Eerdmans Catholic Theology Collection (26 vols.)

by Erich Przywara; Allan D. Fitzgerald; Karen Kilby; Tim Perry; Daniel Kendall

and

21 more

Publishers:

Eerdmans; T&T Clark

, 1982–2014

Overview

The Eerdmans Catholic Theology Collection presents a wealth of insights, reflections, and challenges for Catholics, and indeed, all Christians. This is not a collection for soothing re-affirmation of the modern-day “it’s all good” mentality, but rather a powerful set of volumes that provoke you to re-think what it means to be Christian and a Catholic. Reflect deeply on theology and culture with theologian David L. Schindler in Being Holy in the World: Theology and Culture in the Thought of David L. Schindler. Learn more about the place of women in the intellectual history of the West with Sr. Prudence Allen’s monumental multivolume work The Concept of Woman, volumes one and two. Hear two different approaches to the beloved twentieth-century theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar. In After Vatican II, James L. Heft analyzes the impact of Vatican II on the trajectory of the Church and introduces readers to the hermeneutical controversies that it has sparked. Karen Kilby’s Balthasar offers an intriguing and notably critical examination of this significant Roman Catholic theologian praised so highly by John Paul II and Benedict XVI. In The Blessed Virgin Mary, Anglican priest Tim Perry and Jesuit priest Daniel Kendall team up to present a readable and informative introduction to the way the Church has viewed the Lord’s mother throughout history. In How Can the Petrine Ministry Be a Service to the Unity of the Universal Church?, editor James Puglisi assembles a transdenominational team of scholars to explore ways that the papacy—the historically dividing feature of the Roman Church—can be used for ecumenical advancement. Erich Przywara’s Analogia Entis presents the doctrine of the analogy between God and creation that is so foundational for theological and philosophical discussion of how finite man can know the transcendent God. And in New Proofs for the Existence of God, philosopher and Fr. Robert J. Spitzer, SJ presents exciting discoveries from quantum physics and the philosophy of time with significant theistic implications.

Founded in 1911, Eerdmans has cultivated a reputation of publishing the best modern biblical scholarship in the world. Through the years, Eerdmans has introduced hundreds of new, critical thinkers and thoughts to biblical scholarship—emphasizing open, earnest dialogue across the range of interpretive perspectives.

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Product Details

• Title: Eerdmans Catholic Theology Collection
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Volumes: 26
• Pages: 10,290
• Christian Group: Catholic
• Topic: Theology

After Vatican II: Trajectories and Hermeneutics

• Editors: James L. Heft and John O’Malley
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 216

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Since the closing of Vatican II (1962–1965) nearly 50 years ago, several multi-volume studies have detailed how the bishops at the council debated successive drafts and finally approved the 16 documents published as the proceedings of the council. However, the meaning of those documents, their proper interpretations, and the ongoing developments they set in motion have been hotly debated.

In a word, Vatican II continues to be very much a topic of discussion and debate in the Roman Catholic Church and beyond. The council was an extraordinarily complex reality. It is no wonder, therefore, that opinions vary, sometimes sharply, as to its significance. This volume explores these major flashpoints.

These essays recognize that the historical and cultural context of the Second Vatican Council should shape the interpretation of the resultant texts. After Vatican II shows that the hackneyed focus on the vexed issue of the ‘spirit’ vs. the ‘letter’ of the text is a blunder: the ‘letter’ cannot be interpreted apart from the acts issuing those ‘letters,’ and the ‘spirit’ cannot be discerned without understanding the trajectories leading into and resulting from the inspired conciliar actions. After Vatican II makes a sterling contribution to the ongoing reception of the act and acts of Vatican II.

—Terrence W. Tilley, professor of Catholic theology, Fordham University

An historic event resists adequate comprehension because of its ongoing effects, just as it provokes endless interpretation on the part of those influenced, one way or another, by what happened—and who are now committed to contributing to its unfolding. Given the profusion of emerging responses, both historical and theological, to the conciliar documents of Vatican II, this volume is a valuable guide. The ‘trajectories and hermeneutics’ expressed in After Vatican II will keep inquiry alive in admirable continuation of the conciliar ‘style’—generous, courageous, pastoral, and deeply ecclesial.

—Anthony J. Kelly, professor, Australian Catholic University

James L. Heft is Alton Brooks Professor of Religion and president of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

John O’Malley is professor in the Theology Department of Georgetown University, Washington, DC.

Analogia Entis: Metaphysics: Original Structure and Universal Rhythm

• Author: Erich Przywara
• Series: Ressourcement: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 512

This volume includes Erich Pryzwara’s groundbreaking Analogia Entis, originally published in 1932, and his subsequent essays on the concept analogia entis—the analogy between God and creation—which has certain currency in philosophical and theological circles today.

Erich Przywara (1889–1972) was a German theologian who was highly influential in Europe. A Jesuit, he was strongly influenced by Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Newman, and phenomenological philosophy of Edmund Husserl and Max Scheler.

Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia

• Editor: Allan D. Fitzgerald
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 1999
• Pages: 952

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The definitive reference work on Augustine that scholars, from all fields of theological study, describe as “superb” and “indispensable” for students, scholars, libraries, and anyone interested in studying Augustine. While the work provides exhaustive resources on Augustine’s own life and his theological and pastoral work, it also provides an exceptional wealth of information about scholarship, past and present on the great theologian. Moreover, it documents the influence of Augustine on the Catholic Church, the Reformation and on great thinkers and theologians such as Kierkegaard, Luther, Erasmus, and Calvin. Topics range from archeology to martyrdom, from imagination to Augustine’s personal friends.

Allan D. Fitzgerald is general editor of Augustinian Studies, a publication of Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. He has written numberous books and essays on Augustine of Hippo and is a member of the Order of St. Augustine.

Balthasar: A (Very) Critical Introduction

• Author: Karen Kilby
• Series: Interventions
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 188

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The enormously prolific Swiss Roman Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988) was marginalized during much of his life, but his reputation over time has only continued to grow. He was said to be the favorite theologian of John Paul II and is held in high esteem by Benedict XVI. It is not uncommon to hear him referred to as the great Catholic theologian of the twentieth century.

