The essays in this collection all concern the interpretation of Scripture in relation to the Catholic Ressourcement. A theological renewal movement that began in the early twentieth century, the Ressourcement movement centered on a “return to the sources” such as Scripture, the Church Fathers, and liturgy. The point of such a return was to discover in these sources the wisdom, truth, and spiritual insight which could speak meaningfully to contemporary challenges. William M. Wright first focuses on three major Ressourcement figures—Henri de Lubac, Yves Congar, and Joseph Ratzinger—and considers aspects of their theological thinking about Scripture or how Scripture is employed as a theological resource. Next, Wright examines Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth books, showing how they put into practice (for a general readership) many of the theological insights characteristic of the Ressourcement movement. Last, Wright considers how the theological insights of the Ressourcement movement can be used to as a resource for the interpretation of Scripture. He uses characteristic Ressourcement concerns, such as the relationship between the testaments, the theology of history, and liturgy, to help illumine the biblical text. Wright not only provides substantive examination of the place of the Bible in this important theological movement, but also shows how the insights of the Ressourcement can be helpful for the interpretation of Scripture today.

Starting in the early to mid-nineteenth century, Catholic theology witnessed a profound retrieval of patristic reflection on the interrelationship of the Virgin Mary and the Church. This dynamic reached a doctrinal high point with the declarations of Vatican II and Pope Paul VI concerning Mary as “type of the Church” and “Mother of the Church,” and it also provided the impetus for further theological exploration of the deeper unity of the Mother of Christ and his mystical body. In A Bride Adorned, John L. Nepil examines how this interrelationship has been formulated in modern theology in terms of perichoresis, a notion of unconfused reciprocity or interpenetration drawn from Christology and Trinitarian theology first applied to Mary and the Church by the nineteenth-century German theologian Matthias Scheeben. In the first part of the study, Nepil treats the foundations of this formulation, outlining its historical background and creative articulation by Scheeben. The second part tracks developments of Scheeben’s insight in the thought of twentieth-century theological luminaries Charles Journet, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Louis Bouyer, and Leo Scheffczyk, each of whom distinctively articulate the shared conviction that neither Mary nor the Church can be understood apart from each other. The third part draws out the far-reaching doctrinal and pastoral implications of this deepened account of the Mary–Church relation, establishing its vital importance for ongoing theological and ecclesial renewal. Through his careful engagement with these figures, Nepil shows how Mary and the Church are to be understood as two realizations of a single mystery. This vantage on Mary and the Church sheds new light on the vision of the Council Fathers at Vatican II, and it charts a course for the Church’s flourishing via a return to her Marian heart.

The Prologue of the Gospel of John identifies Jesus Christ as the eternal Word or Logos of the Father, who became flesh for the salvation of the world. Yet the world that Christ saves is his world from the beginning, for he is also the Logos of creation, the one “through whom all things were made” (John 1:3). This divinely revealed claim has profound implications not only for theology but also for metaphysics, whose relation to Christian doctrine was undermined over the course of the twentieth century, such that the Christian faith has become an increasingly private affair rather than a credible account of reality and an invitation to participate more fully in it. With Christ, the Logos of Creation, John Betz seeks to recover a Christ-centered, analogical metaphysics and to establish the indispensability of such metaphysics for Christian theology and the Christian vision of reality. In Part I, he dispels the fog of confusion about analogical metaphysics and addresses the ecumenical issues posed by Karl Barth’s famous rejection of the analogia entis. Part II demonstrates how analogical metaphysics helps to explain Christian doctrine and sheds new light on the interrelationship between individual doctrines, including Trinitarian theology, Christology and soteriology, and theological anthropology. In Part III, Betz explores how this analogical perspective can aid in resolving a number of theological disputes, including the metaphysical relationship between nature and grace and the issue of divine humility. Finally, Part IV outlines further directions toward a fully Christological metaphysics that is proportionate both to the challenges of modern theology and the reality of our life in Christ the Logos.

