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This volume is an important contribution to the field of Margaret More Roper studies, early modern women's writing, as well as Erasmian piety, Renaissance humanism, and historical and cultural studies more generally.

Margaret More Roper is the learned daughter of St. Thomas More, the Catholic martyr; their lives are closely linked to each other and to early sixteenth-century changes in politics and religion and the social upheaval and crises of conscience that they brought. Specifically, Roper's major works - her translation of Erasmus's commentary on the Lord's Prayer and the long dialogue letter between More and Roper on conscience - highlight two major preoccupations of the period: Erasmian humanism and More's last years, which led to his death and martyrdom.

Roper was one of the most learned women of her time and a prototype of the woman writer in England, and this edited volume is a tribute to her life, writings, and place among early women authors. It combines comprehensive and convenient joining of biographical, textual, historical, and critical components within a single volume for the modern reader. There is no comparable study in print, and it fills a significant gap in studies of early modern women writers.

The Benedictine Beda Mayr,OSB, (1742–1794) was one of the main figures of the German Catholic Enlightenment. He was not only the first Catholic to wrestle with the challenges of Reimarus and Lessing, but also the first to develop an ecumenical methodology for a reunion of the churches. The text, translated from the German original for the first time, presents a theologian who intentionally went to the margins of orthodoxy in order to allow for more interconfessional dialogue. Mayr argued that Catholic theology should follow minority opinions for unsettled dogmatic questions, which would allow for easier union agreements with Protestant churches. Moreover, he suggested limiting ecclesial infallibility to directly revealed truths, thereby reducing the authoritative truth claims of conciliar or papal decisions. Although the study of Catholic Enlightenment is booming among historians and theologians, too few texts are available in reliable translations. A major strength of this edition is not only that its introduction introduces the reader to the colorful landscape of eighteenth-century theological discussions, but also presents the entire text of Mayr's book (with the exception of its appendix) thereby allowing the reader to see the strengths and weaknesses of Enlightenment ecumenism. Mayr's Limited Infallibility was put on the Index of Forbidden Books, on which it remained until the 20th Century. It invites readers to a modern, non-scholastic way of theologizing for the sake of Christian unity.

In the eleventh century a small group of clerical reformers based in Rome launched a fight for the liberty of the Church. The consequences ultimately included a politically powerful papacy and stronger kingdoms with their own more secular laws and bureaucracies. One way to understand what happened is to examine the life of Peter Damian, the most prolific Latin writer of the mid eleventh century and a pioneer in the reform movement. He has never before received a comprehensive critical historical biography. Peter was an orphan boy from Ravenna who became a successful professor of rhetoric. Then he abandoned that career to join a community of penitent hermits living in the high Apennines at Fonte Avellana. He did not actually manage to leave the world behind because he was chosen as prior of his hermit community and had to employ his rhetorical and legal skills to protect it from predatory local lords and “bad bishops and abbots.” He cultivated contacts with the emperor and the pope. In 1057 he was named bishop of Ostia, the leader of the cardinal bishops. As a high official in the Roman Church, aided by his prolific writings, he promoted a reforming agenda. He proved to be a formidable papal legate. At the end of his career, he retired to Fonte Avellana where he remained active until he died on a final legatine mission, probably in 1073. Peter advanced the movement known today as the “Gregorian Reform” not only by strengthening papal power and canon law but also by helping to develop a powerful curial bureaucracy with new means of communication that gave the Roman curia more control over local churches. His successes, failures, and misadventures illuminate a major turning point in Western civilization.

When Monsignor Thomas J. Green, professor at the School of Canon Law at The Catholic University of America, approached his seventy-fifth birthday and the fiftieth anniversary of his priestly ordination, his colleagues planned on offering him a fitting tribute in the form of a festschrift. Six people with different backgrounds, but all related to Msgr. Green on one way or another, have written a laudatio – a short congratulatory letter – in honor of Monsignor Green. No less than fifteen contributions on various topics by colleagues, canon law scholars, clearly relate and reflect upon the honoree's scholarly contributions to canon law. The topics are extremely varied, and illustrate how Monsignor Green has been or is active in nearly every area of canon law. Virtually every book of the Code of Canon Law is covered, if not directly, at least indirectly. While the book is a tribute to an eminent professor, the various scholarly contributions are unique pieces of scholarship. The authors of the laudatio are: John Garvey (President, The Catholic University of America); Andrew Abela (Provost, The Catholic University of America); Rev. Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield (General Secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops); Rev. Msgr. Ronny E. Jenkins (Dean, School of Canon Law, The Catholic University of America); Rev. Msgr. J. James Cuneo (Diocese of Bridgeport) and Sister Sharon Euart, RSM (Executive Director, Resource Center for Religious Institutes, Silver Spring, MD).

