Apart from its intrinsic interest, the theological history of Catholicism in the last two hundred years is essential reading for anyone who wishes to gain an understanding of the present state of the Catholic Church. In this book the author examines why the Catholicism of the twenty-first century will need not only to maintain its own coherence by setting forth the limits of possible pluralism, but to determine more clearly the central tasks for which it needs reflective thought and scholarship.

Fr. Aidan Nichols, O.P., a Dominican priest, is currently the John Paul II Memorial Visiting Lecturer, University of Oxford; has served as the Robert Randall Distinguished Professor in Christian Culture, Providence College; and is a Fellow of Greyfriars, Oxford. He has also served as the Prior of the Dominicans at St. Michael’s Priory, Cambridge. Father Nichols is the author of numerous books including Looking at the Liturgy, Holy Eucharist, and The Thought of Benedict XVI.