Since the Second Vatican Council the place of Mary in theology and generally in the life of the Church has been at times muted. This is perhaps understandable given the debates concerning Mary's ""place"" in the documents of Vatican II. In an ecumenical age, it was argued, the church needed a less triumphalist Mariology and piety with a greater focus on Mary as model disciple. In certain respects this has led to a dichotomy between the continued Marian piety of many faithful (and, truth be told, the piety of the post-conciliar popes) and a theological timidity concerning Mary. This collection of chapters seeks to address the current situation of Mariology. Taken as a whole these chapters represent a welcome call for renewal and reawakening in Mariology. The collection is also delightfully eclectic, both in terms of topics covered and in terms of the denominational and academic backgrounds of the authors. FOR BACK COVER: ""This work begins with Professor Isabell Naumann's magisterial synthesis of the contemporary themes and official Church teachings in Mariology, followed by essays that integrate Mariology with topics in spirituality, Scripture, theological anthropology, aesthetics, ecclesiology, and historical theology. . . . This is the most engaging collection of essays on Mariology currently available in the Anglophone market."" --Tracey Rowland, University of Notre Dame (Australia) ""These contributions illustrate the richness of Marian traditions throughout Christendom . . . . While this is a book about tradition, its message is not about the past; it is a message for our own time."" --Doru Costache, Sydney College of Divinity, Australia ""Here is a resource that every theologian interested in the study of Mary will find useful. . . . It provides a thorough presentation of Catholic Mariology to date, with pointers of what is to come for the future study of Christ's mother . . ."" --Virginia M. Kimball, Assumption College, Worcester, MA ""This book is a scholarly work. The essays published in it are up-to-date and wide-ranging. . . . Every Christian should read this book because the more we know Mary, the more we will come to know her son."" --Denis S. Kulandaisamy, Marianum Pontifical Faculty of Theology, Rome FOR FRONT MATTER: ""This work begins with Professor Isabell Naumann's magisterial synthesis of the contemporary themes and official Church teachings in Mariology, followed by essays that integrate Mariology with topics in spirituality, Scripture, theological anthropology, aesthetics, ecclesiology, and historical theology. A number of the authors came of age during the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and their contributions showcase themes in the theology of these pontificates. This is the most engaging collection of essays on Mariology currently available in the Anglophone market."" --Tracey Rowland, St. John Paul II Chair of Theology, Professor, University of Notre Dame (Australia) ""The reader of Mariology cannot but acknowledge the complexity of the topic. These contributions illustrate the richness of Marian traditions throughout Christendom, their connections with a range of doctrinal, missional, and devotional aspects, diachronically and in contemporaneity. They show likewise how these other dimensions feed back into Mariology, adding dynamism to the topic. Whilst this is a book about tradition, its message is not about the past; it is a message for our own time."" --Doru Costache, Senior Lecturer in Patristic Studies, Sydney College of Divinity, Australia ""Here is a resource that every theologian interested in the study of Mary will find useful. The chapters, written by a variety of scholars, contain a wealth of bibliographic references that in themselves make the book useful. It provides a thorough presentation of Catholic Mariology to date, with pointers of what is to come for the future study of Christ's mother, including the coming interest in biblical anthrop

Since the Second Vatican Council the place of Mary in theology and generally in the life of the Church has been at times muted. This is perhaps understandable given the debates concerning Mary's "place" in the documents of Vatican II. In an ecumenical age, it was argued, the church needed a less triumphalist Mariology and piety with a greater focus on Mary as model disciple. In certain respects this has led to a dichotomy between the continued Marian piety of many faithful (and, truth be told, the piety of the post-conciliar popes) and a theological timidity concerning Mary. This collection of chapters seeks to address the current situation of Mariology. Taken as a whole these chapters represent a welcome call for renewal and reawakening in Mariology. The collection is also delightfully eclectic, both in terms of topics covered and in terms of the denominational and academic backgrounds of the authors.

The Holy Spirit who worked on the first Christian Pentecost continues to work in the church and the world today. This being so, the field of pneumatology—the theology of the Holy Spirit—should pique the interest of both the “average” Christian and the academic theologian, perhaps more than it has in recent times. This collection of chapters brings pneumatology into conversation with a wide variety of disciplines, including scripture, patristic and medieval theology, and history. The result is a scholarly monograph that enriches both pneumatology and the fields with which each contributor engages. Furthermore, with its attention on the work of the Spirit in the sacraments and the life of the church, Pneumatology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium will help pastors and catechists in their ministries to understand more deeply the riches of the theology of the Third Person of the Trinity.

Born from the side of Jesus, pierced on the cross, the church is the living body of Christ. Like Jesus himself, it is both eternal and temporal, spiritual and material, spotless and wounded. Constituted as an integrated, living body, the church is the sacrament of Christ; that is, it reveals Christ to the world and makes him present in the world. It exists in order to evangelize and does this most effectively when its diverse members are united in love. This collection of chapters from scholars from diverse fields offers a fresh approach to Catholic ecclesiology. It is hoped that the reader of this book will discover anew the beauty of the church, a living body always old and ever new.

Theological Anthropology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium is the third volume of the Theology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium series. Bringing together Catholic and Orthodox scholars of diverse disciplines, this work sheds new light on the question “what does it mean to be a human person?” Beginning with an overview on the state of the discipline in our time, the book brings theological anthropology into dialogue with epistemology, Christology, science, spiritual theology, and pedagogy. It explores how human persons—who are created in God’s image and likeness—can come to knowledge of the self and the other, such that the individual person can know, love, and be united to the God and Father of Jesus Christ.

Rowland showcases here the dominant contemporary approaches to doing Catholic theology. Chapter 1 offers a summary of the two International Theological Commission (ITC) documents on the discipline of Catholic theology. These documents set out the general principles which should govern any approach to Catholic theology (at least according to the ITC). The subsequent chapters each focus on one of four different approaches frequently found in contemporary Catholic academies: the approach of Thomists, members of the Communio milieu, members of the Concilium milieu and promoters of different varieties of Liberation Theology. Rowland's work is pitched at the level of first time students of theology who are trying to make sense of the methodological choices which undergird the different approaches to Catholic theology. Rowland concludes with four appendices: a list of all Doctors of the Church, a list of all encyclicals since the 19th century, a list of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and a list of definitions of the various Christological heresies which were the subject of the debates of the early Church Councils. These appendices will provide useful reference tables for young scholars, including seminarians.

The Oxford Handbook of Mary offers an interdisciplinary guide to Marian Studies, including chapters on textual, literary, and media analysis; theology; Church history; art history; studies on devotion in a variety of forms; cultural history; folk tradition; gender analysis; apparitions and apocalypticism. Featuring contributions from a distinguished group of international scholars, the Handbook looks at both Eastern and Western perspectives and attempts to correct imbalance in previous books on Mary towards the West. The volume also considers Mary in Islam and pilgrimages shared by Christian, Muslim, and Jewish adherents. While Mary can be a source of theological disagreement, this authoritative collection shows Mary's rich potential for inter-faith and inter-denominational dialogue and shared experience. It covers a diverse number of topics that show how Mary and Mariology are articulated within ecclesiastical contexts but also on their margins in popular devotion. Newly-commissioned essays describe some of the central ideas of Christian Marian thought, while also challenging popularly-held notions. This invaluable reference for students and scholars illustrates the current state of play in Marian Studies as it is done across the world.