The first book to include full texts and photographs from the Apostolic Penitentiary, A Sip from the "Well of Grace" is groundbreaking in its analysis of one of the most important papal offices of the Middle Ages.

The Second Coming of Christ has been prophesied many times through the centuries but seldom by a figure so fascinating as Joanna Southcott (1750–1814), the domestic servant who at the age of forty-two declared that God had chosen her to announce His return. A Woman to Deliver Her People is the most comprehensive study of this remarkable woman and her movement yet written.

Dramatic social and political changes of the late eighteenth century—among them the revolutions in America and France—had a profound effect on the attitudes of English men and women at all levels of society. With events so far outside the range of ordinary experience, both the educated and the uneducated turned to the prophetic books of the Bible, seeking solace and explanation. A number of prophets and prophetesses appeared, claiming to have a special understanding of the biblical texts and offering startling new revelations which had been disclosed to them by God. The greatest and most influential of these was Joanna Southcott, who attracted tens of thousands of followers from the West Country, London, the Midlands, and the industrial North. Her "spiritual communications" filled some sixty-five books and pamphlets from 1801 until her death.

Most contemporary observers dismissed Southcott as a fanatic, and she was frequently the subject of caricature and ridicule. James Hopkins attempts to remedy this distortion by examining Southcott's life and the millenarian movement she led within the context of the social, political, and economic crises of the period. By tracing the psychological and popular roots of Southcott's piety, and casting her appeal against the backdrop of a revolutionary age, Hopkins not only vividly portrays the life of this fascinating woman but also offers a new perspective on the mentality of ordinary English men and women during the years of their transformation into a working class.

A new translation for scholars and students of biblical interpretation and ancient Christianity

The ancient writer dubbed Ambrosiaster was a pioneer in the revival of interest in the Pauline Epistles in the later fourth century. He was read by Latin writers, including Pelagius and Augustine, and his writings, passed on pseudonymously, had a long afterlife in the biblical commentaries, theological treatises, and canonical literature of the medieval and the early modern periods. In addition to his importance as an interpreter of scripture, Ambrosiaster provides unique perspectives on many facets of Christian life in Rome, from the emergence of clerical celibacy to the development of liturgical practices to the subordination of women.

Features

• An up-to-date overview of what is known about Ambrosiaster, the transmission of his commentary on the Pauline Epistles, his exegetical method, his theological orientation, and aspects of Christianity in Rome in the fourth century
• A scholarly translation of the final version of the commentary, along with notes that identify significant variants from prior versions of the commentary
• Bibliography thatincludes a comprehensive list of the scholarly literature on Ambrosiaster

America’s Teilhard: Christ and Hope in the 1960s is a study of the reception of Teilhard in the United States during this period and contributes to an awareness of the thought of this important figure and the impact of his work. Additionally, it further develops an understanding of U.S. Catholicism in all its dimensions during these years, and provides clues as to how it has unfolded over the past several decades. Susan Sack argues that the manner and intensity of the reception of Teilhard’s thought happened as it did at this point in history because of the confluence of the then developing social milieu, the disintegration of the immigrant Catholic subculture, and the opening of the church to the world through Vatican II. Additionally, as these social and historical events unfolded within U.S. culture during these years, the way Teilhard was read, and the contributions which his thought provided changed. This book considers his work as a carrier at times for an almost Americanist emphasis upon progress, energy and hope; in other years his teleological understanding of the value of suffering moves to center. Additionally, the stories of numerous persons – scientists, theologians, politicians, and scholars – who became involved in the American Teilhardian effort are detailed.

America's Theologian: Father Richard McBrien of Notre Dame is an intellectual biography of the Catholic theologian and commentator Richard McBrien (1936-2015), author of the best-selling Catholicism and 24 other books, arguably the most influential American Catholic voice of the 1980s and 1990s. Like Wilson Miscamble’s American Priest: The Ambitious Life and Conflicted Legacy of Notre Dame's Father Ted Hesburgh, this biography gives a respectful yet critical treatment of one of the lions of American liberal Catholicism. Openly radical in his younger days and critical of Vatican II for being too moderate, McBrien was frustrated with the slow pace of religious change in the 1970s but realized that his bold and straightforward approach was not working. His 1980 magnum opus, Catholicism, which sold 150,000 copies in its first edition and 50,000 more in later editions, marked a change of course. From this point forward, he adopted the rhetoric of moderation, used ambiguity to cloak his more radical ideas, and became an outspoken defender of Vatican II. His theology did not change, but he presented himself as a centrist who was defending the legacy of Vatican II. One of those impressed by Catholicism was University of Notre Dame President Ted Hesburgh, who recruited McBrien in 1980 to transform the university’s theology department. During his decade as chair, McBrien turned the Notre Dame theology department into an influential center of liberal Catholic theology.

