The conversation of this book is structured around five major documents from the Second Vatican Council, each of which Barth commented upon in his short but penetrating response to the Council, published as Ad Limina Apostolorum. In the two opening essays, Thomas Joseph White reflects upon the contribution that this book seeks to make to contemporary ecumenism rooted in awareness of the value of dogmatic theology; and Matthew Levering explores the way in which Barth’s Ad Limina Apostolorum flows from his preconciliar dialogues with Catholic representatives of the nouvelle théologie and remain relevant to the issues facing Catholic theology today. The next two essays turn to Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation; here Katherine Sonderegger (Protestant) reflects on scripture and Lewis Ayres (Catholic) reflects on tradition. The next two essays address the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, which touches upon central differences of Catholic and Protestant self-understanding. Christoph Schwöbel (Protestant) analyzes visible ecclesial identity as conceived in a Protestant context, while Thomas Joseph White (Catholic) engages Barth’s Reformed criticisms of the Catholic notion of the Church. The next two essays take up Nostra Aetate: Bruce Lindley McCormack (Protestant) asks whether it is true to say that Muslims worship the same God as Christians, and Bruce D. Marshall (Catholic) explores the implications of the Council’s reflections on the Jewish people. The next two essays take up the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes: John Bowlin (Protestant) makes use of the thought of Aquinas to consider the promise and perils of the document, while Francesca Aran Murphy (Catholic) engages critically with George Lindbeck’s analysis of the document. The next two essays explore Unitatis Redintegratio: Hans Boersma (Protestant) asks whether the ecumenical intention of the document is impaired by its insistence that the unity of the Church is already present in the Catholic Church, and Reinhard Hütter (Catholic) systematically addresses Barth’s questions regarding the document. The noted ecumenist and Catholic theologian Richard Schenk brings the volume to a close by reflecting on “true and false ecumenism” in the post-conciliar period.

What if anything can human beings know about God, either by way of philosophical reasoning or by divine revelation? How does the mystery of the Incarnation illuminate our understanding of the nature and mystery of God and the nature and destiny of the human person? The essays in this book explore topics pertaining to the nature of God, apophatic theology, divine simplicity and the holy Trinity, divine beauty, and the beauty of creation. The book also contains a series of speculative considerations of Christology: Why did God become human? How ought we understand the two natures of Christ and the topic of the communication of idioms (attribution of both divine and human properties to one person)? There is also a sustained treatment of Jesus' human knowledge and voluntary freedom. Did Jesus understand his own lordship and his unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and if so, how? Did Christ's human will always accord with the divine will, and what significance does this idea have for our understanding of the redemption affected by Christ for the whole human race? Through these explorations, principles drawn from Thomas Aquinas and from Thomistic tradition are taken into account as key resources for the adjudication of contemporary theological challenges. Principles of Catholic Theology, Book 3 is a continuation of Fr. Thomas Joseph White's collection of essays, extending over a range of fundamental topics in Catholic dogmatic theology.