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Keys to the Council: Unlocking the Teaching of Vatican II
As the church marks the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, too few Catholics have an adequate grasp of what the council contributed to the life of the church. The problem is understandable. The Second Vatican Council produced, by far, more document pages than any other council. Consequently, any attempt to master its core teachings can be daunting. There is a danger of missing the forest for the trees. With this in mind, Keys to the Council identifies twenty key conciliar passages, central texts that help us appreciate the vision of the council fathers. Each chapter places the given passage in its larger historical context, explores its fundamental meaning and significance, and finally considers its larger significance for the life of the church today. Chapters include exploration of Sacrosanctum Concilium s demand for full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgy; Lumen Gentium s eucharistic ecclesiology; Gaudium et Spes s vision of marriage as an intimate partnership of life and love; Nostra Aetate s approach to non-Christian religions; and more.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
About the author
Richard R. Gaillardetz
40 books8 followersRichard R. Gaillardetz, Ph.D. (Theology, University of Notre Dame, 1991; M.A., Systematic Theology, Notre Dame, 1990; M.A., Biblical Theology, St. Mary’s University, 1984; B.A., Humanities, University of Texas, Austin, 1981) is the Joseph Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology and Chair of the Theology Department in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences at Boston College. Previously, he was Margaret and Thomas Murray and James J. Bacik Professor Catholic Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Toledo (Ohio), and he has held multiple posts with the Catholic Theological Society of America, including President 2013–14. In 2018 he received the Yves Congar Award for Theological Excellence at Barry University.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 12, 2020
I've read most of this book for a course that predominantly focuses on Vatican II's development of Catholic theology between the Church and the human person. It is not the most exciting book in the world, but to its credit, it has the following good attributes as it:
-serves as a sufficient introduction to studying Vatican II
-provides decent historical context for the Council's development of doctrine
-is very easy to read
-written for the layman and the cleric in their studies
The 'easy to read' part was particularly good for me as college students love having easy reading assignments for more trivial courses. And this is easy, not just as in theological terms (you certainly don't need to be studying Catholic theology to understand it), but stylistically too; Gaillardetz does an excellent job of writing in a concise way that is almost effortless to follow along with. If I was assigned one or two chapters, it really didn't take long which helps its audience.
However, content-wise it's a bit dry for people who want more in-depth discourse on Vatican II. From the perspective of someone who believed the Council did a lot of good but also wishes that it could have been implemented better (kind of traditionalist, kind of not), it is pretty lenient towards the side of the Council. As I said, there is decent historical context which helps readers understand the Council in a clearer sense, but the context is more often than not insufficient for deeper conversations and studies. It sometimes explain why the Church used to follow such a tradition or teaching but often only gives the critical side.
For instance, on liturgical reforms, it does not give an adequate reason why the Tridentine Mass was celebrated in Latin and why clerics had such an important role; instead, it just critically approaches the old practice like the Council instead of offering the traditionalist's arguments. This is from the view of someone who doesn't love the Traditional Latin Mass by the way, but if I were setting out on writing an introductory book to Vatican II, I would be okay with filling out 20-25 pages a chapter and giving adequate content versus inadequate, one-sided content.
Of course, introductory books - especially in theology and philosophy - have to balance the issue of providing sufficient information for the lay reader and not going extremely in-depth and critically where the lay reader would be confused. This book is short and easy to follow along with, but it is not good for an introductory book in Catholic theology / philosophy to be this one-sided as it can easily give many lay readers, or new students in theology, a poor initial judgement on the rich history of the Church before Vatican II. I do like the brief but good explanations of pre-conciliar developments in the 20th century and I learned a fair amount from that, but this still comes around to my criticism of one-sided history.
I wouldn't bar it from a syllabus and it's fine for the course I was in because most other students weren't studying theology or history, and it is an okay introduction to a complex historical event, but the authors leave a lot to be desired.
-serves as a sufficient introduction to studying Vatican II
-provides decent historical context for the Council's development of doctrine
-is very easy to read
-written for the layman and the cleric in their studies
The 'easy to read' part was particularly good for me as college students love having easy reading assignments for more trivial courses. And this is easy, not just as in theological terms (you certainly don't need to be studying Catholic theology to understand it), but stylistically too; Gaillardetz does an excellent job of writing in a concise way that is almost effortless to follow along with. If I was assigned one or two chapters, it really didn't take long which helps its audience.
However, content-wise it's a bit dry for people who want more in-depth discourse on Vatican II. From the perspective of someone who believed the Council did a lot of good but also wishes that it could have been implemented better (kind of traditionalist, kind of not), it is pretty lenient towards the side of the Council. As I said, there is decent historical context which helps readers understand the Council in a clearer sense, but the context is more often than not insufficient for deeper conversations and studies. It sometimes explain why the Church used to follow such a tradition or teaching but often only gives the critical side.
For instance, on liturgical reforms, it does not give an adequate reason why the Tridentine Mass was celebrated in Latin and why clerics had such an important role; instead, it just critically approaches the old practice like the Council instead of offering the traditionalist's arguments. This is from the view of someone who doesn't love the Traditional Latin Mass by the way, but if I were setting out on writing an introductory book to Vatican II, I would be okay with filling out 20-25 pages a chapter and giving adequate content versus inadequate, one-sided content.
Of course, introductory books - especially in theology and philosophy - have to balance the issue of providing sufficient information for the lay reader and not going extremely in-depth and critically where the lay reader would be confused. This book is short and easy to follow along with, but it is not good for an introductory book in Catholic theology / philosophy to be this one-sided as it can easily give many lay readers, or new students in theology, a poor initial judgement on the rich history of the Church before Vatican II. I do like the brief but good explanations of pre-conciliar developments in the 20th century and I learned a fair amount from that, but this still comes around to my criticism of one-sided history.
I wouldn't bar it from a syllabus and it's fine for the course I was in because most other students weren't studying theology or history, and it is an okay introduction to a complex historical event, but the authors leave a lot to be desired.
June 7, 2020
Interesting to see the history behind Vatican II, and how much is not known or misunderstood. Then, how much more needs to be done on this journey.
September 30, 2023
The pope asked Catholics to study Vatican II in 2023, and this book was recommended by my parish who was offering book studies of it. This book was very readable and organized. It chunked by topic and would define in text important vocabulary, including prefixes and suffixes.
What I especially enjoyed about this book is the great historical context the author put some of these ideas. I felt like it gave a good comprehensive explanation of how past church teachings impacted how the church interacted with the world (for good and bad), and the discussions around reforming during Vatican II.
I would get into the history and discussion, but at the end of each chapter I would have liked a clear "before" and "after" recap on each topic.
What I especially enjoyed about this book is the great historical context the author put some of these ideas. I felt like it gave a good comprehensive explanation of how past church teachings impacted how the church interacted with the world (for good and bad), and the discussions around reforming during Vatican II.
I would get into the history and discussion, but at the end of each chapter I would have liked a clear "before" and "after" recap on each topic.
April 21, 2019
This was a good supplement to several of the documents promulgated during Vatican II. I found it super helpful as I read this book for a class and was pleasantly surprised because I normally find this author dry and sleep-inducing.
September 27, 2013
The author selected 20 articles from the 16 Vatican II documents that they consider to be the keys to understanding the specific documents and the message of the Council. I found the style easy to read and the format as if the authors--both university professors--had written it for their students as an introduction to the Council.
If you want a little more understanding of the teaching of the council without the depth of theological study, I would recommend this book.
If you want a little more understanding of the teaching of the council without the depth of theological study, I would recommend this book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews