Cardinal Tommaso de Vio (1469-1534), commonly known as Cajetan, remains a misunderstood figure. Cajetan on Sacred Doctrine is the first ever monograph on Cajetan as a theologian in his own right, and it fills an immense lacuna in the debate on the nature of sacred doctrine from the Thomism of the Renaissance. Confirming Cajetan as a key protagonist within the emergent Reformation, this work delivers an indispensable immersion into his theological method in relation to his closest predecessors and contemporaries: Hervaeus Natalis, Blessed Duns Scotus, Gregory of Rimini, Johannes Capreolus, Silvestro Mazzolini da Prierio, Martin Luther, and others. The first ever commentary on St. Thomas Aquinas’s entire Summa Theologiae was published by Cajetan. This monograph focuses primarily on the Summa Theologiae Ia pars, question 1, concerning sacred doctrine, and how Cajetan unpacks the potency of Aquinas’s opening syllogism, setting forth a coherent division of the question, and ultimately touching the mind of Aquinas when revealing the articles of the Apostles’ Creed as the Summa Theologiae’s macrostructure. Finally, we are shown how Cajetan emphasizes the essential link between ecclesiology and the communication of sacred doctrine, especially the papacy’s role in guaranteeing the proposal and explication of the faith. Cajetan’s accomplishments as a biblical exegete established him as a renowned Renaissance scholar and a forerunner of future ecumenical dialogue. Furthermore, his grasp of theology’s perennial properties continue to make him an important interlocutor in the renewed quest for a unity in theology in an ever more fragmented aggregation of theologies. Cajetan’s theological labor is a perpetuation of the via antiqua, a biblical-theological worldview handed down through Tradition. St. Gregory the Theologian (329-390), the via antiqua’s preeminent Eastern representative and chief theological constructor of Christendom, offers the monograph’s author--himself a Byzantine Hieromonk--a prime opportunity for a few closing insights on the innate symphony between two very distant periods and distinct theological traditions within the one ecumenical Church.

Canon Law, Religion, and Politics extends and honors the work of the distinguished historian Robert Somerville, a preeminent expert on medieval church councils, law, and papal history.

This second edition streamlines some of the editing from the first addition, and more importantly, includes material from Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Si’, and his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium. A Catechism for Business presents the teachings of the Catholic Church as they relate to more than one hundred specific and challenging moral questions as they have been asked by business leaders. Andrew V. Abela and Joseph E. Capizzi have assembled the relevant quotations from recent Catholic social teaching as responses to these questions. Questions and answers are grouped together under major topics such as marketing, finance and investment. The book's easy-to-use question and answer approach invites quick reference for tough questions and serves as a basis for reflection and deeper study in the rich Catholic tradition of social doctrine.

A Catechism for Business presents the teachings of the Catholic Church as they relate to more than one hundred specific and challenging moral questions that have been asked by business leaders. Andrew V. Abela and Joseph E. Capizzi have assembled the relevant quotations from recent Catholic social teaching as responses to these questions. Questions and answers are grouped under major topics such as marketing, finance, and investment. Business ethics questions can be too subtle for definitive yes / no answers, so the book offers no more and no less than church teaching on each particular question. Where the church has offered definitive answers, the book provides them. When the church has not, the book offers guidelines for reflection and insights into what one should consider in given situations.

The purpose of A Catechism for Family Life: Insights from Catholic Teaching on Love, Marriage, Sex, and Parenting is to present the teachings of the Catholic Church as they relate to specific questions in marriage and family life. Many Catholics are under-catechized and have trouble both understanding and articulating Church teaching on sexuality and marriage to an increasingly challenging culture. Pope Francis, along with the fathers of the two recent Synods on the Family, have called for better formation for those who work in the area of marriage and family life (see Amoris Laetitia, 202).

To address this need, we gathered pertinent questions facing men, women, and pastoral workers in marriage and family life. We then found passages relevant to these questions by researching Church documents on marriage and family from the past one hundred years. These include papal encyclicals, apostolic exhortations, and addresses, Vatican II documents, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Mainstream media coverage of Church events and Church teaching leads many to misunderstand Catholic positions on marriage and family life. While the Catholic Church has developed a rich, detailed, and positive teaching on marriage, family, and sexuality, many Catholics do not have access to this teaching, buried as it is in lengthy Church documents which many find intimidating. Finding the relevant teaching to address specific questions is not always a simple task, either. This book’s main contribution is to present Church teaching relevant to marriage and family in one volume clearly organized by topic and question.