Since the beginning of Christianity, the Lord's Prayer has occupied an important place in the lives of Jesus's disciples, for it is the prayer Jesus himself taught them. Like other biblical prayers, the Lord's Prayer contains words people offer to God. But since this prayer is from Jesus and is part of Scripture, it is also God's Word to people. When we say this prayer, not only are we speaking to God, but God is also speaking to us. Highly regarded New Testament scholar William Wright shows how this classic text can speak afresh to the life of the church today. He integrates critical exegesis, theological exposition, and Christian spirituality to explicate the theological substance of the Lord's Prayer. His goal is to help readers come to know God and love God and others more deeply through a focused study of this important Christian prayer. The Touchstone Texts series addresses key Bible passages, making high-quality biblical scholarship accessible to the church. The series editor is Stephen B. Chapman, Duke Divinity School.

The Second Vatican Council’s declaration Dignitatis Humanae marks a significant advance over prior magisterial teaching about the right to religious liberty, yet the nature of this advance has long been subject to controversy. Is it a true development, conserving and extending what came before? Or does it instead chart a new course entirely, rejecting and replacing the older teaching? In Religious Liberty and the Hermeneutic of Continuity, R. Michael Dunnigan takes up these pressing questions and offers a careful examination of how the claims of Dignitatis Humanae relate to the magisterial precedents set by the papacy in the nineteenth century. With precision and nuance, Dunnigan analyzes the object, scope, and foundation of the right to religious liberty itself, and his analysis culminates in the proposal that the “right” endorsed by Vatican II is not identical with the “rights” condemned by previous popes. Beyond establishing the claims of Dignitatis Humanae as a true development of prior teaching, Dunnigan shows that its contribution to the question of religious liberty has not yet received full appreciation. Indeed, Dunnigan demonstrates how the Vatican II declaration reaffirms, reinforces, and even revivifies prior magisterial teaching on religious liberty through its emphasis on human integrity, which emerges as a foundational but often overlooked principle of continuity.

In numerous works both before and after his papal election, John Paul II offers ample reflection on the themes of personhood, relationality, and sexual complementarity, but while he advances a clearly articulated theology of femininity and motherhood, as in his apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem, he might seem to offer no equivalent treatment of masculinity and fatherhood. In Viri Dignitatem, David Delaney seeks to surface and systematize the rich but often overlooked theology of masculinity and fatherhood that is found dispersed throughout John Paul II’s writings, demonstrating its essentiality for understanding his larger anthropology. In the first part of the study, Delaney treats the foundations of this anthropology, establishing John Paul II’s thought on personhood, relation, and human action. Building on this, the second part considers sexual differentiation, drawing out from John Paul II’s teaching on the body, femininity, Mary, and the Church his corresponding perspective on masculinity, which is itself rooted in nuptial complementarity and the revealing work of Christ. The third part focuses on John Paul II’s theology of fatherhood, which Delaney presents as both a natural and spiritual vocation that is based on the Fatherhood of God as this is manifested and imaged by the incarnate Son. Finally, the fourth part provides a synthetic assessment of this theology of masculinity and fatherhood, showing its coherence and addressing contemporary criticisms and misinterpretations. At a time of accelerating crises of sexuality, the family, and fatherhood, Delaney’s Viri Dignitatem provides a welcome and important elaboration of John Paul II’s teaching on the dignity and vocation of man.

In contemporary considerations of purgatory, there is increasing ecumenical agreement among Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants about the need for spiritual purification and healing before a soul can enter into the glory of God’s presence in heaven. Yet for the broader tradition of the Church, this account of what souls require from God is paired with a complementary account of what God, in his justice, requires of the soul, including satisfaction of its “debt of punishment” (reatus poenae). Although the transformative and retributive aspects of purgatory are often seen today as being at odds with one another, Fr. Luke Wilgenbusch proposes in Saved as through Fire to recover their proper and traditional harmony. Taking Thomas Aquinas as his primary guide, Wilgenbusch identifies and explores the full array of the consequences of sin—both immanent and extrinsic—that purgatory resolves. Through an attentive retrieval of Aquinas’s teaching on sin, its effects, and its remedy in Christ, Wilgenbusch clarifies how purgatory indeed heals and purifies souls from their guilt and disordered attachments, and how it simultaneously serves as a form of punishment and a means of satisfaction, enabling souls to contribute, in union with Christ, to the restoration of the divine order of creation damaged by their sin. Beyond shedding valuable light on the doctrine of purgatory, the integrated vantage on purification, punishment, and satisfaction provided by Saved as through Fire holds promise, too, for a better understanding of the Church’s practices of penance, reparation, and the offering of indulgences.