Scholarly academics, cloistered monks, and high-ranking prelates once found abundantly fertile material for theological reflection in the Exodus descriptions of Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. Where traditional scholarly accounts of the rise of scholasticism tend to focus almost entirely on the incorporation of Aristotelian thought and the legacy of Peter Lombard’s sententiae, attention to these works illuminates some of the deeply biblical roots of scholastic patterns of thought. The Tabernacle often appealed to these early interpreters because it provided a valuable source for exploring the structural patterns embedded in creation. The first part of this book examines the works of four major twelfth-century figures on this popular interpretive theme. Richard of St. Victor, Stephen Langton, Peter of Poitiers, and Adam of Dryburgh each share the conviction that the details of the Tabernacle’s material structure reflect the structures of immaterial truths. The second part of the book shows the rich inheritance of this tradition, as received by Saint Bonaventure and Saint Thomas Aquinas. In the twelfth-century, the image of the Tabernacle, composed of diverse parts arranged in a coherent whole, provides a divinely-given source for theological method and a model for attempts to systematize and integrate various forms of knowledge. At times, the Tabernacle structure suggests for these interpreters certain correspondences with Aristotelian insights, while elsewhere, the edifice undergirds attempts to offer a rigorous counterbalance to perceived philosophical excesses. In both cases, the Tabernacle is taken as a biblical locus for working through methodological questions prompted by the increasing availability of Aristotle’s corpus. These biblical interpreters bequeathed to the thirteenth-century magistri a structural framework and a confidence that disparate forms of human knowing all fit together.

This latest volume in the Bible and Women series examines ancient noncanonical Christian texts for what they reveal about women, their engagement with Scripture, and attitudes toward them in texts dating to the second to eighth century. Three sections include once-forgotten texts rediscovered in locations such as Nag Hammadi, those that have been in continuous use through the centuries, and works written by women that are traditionally excluded from discussions of noncanonical texts. Contributors Bernadette J. Brooten, María José Cabezas Cabello, Anna Carfora, Ute E. Eisen, Judith Hartenstein, Ursula Ulrike Kaiser, Karen L. King, Outi Lehtipuu, Heidrun Mader, Antti Marjanen, Silvia Pellegrini, Silke Petersen, Uwe-Karsten Plisch, Cristina Simonelli, Anna Rebecca Solevåg, M. Dolores Martin Trutet, and Carmen Bernabé Ubieta examine a range of texts, including noncanonical gospels and acts, poems, prophecy, and grave inscriptions.

Divided into two parts, this volume first presents an analysis of the problem and secondly a solution to place apostolic religious life on a positive trajectory in the 21st century.

The Assumption of Mary refers to the ancient Christian belief that the Mother of God was taken up into Heaven, body and soul, at the end of her earthly life. For centuries, Catholics and other Christians celebrated the Assumption as a liturgical feast and meditated on the miraculous event in the Rosary. Nevertheless, its relationship to Revelation remained undefined. This changed in 1950 when Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary a dogma of the Catholic Church. In this rare exercise of papal authority, Pius XII infallibly and irrevocably taught that the Assumption was a truth revealed by God. This book explores how the definition of this Marian dogma came to fruition. After a brief history of the prior three Marian dogmas — Mother of God, Ever-Virgin, and the Immaculate Conception — this book narrates the major moments in the effort to obtain a dogmatic definition of the Assumption. The beginning of this “Assumptionist movement” can be dated to 1863 when Queen Isabel II of Spain petitioned the pope to declare the Assumption a dogma. Subsequently, petitionary efforts and scholarly inquiry increased and spread throughout the world. In addition to the narrative of this movement, this book gives special consideration to three vital aspects: debate over the Assumption’s definability as a dogma, if and how Scripture reveals the Assumption, and the contribution of the laity on a matter of doctrine. Collectively, the Assumptionist movement emerges as a critical event in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Catholic Church. Culminating in a dogmatic definition shortly before the opening of Vatican II, it also serves as a key point of inquiry for continuity and development of doctrine. A final chapter argues that the operative beliefs pertaining to Revelation, Scripture, and the laity during the Assumptionist movement stand in continuity with the teachings of Vatican II.

Explore how the vivid and creative Armenian spiritual tradition shaped biblical stories to serve new needs

Michael E. Stone’s latest book includes texts from Armenian manuscripts that are relevant to the development and growth of biblical themes and subjects. Most of these texts have not been published previously. Stone has collected a fascinating corpus of texts about biblical heroes, such as Joseph and Jonah, Nathan the Prophet, and Asaph the Psalmist. In addition, he has included documents illustrating particular points of the biblical story. This work reflects not just on how the Bible was interpreted in medieval times, but also how its stories and details were shaped by and served the needs of the vivid and creative Armenian spiritual tradition.

Features:

• Expanded stories from Exodus
• Introductions,translations, and notes
• Insights into the Armenian "Embroidered Bible," through which many biblical incidents were known to Armenian literature, art, and thought