The Catholic Church’s teachings on ethical issues arising in healthcare delivery and biomedical science are distributed across a plethora of different places ranging from papal allocutions, encyclicals, instructions by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and guidance documents authored by various congregations of bishops. Furthermore, they are distributed throughout time ranging from, for example, the Didache (or teaching of the 12 apostles, circa 1st Century), to Pope Pius XII’s address in 1954 addressing ethical issues in transplantation, and onto the 2009 instruction entitled Dignitas personae. It is difficult for a wider audience to make sense of these sources on the various issues arising in healthcare delivery and scientific research, but the editors of A Catechism for Health Care have collated them in a way that makes them easier to understand The purpose of this book is to present the teachings of the Catholic Church as they pertain to ethical issues arising in the healthcare and biomedical sciences. The premise of the project is that the Catholic Church’s teaching speaks in an accessible way to a wide range of people concerned about healthcare ethics. It is important to present these teachings concisely. The book is ordered around numerous questions concerning the most common practices in health care that have ethical dimensions. It then provides concise answers to these questions as are found in various magisterial Church documents. These answers are refreshingly clear and to the point.

Every discipline, including theology, requires a synthetic overview of its acquisitions and open questions, a kind of “topography” to guide the new student and refresh the gaze of specialists. In his Synthèse dogmatique, Fr. Jean-Hervé Nicolas, OP (1910-2001) presents just such a map of Thomistic theology, focusing on the central topics of Dogmatic Theology: The One and Triune God, Christology, Mariology, Ecclesiology, the Sacraments, and the Last Things. Drawing on decades of research and teaching, Fr. Nicolas synthetically presents these topics from a faithfully Thomistic perspective. While broadly and genially engaging the theological literature of the 20th century, he nonetheless remains deeply indebted to the Thomistic school that would have formed him in his youth as a theologian. This provides the reader with an unparalleled theological vision, masterfully bringing forth, at once, what is new and what is classical. Catholic Theology: A Dogmatic Synthesis will be published in English as a multi-volume work. In this volume, Fr. Nicolas discusses the nature of theological science and the mystery of the Triune God. At once historically-informed and speculatively-detailed, this volume carefully introduces the reader to classical Thomistic positions concerning the theological articulation of the Trinitarian mystery, including the topic of the divine missions, that is, the sending of the Son and the Spirit in the economy of salvation, thereby providing an important connection between the dogmatic portion of theology and its spiritual / moral concerns. Given the central luminosity of the Trinitarian mystery in the life of faith and in theology, this volume is a pivotal chapter in theological reflection. Indeed, objectively speaking, it is the most important discussion in all of theology. Serving as a professor for decades, including at the University of Fribourg, Fr. Nicolas was at once a profound scholar and a masterful pedagogue. Gathering the work of a lifetime into a single pedagogical narrative, Fr. Nicolas’s Catholic Theology: A Dogmatic Synthesis provides a resource for students and scholars alike. In view of the hyper-specialization of theology today, this series of volumes provides readers with a synthetic and sapiential overview of the fundamentals of dogmatic theology from a robust and profound Thomistic perspective.

