Through references to historical data and key theological positions the volume establishes the relationship between the documents of the council and the long history of Catholic theological tradition in which the council is embedded. … This volume's inclusion of diverse voices makes it a good choice for undergraduate, graduate, and general readers who wish to read samples of varied positions.

Bahar Davary, University of San Diego, USA, Horizons

If Vatican II is already half a century away, the question of how to remember and interpret it remains alive and kicking in Catholic theology. This collection of essays presents a rich and multi-faceted reflection on what is often deemed the most important religious event of the twentieth century. The volume had its origins in a lecture series in Clifton diocese in Bristol: it offers its readers, as the original lecture series must have offered its audience, not only an enriched and complexifed understanding of the Second Vatican Council, but also something of a tour of the varied sensibilities and concerns at play in Catholic thought today.

Karen Kilby, University of Nottingham, UK

Why should we care about the Second Vatican Council? As this book reminds us, the answer is not found in tired renditions of long past intra-ecclesiastical manoeuvring, but is because the Council's actual teachings were and are at the service of God's call to each and every human being to enter into friendship with the living Jesus Christ in the communion of his Church.

Matthew Levering, University of Dayton, USA

This book brings together a range of perspectives on the content and significance of Vatican II. For that veru reason, it is something of a rarity among the many studies of the countil now available. Its determination to do justice to the richness and complecity of the council#s teaching is reflected in the variety of authors assembled here, including those who participated in the council, those charged with implementing it, and those who struggle to do justice to its sometimes quite subtle teaching.

Terrence Merrigan, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium