Catholic Does Not Equal the Vatican: A Vision for Progressive Catholicism

by Rosemary Radford Ruether

Book Overview

Heralds the revival of a newly democratic and participatory church that transcends narrow Vatican doctrine. Destined to be a seminal text of progressive catholicism, this beautifully written and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595584064
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: The New Press
• Length: 150 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.7" x 0.7" x 6.2"

Customer Reviews

Read it and Hold Your Head Up High!

This book is clear, in depth, scholarly, and fun! It is filled with examples, history and background of the topics offered. It clearly shows the inroads made by women and the feminist approach. And it raises current questions raised by the church's responses and behaviors in this time that is so vital in the ongoing life and people/church and church/people. I strongly suggest that anyone who reads this book start with the epilogue which expresses not just everything in the book, but everything that has accompanied women's journey to be truly part of the church. Patricia Nicholson

As, usual, Religious Convervatives just don't get it...

Both of the previous reviewers, Jeri and Bobby, continue the long Conservative Christian tradition of not seeming to understand that, by definition, a "progressive agenda" is NOT "orthodox" or "traditional"(and is, in fact, often a DECONSTRUCTION of the underlying presuppositions of those positions), so "critiquing" a position by saying in effect that it's "not the official teaching" is no critique at all. Both reviewers also seem oblivious to the fact that those of us who study the sociology of religion make a clear distinction between the "official" teachings of the Church and the ACTUAL beliefs of REAL, PRACTICING, Catholics (in other words, the difference between Theoria and Praxis). Part of Ruether's "agenda" is to help CLOSE this gap, while conservatives like Jeri and Bobby seem content to let this gaping incongruity stand just as it is. They apparently see themselves as lay "Defenders of Correct Doctrine," taking over the current Pope's former job at the local level. (That the reviewers see themselves in this light can be evidenced by Bobby's overly defensive declaration that "we" have "nothing to fear" from Ruether's book, as though she was going after lay Catholics, when clearly, as the title of the book suggests, the Magisterium is her target. Unfortunately, Bobby doesn't quite seem to realize that repeatedly calling something "ridiculous" isn't really presenting a counter-argument, as I've told my own students time and again. Nor is suggesting that someone's position is "in league with Lucifer," a tired old trick that is so out of date it's really not even funny. Perhaps a course in Contemporary Reason and Argument would help! Jeri fares little better, deciding apparently that he/she is "in charge" of deciding who is or isn't a Catholic, and then proceeding under the GROUNDLESS ASSUMPTION that Ruether is an "outsider." Again, most sociologists of religion believe that religious affiliation is largely SELF-identifying, and thus, just because, say, the Church's governing body may consider someone to be "outside of the faith" doesn't mean they suddenly cease to have a Catholic "way of being-in-the-world." In other words, to put it simply, a "Catholic" is anyone who thinks of THEMSELVES as a Catholic, not someone who "blindly accepts a conservative interpretation of Church dogma and is considered a Catholic by Jeri." Again, if Jeri or Bobby understood the Theoria/Praxis distinction they would get this crucial point. In any event, anyone who actually KNOWS Ruether knows that she identifies VERY STRONGLY with "being" a Catholic, albeit a "progressive" one. BTW, anyone SERIOUSLY interested in this Vatican/Lay Catholic distinction should read Father Greeley's classic survey,The Catholic Myth , or the more recent essay collection edited by yet ANOTHER "uppity" Catholic feminist, Elizabeth Johnson,The Church Women Want: Catholic Women in Dialogue.) This profound lack of understanding (of the gulf between the Vatican and Lay Cat