Every discipline, including theology, requires a synthetic overview of its acquisitions and open questions, a kind of "topography" to guide the new student and refresh the gaze of specialists. In his Synthèse dogmatique, Fr. Jean-Hervé Nicolas, OP (1910-2001) presents just such a map of Thomistic theology, focusing on the central topics of Dogmatic Theology: The One and Triune God, Christology, Mariology, Ecclesiology, the Sacraments, and the Last Things. Drawing on decades of research and teaching, Fr. Nicolas synthetically presents these topics from a faithfully Thomistic perspective. While broadly and genially engaging the theological literature of the 20th century, he nonetheless remains deeply indebted to the Thomistic school that would have formed him in his youth as a theologian. This provides the reader with an unparalleled theological vision, masterfully bringing forth, at once, what is new and what is classical. Catholic Theology: A Dogmatic Synthesis will be published in English as a multi-volume work. In this volume, Fr. Nicolas discusses the mysteries of faith directly connected with the Redemptive Incarnation: the formation of orthodox Christological dogma in the course of the first centuries of the Church; the nature of the Hypostatic Union; the latter's effects in Christ's holiness, knowledge, and incarnate activity; the mariological mysteries connected to the divine maternity; the soteriological meaning of Christ's vicarious satisfaction; and the eschatological return of Christ in Glory. Serving as a professor for decades, including at the University of Fribourg, Fr. Nicolas was at once a profound scholar and a masterful pedagogue. Gathering the work of a lifetime into a single pedagogical narrative, Fr. Nicolas's Catholic Theology: A Dogmatic Synthesis provides a resource for students and scholars alike. In view of the hyper-specialization of theology today, this series of volumes provides readers with a synthetic and sapiential overview of the fundamentals of dogmatic theology from a robust and profound Thomistic perspective.

"This excellent book is one of the few scholarly investigations that analyze the official Catholic School Teaching from the perspective of the secular, economic, and political sciences." --Gregory Baum Drawing upon a lively debate within the field of social theory, Mary E. Hobgood argues that the paradigm conflict between orthodox neoclassical and radical economic models is reflected in Catholic documents that address economic justice. She maintains that dynamics within Catholic teaching are explicable only in terms of this clash of fundamentally opposing perspectives. This study shows how normative values of social justice are always tied to a particular social theory or model of society. When assumptions shift from one model to another, the concrete actions mandated by these justice norms change significantly. Consequently, the Catholic social justice tradition contains not only two mutually exclusive analyses of capitalist dynamics, it also has very different interpretations of such norms as economic democracy and a preferential notion for the poor. Hobgood argues that the Church needs to clarify the economic models that inform its social justice mandates and to assess those models for their compatibility with the Church's moral concerns, otherwise, Catholic social teaching's interpretations of justice and how Christians must act for it remain inconsistent. "[Mary Hobgood] asks what Catholic teaching itself has assumed about the way the economy works, and she brings to the fore hidden assumptions that are fundamental to the policy prescriptions in Catholic teaching.... The result is a clear picture of the divided mind and practice of Catholicism when confronting twentieth-century economic realities. If Catholic teaching did us all the service of finding a strong moral and theological voice for a critique of secular economics, Dr. Hobgood points the way to make that voice a clearer one, more aware of its limitations and of its potential." --Larry L. Rasmussen, from the Foreword "This is one of the most enlightening analyses of Catholic social teaching that I have ever read. It goes far beyond the available commentaries because of its sharp focus on the economic--not just as the content of the teaching, but its provision of the theoretical framework in which to situate the economic content. The book is very insightful with regard to Catholic social teaching, but I think her exposition holds great value for the analysis of World Council of Churches' positions and the positions of any denomination. Even beyond that, her models throw light on the daily battles within any church institution that is working for justice and peace while at the same time engaging in the compromises and contradictions required to maintain itself within the current economic system." --Marie J. Giblin, Maryknoll School of Theology

Charles E. Curran offers the first comprehensive analysis and criticism of the development of modern Catholic social teaching from the perspective of theology, ethics, and church history. Curran studies the methodology and content of the documents of Catholic social teaching, generally understood as comprising twelve papal letters beginning with Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum, two documents from Vatican II, and two pastoral letters of the U.S. bishops.

He contends that the fundamental basis for this body of teaching comes from an anthropological perspective that recognizes both the inherent dignity and the social nature of the human person—thus do the church's teachings on political and economic matters chart a middle course between the two extremes of individualism and collectivism. The documents themselves tend to downplay any discontinuities with previous documents, but Curran's systematic analysis reveals the significant historical developments that have occurred over the course of more than a century. Although greatly appreciative of the many strengths of this teaching, Curran also points out the weaknesses and continuing tensions in Catholic social teaching today.

Intended for scholars and students of Catholic social ethics, as well as those involved in Catholic social ministry, this volume will also appeal to non-Catholic readers interested in an understanding and evaluation of Catholic social teaching.

