As the force that gave birth to Anglo-Catholicism, the Oxford Movement is generally treated as an Anglican phenomenon. Yet the influence of members who converted to Roman Catholicism proved decisive for the years leading up to the First Vatican Council and the definition of papal infallibility in Pastor Aeternus (1870). This collection of original essays edited by Parker and Pahls, explores how various Oxford Movement converts to Roman Catholicism contributed to debates surrounding papal infallibility in the 1850s, 1860s and beyond. From Henry Cardinal Manning and Msgr. George Talbot (a chamberlain to Pius 1X) to John Henry Cardinal Newman and Richard Simpson (a liberal Catholic journalist), the diverse voices of these converts marshaled arguments on both sides of the debate and played substantial roles in framing the outcome. The full story of Pastor Aeternus and its subsequent reception cannot be told without exploring the contribution of the combatants, dissidents, and collaborators who left the Church of England.

This classic by Harnack was an epoch-making historical work that set the standard for any history of doctrinal development. Harnack locates the origins and traces the development of the authoritative Christian doctrinal system from its beginnings down to the Reformation, with a brief survey of later developments through 1870.

"A distinguished theologian examines the role of faith, authority and dogma in this thoughtful and remarkably unified collection of essays and addresses. In this era of dramatic, often disturbing change both within and outside the Church, Avery Dulles finds that too many committed Christians are hampered by their lack of a sense of history. Believing that the Church's teachings and institutions have remained unchanged since the earliest days of Christianity, they tend to regard the old as sacred and the new as profane; they feel that the only options open to them are servile conformism of defiant rebellion. Father Dulles rejects this polarization, pointing our that dramatic changes in society at large have always brought equally far-reaching changes in the Church. From this perspective, he discusses a broad range of subjects, such as faith and the logic of discovery, authority and diversity in the Christian community, the contemporary magisterium, the permanence of prophecy and the "irreformability" of dogma - demonstrating his firm belief that the changes now occurring are not only desirable, but necessary for giving the Church a relevancy it has not had in this century." --

This classic by Harnack was an epoch-making historical work that set the standard for any history of doctrinal development. Harnack locates the origins and traces the development of the authoritative Christian doctrinal system from its beginnings down to the Reformation, with a brief survey of later developments through 1870.

This classic by Harnack was an epoch-making historical work that set the standard for any history of doctrinal development. Harnack locates the origins and traces the development of the authoritative Christian doctrinal system from its beginnings down to the Reformation, with a brief survey of later developments through 1870.

This classic by Harnack was an epoch-making historical work that set the standard for any history of doctrinal development. Harnack locates the origins and traces the development of the authoritative Christian doctrinal system from its beginnings down to the Reformation, with a brief survey of later developments through 1870.

In a playful foreword that isn't, Juan Luis Segundo calls his present work posthumous - both because the sensitivity of the topic puts any future works in jeopardy, and because it provides the logical key to all his previous theological work. Thirty years a theologian, Segundo has tried to interpret the meaning of the gospel for believers today. One of the pioneers of Latin American liberation theology, he has tried especially to discern the relevance of faith to the emancipation of human beings from conditions of oppression. In 'The Liberation of Dogma' he turns to foundational questions of Christian faith seldom addressed by liberation theology: the meaning of revelation, and its articulation in dogma. Beginning with a brilliant historical survey of the development of scripture, Segundo lays the basis for his understanding of revelation as a process of divine pedagogy, an interaction between God and the human community in which the latter learn how to learn. The subsequent history of dogma reflects a continuation of the biblical story as the church learns to test and apply paradigms of faith to the challenges of an unfolding cultural and historical situation. Segundo examines the collision that occurred in the Middle Ages, when Greek dogmatic formulations -carefully worded to address problems posed by Hellenistic culture - were imposed on the new barbarian tribes as ready-made truths. This resulted in the loss of a dynamic understanding of revelation and faith, from which the church has only emerged since Vatican II. In his conclusion, Segundo develops a theology of revelation attuned to the signs of the times, a perspective influenced by the experience of Latin America's base communities. According to Segundo, Knowledge of God as 'revealing' something occurs to us when we are discovered to have a historical sensitivity that converges with God's own intentions. It is from a perspective and practice attuned to the Reign of God that we are free to discern God's revelation in history today.