Catholicism and Religious Freedom: Contemporary Reflections on Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Liberty [Paperback]

The late Pope John Paul II frequently invokedDignitatis Humanaeas one of the foundational documents of contemporary Church social teaching. In this timely new edited collection,Catholicism and Religious Freedom: Contemporary Reflections on Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Liberty, Kenneth L. Grasso and Robert P. Hunt have assembled an impressive group of scholars to discuss the current meanings of one the Vatican's most important documents and its place in the Church.Dignitatis Humanaeunderstands itself as bringing forth new things that are in harmony with the old. Today, forty years after its publication, the precise nature of these new things and their relationship to the old remain among the most important pieces of unfinished business confronting Catholic social thought.

The theological issues brought forth inDignitatis Humanaego to the heart of the contemporary debate about the nature, foundation, and scope of religious liberty. Here, the contributors to this volume give these considerations the serious and sustained attention they deserve.

The volume may be recommended, not because it settles any particular issues, but because it urges renewed consideration of a text that has been more taken for granted of late than actively and intelligently studied. Joseph A. Komonchak, Catholic University of America,Commonweal Magazine

This book is a welcome contribution to the subject of Catholicism and Religious Freedom. 2007,Journal of Church and State

...important volume of essays....One of the book's great merits is the thoroughness with which these two men's writings on the subject are analyzed, compared, and applied to the question of how best to interpret DH. 2007,Fellowship of Catholic Scholarl£)