Catholicism and Liberal Democracy seeks to clarify if there is a place for Catholicism in the public discourse of modern liberal democracy, bringing secular liberalism, as articulated by Jürgen Habermas, into conversation with the Catholic tradition. James Martin Carr explores three aspects of the Catholic tradition relevant to this debate: the Church’s response to democracy from the nineteenth century up until the eve of the Second Vatican Council; the Council’s engagement with modernity, in particular through Gaudium et spes and Dignitatis humanae; and Joseph Ratzinger’s theology of politics as a particularly incisive (and influential) articulation of the Catholic tradition in this area. Jürgen Habermas’s theorization of the place of religion in modern democracy, both in his earlier secularist phase and after his ‘post-secular’ turn, is evaluated. The adequacy of Habermas’s recent attempts to accommodate religious citizens are critically examined and it is argued that developments in his later thought logically require a more thoroughgoing revision of his earlier theory. These developments, it is argued, create tantalizing openings for fruitful dialogue between Habermas and the Catholic tradition. Using analytical tools drawn from communications theory, the debates on same-sex marriage at Westminster and in the Irish referendum campaign are analyzed, assessing whether Catholic contributions to these debates comply with Habermasian rules of civic discourse. In light of this analysis, the prospects of, and impediments to, Catholic participation in public discourse are appraised. Carr concludes by proposing a Ratzingerian critique of contemporary attempts to redefine marriage within a broader, more fundamental critique of the modern democratic state as currently configured. A political system founded upon secularist monism cannot but regard Christian Gelasianism, and its Catholic variant in particular, as an existential threat. Thus, Catholics, however Habermasian their political behavior, can never be more than uneasy bedfellows with modern liberal democracy.

The polarization in the Church today can be traced back to a more fundamental crisis in theology, one which has failed to connect our mundane experiences and the mysteries of the Christian faith with the person of Jesus Christ. Ecclesial discourse on the so-called ‘hot- button issues’ of the day too often take place without considering the foundation and goal of the Church. And this is unfortunately due to a similar tendency in the academic theology that informs that ecclesial discourse. In short, much of post-conciliar Catholic theology is adrift, floating aimlessly away from the center of the Christian faith, who is Christ. The Center is Jesus Christ Himself is a collection of essays which anchor theological reflection in Jesus Christ. These diverse essays share a unified focal point, but engage with a variety of theological subdisciplines (e.g., dogmatic, moral, Biblical, etc.), areas (e.g., Christology, Pneumatology, missiology, etc.), and periods (e.g., patristic, medieval, and modern). Given the different combinations of sub-disciplines, areas, and periods, theology is susceptible to fragmentation when it is not held together by some principle of unity. A theology in which the person of Jesus Christ serves as that principle of unity is a Christocentric theology. Together, the essays illustrate not only what Christocentric theology looks like, but also what the consequences are when Christ is dislodged from the center, whether by a conspicuous silence on, or by a relativization of, his unique salvific mission. The volume is published in honor of Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology at Boston College, Rev. Dr. Robert P. Imbelli, who dedicated his teaching and writing to bringing Christ back to the center of Catholic theological discourse.

Barend A. de Vries, a distinguished international economist, examines the economic roots of poverty, the actions that can be taken to eradicate it, and the ethical case for integrating the poor into the mainstream of society.

De Vries applies Judeo-Christian ethics—in particular, the values of social justice and compassion for the poor—to the problem of poverty in both the United States and in developing countries. Bringing together the insights of economics and ethicists, he considers both the economic feasibility of religious views regarding the eradication of poverty and the ethical aspects of economic programs. He analyzes the poverty of women resulting from discrimination, the impact of environmental degradation on the poor, the allocation of funding to military rather than social programs, and the implications of the enormous debts incurred by poor countries. In addressing these conditions, he demonstrates the pressing need for action on both economic and ethical grounds.

Champions of the Poor offers an unbiased presentation of the ethical positions taken by Jews, Catholics, mainline Protestants, and Evangelicals and stresses the need for all social sectors—religious and secular, business, labor and government—to work together to eradicate poverty. By reassessing poverty from these seemingly disparate approaches, it seeks to bring us closer to solving this age-old problem.

