Global Catholicism: Diversity and Change Since Vatican II - Hardcover

Linden, Professor Ian

9780199326266: Global Catholicism: Diversity and Change Since Vatican II

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199326266 ISBN 13: 9780199326266

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, 2009

Global Catholicism charts the complex history of the forces of renewal unleashed in the Roman Catholic Church by the Second Vatican Council and the counter-forces that were mobilized against it during the last half century. Ian Linden offers a comprehensive analysis of how much the Catholic Church has lived up to the Council's promise, come to terms with pluralism, modernity, and different forms of spirituality and become a genuinely world Church, the only competitor to global Islam in the twenty-first century. He focuses on forces that had wider historical importance than the internal evolution of the Roman Catholic Church as a religious organization: war and peace, nationalism and democratization in Africa, liberation theology, military dictatorships, guerrilla movements in Latin America, Africa and Philippines, interaction with communist governments, inculturation and relations with resurgent Islam.

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Review:

"Every bishop and priest in the Catholic Church should read this remarkable book. Ian Linden has quietly demolished canards levelled against those who believe that the reforming work of the Second Vatican Council is not yet complete. Instead of imagining that life beyond the Council is ever upwards and onwards, he takes as seriously as Pope Benedict the ever-lurking reality of sin."--The Tablet

"[An] enjoyable and informative history of global Catholicism in the half century since the modernising Second Vatican Council."--The Independent

"Admirable"--Rupert Shortt, Times Literary Supplement

"Linden offers a detailed insider perspective of the Second Vatican Council and its roots and after effects."--Choice

"For anyone looking for an honest and critical account of where the Roman Catholic Church finds itself in the world of today--and how it got there --Ian Linden's book is essential reading. In his usual lucid and racy style he takes us through the struggles that led up to, and dominated, the Second Vatican Council, as well as the conflicts and struggles in today's Church. He pulls no punches about such controversial issues as celibacy, liberation theology, inculturation, Islam and Roman domination. One of the greatest achievements of the book, though, is that it is not Eurocentric....Linden is well positioned to write about what is happening not only in Europe and North America but also in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Global Catholicism is singularly informative and enlightening, not least because it is boldly honest."--Father Albert Nolan, internationally renowned theologian and author of Jesus Before Christianity

About the Author:

Ian Linden is a professorial research associate at SOAS, University of London. A past director of the Catholic Institute for International Relations, a respected think-tank, he has been writing for Catholic periodicals and magazines for over forty years.

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