For the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, the editors of this volume have brought together a stellar lineup of (male) Roman Catholic scholars – clergy and laity – from continental Europe, England and North America to evaluate its history, significance and ongoing reception. In their introduction, the editors say that the aim of this volume is to identify the important lessons, criteria and prospects for the normative status of the council.

The focus in the first group of essays pertains to interpreting Vatican II as both an event and a text. For instance, Joseph Komonchak weighs in on a popular post-conciliar debate about whether Vatican II represents a departure from, or an affirmation of previous church teaching. Komonchak re-evaluates the way in which Giuseppe Alberigo portrays Vatican II as a revolutionary event and how Joseph Ratzinger portrays it as a text promoting reform that stands in continuity with what the Church has always taught. Following approaches by Karl Rahner, Herve Lagrand and Michel Fedou, Komonchak argues that seeing the council as both an event and text enables one to get beyond this impasse. On the other hand, Peter Hünermann offers some criteria for properly receiving the council documents despite their complexity, the diversity of its intended audience and ongoing debates. Hünermann identifies three important directives: (1) Dignitatis humane urges the Church to abandon its alignment to the State; (2) Orientalium ecclesiarum and Unitatis redintegratio both urge the Church toward ecumenical realignment with Orthodox and Protestant Churches; and (3) Gaudium et spes urges the Church to abandon its hostility to the modern age.

The focus in the second group of essays pertains to conflicting interpretations about the legacy of Vatican II. For instance, in his essay, Christoph Theobald situates the historical development and reception of the council in light of earlier debates surrounding the modernist crisis at the turn of the century. Likewise, Gilles Routhier investigates Marie-Dominique Chenu's retrieval of Thomas Aquinas and assesses the impact of ressourcement theology upon Vatican II to argue that post-conciliar theologians should also learn to think with the council documents in a similar way – not in an uncritical reiteration, but by retaining constancy through change.

In the final group of contributors, a few post-conciliar reflections are presented. In his contribution, Nicholas Lash explores the theological relationship between the Church and its governance. Developing some of the insights from Voices of authority (London 1976), Lash argues that the self-understanding of the Church must not be framed in terms of issuing commands, but rather in that of service to the truth. For Lash, the Church is a school of learning where pupils learn how to repudiate idolatry and purify desire in the context of a lifelong pursuit of friendship and holiness. Lash argues that the three-fold ministry of Christ has been distorted into an authoritarian form of leadership in the Church. Alternatively, Lash reinterprets Christ's role as prophet, priest and king in the service of education, edification and governance. As a result, Lash argues that the current conception of ‘magisterium’ must be widened beyond the bishops to encapsulate the function of education – especially when Vatican II reminds us that it is the whole Church, not merely its officers that have a share in Christ's ongoing ministry. Following Lash's essay, Étienne Fouilloux provides a brief overview of the background developments of the papacy in the years leading up to the council. Fouilloux uses this as a backdrop for explaining the malaise and euphoria that characterised post-conciliar debates which simultaneously emerged in Western Europe. The volume concludes with some observations by Mathijs Lamberigts and Leo Declerck about framing strategies in contemporary debates.

This volume represents an important development over the past three decades in scholarship on the Second Vatican Council, and much of the framing of contemporary debates is indebted to these scholars. It will be interesting to see the extent to which the lessons and prospects indicated in this volume will be revised by historians after the papacy of Pope Francis – a name that is strangely absent from this volume. Nevertheless, interested readers may also want to consider Vatican II: the complete history (Mahwah, NJ 2015) by Alberto Melloni and Massimo Faggoli, or An unfinished council: Vatican II, Pope Francis, and the renewal of Catholicism (Collegeville, Mi 2015) by Richard Gaillardetz.