Evangelium Vitae, or "The Gospel of Life," Pope John Paul II's 1995 encyclical, addresses practical moral questions that touch on the sacredness of human life: abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, and capital punishment. Tackling major moral and cultural ideas, the Pope urged "all men and women of good will" to embrace a "culture of life" instead of the prevailing "culture of death." In this book, scholars from a wide range of disciplines—law, medicine, philosophy, and theology—and various religious perspectives discuss and interpret the Pope's teachings on these complex moral issues.

The opening essays establish a context for the encyclical in the moral thought of John Paul II and examine issues of methodology and ecclesiology. A second group considers the themes of law and technology, which are crucial to the way the encyclical views the specific matters of life and death. The final section turns to the specific topics of abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, medical experimentation, and capital punishment.

Seeking to promote discussion between the ideas of the encyclical and other points of view, this volume does not attempt to endorse Evangelium Vitae but rather to illustrate its relevance to both private choice and public policy. It will serve as a foundation for further dialogue and allow others to approach the pontiff's thought with new awareness and insight.

The studies in this volume investigate themes of particular spiritual relevance in Aquinas's theology: friendship, charity, prayer, configuration to Christ, priesthood, preaching.

Christ Our Hope is a masterful reflection on Christian eschatology, in a textbook of twelve accessible chapters.

In this collection of essays, renowned philosopher Robert Sokolowski illustrates how Christian faith is not an alternative to reason, but rather an enhancement of it.

This book is about ecumenism, from a Catholic point of view. The first part, chapters 1 and 2, describe the history of divisions within the Church, as well as of the efforts to bring about Christian unity. The second part examines Ecumenism from a systematic theological perspective. This first part takes into account the different factors that led to definitive ruptures within the Church, which usually are not only theological. The text gives useful information about what happened after the respective divisions as well as about the various attempts to restore unity, the development of the Ecumenical Movement in the 20th Century, and the current situation of ecumenical dialogue within the Catholic Church. While offering insight into the sad history that has led to the present disunity, this work also highlights the way Christians have sought to bring to fulfill the petition of Christ that his disciples might be one, as He and the Father are one. The second part―chapters three, four and five―offers a systematic theological analysis of unity in the Church, from the point of view of dogmatic theology. We find here an explanation of the Catholic concept of ecumenism, of how Catholic theology understands the unity of the Church, and, finally, of the Catholic principles which sustain the efforts for regaining unity in the Church. The Second Vatican Council, and particularly the Constitution Lumen gentium and the Decree Unitatis redintegratio, are at the foundation of these reflections. At the same time, since the theology of the Church and the life of the Church are intimately connected, there is a profound link between this dogmatic section and the earlier historical section. The last chapter, about the practice of ecumenism, is also written from a theological perspective, but with more links with life and spirituality. The chapter recalls that ecumenism can never simply remain a set of theological principles, but rather inspires an attitude and action in charity which are essential to the Christian life.

Investigating Vatican II is a collection of Fr. Jared Wicks’ recent articles on Vatican II, and presents the Second Vatican Council as an event to which theologians contributed in major ways and from which Catholic theology can gain enormous insights. Taken as a whole, the articles take the reader into the theological dynamics of Vatican II at key moments in the Council’s historical unfolding. Wicks promotes a contemporary re-reception of Vatican II’s theologically profound documents, especially as they featured God’s incarnate and saving Word, laid down principles of Catholic ecumenical engagement, and articulated the church’s turn to the modern world with a new “face” of respect and dedication to service. From the original motivations of Pope John XXIII in convoking the Council, Investigating Vatican II goes on to highlight the profound insights offered by theologians who served behind the scenes as Council experts. In its chapters, the book moves through the Council’s working periods, drawing on the published and non-published records, with attention to the Council’s dramas, crises, and breakthroughs. It brings to light the bases of Pope Francis’s call for synodality in a listening church, while highlighting Vatican II’s mandate to all of prayerful biblical reading, for fostering a vibrant “joy in the Gospel.”