Recognising veiled allusions to the Old Testament in the four Gospels has long contributed to our understanding of the Gospels message. Nicholas Lunn takes the investigation of allusion a significant step further in The Gospels Through Old Testament Eyes. He explores allusions not just in isolated verses, but rather occurring throughout whole passages, demonstrating that many Gospel episodes interact with specific Old Testament accounts through an extended sequence of allusions. Furthermore, his examination is not restricted to episodes presented by a single Gospel, but includes allusions distributed across two or more Gospel treatments of the same event. In The Gospels Through Old Testament Eyes, Lunn offers a series of self-contained studies that bring to light allusions, many of them previously unnoted, that affirm the intricate interweaving of New Testament texts with those of the Old. This volume will greatly enhance your appreciation of the Gospels' presentation of Jesus's life and ministry. It will inform and equip scholars, pastors, preachers, Bible teachers and readers to appreciate new depths in the Gospels.

Paul famously challenges his readers in 1 Corinthians, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.” What does it mean to hope in Christ for the life to come? How can we intellectually defend such hope in the midst of secularist and materialist trends so prevalent in contemporary society? Even if we believe as Christians in eternal life, how do we find meaning in such hope when the injustices of the world and our own suffering often loom so large? Drawing primarily upon the witness of biblical revelation and its reception and formulation in the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, the essays in Hope & Death: Christian Responses answer contemporary questions related to how Christians might face suffering and death with hopeful minds and hearts. The essays recover Christian hope in three main parts: what hope reveals about God’s nature and his providence, how hope responds to and clarifies the meaning of human suffering, and the way in which all hope draws human beings to an end beyond this world. CONTRIBUTORS GUY MANSINI, OSB ANDREW D. SWAFFORD MATTHEW J. RAMAGE WILLIAM M. WRIGHT IV ROGER W. NUTT MICHAEL A. DAUPHINAIS JEFFREY M. WALKEY JOHN RZIHA ROMANUS CESSARIO, OP STEVEN A. LONG ADAM VAN WART TAYLOR PATRICK O’NEILL BRYAN KROMHOLTZ, OP

With contributions from some of today’s most significant theologians, Engaging Catholic Doctrine is an expression of gratitude to Matthew Levering for his generous collegiality and tireless work to chart a sure path for contemporary Catholic doctrine. Essayists significantly advance the work of Matthew Levering in the areas of Aquinas as a biblical theologian, the doctrine of the Trinity, the significance of sacrifice for authentically Christian worship, the recovery of virtue in moral theology, the theology of Joseph Ratzinger, and much more. In addition to celebrating and honoring Levering’s work, this volume offers new contributions in some of the key areas of theological research today. Matthew Levering is the James N. Jr. and Mary D. Perry Chair of Theology at Mundelein Seminary and serves as the co-editor of both Nova et Vetera and the International Journal of Systematic Theology. He completed an M.T.S. from Duke University and a Ph.D. from Boston College. A leading proponent of Thomistic ressourcement, he has authored over thirty books and edited or co-edited thirty more on topics in dogmatic, moral, spiritual, and historical theology. These include a nine-volume work of Catholic Dogmatics, as well as: Christ’s Fulfillment of Torah and Temple, Scripture and Metaphysics, Participatory Biblical Exegesis, The Betrayal of Charity, Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?, An Introduction to Vatican II as an Ongoing Theological Event, The Theology of St. Augustine, Dying and the Virtues, The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity, and Newman on Doctrinal Corruption.