Popes, Councils, and Theology

“The Irish Augustinian theologian Fr. Gabriel Daly noted that ‘history is the hair shirt of the Christian faith.’ If that is true, Deacon Cummings wears it lightly and with profit for us all. Like a prism, he refracts the most contentious developments in the last two centuries—developments that have been seen as divisive—and argues that they should unite us in our common tradition rather than polarize us into camps. By reanimating the past through his encyclopedic contextual analysis, Cummings demonstrates what Cardinal Newman once observed—theology makes progress by being always alive to its fundamental uncertainties. This is a must-read for our times.”


—Seymour Baker House, Dwyer Chair of Humanities, Mount Angel Seminary, St. Benedict, Oregon





“Deacon Owen Cummings’s work reveals a rare combination of engaging writing with a mastery of historiography. His chapter on Pope Pius XII is well balanced and represents an outstanding understanding of the scholarly debates that have swirled around Pius XII’s pontificate since the outbreak of World War II. His treatment of the debates and of papal action during the Holocaust is even handed, which is not always to be found in the treatment of such a difficult issue.”


—Beth A. Griech-Pollele, Kurt Mayer Chair of Holocaust Studies, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington





“The bias of this book is that the Holy Spirit is always at work in the church. Professor Cummings attempts to discern the action of the Spirit during the last two centuries of interaction between popes and theologians. Citing many authorities, Cummings sets the historical context, shows how each pope related to the events and currents of his day, and how this affected theology, and then, citing many different and differing authorities, he evaluates the results. He concludes that the centralization of authority in the Catholic Church in papacy is, rightly, yielding to synodality, respectful dialogue in the church at all levels, in the synod of bishops, in theological controversies, in Bible studies in a mission station, even—one can hope—on the internet. Anyone with an interest in theology or church history will learn much from this book, and in the copious endnotes learn where to go to find out more.”


—Hugh Feiss, OSB, medievalist, international translator of the Victorine texts, and monk, Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, Idaho