Church, State, and Society explains the nuanced understanding of human dignity and the common good found in the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Recalling the Biblical and Patristic roots of the Church's sacramental identity, the Second Vatican Council calls the Church the 'visible sacrament' of that unity offered through Christ (LG 9). 'Sacrament' in this sense not only describes who the Church is, but what she does. In this regard, the Council Fathers were careful to establish a strong connection between the symbolic nature of the Church's sacraments and their effect on those who received them.

Reginald Lynch is concerned with the cleansing of the heart—a phrase borrowed from St. Augustine and employed by Aquinas, which describes the effects that natural elements such as water or bread have on the human person when taken up by the Church as sacramental signs. Aquinas' approach to sacramental efficacy is unique for its integration of diverse theological topics such as Christology, merit, grace, creation and instrumentality. While all of these topics will be considered to some extent, the primary focus of The Cleansing of the Heart is the sacraments understood as instrumental causes of grace. This volume provides the historical context for understanding the development of sacramental causality as a theological topic in the scholastic period, emphasizing the unique features of Aquinas' response to this question. Following this, relevant texts from Aquinas' early and later work are examined, noting Aquinas' development and integration of the idea of sacramental causality in his later work. The Cleansing of the Heart concludes by contrasting alternatives to Aquinas' theory of sacramental causality that subsequently emerged. The rise of humanism introduced many changes within rhetoric and philosophy of language that had a profound effect on some theologians during the Modern period. This book provides historical context for understanding the most prominent of these theories in contrast to Aquinas, and examines some of their theological implications.

The Common Good of Constitutional Democracy offers a rich collection of essays in political philosophy by Swiss philosopher Martin Rhonheimer. Like his other books in both ethical theory and applied ethics, which have recently been published in English, the essays included are distinguished by the philosophical rigor and meticulous attention to the primary and secondary literature of the various topics discussed

The Complementarity of Women and Men provides a Catholic Christian case that men and women are in certain respects quite different but also have a positive, synergistic complementary relationship. Although differences and their mutually supporting relationships are focused on throughout the volume, men and women are assumed to have equal dignity and value. This underlying interpretation comes from the familiar, basic theological position in Genesis that both sexes were made in the image of God. After a cogent philosophical introduction to complementary differences by J. Budziszewski, this position is developed from theological, philosophical, and historical perspectives by Sr. Prudence Allen. Next Deborah Savage, building upon the writings of St. John Paul II, gives a strong theological basis for complementarity. This is followed by Elizabeth Lev’s chapter presenting new and surprising art history evidence from the paintings of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel supporting the complementarity interpretation. A final chapter by Paul Vitz documents and summarizes the scientific evidence supporting sexual difference and complementarity in the disciplines of psychology and neuroscience. As a consequence of both the individual chapters and the integrated understanding they present The Complementarity of Women and Men is a significant contribution to the important, complex, contemporary debate about men, women, sex, and gender.

After a concise introduction that defines the two schools of theology, Richard Costigan examines the thought of nine major theologians on the subject: Bossuet, Tournely, Orsi, Ballerini, Bailly, Bergier, La Luzerne, Muzzarelli, and Perrone.

What are the aims of the Christian spiritual life and how can we deepen our life in Christ? What is the Catholic form of the spiritual life and what are its causes? This book serves as an introduction to Catholic spirituality by examining the mystery of Jesus Christ- His Crucifixion, and His Resurrection- as the center of our spiritual life. The central argument of the book is that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus present us with the form or essence of the Christian spiritual life and orient us toward union with the Trinity as the final end or aim of human existence. The means of union with God through sacraments, the interior life of the theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity), and the virtue of religion are considered as vehicles by which we rejoin God in Christ. The effects of the Cross are considered in our life by a study of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The Virgin Mary is considered as a model of the spiritual life. What results is a Christ-centered spirituality that is sacramental and Marian, and that depicts the life of the Church living in contemplative charity as the basic expression of Catholic spirituality.

Determining what is and what is not Mormon doctrine is a difficult endeavor. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints embraces four books of scripture as its canon, but also believes the church is led by a living prophet. Additions to the canon have been rare since the death of church founder Joseph Smith. Joseph Fielding Smith, tenth church president, said that if the prophet ever contradicts canon, canon prevails. On the other hand, Ezra Taft Benson, the church’s thirteenth president, said that the living prophet’s words are more important than cannon. Such messages create no shortage of confusion among church members. 