In Balthasar: A (Very) Critical Introduction Karen Kilby argues that although the low regard in which Balthasar was held from the 1950s to 1960s was not justified, neither is the current tendency to lionize him. Instead, she advocates a more balanced approach, particularly in light of a fundamental problem in his writing, namely, his characteristic authorial voice—an over-reaching “God’s eye” point of view that contradicts the content of his theology.

With an exceptional knowledge both of Balthasar’s vast corpus and of the burgeoning secondary literature on him, Karen Kilby has given us a highly perceptive and accessible analysis of the influential Swiss theologian’s work and legacy. Her book is always fair-minded, but it is also unerringly incisive and tenacious in its argument that Balthasar’s project has a ‘performative contradiction’ at its heart. She is as attentive to his method and habits of mind (where so many of his vulnerabilities lie) as to the explicit content of what he says. By denying Balthasar the status of sacred cow, Kilby ensures that he will remain a much more useful and productive source of nourishment for the next generation of theologians.

—Ben Quash, professor of Christianity and the arts, King’s College London

Karen Kilby exposes the plotline of Balthasar’s formidable opus and proceeds to offer circumspect criticism of the supremely confident modes of expression his speculation can take. With grammar as a critical tool, she inquires trenchantly what might allow this ‘theological novelist’ to know his divine characters so well as to spin the story he does.

—David Burrell, Theodore Hesburgh C. S. C. Professor Emeritus in Philosophy and Theology, University of Notre Dame

This book should be essential reading for anybody interested in contemporary Catholicism and its most flamboyant theologian. Kilby approaches her subject with a lucidity and balance that are rare in studies of Hans Urs von Balthasar. While meticulously careful to avoid gratuitous criticism, she offers a timely caution against the uncritical acceptance of Balthasar’s work and its influence on much recent theology and doctrine.

—Tina Beattie, professor of Catholic studies, University of Roehampton

Karen Kilby is associate professor of systematic theology at the University of Nottingham, England.

Being Holy in the World: Theology and Culture in the Thought of David L. Schindler

• Editors: Nicholas J. Healy Jr. and D.C. Schindler
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2011
• Pages: 320

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In Being Holy in the World Nicholas Healy and D.C. Schindler present the first book-length study of David L. Schindler’s thought, compiling essays by twelve scholars that examine Schindler’s Trinitarian theology, ecclesiology, anthropology, and metaphysics in the context of the encounter between Christianity and contemporary culture.

Contributors

• Stratford Caldecott
• Peter J. Casarella
• Larry S. Chapp
• David S. Crawford
• Michael Hanby
• Nicholas J. Healy Jr.
• Rodney A. Howsare
• D. Stephen Long
• Antonio López
• Tracey Rowland
• D.C. Schindler
• Adrian J. Walker

Seized by the beauty of reality, David Schindler is too alive in the depths of truth to look back and realize how groundbreaking his own explorations are. These essays by authors eminent in their own right excel at the challenging mission of showing exactly how far he has penetrated the two greatest questions: how do I relate to God, and how do I relate to other human beings? The result is ample proof for why David Schindler should be considered one of the most important theologians in the Church today. Being Holy in the World is a philosophical observatory: the revelation of how full, complex, ordered, and infinite the world is, can take one’s breath away.

—Carl A. Anderson, supreme knight, Knights of Columbus

This is a wonderful book, full of profound commentary on the thinking of David L. Schindler. . . Schindler is the most remarkable American theologian of all those who have explored the communio emphases on God as love and as Trinity. Among these, contributing to this book, are Schindler’s son, David C. Schindler, Adrian J. Walker, Michael Hanby, and Fr. Antonio López. Like Schindler himself, these scholars make important contributions to our understanding of the significance of communio theology for interpreting the Christian and American experience.

—Glenn Olsen, professor of history, University of Utah

Nicholas J. Healy Jr. is assistant professor of philosophy and culture at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, Catholic University of America, and author of The Eschatology of Hans Urs von Balthasar: Being as Communion.

D.C. Schindler is associate professor of philosophy at Villanova University. His books include Plato’s Critique of Impure Reason: On Truth and Goodness in the Republic.

The Blessed Virgin Mary

• Authors: Tim Perry and Daniel Kendall
• Series: Guides to Theology
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 124

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This volume provides a concise, nontechnical historical introduction to the church’s thinking about Mary, the mother of Jesus. The first part of the book sketches the development of Marian thought from the second century to the twentieth century. The second part contains an annotated bibliography of the most important and accessible English-language works on Mary.

Tim Perry, an evangelical Anglican priest, and Daniel Kendall, a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, have joined across the Reformation divide to provide an irenic, balanced volume for students and general readers interested in this most remarkable woman and the ways in which she has shaped Christian thought.

A delightfully well-written account of Marian theology, unique in the extent to which it addresses the concerns of Protestants while also refusing to minimize Mary’s importance in God’s work of salvation. This book will be of great value to students, pastors, and general inquirers. It should appear on every undergraduate theology reading list.

—Sarah Jane Boss, director, Centre for Marian Studies, University of Roehampton

Before we begin arguing theologically about Mary, we should hear what Scripture and Christians in past ages have had to say on the subject. Now we can do just that, thanks to this splendid book by Tim Perry and Daniel Kendall. The writing is balanced and thoughtful, and the annotated bibliography is a gold mine of information. A must-read for anyone concerned about Christian unity.

—Joseph Mangina, professor of systematic theology, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto

This accessible book on Marian doctrine and devotion should be warmly welcomed. It reflects the growing and constructive ecumenical convergence on the significance of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the lives of Christians and their churches.

—Gerald O’Collins, adjunct professor, Australian Catholic University

Tim Perry is rector at the Church of the Epiphany in Sudbury, Ontario. He also teaches theology at Thorneloe University College of Theology and religious studies at Laurentian University, both in Sudbury.

