Tracey Rowland

Peter John McGregor

Since Vatican II, the key question that has developed in Catholic theology, often unstated or unrecognized, is, what is theology? The thesis presented here is that contemporary theologizing is "fractured" in many places and to varying degrees. These fractures can vary in seriousness between theologians, and a particular theologian may suffer from some fractures but not others. The fractures addressed here are between -theology and spirituality -theology and philosophy -theology and liturgy -the literal and spiritual senses of sacred scripture -theology, preaching, and apologetics -theology and ethics -theology and social theory -dogmatic and pastoral theology -theology and the "koinonial" Christian life -theologians and non-theologians - the generation gap between Gen X and Millennial/Post-Millennial Catholics, and -theology and the Magisterium. For each of these, an attempt is made to examine the symptoms, give a diagnosis, and write a prescription.

Healing Fractures in Contemporary Theology

In this refreshing volume of stories, homages, and reflections, Tracey Rowland-former Dean of the John Paul II Institute in Melbourne-shows us how the mysteries and morals of Catholicism can be translated into real-life models of spiritual nobility who respond to the demands of charity.

Chivalry, Christendom, and Catholic Culture

Portraits of Spiritual Nobility

This is an upper-level introduction to the thought and theology of Pope Benedict XVI. The book explains the foundations of Ratzinger's thought by analysing the theological axes upon which his works turn and helps readers to place his thought in the context of his intellectual antecedents and contemporary interlocutors.

Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed

In this collection of essays, distinguished Australian theologian Tracey Rowland takes up the relationship of Christ and culture, broadly understood. She contrasts the principles undergirding what St. John Paul II called a “culture of death” with those required for the flourishing of a humanism that flows from the grace of the Incarnation. Rowland returns frequently to the theological insights of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI, to whose thought she is deeply indebted. Drawing upon the Augustinian and Thomist traditions of political theology, she offers a trenchant theological critique of liberalism in all its forms, with attention to our modern attraction to false utopias and accommodationist impulses. The nine essays in this volume engage such perennial topics as the place of natural law, the theological status of the “world,” and the nature of true humanism, along with timely topics such as the retrieval of the sources of Catholic resistance to Communism and what is now commonly called cultural Marxism. Rowland’s inimitable voice, keen wit, and penetrating insight into the distinctiveness of Catholic truth make this book a landmark volume as the Church today revisits anew its relationship to the world.

The Culture of the Incarnation: Essays in Catholic Theology

Thomism's influence upon the development of Catholicism is difficult to overestimate - but how secure is its grip on the challenges that face contemporary society? Culture and the Thomist Tradition examines the crisis of Thomism today as thrown into relief by Vatican II, the twenty-first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. Following the Church's declarations on culture in the document Gaudium et spes - the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World - it was widely presumed that a mandate had been given for transposing ecclesiastical culture into the idioms of modernity. But, says Tracey Rowland, such an understanding is not only based on a facile reading of the Conciliar documents, but was made possible by Thomism's own failure to demonstrate a workable theology of culture that might guide the Church through such transpositions. A Thomism that fails to specify the precise rôle of culture in moral fomration is problematice in a multicultural age, where Christians are exposed to a complex matrix of institutions and traditions both theistic and secular. The ambivalence of the Thomist tradition to modernity, and modern conceptions of rationality, also impedes its ability to successfully engage with the arguments of rivial traditions. Must a genuinely progressive Thomism learn to accomodate modernity? In opposition to such a stance, and in support of those who have resisted the trend in post-Conciliarliturgy to mimic the modernistic forms of mass culture, Culture and the Thomist Tradition musters a synthesis of the theological critiques of modernity to be found in the works of Alasdair MacIntyre, scholars of the international 'Communio' project and the Radical Orthodoxy circle. This synthesis, intended as a post-modern Augustinian Thomism, provides an account of the rôle of culture, memory and narrative tradition in the formation of intellectual and moral character. Re-evaluating the outcome of Vatican II, and forming the basis of a much-needed Thomist theology of culture, the book argues that the anti-beauty orientation of mass culture acts as a barrier to the theological virtue of hope, and ultimately fosters despair and atheism.

