The volume may be recommended, not because it settles any particular issues, but because it urges renewed consideration of a text that has been more taken for granted of late than actively and intelligently studied.

Joseph A. Komonchak, Catholic University of America, Commonweal Magazine

This book is a welcome contribution to the subject of Catholicism and Religious Freedom.

2007, Journal of Church and State

...important volume of essays....One of the book's great merits is the thoroughness with which these two men's writings on the subject are analyzed, compared, and applied to the question of how best to interpret DH.

2007, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly

The existence of a right to religious freedom is now widely recognized, but the foundation, the nature, and the scope of this right remain hotly debated. The essays of this book carefully distinguish typical secular accounts of the theoretical basis of such a right from the account provided in terms of a truly Catholic understanding of the human person, society, and the nature of religious truth. This volume rightly asks whether Dignitatis Humanae constitutes a break with previous church teaching or a genuine development of doctrine and argues for rejecting the privatization of religion fostered by Enlightenment liberalism is incompatible with an authentic understanding of religious freedom and the social dimensions of religion. This volume will be a very welcome resource for anyone considering church-state relations and Catholic social teaching.

Fr. Joseph Koterski S.J., Fordham University

In an age of worldwide religious resurgence and of continuing controversy in the United States about the nature and limits of religious freedom, this book is both timely and unusual. Few Americans are aware of the radical change that has taken place in Roman Catholic teaching about religious freedom after Vatican II released its Declaration on Religious Liberty (Dignitatis Humanae) in the 1960s. This volume not only explains the significance of that Declaration but also takes up the challenge of its unfinished agenda for our day. Anyone interested in religious freedom and just governance should read this book.

James W. Skillen, executive director, The Center for Public Justice

Each of the essays is well thought out and deftly argued. The quality of argumentation is flawless, and the perspectives varied.

Journal Of Law and Religion