Daniel Kendall, SJ, is professor of theology at the University of San Francisco and book review editor for Theological Studies.

The Concept of Woman, vol. 1: The Aristotelian Revolution

• Author: Prudence Allen
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 1997
• Pages: 560

This pioneering study by Sister Prudence Allen traces the concept of woman in relation to man in more than 70 philosophers from ancient and medieval traditions. The fruit of 10 years’ work, this study uncovers four general categories of questions asked by philosophers for 2,000 years. These are the categories of opposites, of generation, of wisdom, and of virtue. Sister Prudence Allen traces several recurring strands of sexual and gender identity within this period. Ultimately, she shows the paradoxical influence of Aristotle on the question of woman and on a philosophical understanding of sexual complementarity. Supplemented throughout with helpful charts, diagrams, and illustrations, this volume will be an important resource for scholars and students in the fields of women’s studies, philosophy, history, theology, literary studies, and political science.

Provides a much needed historical foundation for contemporary philosophical debates. . . . Allen’s work is comprehensive and detailed, and makes extensive use of primary source citations. . . . This important work remains a useful reference for anyone from the beginning undergraduate to the seasoned scholar.

—Religious Studies Review

An encyclopedic coverage of the topic as far as the philosophical concept of woman is concerned: it is well written and instructive and deserves commendation.

—The Journal of Indo-European Studies

Prudence Allen is professor of philosophy at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. She has spent more than 25 years engaged in research on the concept of woman in relation to the concept of man in philosophy.

The Concept of Woman, vol. 2: The Early Humanist Reformation, part 1

• Author: Prudence Allen
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2006
• Pages: 564

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This seminal work is the second volume of a widely praised study of the concept of woman in the history of Western philosophy. Sister Prudence Allen explores claims about sex and gender identity in the works of over 50 philosophers (both men and women) in the late medieval and early Renaissance periods. Touching on the thought of every philosopher who considered sex or gender identity between AD 1250 and 1500, The Concept of Woman provides the analytical categories necessary for situating contemporary discussion of women in relation to men. Adding to the accessibility of this fine discussion are informative illustrations, helpful summary charts, and extracts of original source material (some not previously available in English). Encyclopedic in coverage yet clearly organized and well written, The Concept of Woman will be an invaluable resource for readers interested in a wide range of disciplines.

This comprehensive volume comes as close to being an exhaustive treatment of what philosophers and theologians in the High Middle Ages of Christian Europe had to say about women as we are ever likely to get. . . . An invaluable guide to all the philosophical thinking on gender difference in Christian Europe from 1250–1500.

—Catholic Historial Review

Prudence Allen is professor of philosophy at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. She has spent more than 25 years engaged in research on the concept of woman in relation to the concept of man in philosophy.

The Concept of Woman, vol. 2: The Early Humanist Reformation, part 2

• Author: Prudence Allen
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2006
• Pages: 634

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This seminal work is the second volume of a widely praised study of the concept of woman in the history of Western philosophy. Sister Prudence Allen explores claims about sex and gender identity in the works of over 50 philosophers (both men and women) in the late medieval and early Renaissance periods. Touching on the thought of every philosopher who considered sex or gender identity between AD 1250 and 1500, The Concept of Woman provides the analytical categories necessary for situating contemporary discussion of women in relation to men. Adding to the accessibility of this fine discussion are informative illustrations, helpful summary charts, and extracts of original source material (some not previously available in English). Encyclopedic in coverage yet clearly organized and well written, The Concept of Woman will be an invaluable resource for readers interested in a wide range of disciplines.

Prudence Allen is professor of philosophy at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. She has spent more than 25 years engaged in research on the concept of woman in relation to the concept of man in philosophy.

Discovering Aquinas: An Introduction to His Life, Work, and Influence

• Author: Aidan Nichols
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2003
• Pages: 224

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Thomas Aquinas is one of the great figures of church history, and his ideas continue to have a powerful effect on theologians and contemporary writers from very different backgrounds and traditions. In Discovering Aquinas, Aidan Nichols offers a lively and authoritative introduction to the life, thought, and ongoing influence of this singular churchman.

This book could not have come at a better time. After a lengthy period of declining interest in Aquinas, we are starting to see a Thomistic renaissance, including a renewed appreciation for the way Aquinas’ work so brilliantly weaves together philosophy, theology, spirituality, revelation, and ethics. As Nichols writes, “It is because of the wonderfully integrated character of the wisdom of Thomas Aquinas—integrated not only as supernatural with natural but also as thinking with love—that the church in our day should not leave him as a fresco on a wall but find inspiration from his teaching and example.”

By means of writing as felicitous as it is insightful, Nichols chronicles the compelling facts of Aquinas’s life, explores the major facets of his thought, establishes Aquinas’s historical importance, and shows why many today are regarding him as a vital partner in current debates about the future of Christianity.

This book offers both novice and expert a well-reasoned account of Aquinas’ thought based on faithful readings of primary sources and with a strong argument for its relevancy today. . . . The coherence of Aquinas’ thought is convincingly portrayed and must be taken seriously by any student of Christian theology.

—Toronto Journal of Theology

Dom Aidan Nichols sets out in this short book to explain why the current neglect of Thomas is a misfortune, and he pleads for a renewal of Thomist studies. . . . As an introduction to Aquinas’ thought, this book can be highly recommended.

—Churchman Journal

This is an excellent introduction to the work, influence, and significance of St. Thomas Aquinas in a small compass. Written with the general reader in mind, the book does not enter into the intricacies of Thomas’ thought, but provides what the author calls a miniature, a work that will portray the beauty of its subject by imparting its essential features in the hope that viewers, or in this case readers, will be moved to pursue the details on their own.

—Sixteenth Century Journal

A very good introduction to a particular and influential kind of reading of Thomas. It is subtle, sophisticated, and well worth its price.