After Vatican II

Culture and the Thomist Tradition

A general introduction to the theology of Pope Benedict XVI, including his approach to issues in moral and political theology, ecclesiology, liturgy, interpretations of the of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and the theology of history. Tracey Rowland also addresses the question of Pope Benedict's place in the constellation of contemporary Catholic theologians. It has become a commonplace observation that Pope Benedict has been influenced by the thought of St Augustine, in contrast to many of his predecessors in the papacy who were much more strongly influenced by St Thomas Aquinas. Rowland therefore asks in what way Benedict is an Augustinian, and how this marked difference in theological perspective may play out in the coming years. Her book includes an extensive thematic bibliography, which will be valuable for students.

The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI

Ratzinger's Faith

Levering

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.

Catholic Theology

Since Vatican II, the key question that has developed in Catholic theology, often unstated or unrecognized, is, what is theology? The thesis presented here is that contemporary theologizing is “fractured” in many places and to varying degrees. These fractures can vary in seriousness between theologians, and a particular theologian may suffer from some fractures but not others. The fractures addressed here are between •theology and spirituality •theology and philosophy •theology and liturgy •the literal and spiritual senses of sacred scripture •theology, preaching, and apologetics •theology and ethics •theology and social theory •dogmatic and pastoral theology •theology and the “koinonial” Christian life •theologians and non-theologians • the generation gap between Gen X and Millennial/Post-Millennial Catholics, and •theology and the Magisterium. For each of these, an attempt is made to examine the symptoms, give a diagnosis, and write a prescription.

A general introduction to the theology of Pope Benedict XVI, including his approach to issues in moral and political theology, ecclesiology, liturgy, interpretations of the of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and the theology of history. Tracey Rowland also addresses the question of Pope Benedict's place in the constellation of contemporary Catholic theologians. It has become a commonplace observation that Pope Benedict has been influenced by the thought of St Augustine,in contrast to many of his predecessors in the papacy who were much more strongly influenced by St Thomas Aquinas. Rowland therefore asks in what way Benedict is an Augustinian, and how this marked difference in theological perspective may play out in the coming years. Her book includes an extensivethematic bibliography, which will be valuable for students.

The Christian Humanist ideas of six Catholic scholars who were based in Munich during the first half of the 20th century are profiled in this volume. They were all interested in presenting and defending a Christian humanism in the aftermath of German Idealism and the anti-Christian humanism of Friedrich Nietzsche. They were seeking to offer hope to Christians during the darkest years of the Nazi regime and the post-Second World War era of shame, guilt and reconstruction.

The Munich Defence of Christian Humanism

Beyond Kant and Nietzsche

Essays in Catholic Theology

The Culture of the Incarnation

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Anglicanorum Coetibus, Tracey Rowland gathers together leading voices to examine the issue of the Anglican Patrimony and its relevance for Christians today. The Anglicanorum Coetibus is the 2009 papal decree which established the Anglican Ordinariate within the Catholic Church, and this volume examines the longstanding effects of this cultural decree. Rowland introduces different aspects of the culture of Anglicanism, explains the concept of an Ordinariate within the context of ecumenical theory, and examines aspects of Anglican liturgical theology and pastoral life.

The Gift of the Ordinariates

The Anglican Patrimony in Catholic Communion

"Anglicanorum Coetibus was the Apostolic Constitution establishing the Anglican Ordinariate on the 4th November, 2009, so that members of the Church of England and other Anglican communities around the world could enter into full Communion with members of the Catholic Church while retaining their own liturgical Rites and other cultural elements of what is called the "Anglican Patrimony". The argument was that various elements of the patrimony were too precious to be lost by members of the Anglican community entering the Catholic Church on an individual basis. There was also an understanding that for a significant number of Anglicans the barrier to full communion with the Catholic Church was primarily cultural rather than primarily doctrinal. It was these 'cultural elements' which were thought to be worthy of preservation. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Anglicanorum Coetibus Tracey Rowland gathers together the leading voices in the field to examine the issue of the Anglican Patrimony and its relevance for Christians today"--

Tracey Rowland

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