Catholicism and Religious Freedom

Contemporary Reflections on Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Liberty

Contributions by Francis P. Canavan, David S. Crawford, John F. Crosby, Cardinal Avery Dulles Lawrence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society, Fordham University, Robert P. George Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School; McCormick Professor of Jurisprudenc, Thomas Heilke University of British Columbia, Canada, David T. Koyzis, William L. Saunders Edited by Kenneth L. Grasso, Robert P. Hunt

Publication date:

19 October 2006

Length of book:

258 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

240x158mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780742551923

The late Pope John Paul II frequently invoked Dignitatis Humanae as one of the foundational documents of contemporary Church social teaching. In this timely new edited collection, Catholicism and Religious Freedom: Contemporary Reflections on Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Liberty, Kenneth L. Grasso and Robert P. Hunt have assembled an impressive group of scholars to discuss the current meanings of one the Vatican's most important documents and its place in the Church. Dignitatis Humanae understands itself as bringing "forth new things that are in harmony with the old." Today, forty years after its publication, the precise nature of these "new things" and their relationship to "the old" remain among the most important pieces of unfinished business confronting Catholic social thought.

The theological issues brought forth in Dignitatis Humanae go to the heart of the contemporary debate about the nature, foundation, and scope of religious liberty. Here, the contributors to this volume give these considerations the serious and sustained attention they deserve.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Dignitatis Humanae: The Freedom of the Church and the Responsibility of the State
Chapter 3 Two Concepts of Religious Liberty: Dignitatis Humanae v. the U.S. Supreme Court
Chapter 4 Dignitatis Humanae and the Development of Catholic Doctrine
Chapter 5 Dignitatis Humanae, the Catholic Concept of the State, and Public Morality
Chapter 6 The Promised Time of Dignitatis Humanae: A Radical Protestant Perspective
Chapter 7 Persuaded, Not Commanded: Neo-Calvinism, Dignitatis Humanae, and Religious Freedom
Chapter 8 On Proposing Truth and Not Imposing It: John Paul's Personalism and the Teaching of Dignitatis Humanae
Chapter 9 An Unfinished Argument: Dignitatis Humanae, John Courtney Murray, and the Catholic Theory of the State
Chapter 10 The Architecture of Freedom: John Paul II and John Courtney Murray on Religious Freedom

The volume may be recommended, not because it settles any particular issues, but because it urges renewed consideration of a text that has been more taken for granted of late than actively and intelligently studied.