—Scottish Journal of Theology

Aidan Nichols is the prior of Blackfriars in Cambridge, England, and a leading Roman Catholic writer and theologian. His other books include A Grammar of Consent, Looking at the Liturgy, No Bloodless Myth, The Panther and the Hind, and Christendom Awake: On Reenergizing the Church in Culture.

The Epiphany of Love: Toward a Theological Understanding of Christian Action

• Author: Livio Melina
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2010
• Pages: 205

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In this volume Livio Melina attempts to overcome the deadlock in which moral theology can easily find itself due to the false alternative between moralism, with its emphasis on external rules, and antimoralism, with its insistence on freedom from all norms.

The key, Melina argues here, is not to regard morality as a simple list of principles directing our choices and helping us to make correct moral judgments. Rather, we must step back and begin to comprehend the dynamic mystery of Christian action. Only in the light of Christ can the proper correlation between faith and morality, freedom and truth, be clearly understood. True morality springs from a synergistic relationship with God, born of faith in Christ, nurtured in the church, and made manifest in that which inspires all authentic goodness—the epiphany of love.

Livio Melina is the worldwide president of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, Rome, where he also serves as Professor of Fundamental Moral Theology.

Gathered for the Journey: Moral Theology in Catholic Perspective

• Editors: David Matzko McCarthy and M. Therese Lysaught
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 366

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Gathered for the Journey sets moral reasoning in a theological context of worship and discipleship, provides a framework for the moral life based on questions of human fulfillment, and demonstrates how these theological resources shape a distinctive approach to questions of globalization, Catholic social teaching, the family, war and peace, bioethics, and the environment.

McCarthy and Lysaught have crafted a distinctively unified collection. Gathered for the Journey represents a common project among Catholic scholars who are struggling with similar questions about living faithfully.

Contributors

• Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt
• William T. Cavanaugh
• David M. Cloutier
• Dana Dillon
• James M. Donohue
• Jeanne Heffernan Schindler
• Kelly S. Johnson
• M. Therese Lysaught
• William C. Mattison III
• David M. McCarthy
• Michael R. Miller
• Julie Hanlon Rubio
• Tobias Winright

This book was awarded Third Place in Catholic Press Association’s Theology category in 2008.

The Second Vatican Council spoke of the need for a Christ-centered, innovative, nonlegalistic approach to moral theology. This volume fulfills that need. Composed by a group of young Catholic scholars, it presents ‘the good life’ in light of Christ’s teaching and traditional theological concepts. After considering foundational concepts in a realistic perspective, it applies these concepts to various aspects of daily life, such as life in community, consumerism, family life, war and peace, and bioethics. Remarkably unified in content and purpose, Gathered for the Journey will serve well as a comprehensive textbook for college students, or as a reference work for anyone interested in learning more about friendship with God. As a moral theologian nearing the end of his career, my overwhelming reaction to this presentation is hope for the future of Catholic moral science.

—Kevin O’Rourke, OP, lecturer, Neiswanger Institute, Loyola University Chicago

This collection offers the important voices of emerging young scholars who bring fresh perspectives on a traditional discipline. They show that ‘moral theology’ is as much about a way of life as about analysis of problems. Readers of Gathered for the Journey will see what it takes to energize Catholic teaching for a new generation. The originality of the contributions makes them essential reading for the scholar; their timeliness and practicality match them perfectly to classroom use.

—Lisa Sowle Cahill, J. Donald Monan Professor, Boston College

David Matzko McCarthy is Fr. James M. Forker Professor of Catholic Social Teaching at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He is the author or editor of several books, including The Good Life: Genuine Christianity for the Middle Class, Sex and Love in the Home: A Theology of the Household, and Gathered for the Journey: Moral Theology in Catholic Perspective.

M. Therese Lysaught is associate professor and director of graduate studies in theology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Heart of the World, Center of the Church

• Author: David L. Schindler
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 1996
• Pages: 344

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Today, 30 years after the Second Vatican Council, there can be little doubt that the notion of communion is at the center of Catholicism’s renewed understanding of the Church. In Heart of the World, Center of the Church David L. Schindler shows that communion is also at the heart of the Church’s worldly mission.

Invoking God’s spousal relation to the world, Schindler argues that the Church’s answer to the question of worldly freedom is nothing less than its own communion. Yet the claim that the Church promotes the “legitimate autonomy of earthly realities” by penetrating the world with its own intimate reality is hardly a matter of arcane speculation. Heart of the World, Center of the Church develops its thesis in critical dialogue with Western (especially Anglo-American) liberalism, whose ascendancy especially after the events of 1989 poses a host of urgent questions for the Church.

Examining liberalism in politics, economics, and the academy, Schindler exposes its inadequate theology of human freedom and “worldly” autonomy, while suggestion how communion both transforms and protects freedom and autonomy in their varied cultural expressions. In the spirit of Pope John Paul II’s call for a “new evangelization,” Schindler contributes to what the Pope himself has strongly reaffirmed as “the positive value of an authentic theology of integral human liberation.” (Centesimus Annus, 26)

Anyone concerned with the problem of nature and grace or with the Church’s engagement with culture in a contemporary context will find this book not only a useful resource but also a spur to further reflection.

I know of no American theologian whose thought is more interesting, profound, and original than that of David L. Schindler. In this stunning book Schindler takes up a wide range of topics, including religious freedom, liberalism and neo-conservatism, the nature of the Church’s worldly mission, the death of God in the academy, and gender and the future of Western civilization. To each he brings a communion ecclesiology that upsets conventional understandings. This is the kind of book that sets one back on one’s heels, pondering and rereading.

—Glenn W. Olsen, professor of history, University of Utah

This theological study is a superbly intelligent work, a book that will be read and reread by anyone wishing to discover the deepest sources of the contemporary cultural crisis. Because every society embodies certain theological assumptions about life, theology offers the key to understanding a society in crisis. Schindler unmasks the assumptions of the dominant liberal culture and subjects these assumptions to a badly needed theological critique. He demonstrates convincingly that the substance of liberal freedom is the source of the culture of death. At the same time, his searching analysis of the hidden weaknesses of Anglo-American liberalism represents an impressive attempt to identify and to rescue the authentic achievements of the liberal experiment. A profoundly disturbing and yet oddly exhilarating book.

