such a way that an integral exegesis demands by itself to be developed in a theology. A careful investigation of the text, its prior history, its redaction and its reception, leads toward the second interpretation.

Between Pacem in terris, Liturgical Renewal, and Speculation About a Dying Church: Catholic Theology in the Context of the Normalisation of the Humanities

This study examines the effects of so-called normalisation during the 1970s and 1980s on the catholic theological context, which it understands both as a discipline of the theoretical humanities and as educational framework for cultivating and developing pastoral practice. From this perspective, the author proceeds to map out and elucidate both the targeted political weakening of the domestic methodological debate on theology, which had developed in the 1960s alongside and in contact with
its foreign counterparts, and the gradual metamorphosis of state influence to the point where it inhibited all practical development of pastoral practice. It also traces changes in the context of tertiary education, as well as the situation and debates within the unofficial structures of the so-called hidden church. Finally, it examines details of the Czech situation, in particular the often unofficial theological discussions of the 1970s and 1980s, which reflect the specific consequences of the Communist regime’s suppression of free debate, especially in the Catholic Church. The article concludes
by drawing attention to the dangers of certain ideological residues of ‘normalisation’ that persist in the Church to this day.

This dissertation focuses on the theme of ecumenism as it is embodied in the career of the American Protestant church leader, Douglas Horton. The chapters delineate stages in the development of Horton's ecumenical commitments. First, as a student at Hartford Theological Seminary, Horton partakes of the ecumenical ethos that permeates the seminary community in the aftermath of the 1910 Edinburgh Conference. Second, while serving as a Congregational pastor, Horton brings contemporary German theology to the awareness of a wide American audience through his translation of Karl Barth's The Word of God and the Word of Man. At the same time, his concern for a world torn asunder by war and economic depression draws him into the emerging ecumenical movement. Then, after a series of pastorates in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Chicago, he becomes the leader of the Congregational Christian Churches as they negotiate union with the Evangelical and Reformed Church to form the United Church of Christ. Next, as Dean of Harvard Divinity School, he presides over the inclusion of the first Roman Catholic onto the faculty and advocates for the development of a center for the study of world religions. During this period he also works to secure the advances made under his leadership in the United Church of Christ and in the Faith and Order movement. Finally, he is an active interlocutor in wide ­ranging theological conversations with the Roman Catholic hierarchy as a Protestant observers at the Second Vatican Council.

This essay looks at the decrees Haec Sancta and Frequens of the Council of Constance (1414-1418) and Lumen Gentium of Vatican II (1962-1965). Both councils taught that full and supreme power was not exercised by the Pope alone, thus advocating some sharing of power within the governance of the Church. Further consideration is also given to the reasons why various forms of shared governance were not put into practice following these councils.

This book applies a novel method of critical reading of Lumen Gentium and Mystici Corporis in combination with redaction-historical analysis to channel the Second Vatican Council’s modest attempts at pneumatological renewal into a more open and receptive faith practice and theology.