Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-340) and index.
Contents:
Christ at the center. 22. Why Vatican II was necessary : -- 1. Crisis? What crisis? -- 2. Modernity as ideology -- 3. The new thirty years war -- 4. The end of Christendom -- 5. The renewal of the Catholic mind -- 6. What kind of church? -- 7. What kind of council? To what ends? -- Part II. What Vatican taught : -- 8. The council's distinctive features -- 9. John XXIII's original intention -- 10. The word of God breaks through the silence: The dogmatic constitution on divine revelation 11. Sacrament of authentic human community: The dogmatic constitution on the church -- 12. To worship the one worthy of worship: The constitution on the sacred liturgy -- 13. Design for a christocentric humanism: The pastoral constitution on the church in the modern world -- 14. Truth, liberty, and the limits of state power: The declaration on religious freedom -- 15. Witnesses and missionaries: The council's teaching on states of life in the church -- 16. From plurality to pluralism: The council's teaching on the eastern catholic churches, on ecumenism, and on non-christian religions -- Part III. The keys to Vatican II -- 17. Jacques Maritain's lament -- 18. The council without keys -- 19. Keys to the council: John Paul II -- 20. Keys to the council: Benedict XVI -- 21. The master key -- 22. Christ at the center.
Summary:
A leading Catholic intellectual explains why the teachings of the Second Vatican Council are essential to the Church's future--and the world's. The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) was the most important Catholic event in the past five hundred years. Yet sixty years after its opening on October 11, 1962, its meaning remains sharply contested and its promise unfulfilled. In To Sanctify the World, George Weigel explains the necessity of Vatican II and explores the continuing relevance of its teaching in a world seeking a deeper experience of freedom than personal willfulness. The Council's texts are also a critical resource for the Catholic Church as it lives out its original, Christ-centered evangelical purpose. Written with insight and verve, To Sanctify the World recovers the true meaning of Vatican II as the template for a Catholicism that can propose a path toward genuine human dignity and social solidarity.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.