—Ian Boyd, CSB, editor, The Chesterton Review

Heart of the World, Center of the Church is one of the most important books to be published since Vatican II. . . . It establishes David Schindler as the American Balthasar.

—Mark and Louise Zwick, editors, Houston Catholic Worker

In our century the Catholic Church has succeeded in throwing down the ramparts that defended her from the world. It was a dangerous move, but Schindler shows that it was a risk worth taking. On foundations laid by Balthasar, Schindler has here begun the task of building a new structure for theology: an open road to authentic human liberation.

—Stratford Caldecott, director, Center for Faith & Culture, Westminster College, Oxford

David L. Schindler is provost and dean of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is also the editor of Communio: International Catholic Review and the author of Heart of the World, Center of the Church.

How Can the Petrine Ministry Be a Service to the Unity of the Universal Church?

• Editor: James F. Puglisi
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2010
• Pages: 384

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The primacy and infallibility of the Pope have long stood as roadblocks to fellowship between the Roman Catholic Church and other church bodies. Now, however, as many churches strive for greater ecumenical rapprochement and ecclesial unity, scholars from a variety of Christian traditions have been exploring together the possibility that church unity may indeed be well served by the ministry of St. Peter.

How Can the Petrine Ministry Be a Service to the Unity of the Universal Church? assembles 21 forward-looking essays on the papal office by an assortment of theologians, canonists, ecumenists, ecclesiologists, sociologists, and Scripture experts from diverse backgrounds, including Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed. They examine the conditions under which the papacy might one day be re-received by Christian church bodies worldwide—not as an autocratic monarchy but, rather, as the unifying agency for a diverse yet cohesive universal church.

This book provides a rare glimpse into a high-level discussion that should be appreciated by anyone interested in the future of the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.”

Contributors:

• André Birmelé
• Sven-Erik Brodd
• Johannes Brosseder
• Günther Gassmann
• Eero Huovinen
• Walter Cardinal Kasper
• Joseph A. Komonchak
• Hervé Legrand
• Peter Lüning
• John P. Meier
• Harding Meyer
• Archbishop Roland Minnerath
• Peder Nørgaard-Højen
• Hermann J. Pottmeyer
• James F. Puglisi
• John Reumann
• Michael Root
• Geoffrey Wainwright
• Jared Wicks
• Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon

James F. Puglisi is fellow and Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman Professor of Catholic Theology at Graduate Theological Foundation in Mishawaka, Indiana and director of the Centro Pro Unione in Rome.

Light in Darkness: Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Catholic Doctrine of Christ’s Descent into Hell

• Author: Alyssa Lyra Pitstick
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 474

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“He descended into hell.”

Hans Urs von Balthasar, one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century, placed this affirmation of the Nicene Creed at the heart of his reflection on the world-altering events of Holy Week, asserting that this identification of God with the human experience is at the “absolute center” of the Christian faith. Yet is such a descent to suffering really the essence of Catholic belief about the mystery of Holy Saturday?

Alyssa Lyra Pitstick’s Light in Darkness—the first comprehensive treatment of Balthasar’s theology of Holy Saturday—draws on the multiple yet unified resources of authoritative Catholic teaching on Christ’s descent to challenge Balthasar’s conclusions. Pitstick conducts a thorough investigation of Balthasar’s position that Christ suffered in his descent into hell and asks whether that is compatible with traditional teaching about Christ.

Light in Darkness is a thorough argument for the existence and authority of a traditional Catholic doctrine of Christ’s descent as manifested in creeds, statements of popes and councils, Scripture, and art from Eastern and Western traditions. Pitstick’s carefully argued, contrarian work is sure to spur debate across the theological spectrum.

Pitstick’s book is a challenge to those who regard Balthasar as an entirely trustworthy theologian, ranking with the greatest masters of the Tradition. She subjects his understanding of Christ’s descent into hell to a searching critique and shows it to be seriously at odds with the teaching of the fathers and Doctors of the Church.

—John Saward, associate lecturer, Blackfriars, Oxford University

This severe, but forcefully argued, study will have to be borne in mind in all future assessment of Balthasar’s theological doctrine.

—Aidan Nichols, John Paul II Memorial Visiting Lecturer, Oxford University

Alyssa Pitstick gives no quarter. She notes instances in which Balthasar, in her view, misrepresents scriptural, patristic, and magisterial texts and simply ignores aspects of the tradition inconvenient to his argument. . . Pitstick has thrown down a gauntlet that other theologians should not ignore. . . . Thanks to Pitstick, a new and lively debate over Balthasar’s achievement is almost certainly under way.

—Richard John Neuhaus, First Things

An impressive book. Pitstick has had the courage to challenge a major theological reputation head on, and has done so with great skill. The result is the most sustained and detailed criticism of Balthasar’s theology yet published in English, and a work of acute argument in its own right.

—New Blackfriars

Alyssa Lyra Pitstick holds degrees from Pontifical University in Rome, International Theological Institute in Austria, and Gonzaga University, and is assistant professor of religion at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

Love Alone Is Credible: Hans Urs Von Balthasar as Interpreter of the Catholic Tradition

• Editor: David L. Schindler
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 374

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In this volume, David L. Schindler presents readers with a collection of essays garnered from the 2005 conference marking the centenary of Hans Urs von Balthasar‘s birth. That conference hosted an international gathering of scholars, among them students, colleagues, friends, and critics of Balthasar, all making an effort to engage the fundamental questions of faith and reason in light of his influential contribution to Catholic theology.

A wide range of topics are explored in light of the Christian mystery, including metaphysics and causality, the nature of rationality, the relationship between God and the world, and the meaning of the body. Featuring an impressive list of contributors, Love Alone Is Credible is a tribute to the profound relevance of Balthasar‘s thought.

