CONFLICT AND CONSENSUS

by Richard J. Regan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 11, 1967

Vatican II never resembled a modern parliamentary assembly so much as when the hypercontroversial issue of ""religious liberty"" reached the floor--and the Council became the scene of acrimonious debate, behind-the-scenes maneuvering, indignant appeals to the pope, a bit of inexpert name-calling and, finally, a delayed but impressive triumph for the progressive element of the Church. ConfLict and Consensus is the aptly titled story of that dramatic, amusing, and extremely significant intramural struggle. Father Regan, after an excellent synopsis of the historical background of religious liberty in the Catholic Church, gives a step-by-step description of the gamut run by the ""Declaration on Religious Freedom, ""from its beginnings through the preparations of the four separate texts and the debates in St. Peter's to its final revisions and adoption. If the book has a fault, it is that Father Regan's research has been so exhaustive and his book so definitively detailed as to limit its market to those professionally interested either in the Council itself or in the concept of religious freedom. Still, with the exercise of a little patience, the literate general reader with a taste for ecclesiastical politics will find the book fascinating.

Pub Date: Sept. 11, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION