Faith in Reason – serie

This volume provides an English translation of the papal encyclical "Fides et Ratio", considered to be one of the two or three most important and influential papal letters ever to have been written. This book also includes a commentary on the Letter by James McEvoy, and essays about the Letter's main themes by Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox theologians. The latter evaluate the Letter's importance and show how it has shaped the modern study of philosophy and theology. This book provides the Latin text with accompanying English-language (facing page) translation. It should be of interest to: scholars and students of the philosophy of religion and of Roman Catholic doctrine; students of modern theology; Catholic clergy; and some educated lay people interested in dogmatics.

The latest book in the Faith in Reason series provides a theological defence of a strand of political liberalism; a strand informed by the theological conviction that the human person is a creature incapable of its own perfection, although nonetheless called to and made for this perfection. Insole puts a question mark against easy caricatures of "liberalism", which tend to describe it as individualistic, hubristic and relativist. By attending to figures such as Edmund Burke, Lord Acton and John Rawls, Insole shows that a passion to protect the individual within liberal institutions arises not from an illusory sense of self-sufficiency, but from an insight into our fallen condition, characterised by frailty, vulnerability, yet also from a hope and intimation of redemption and an eternal divine order. Taking up the emphasis Rawls places on the wars of religion in 16th and 17th century Europe as the historical impetus for an emerging political liberalism, Insole pays careful attention to the work of Richard Hooker. After attending to this theologico-political seed-bed of liberalism, Insole investigates how the notions of 'liberty' employed in England, America and France have some quite distinct theological lineages, and separates the political liberalism he defends from these over-zealous appropriations that emanate, for instance, from American Presidents. On the basis of his theological defence, he also critiques the Radically Orthodox attempt to leap beyond political liberalism to a more enchanted space, showing the Radical Orthodoxy project to be politically naï(-15441)ve, utopian and dangerous, in ways well understood by the tradition of political liberalism defended.

One of the major figures of 20th century Catholic theology, Henri Cardinal de Lubac SJ was particularly renowned for his attention to the doctrine of the Church and its life within the contemporary world. In this book, de Lubac opens an initial exploration of the Church as made by the Eucharist and gives new expression to that mystery in which the Church is believed to consist. As one whose generous and fervent spirit contributed significantly to the thinking of the Second Vatican Council, de Lubac's influence has been widespread, making a substantial impact also on the development of ecumenical relations between Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox theologians. With the publication of this English translation of "Corpus Mysticum", this important text of contemporary Catholic ecclesiology and sacramental theology is made available to the Anglophone world and joins the substantial range of de Lubac's works now accessible to scholars.