David L. Schindler is provost and dean of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. He is also the editor of Communio: International Catholic Review (Anglo-American edition) and the author of Heart of the World, Center of the Church.

Maurice Blondel: A Philosophical Life

• Author: Oliva Blanchette
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2010
• Pages: 836

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French philosopher Maurice Blondel (1861–1949) had a tremendous impact on both philosophy and religion in the twentieth century. He was at once a postmodern critical philosopher and a devout traditional Catholic who strove to keep these two sides of his life in unison, neither separating nor confusing them.

In this first-ever critical examination of Blondel’s entire life and work, Oliva Blanchette tells of Blondel’s stormy confrontations with an academy dismissive of religion and a religion uncomfortable with rational philosophy. The book recounts both Blondel’s biographical history and his systematic philosophy in meticulous detail.

Here, at last, is the standard reference book on Maurice Blondel’s philosophy that we have been desperately waiting for. Absolutely clear and accessible even to nonconnoisseurs, this book succeeds in showing how much Blondel’s thought is the conceptual reflection of his deep spiritual experience. Written by a real metaphysician, this masterpiece embraces for the first time the wholeness of Blondel’s thorough intentions, from the very first notes to the final texts. Maurice Blondel: A Philosophical Life is, indeed, an event. There will be henceforth a “before” and an “after” Oliva Blanchette’s book, which will delight not only Blondelian researchers but also the entire philosophical community.

—Emmanuel Tourpe, Institut d’Etudes Théologiques

Oliva Blanchette is Professor of Philosophy at Boston College. His other books include the award-winning Philosophy of Being: A Reconstructive Essay in Metaphysics and The Perfection of the Universe according to Aquinas.

Metaphysics: The Creation of Hierarchy

• Author: Adrian Pabst
• Series: Interventions (INTS)
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 557

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This comprehensive and detailed study of individuation reveals the theological nature of metaphysics. Adrian Pabst argues that ancient and modern conceptions of “being”—or individual substance—fail to account for the ontological relations that bind beings to each other and to God, their source. On the basis of a genealogical account of rival theories of creation and individuation from Plato to ‘postmodernism,’ Pabst proposes that the Christian Neo-Platonic fusion of biblical revelation with Greco-Roman philosophy fulfills and surpasses all other ontologies and conceptions of individuality.

This bold new study argues for the pivotal importance of the Christian doctrine of creatio ex nihilo and the theology of participation in the development of western metaphysics and political thought, and explores their subsequent degeneration and decline when, in modernity, these teachings were forgotten or discarded. A clarion call to recover the economy of love, grounded in the gift, and a welcome new voice in political philosophy.

—Janet Soskice, professor of philosophical theology, University of Cambridge

Adrian Pabst is lecturer in politics at the University of Kent and fellow of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy. He is the editor of many volumes, most recently The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Pope Benedict XVI’s Social Encyclical and the Future of Political Economy.

Naturalism

• Authors: Charles Taliaferro and Stewart Goetz
• Series: Interventions (INTS)
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 140

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This volume introduces readers to the dominant scientifically oriented worldview called naturalism. Stewart Goetz and Charles Taliaferro examine naturalism philosophically, evaluating its strengths and weaknesses. Whereas most other books on naturalism are written for professional philosophers alone, this one is aimed primarily at a college-educated audience interested in learning about this pervasive worldview.

Goetz and Taliaferro are qualified by an impressive record of relevant scholarly publications, but the book is concise and accessible to nonspecialists. . . . This book makes a strong, concise defense of theism and dualism and responds effectively to the best naturalist critics.

—Christian Research Journal

The best brief, yet comprehensive, treatment of naturalism to appear. . . . This book may be expected to enjoy a wide readership. For the minister, it will serve to expose the irrationality of naturalism in its attack on the supernaturalism that is foundational to our faith. For the educated layperson, particularly the scientist, it sets forth the contours of scientism . . . and serves to encourage the believing scientist to remember that what is foundational to science is not of the nature of science.

—Mid-America Journal of Theology

Charles Taliaferro is professor of philosophy at St. Olaf College. He is the author or editor of eight books, including Evidence and Faith: Philosophy and Religion since the Seventeenth Century.

Stewart Goetz is professor of philosophy at Ursinus College. He has authored numerous scholarly articles for such publications as Faith and Philosophy, American Philosophical Quarterly, and Mind.

Nature as Reason: A Thomistic Theory of the Natural Law

• Author: Jean Porter
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2004
• Pages: 432

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This noteworthy book develops a new theory of the natural law that takes its orientation from the account of the natural law developed by Thomas Aquinas, as interpreted and supplemented in the context of scholastic theology in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Though this history might seem irrelevant to twenty-first-century life, Jean Porter shows that the scholastic approach to the natural law still has much to contribute to the contemporary discussion of Christian ethics. Aquinas and his interlocutors provide a way of thinking about the natural law that is distinctively theological while at the same time remaining open to other intellectual perspectives, including those of science.

In the course of her work, Porter examines the scholastics’ assumptions and beliefs about nature, Aquinas’ account of happiness, and the overarching claim that reason can generate moral norms. Ultimately, Porter argues that a Thomistic theory of the natural law is well suited to provide a starting point for developing a more nuanced account of the relationship between specific beliefs and practices. While Aquinas’ approach to the natural law may not provide a system of ethical norms that is both universally compelling and detailed enough to be practical, it does offer something that is arguably more valuable—namely, a way of reflecting theologically on the phenomenon of human morality.

After a decade of provocative publications, Jean Porter has marshaled her arguments into a cohesive natural law theory that addresses the concerns and biases marking the twenty-first century. With a nod to both medieval scholasticism and the present-day natural sciences, Porter presents her theory as providing a theological foundation and framework for understanding morality, the virtues, ethical norms, moral progress, and happiness. Along the way she engages the relevant works of philosophers and theologians, both Catholic and Protestant. With a clear, amiable voice she maps out where she stands in the assembly of her colleagues. In doing so, she takes on a bit of the persona of Thomas Aquinas, who, while offering his own proposals, always anticipated the response of his own contemporaries. Porter’s own Summa on the natural law is mature, comprehensive scholarship at its best.

