Theologians of the Early Church through the 21st Century: Catholic Theologians
The Pope: Francis, Benedict, and the decision that shook the world by Recommended EBOOK: Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology (2020); also the 2023 EBOOK, Oxford Handbook of Vatican II
Review of The Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology in Theological Librarianship Journal (2022)
NOTE: Hundreds more articles may be available on Catholic Theology that are not full-text online, but available from our library or via Interlibrary loan.
Luther Sem Library has hundreds of Books (or chapters) on Catholic Theology (here); plus many others available by ILL. For journal articles also search (in ATLA) the Journal of Moral Theology. and the Catholic Biblical Quarterly (both quarterly Catholic publications)
Also consult the following databases for helpful articles or abstracts on Catholic Theology: (both JSTOR and Open Access Theological Library have hundreds of book chapters or articles on various themes within Catholic Theology).
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Select, recent articles on Catholic theology:
All of Us': The Future of Catholic Theology from the Perspectives of Queer Catholic Theologians of Color, panel discussion from Norbert College, Bryan Massingale, et al. 2022
The Vatican Apostolic Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) has rich resources from Early Christianity to Medieval Theology at their online site here.
Featured New Books on Catholic Theology:
The Tyranny of the Banal : on the renewal of Catholic moral theology by
Catholic positions on contested moral issues are rejected by the majority in the secular West and are increasingly rejected by Catholics themselves. In this book, David Deane argues that there are two main reasons for this. First, the dominance of secular approaches deprives Catholic positions of their claim to coherence. Second, the Catholic positions, Deane shows, have lost contact with the theology on which they were originally based. In response, Deane undertakes a deconstruction of the dominant secular positions, and seeks to restore Catholic positions to their theological roots. The result of this is a moral theology reconnected with the Trinitarian understanding of God and God's relationship with the world. Restored to its doctrinal foundations, the moral theology that Deane offers is more coherent, more beautiful, and more convincing than has been found in Catholic moral discourse for centuries.
Pope Francis and Mercy: a dynamic theological hermeneutic by
This theological study examines how Pope Francis lives out mercy in his own Petrine ministry and calls for it to be lived out by the people of God. The centerpiece of Pope Francis's pontificate from the very first days has been his proclamation of the importance of the mercy of God. While facing global problems of climate change, terror, political destabilization, refugees, and dire poverty, the Holy Father has articulated the mission of the Church through mercy, love, and forgiveness to reveal the compassion of God for all and particularly for those most vulnerable existing on the margins of society. In this compelling study, Gill Goulding, CJ, examines for the first time the critical and determinative role of mercy in Francis's papacy using his homilies, allocutions, encyclicals, and addresses as primary sources. Goulding traces the theme of mercy in Francis's thought, attending to its Ignatian foundations and its Christological, Trinitarian, and ecclesiological significance for the Church today, particularly the impact of his reappropriation and elevation of the discourse of mercy on the work of the Curia in Rome. Goulding enters into dialogue with other theologians, including Romano Guardini, Walter Kasper, and Hans Urs von Balthasar, to demonstrate a continuity between Francis and his predecessors, especially Benedict XVI, in this area of mercy. In addition, Goulding argues that the influence of St. Ignatius Loyola, in particular his Spiritual Exercises, needs to be taken into account, paying special attention to Francis's call for the practice of discernment. Throughout Pope Francis and Mercy, Goulding lays the groundwork for future research and suggests a wider appreciation of the necessary tools to enable an engagement with mercy in our contemporary world.
