Politics for a Pilgrim Church

In the wake of Vatican II, Thomas J. Bushlack examines the relationship between commitment to the gospel, as presented in the social teaching of the Catholic Church, including the conciliar documents, and the individual Catholic’s civic responsibilities. The title indicates that the author is trying to be true to the intention of St. Thomas absent explicit texts germane to the subject. For example, Thomas, it appears, has no explicit ecclesiology. Bushlack, on the other hand, explores the various models of the church employed by the Fathers of Vatican II and judges the notions of pilgrimage as best expressive of their ecclesiology. The members of the church, that is, are on a journey between this world and the next that involves concern for the earthly realm while maintaining full commitment only to the Kingdom of God. The author gives a summary of texts relevant to the council’s ecclesiology. The book’s discussion of the influence of Scholasticism and neo-Thomism upon the council’s thinking is of important historical interest. Indeed, the historical sections of the book are well done, especially the author’s account of the papacy’s encounter with liberalism and liberal democracy in the nineteenth century and the discussion of the relationship of “nature” to “grace.”

Civic virtue · Ecclesiology · Gospel · Liberalism · Political science · Politics · Scholasticism · Social Gospel · Sociology · Theology · Thomism · Virtue · Christian Theology and Mission · Law · Medieval Philosophy and Theology · Philosophy · Religious and Theological Studies · Religious studies