Since the Second Vatican Council (1962-5), the Catholic Church has formally declared the possibility of salvation for atheists: 'those who, without fault, have not yet arrived at an express recognition of God' (Lumen Gentium 16). However, in the very same document, the Council also reiterates the traditional doctrine of the necessity of faith, baptism, and the mediation of Church in order for someone to be saved (Lumen Gentium 14). This monograph explores how these two seemingly contradictory claims may satisfactorily be reconciled. Specifically, it asks - and ultimately answers - the question: How, within the parameters of Catholic dogmatic theology, is it possible for an atheist to be saved? As the first full-length study of this topic since Vatican II, the book discusses crucial foundational issues - the understanding of 'atheist' in Catholic theology; the developing views on both unbelief, and the salvation of non-Christians, in the decades preceding the Council - before tackling the conciliar teaching itself. Considerable attention is then given to the classic solution of imputing an 'implicit' faith to righteous atheists, best known from Karl Rahner's theory of 'anonymous Christians' (though the basic idea was advocated by many other major figures, including Ratzinger, Schillebeeckx, de Lubac, Balthasar, and Kung). After discussing Rahner's specific proposals in detail, this kind of approach is however shown to be untenable. In its place, a new way of understanding Vatican II's optimism for atheists is developed in detail, in light of scripture, tradition, and magisterium. This draws principally on Christ's descent into Hell, a renewed understanding of invincible ignorance, and a literal interpretation of Matthew 25.

The Deposit of Faith: What the Catholic Church Really Believes, by Monsignor Eugene Kevane, is a treasure of information for teachers of catechetical instruction. In the wake of the Heresy of Modernism, Catholics everywhere, especially parents of Catholic children, have experienced the proliferation of new opinions, the exclusion of the Deposit of Faith, and the suppression of the Catechism by religious educators. This book portrays what Jesus Christ, as God, wanted the Apostles and through them the future members of His Church to know and teach. He made it very clear: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (Mk. 13, 31). An earlier volume, Jesus the Divine Teacher, explains how Jesus taught; this second one presents what he taught. This book provides an opportunity for all Catholics and all religious people to review their own convictions and explore the depth of their spiritual lives. In a special way, the author presents in this volume the knowledge and information, which can help bishops, priests, religious, catechists, parents and all the laity regain their equilibrium and rebuild their faith and spiritual lives. Deposit of Faith.

Pope Francis confuses many observers because his papacy does not fit neatly into any pre-established classificatory schemes. To gain a deeper appreciation of Francis's complicated papacy, this volume proposes that an interdisciplinary approach, fusing concepts derived from moral theology and the social sciences, may properly situate Pope Francis as a global political entrepreneur. The chapters in this volume ask what difference it makes that he is the first pope from Latin America, how and why different countries in the world respond to him, how his understanding of scripture informs his ideas on economic, social, and environmental policy, and where politics meets theology under Francis. In the end, this volume seeks to provide a more robust understanding of the enigmatic papacy of Francis.

On July 8-11, 2006, the first ever truly International Congress of Roman Catholic Ethicists occurred in Padua (see www.catholicethics.com). Four hundred Roman Catholic ethicists from all over the world met to exchange ideas, not under the aegis of the Roman Catholic Church, but under the patronage of a Dutch foundation and UNESCO. These ethicists, caught up in their own specific cultures, recognize the need to confront the challenge of pluralism; to dialogue from and beyond local cultures; and to interconnect within a world church, not dominated solely by a northern paradigm.While many of these ethicists knewof their conference colleagues by reputation and from their writings, this is the first opportunity most will have to meet face to face and engage in cross-cultural dialogue within their discipline. This book explores and discusses further the ideas sparked by this conference.

This is a true story of my past which has allowed me to view change by faith. This text concentrates on the growth of mutual respect and awareness of a changing environment to the world we live in. Understanding the knowledge to which it's presented systematically. I advocate the voices in the teaching I've received and refuse to allow myself to become a victim without options.

Contemporary scholarship recognizes in Maximus the Confessor a theologian of towering intellectual importance. In this book Adam G. Cooper puts to him a question which from the origins of Christian thought has constituted an interpretative crux for catholic Christianity: what is the place of the material order and, specifically, of the human body, in God's creative, redemptive, and perfective economies? While the study builds upon the insights of other efforts in Maximian scholarship, it primarily presents an engagement with the full vista of Maximus's own writings, providing a unique contribution towards an intelligent apprehension of this erudite but often impenetrable theological mind.

"Catholic Culture in the USA" articulates how theological teachings trickle down from the Vatican and influence decisions about food, marriage, sex, community celebrations, and medical care. This study of American Catholicism summarizes a widespread contemporary tendency to adapt traditional spirituality to a world of moral diversity, to hold onto some essential portions of religious experience in an increasingly secular world. "Catholic Culture in the USA" articulates what is perhaps only implicit in other scholarship with regard to how theological teachings trickle down from the Vatican and influence decisions about food, marriage, sex, community celebrations, and medical care. John Portmann defends these Catholic dissidents and explores alternative expressions of Catholic devotion. Taking a holistical approach, the author indicates cultural change as resulting from interaction among individual rights assertions, grassroots mobilization, scholarly production and legislative innovation. Finally, the book ties contemporary Catholicism into the broad 'I'm spiritual but not religious' trend sweeping through the United States. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Religion, Christianity, Catholic Studies, and Religion in America.

This collection of mostly original essays by scholars and Catholic Worker activists provides a systematic, analytical study of the emergence and nature of pacifism in the largest single denomination in the United States: Roman Catholicism. The collection underscores the pivotal role of Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker movement in challenging the conventional understanding of just-war principles and the American Catholic Church's identification with uncritical militarism. Also included are a study of Dorothy Day's preconversion pacifism, previously unpublished letters from Dorothy Day to Thomas Merton, Eileen Egan's account of the birth and early years of Pax, the Catholic Worker-inspired peace organization, and in-depth coverage of how the contemporary Plowshares movement emerged from the Catholic Worker movement.

This book provides a sociological understanding of the phenomenon of exorcism and an analysis of the reasons for its contemporary re-emergence and impact on various communities. It argues that exorcism has become a religious commodity with the potential to strengthen a religion's attraction to adherents, whilst also ensuring its hold. It shows that due to intense competition between religious groups in our multi-faith societies, religious groups are now competing for authority over the supernatural by 'branding' their particular type of exorcism ritual in order to validate the strength of their own belief system. Sociology of Exorcism in Late Modernity features a detailed case-study of a Catholic exorcist in the south of Europe who dealt with more than 1,000 cases during a decade of work.