The Church in Council: Conciliar Movements, Religious Practice and the Papacy from Nicaea to Vatican II

by Norman Tanner

Overview

Councils have been of fundamental importance to the historical development of the Catholic Church. From the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE to the reforming Second Vatican Council of 1962-5, the conciliar movement has more often than not represented the interests and prerogatives of the mass of the faithful: frequently - especially from medieval times - as a bulwark against the untrammelled supremacy of the Pope. Norman Tanner is arguably the outstanding scholar of church councils writing in English and his work provides an essential framework to our understanding of the development of Western Catholicism. In this volume, which assembles some of his best work on the topic, he reflects on the legacy of conciliarism, and shows how and why the apostolic spirit of Nicaea was to resurface at Vatican II.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848855137
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/15/2011
Series:	International Library of Historical Studies
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Norman Tanner is Professor of Church History at the Gregorian University in Rome. A medieval historian of international stature, he is best known for his groundbreaking books on the great ecumenical councils of the Christian Church. He is in addition the author of 'The Church in the Later Middle Ages' (I.B.Tauris History of the Christian Church, 2008) and 'The Ages of Faith: Popular Religion in Late Medieval England and Western Europe' (I.B.Tauris, 2009).

Table of Contents

Introduction
• Is the Church too Asian?
• Was the Church too Democratic?
• The African church and the first five ecumenical councils
• The Eucharist in the Ecumenical Councils
• Mary in the Ecumenical Councils of the Church
• Historiography of Vatican II in the Anglophone World
• Ecumenism and the Ecumenical Councils
• The Book of the Councils: Nicaea I to Vatican II
• Ecumenical Councils and non-Christian Religions
• The image of John XXIII and Paul VI in the Anglo-Saxon World during and after Vatican II
• Greek Metaphysics and the Language of the Early Church Councils: Nicaea I (325) to Nicaea II
• Appendix: Publications on Church Councils by Norman Tanner