Five Great Catholic Ideas - Softcover

Clark, Edward Wm.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0824517512 ISBN 13: 9780824517519

Publisher: PublishDrive, 1998

Synopsis

This book is an exploration of several foundational principles of Catholic doctrine presented on a level accessible to a broad range of readers. It is rooted in the conviction that today many people who are neither professional theologians nor ministerial students share an interest in the work of theology.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

At first glance, this may appear to be a mere summary of trendy Catholic theology. The author, president and rector of St. John's Seminary College, Camarillo, Calif., discusses these five ideas: We are saved in community; the kingdom of heaven begins on earth; God respects our human freedom; scriptural interpretation is a work of the whole church; great ideas develop over time. On second glance, however, the reader sees, for example, that the author means by "community" something much deeper than liturgical chumminess, and by "human freedom" he means far more than "do whatever you feel like doing." It is in the church that one finds salvation, he says, and in order to make fully human decisions we need clarity of understanding and freedom of will. Five Great Catholic Ideas takes the Catholic basics and unpacks them in a way that will inform and inspire. To read this book is to discover that there is a depth and complexity to these ideas that should short-circuit facile distinctions between "liberal" and "conservative" interpretations.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Couching them in comprehensible layman's terms, Clark presents five theological ideas he believes to be essential underpinnings of the Roman Catholic faith. Individually these notions are each a basic truth rooted firmly in documented Catholic history and tradition; collectively they represent a common ground that all contemporary Catholics share. According to Clark, the foundational ideas that we are saved in community, that the kingdom of heaven begins on earth, that God respects our human freedom, that scriptural interpretation is the work of the entire church, and that great ideas develop over time support the fundamental Catholic doctrines of salvation, grace, sacramentalism, revelation, and tradition. Since these doctrines characterize the core of Catholicism, a firm grasp of them is necessary to understand "what it truly means to be a Catholic Christian." An accessible work of popular theology effectively designed to spark meaningful dialogue within the church. Margaret Flanagan

About this edition

• Publisher: PublishDrive
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0824517512
• ISBN 13: 9780824517519
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160