The Second Vatican Council has become an indispensable reference point for understanding Roman Catholicism today. Yet in spite of its impact, Vatican II was in many ways an unfinished council. The council bishops were able to establish key pillars in the construction of a new vision for the church of our time, but, for various reasons, they were not able to draw those pillars together into a coherent unified structure. This volume describes both the council’s building project itself and the challenges facing the church today if we are to complete the project begun fifty years ago.
Richard R. Gaillardetz holds the Joseph Chair of Catholic Systematic Theology at Boston College. He has published numerous articles and has authored or edited eleven books, including Keys to the Council: Unlocking the Teaching of Vatican II (co-authored with Catherine Clifford), published by Liturgical Press, and he is a contributor to Give Us This Day. Dr. Gaillardetz has been a delegate on the US Catholic-Methodist Ecumenical Dialogue and served as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America between 2013 and 2014.