—James F. Keenan, SJ, The Founders Professorship in Theology, Boston College

The theology that emerges from Porter’s work is that rare mixture of robust doctrine and generosity and toleration grounded on that robustness. . . .This is a book of the highest rank, both in scholarly and intellectual terms.

—The Times Literary Supplement

A clearly written, tightly argued constructive work of theological ethics which makes a genuine contribution to the natural law tradition, extending it in theologically fruitful ways.

—Reviews in Religion & Theology

Jean Porter is John A. O’Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Her books include Natural and Divine Law and Nature as Reason.

New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy

• Author: Robert J. Spitzer
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2010
• Pages: 333

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Responding to contemporary popular atheism, Robert J. Spitzer’s New Proofs for the Existence of God examines the considerable evidence for God and creation that has come to light from physics and philosophy during the last 40 years. An expert in diverse areas, including theology, physics, metaphysics, and ethics, Spitzer offers in this text the most contemporary, complete, and integrated approach to rational theism currently available.

Skepticism about the possibility of proving the existence of God often relies on data from modern science. In this splendid new book Father Robert Spitzer explores the implications of the latest discoveries in big bang cosmology, string theory, quantum physics, and the ontology of time to craft a series of convincing philosophical arguments. To paraphrase a popular commercial, this is not your father’s old ‘natural theology’ textbook—this is a gripping and compelling account of the best current arguments for theism.

—Joseph W. Koterski, associate professor of philosophy, Fordham University

A most original and insightful case for the existence of God . . . Fr. Spitzer’s new proofs pose a serious and compelling challenge to the unconscious hegemony of naturalism in the worlds of both philosophy and the sciences.

—Francis J. Beckwith, associate professor of Church-State studies, Baylor University

Rare is the theologian who keeps abreast of the latest developments in fundamental physics, and even rarer the one who can discuss them with the theological and philosophical sophistication that Fr. Spitzer displays in this book. A challenging and original work.

—Stephen M. Barr, professor, University of Delaware

Robert J. Spitzer, SJ, former president of Gonzaga University, is founder and president of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith, Irvine, California. His books include Healing the Culture, The Spirit of Leadership, and Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life.

Ordering Love: Liberal Societies and the Memory of God

• Author: David L. Schindler
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2011
• Pages: 469

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A metaphysical study of God, love, technology, and culture in modern society.

Reality most basically and properly considered, says David Schindler, is an order of love—a gift that finds its objective only in an entire way of life. In Ordering Love Schindler explores, in light of this understanding of reality, how modern culture marginalizes love, regarding it at best as a matter of piety or goodwill rather than as the very stuff that makes our lives and the things of the world real. Schindler examines how Western civilization's fixation with technology—especially its displacement of experience with experiment and its privileging of knowing and making—has undermined its capacity to build an authentic human culture. He shows, within the context of politics, economics, science, and cultural and professional life generally, that God-centered love is what gives things their deepest and most proper order and meaning, always and everywhere.

David L. Schindler is provost and dean of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is also the editor of Communio: International Catholic Review and the author of Heart of the World, Center of the Church.

The Suspended Middle: Henri de Lubac and the Debate Concerning the Supernatural

• Author: John Milbank
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2005
• Pages: 127

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French Jesuit Henri de Lubac (1896–1991) was arguably the most revolutionary theologian of the twentieth century. He proposed that Western theology since the early modern period had lost sight of the key to integrating faith and reason—the truth that all human beings are naturally oriented toward the supernatural.

In this vital book John Milbank defends de Lubac’s claim and pushes it to a more radical extreme. The Suspended Middle shows how such a claim entails a “non-ontology” suspended between rational philosophy and revealed theology, interweaving the two while denying them any pure autonomy from each other.

As de Lubac’s writings on the supernatural implicitly dismantled the reigning Catholic (and perhaps Protestant) assumptions about Christian intellectual reflection, he met with opposition and even papal censure. Milbank’s sophisticated account of de Lubac delineates the French theologian’s relations with other proponents of the nouvelle théologie, such as Hans Urs von Balthasar, and clarifies the subtle but crucial divisions within recent Roman Catholic theology.

The most substantial treatment in English of de Lubac’s as yet untranslated Surnaturel and the subsequent debate, Milbank’s Suspended Middle lays down an energetic challenge that every serious student of theology and Christian philosophy will want to engage.

An encounter of two true authors is not very frequent in theology today, but it is just such a privileged moment that the reading of this little book offers. While it introduces the reader to the work of Henri de Lubac, The Suspended Middle also introduces some key themes of John Milbank’s thought. How should we think about the paradox of the supernatural? How is grace able to remain a free gift, while it seems required by spiritual creatures as their necessary accomplishment? Milbank does not content himself with comparing—albeit magisterially—the response of de Lubac with the principal theological positions of the past century on this question. He also deepens it. . . . Readers will be kept in suspense from one end of the book to the other by the theological spirit intensely present in each sentence.

—Olivier-Thomas Venard, Coauthor, Radical Orthodoxy

Henri de Lubac is a difficult theologian: as a major historian of Latin theology, he is a master in the art of concealing his own theology behind the erudite discussion of past and present works. It is not the smallest merit of John Milbank’s book, therefore, to prove that de Lubac is more a theologian than a historian of theology. . . . Milbank’s provocative book manages to make [de Lubac’s theology] relevant for modernity as well as for postmodernity. This is probably the most exciting book ever written on de Lubac.

—Jean-Yves Lacoste, Author, Experience and the Absolute

John Milbank is Research Professor of Religion, Politics, and Ethics at the University of Nottingham, England, and Director of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy. His previous books include Theology and Social Theory, The Word Made Strange, Radical Orthodoxy (coeditor), and Being Reconciled.

