Catholic History for Today's Church: How Our Past Illuminates Our Present

by John W. O'Malley, SJ

Overview

We can’t understand the issues swirling in today’s Catholic church without understanding the past. In Catholic History for Today’s Church acclaimed historian John W. O’Malley, SJ, illuminates some of today’s most contentious issues—from celibacy to the role of the pope—through their history. In his characteristically engaging style, O’Malley’s essays provide readers with an overview of each theme in history then explore how that past connects with life today. Many of the essays highlight his expertise on the papacy and the papal curia, as well as the significance and legacies of the Council of Trent and Vatican II. By taking a historical approach, O’Malley shows how contemporary issues arose, assesses where they are today, and suggests how they might be changed for the better. Catholic History for Today’s Church takes an invaluable long view on topics that too often find us shortsighted.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442250031
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/15/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

John W. O’Malley, SJ, was a Roman Catholic priest and professor in the department of theology at Georgetown University. He is the author of a number of books, including A History of the Popes, The First Jesuits, What Happened at Vatican II, and The Jesuits: A History from Ignatius to the Present. Besides other honors he received six best book awards as well as lifetime achievement awards from the Society for Italian Historical Studies, the Renaissance Society of America, and the American Catholic Historical Association. In 1995 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he is past president of the American Catholic Historical Association and the Renaissance Society of America.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part I. The Papacy and the Popes
1 The Millennium and the Papalization of Catholicism
2 Papal Job Descriptions: Yesterday and Today
3 Cardinals in Conclave: A Troubled History
4 Reform of the Papal Curia: Historical and Theological Perspectives
5 The Beatification of Pope Pius IX
6 Two Popes: Benedict and Francis
Part II. Two Councils: Trent and Vatican II
7 The Council of Trent: Myths, Misunderstandings, and Unintended Consequences
8 Bishops and Theologians at the Council of Trent: A Lesson for Today
9 The Council of Trent and Michelangelo’s Last Judgment
10 Ten Sure-Fire Ways to Mix Up the Teaching of Vatican II
11 What Happened and Did Not Happen at Vatican II
12 Dialog and the Identity of Vatican II
13 Two Councils Compared: Trent and Vatican II
Part Three: The Church at Large
14 Some Basics about Celibacy
15 Were Medieval Universities Catholic?
16 Excommunicating Politicians
17 One Priesthood, Two Traditions
Conclusion: My Life of Learning

Editorial Reviews

John O'Malley, SJ, is the uncontested dean of Catholic historians in this country. Like everything he writes, his new book, a collection of superb essays, is based on his vast learning and written in sparkling prose. I cannot recommend his scholarship or his writing highly enough.

James Martin

If the historian's work is to make sense of the past, the effort is often shaped according to matters of the moment. This is history with a purpose, at work in the service of the present and is largely what O'Malley is about in this highly readable collection of lectures, book chapters, and previously published essays. A constant theme throughout is 'what happened in the past gives helpful perspectives on the present' (95). But this is not simply a collection of O'M.'s short historical writing: this is a handbook of historical pathways to contemporary Roman Catholic ecclesiology. And it's done with a personal touch.

Theological Studies

In this superb book, O'Malley makes clear that nothing sheds more light on the present than a firm grasp of the past.

James L. Heft

Immensely learned and deeply humane, O’Malley demonstrates how Catholics cannot understand their present without understanding their past. His sparkling prose and acute insights are not to be missed by anyone concerned about the state of Roman Catholicism today.

M. Cathleen Kaveny

Only the best historians, who have spent a lifetime at their craft, can compass their learning into the brief scope of an essay. In the present volume, John O’Malley has done this time and time again to stunning effect on a range of topics in Catholic Church history, where he is the consummate guide. The elegance of expression in these essays is the direct consequence of his mastery of the subject.

Jeffrey von Arx

Readers who are serious about their love of the Church will find this book to be of immense interest and insight.

St. Anthony Messenger

10/01/2015
Here, O'Malley (theology, Georgetown Univ., The Jesuits) digests and presents the kind of religious history at which he excels, but for a general audience. He argues that today's contentious conversations about the role of the papacy and the character of the Catholic Church derive from old debates, dating back to the origins of the papacy and the Council of Trent and Vatican II. The book as it stands, however, is a rather baggier collection of O'Malley's articles and essays, including a few outliers loosely related to the theme. VERDICT O'Malley's accessible approach should make this array of articles illuminating for those new to the subject. Most academic libraries will be better served by the author's previous efforts, however.

Library Journal