Assessment

Final Essay 100%

Module Aims

Description

The aim of this module is to facilitate a deeper knowledge of the Second Vatican Council, its history, texts, and reception. In particular, students will be introduced to different hermeneutics of the Council so as to better account for the disputed interpretations of the conciliar corpus. Students will, further, practice a close reading of texts with a view towards identifying key theses and presuppositions in theological argumentation

Course objectives

After having completed the course you will be able to:

·Exhibit a familiarity with the key texts of the Council

· Offer a nuanced explanation of the significance of Vatican II as a historical event in the life of the Church

·Identify the competing narratives surrounding conciliar reception.

·Delineate the major fault lines, schools, and thinkers in the debate over Vatican II hermeneutics.

Indicative Bibliography (NB: The literature on Vatican II and its hermeneutics/reception is vast. For a more nuanced understanding of the debates involved, it is good practice to consult some of the book reviews of major works. The same work is often both positively and negatively assessed by different reviewers, depending on the reviewer’s theological priorities. It is also useful to consult a wider selection of issues of key theological journals (e.g., Concilium, Communio, Revue thomiste, etc).

• Boeve, L., M. Lamberigts, and T. Merrigan, eds. The Contested Legacy of Vatican II: Lessons and Prospects, Louvain Theological & Pastoral Monographs, 43. Leuven: Peeters, 2015.
• D’Costa, Gavin. Vatican II: Catholic Doctrines on Jews & Muslims. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
• Dulles, Avery. “Vatican II: The Myth and the Reality.” America 188 (Feb. 2003): 7–11.
• Faggioli, Massimo. Vatican II. The Battle for Meaning. New York: Paulist Press, 2012.
• O’Malley, John. What Happened at Vatican II. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008.
• –––––. “The Style of Vatican II.” America 188 (Feb. 2003): 12–15.
• “Keeping the World Awake to God”: The Challenge of Vatican II. Special Issue: Communio (Spring-Summer 2012).
• Ker, Ian. Newman on Vatican II. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
• Lamb, Matthew L. and Matthew Levering, eds. Vatican II: Renewal within Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• –––––. The Reception of Vatican II. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
• Lamberigts, M. and L. Kenis, eds. Vatican II and its Legacy. Leuven: Peeters, 2002.
• Latourelle, René, ed. Vatican II. Assessment and Perspectives. Twenty-five Years After (1962–1987). 2 Volumes. Manwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1988–1989.
• L’herméneutique de Vatican II. Actes du colloque organisé par l’Institut Saint Thomas d’Aquin à Toulouse les 15-16 mai 2009, Revue thomiste 110 no. 2 (2010): 243-382.
• de Lubac, Henri. “The Council and the Para-Council.” In A Brief Catechesis on Nature and Grace, 235–360. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1984.
• –––––. “The Church in Crisis.” Theology Digest 17 (1969): 312-325.
• Marchetto, Agostino. The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council: A Counterpoint for the History of the Council. Scranton, PA: University of Scranton Press, 2009.
• Meszaros, Andrew. “Vatican II and the Battle for Meaning” (Review). Nova et Vetera (English Edition) 13, no. 3 (2015): 950–960. [See also the other articles in this Special Issue, Vatican II: Fifty Years Later.]
• –––––. “Vatican II as Theological Event and Text according to Yves Congar.” Josephinum Journal of Theology 22 nos. 1 & 2 (2015): 78–92.
• ­Ratzinger, Joseph (with Vittorio Messori). The Ratzinger Report. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1985.
• Theobald, C. and A. Melloni, eds. Vatican II: A Forgotten Future. Special Issue: Concilium no. 4 (2005).
• Tück, Jan-Heiner, ed. Erinnerung an die Zukunft. Das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil. Erweiterte und aktualisierte Auflage. Freiburg: Herder, 2013.
• Twomey, Vincent. “The Second Vatican Council: An Irish Perspective.” Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 101 no. 404 (2012): 407–422.
• Wicks, Jared. Investigating Vatican II: Its Theologians, Ecumenical Turn, and Biblical Commitment. Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2018. White, T. J., “The Tridentine Genius of Vatican II.” Nova et Vetera (English Edition) 11 no. 1 (2013): 9–18.

Learning Outcomes

• — Exhibit a familiarity with the key texts of the Council
• — Offer a nuanced explanation of the significance of Vatican II as a historical event in the life of the Church
• — Identify the competing narratives surrounding conciliar reception and explain their key characteristics and deeper theological assumptions.
• — Delineate the major fault lines, schools, and thinkers in the debate over Vatican II hermeneutics.

Bibliography

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