The question “What is doctrine?” opens the door for theologians and historians to wrestle over the answer, and to do so thoughtfully and insightfully. In Continuing Revelation, editor Bryan Buchanan has compiled essays that seek greater understanding about what doctrine is and why it matters. 

The Challenge of Defining LDS Doctrine, by Loyd Isao Ericson • LDS Theology and the Omnis: The Dangers of Theological Speculation, by David H. Bailey • Crawling out of the Primordial Soup: A Step toward the Emergence of an LDS Theology Compatible with Organic Evolution, by Steven L. Peck • “To Destroy the Agency of Man”: The War in Heaven in LDS Thought, by Boyd Petersen • Three Sub-Degrees in the Celestial Kingdom?, by Shannon P. Flynn • Heavenly Mother: The Mother of All Women, by Blaire Ostler • Mormonism and the Problem of Heterodoxy, by Kelli D. Potter • Women at the Gates of Mortality: Relief Society Birth and Death Rituals, by Susanna Morrill • “Shake Off the Dust of Thy Feet”: The Rise and Fall of Mormon Ritual Cursing, by Samuel R. Weber • “Satan Mourns Naked Upon the Earth: Locating Mormon Possession and Exorcism Rituals in the American Religious Landscape, 1830–1977, by Stephen C. Taysom

For more than a century, the teaching authority of the Catholic Church has attempted to walk along with the modern world, criticizing what is bad and praising what is good. Counsels of Imperfection described the current state of that fairly bumpy journey. The book is divided into 11 chapters. First comes an introduction to ever-changing modernity and the unchanging Christian understanding of human nature and society. Then come two chapters on economics, including a careful delineation of the Catholic response, past and present, to socialism and capitalism. The next topic is government, with one chapter on Church and State, another on War, and a third that runs quickly through democracy, human rights, the welfare state, crimes and punishments (including the death penalty), anti-Semitism, and migration. Counsels of Imperfection then dedicates two chapters on ecology, including an enthusiastic analysis of Francis’s “technocratic paradigm”. The last topic is the family teaching, which presents the social aspects of the Church’s sexual teaching. A brief concluding chapter looks at the teaching’s changing response to the modern world, and at the ambiguous Catholic appreciation of the modern idea of progress. For each topic, Counsels of Imperfection provides biblical, historical and a broad philosophical background. Thomas Aquinas appears often, but so does G. W. F Hegel. The goal is not only to explain what the Church really says, but also how it got to its current position and who it is arguing with. In the spirit of a doctrine that is always in development, Counsels of Imperfection points out both strong-points and imperfections in the teaching. The book should be of interest to specialists in Catholic Social Teaching, but its main audience is curious newcomers, especially people who do not want to be told that there are simple Catholic answers to the complicated problems of the modern world.

Religious traditions in the United States are characterized by ongoing tension between assimilation to the broader culture, as typified by mainline Protestant churches, and defiant rejection of cultural incursions, as witnessed by more sectarian movements such as Mormonism and Hassidism. However, legal theorist and Catholic theologian Cathleen Kaveny contends there is a third possibility—a culture of engagement—that accommodates and respects tradition. It also recognizes the need to interact with culture to remain relevant and to offer critiques of social, political, legal, and economic practices.

Kaveny suggests that rather than avoid the crisscross of the religious and secular spheres of life, we should use this conflict as an opportunity to come together and to encounter, challenge, contribute to, and correct one another. Focusing on five broad areas of interest—Law as a Teacher, Religious Liberty and Its Limits, Conversations about Culture, Conversations about Belief, and Cases and Controversies—Kaveny demonstrates how thoughtful and purposeful engagement can contribute to rich, constructive, and difficult discussions between moral and cultural traditions.

This provocative collection of Kaveny's articles from Commonweal magazine, substantially revised and updated from their initial publication, provides astonishing insight into a range of hot-button issues like abortion, assisted suicide, government-sponsored torture, contraception, the Ashley Treatment, capital punishment, and the role of religious faith in a pluralistic society. At turns masterful and inspirational, A Culture of Engagement is a welcome reminder of what can be gained when a diversity of experiences and beliefs is brought to bear on American public life.