Turning to the World
Social Justice and the Common Good since Vatican II
From lofty ideals to the complex realities of the Catholic Church's commitment to justice and peace-building since Vatican II.
Description
The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) was a watershed event in the history of the Catholic Church, a critical self-examination that sought at once to rediscover the most ancient sources of Christian thought and practice and to bring these traditions into the modern world. While few question the idealism and vision of Vatican II, its legacy is contested. Has the Catholic Church fulfilled the promise of the council? Has it successfully reclaimed the scriptural call to justice? Has it truly shifted its gaze to the "joys and hopes, grief and anguish" of our troubled world? Reflecting on both the vision of the council and its uneven reception, Turning to the World ponders the impact of Vatican II on interreligious dialogue, peace-building, and care for the environment. Focusing specifically on the Canadian and Latin American experiences, contributors work from diverse disciplinary perspectives to examine developments in the Catholic Church's understanding of freedom, conscience, and the common good. The volume also appraises the effects of the Church's turn to the world in its hope to voice the pressing needs of the human family, especially in contexts of great poverty and injustice and among peoples adversely affected by the modern and postmodern economies of greed. Exploring the legacy of Vatican II, Turning to the World offers a unique perspective on the influence, reception, developments, and applications of the council from the 1960s to the teachings of Pope Francis.
Reviews
"Most books on the reception of Vatican II focus on the actual documents of the council and the ongoing effort to implement their teaching. Assessments of the implementation of the council's teaching on social justice are rarer, although they can be found (see The Church in the Modern World: Fifty Years after Gaudium et Spes, ed. by Erin Brigham, 2015). ... this book will prove valuable to scholars of social justice." Choice
"This collection of original essays offers a unique perspective on the legacy of the Second Vatican Council in light of the trajectory of the Church's social teaching since its first 'social encyclical,' Rerum Novarum (1891) by Pope Leo XIII, and as it has unfolded refreshingly in the many initiatives of the Catholic Church in Canada." Mary Jo Iozzio, Boston College