Free Vatican II: The Essential Texts Ebooks Online
By encouraging engagement with the modern world and a refocusing of traditional teaching, the Second Vatican Council brought new life into the practice of Catholicism. The council's impact on the Church is still playing out today, and with many current church issues finding their roots in differing interpretations of Vatican II it has never lost relevance. Vatican II: The Essential Texts brings together the key documents of the council. As the council is commemorated on its 50th Anniversary, readers will be returning to these source materials to understand the Church's developing positions on its relationship with the secular world and other religions, the role of lay people, human rights and the common good, the liturgy and other still highly relevant issues. In addition to the introductions from Pope Benedict and James Carroll, the documents will also be accompanied by brief historical prefaces from Professor Edward Hahnenberg.
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Image (September 4, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307952800
ISBN-13: 978-0307952806
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #73,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #28 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Biographies > Popes & the Vatican #320 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Churches & Church Leadership > Church History #400 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > History
I am somewhat embarassed to admit thathaving been a Catholic my entire life and having taught Catholicism for two years, having read numerous books on theology and biblical studies in that time, that I had neglected certainly the most important writings in Catholicism in the century and possibly in the last 500 years. I am always apprehensive in approaching Church documents, whether they be encyclicals, exhortations and the like, because of the assumed dry nature and techinical language I expect them to have. Fortunately, most of the time I am dead wrong, especially with the last few the Church has been graced with (especially Francis, B16, and St. JP2, but I could go all the way back to Paul 6 really).The documents of Vatican II "follow" (from my perspective, though they actually precede) in that same spirit. In them I find a Church that is not floundering but alive and active and, like the Sacraments it bestows, also gives life to the reader who finds them with a clear, engaged and open mind to God's guidance.This compilation does narrow the scope somewhat, but I think it is because the average lay reader has no need to read some of the more obscure documents that don't apply, but is more concerned with those that apply to everyone, especially Lumen Gentium (Light of the Nations) and Dei Verbum (Word of God) as the first deals with the life of the Church, Her "body," the people, and the second with God's written Word, the Bible.As I mentioned before, my initial worry was that I would be put to sleep in reading these and only Bishops, who in my mind have to read them, are the only ones who had the mental capacity, theological vocabulary, and moral duty to trudge through them.
Vatican I and Vatican II: Councils in the Living Tradition Vatican II: The Essential Texts 101 Surprising Facts About St. Peter's and the Vatican The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican Vatican The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities, and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church Merchants in the Temple: Inside Pope Francis's Secret Battle Against Corruption in the Vatican Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance Between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia The Constitutions (Vatican II in Plain English) Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue: Unitatis Redintegratio, Nostra Aetate (Rediscovering Vatican II) The Vatican Cookbook: Presented by the Pontifical Swiss Guard Vatican II Notebook An Evolution of the Human Spirit, as Seen Through Mosaic Art by The Vatican Mosaic Studio; Archdiocise of New Orleans' Catho (2006) Hardcover Mistress of the Vatican: The True Story of Olimpia Maidalchini: The Secret Female Pope The Vatican Connection: The True Story of a Billion-Dollar Conspiracy Between the Catholic Church and the Mafia God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican The Final Roman Emperor, the Islamic Antichrist, and the Vatican's Last Crusade Exo-Vaticana: Petrus Romanus, Project LUCIFER, and the Vatican's Astonishing Exo-Theological Plan for the Arrival of an Alien Savior Exo-Vaticana : Petrus Romanus, Project L.U.C.I.F.E.R. And the Vatican's Astonishing Plan for the Arrival of an Alien Savior
