This volume collects ten articles, eight of which were previously published between 1994 and 2015 in Theological Studies (2) Ecumenical Trends (1), Concordia Journal (1), Josephinum Journal of Theology (3), and in the volume Doing Theology (1). One other chapter was presented as a lecture in 2014, and the concluding chapter was composed toward the end of 2015. In other words, the twenty-fifth and fiftieth anniversaries of Vatican II were the occasions for the composition of these articles, with plenty of time for hindsight. The book is divided into two parts: “Major Figures and Aims of the Vatican II Renewal and Reform” and “The Council in Session (1962–65).”
In contrast to many volumes that are a collection of the author's writings over a long and productive career, volumes that contain articles that have stood independently on multiple subjects, this volume is very focused. It could in its origin have been conceived and executed as a book project. The reader is therefore drawn less to the author than to the content throughout, and in this case the competence of the author guarantees the quality of the content.
In evaluating the volume, my reading was governed by the question “Who is the audience for this information?” It is historical, somewhat dense and dry, and filled with many details. My first answer was libraries. Every library should contain this thoroughly researched account of the background of Vatican II, its turn toward ecumenism and its embrace of the church's biblical foundations. However, the farther I read into it, I realized how important it will be to put such a book into the hands of contemporary and future undergraduate and graduate students of Catholic theology.
John XXIII wanted the Council of Trent to be a model for Vatican II in its comprehensive character, that is, in its pastoral emphasis as well as its doctrinal formulations. He wished to complement its doctrinal reformulations, expressed in its four constitutions, with a broad program of renewed practice in worship, ministerial service, and the apostolate, a goal expressed in nine decrees (chapter 1). The struggle to find the right balance between pastoral concern and doctrine will continue, though rather than prioritizing, it would seem that John XXIII's aim was to embrace both comprehensively. Investigating Vatican II not only explains the theology of Pope Francis, with his pastoral emphasis, it also helps to explain the backlash from those who have prioritized doctrine.
The volume also contains chapters on the theologians who participated in the council (2), on the council's reformulation of the church's doctrine on Revelation (3), on the influence and significance of Cardinal Augustin Bea who was President of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity (4), on the council's turn to ecumenism (5), chapters on each of the years the council was in session (6–9), and a final chapter entitled “Global Traits of Vatican II in Chapter VI of Dei Verbum,” which attempts to show how the final chapter of Dei Verbum brings together all believers, including priests, members of religious communities and lay apostles, and complements the outward movement urged by the council (“rapprochement with others in ecumenical efforts, interreligious dialogue, and respectful exchanges over salient features of the contemporary world's culture, economics, politics, and struggle for world peace” (257) with an inward and downward movement toward “ressourcement as one cultivates spiritual self-care by daily nourishment of heart and soul, along with direction and guidance, from lectio divina of scripture” (257).
Jared Wicks is a theologian who lived through the council. His research over at least twenty-five years, from the oldest article in this volume to the most recent, preserves a graced moment in the church's history, one that we cannot allow time to dim or diminish. Hopefully, his efforts and the efforts of other scholars of Vatican II won't allow that to happen.