To Follow You, Light of Life: Spiritual Exercises Preached before John Paul II at the Vatican

• Author: Bruno Forte
• Translator: P. David Glenday
• Series: Italian Texts and Studies on Religion and Society
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2005
• Pages: 202

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A little more than a year before his death, Pope John Paul II gathered his closest aides for an extended retreat at the Vatican. During this retreat Bruno Forte offered a series of meditations revolving around Jesus’ words in John 8:12: “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Now translated by David Glenday and collected in this lovely book, these meditations draw us into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and orient us toward the mission of the Church. A master of thoughtful questioning, Forte shepherds his readers through the classic Ignatian spiritual exercises: a day of purification, a day of illumination, and three days of reflection on Easter, the church, and mission.

Each day includes four meditations, two reflecting on the day’s theme followed by two careful considerations of scriptural texts. Forte concludes his meditations with questions that provoke deeper reflection on our own faith journeys.

Thoughtful, insightful, and nurturing, Forte’s book has much wisdom to offer all Christians who desire to follow more closely the “Light of life.”

This book includes a forward by Pope John Paul II.

This book was awarded Second Place in Catholic Press Association’s Spirituality category in 2006.

Bruno Forte is archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, Italy. He has also served as professor of systematic theology at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Naples, Italy, as a member of the International Theological Commission of the Holy See, and as a consultant of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

P. David Glenday is also translator of The Portal of Beauty and The Essence of Christianity with Bruno Forte.

Will Many Be Saved?

• Author: Ralph Martin
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 332

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The question of whether and how people who have not had the chance to hear the gospel can be saved goes back to the beginnings of Christian reflection. It has also become a much-debated topic in current theology. In Will Many Be Saved? Ralph Martin focuses primarily on the history of debate and the development of responses to this question within the Roman Catholic Church, but much of Martin’s discussion is also relevant to the wider debate happening in many churches around the world.

In particular, Martin analyzes the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, the document from the Second Vatican Council that directly relates to this question. Contrary to popular opinion, Martin argues that according to this text, the conditions under which people who have not heard the gospel can be saved are very often, in fact, not fulfilled, with strong implications for evangelization.

For many years we have all appreciated Dr. Martin’s considerable contributions to the mission of the Church. Now he gives us a profound doctrinal foundation for understanding and implementing the ‘new evangelization.’ This is a shot in the arm for bishops, priests, and laity as we respond to the Holy Father’s call.

—Timothy Cardinal Dolan, archbishop of New York

Dr. Ralph Martin’s Will Many Be Saved? contributes significantly to a richer understanding of our faith, helps restore confidence in the gospel message, and engenders a desire to share the truth of Christ’s message. An important contribution to the pastoral strategy of the ‘new evangelization.’

—Donald Cardinal Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, D.C.

Martin clarifies a doctrinal point that has been often obscured but must be recovered as a necessary foundation for the ‘new evangelization.’ This is a uniquely important book.

—Francis Cardinal George, archbishop of Chicago

Provides a refreshing reminder of the undiminished urgency and validity of the missionary mandate of Jesus to his followers to evangelize.

—Peter Cardinal Turkson, president, Pontifical Council for Peace and Justice

These penetrating reflections will compel us to reassess our pastoral approach to the preaching of the gospel in our present circumstances. An important book.

—J. Augustine Di Noia, OP, archbishop, Vatican City

Ralph Martin, STD, is the director of graduate theology programs in the new evangelization at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, president of Renewal Ministries, and a consulter to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization.

The Worship of God: Some Theological, Pastoral, and Practical Reflections

• Author: Ralph P. Martin
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 1982
• Pages: 237

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While most Christians today value worship and regard it as a vital part of the church’s life and witness, there is also a wistful yearning that contemporary worship be vastly improved and given a more satisfying rationale.

Calling his book a “compact guide to some of the main themes of the worship of God,” and believing that the agenda of worship “needs a serious overhaul in our churches,” well-known theologian Ralph P. Martin here reexamines the concept of worship, “recasting . . . its meaning in such a way as will express its essentially theological dimension and yet will relate its practice to the concerns, interests, and needs of men and women in our world.”

To that end, Martin discusses several elements of worship: praise, prayer, hymns, the offering, the creeds and confessions, the sermon, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the role of the Holy Spirit. The main thrust of Martin’s discussion it to consider, in the light of Scripture and history, the theological rationale for the practice of each element. A final chapter summarizes the author's definition of worship and diagrams a “service of worship” that involves all the aspects of worship he has discussed.

Both theologically adequate and pastorally helpful, the book is designed for ministers and theological students, as well as lay leaders in the churches.

Ralph P. Martin (1925–2013) was distinguished scholar in residence at Fuller Theological Seminary, Haggard School of Theology, Azusa Pacific University, and Logos Evangelical Seminary in El Monte, California. He wrote numerous studies and commentaries on the New Testament, including the Tyndale New Testament Commentary volume on Philippians and the volume on James in the Word Biblical Commentary series, for which he also served as New Testament editor.

Žižek: A (Very) Critical Introduction

• Author: Marcus Pound
• Series: Interventions (INTS)
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 184

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It has been the brilliance of Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek to uniquely weave theology, psychoanalysis, and politics together into stunning commentary on contemporary culture. Assuming little prior knowledge of this controversial (atheist, communist) philosopher, Marcus Pound provides the first comprehensive, systematic account of Žižek’s work as it relates specifically to theology and religious studies.

With clarity and humor, and in wonderfully short compass, Marcus Pound introduces the thought of not only Slavoj Žižek but also his guru, Jacques Lacan. Pound finds in these masters of inversion a profound anti-theology that only needs to become more theological—more orthodox—in order to work, to rid us of complacency. This is a book for those new to Žižek and for those who, knowing him already, want to know him newly—as the theologian he might almost be. It’s as enjoyable as reading Žižek himself.

—Gerard Loughlin, professor, Durham University

Marcus Pound is research fellow in Catholic studies at Durham University and assistant director of the Durham Centre for Catholic Studies.