Dictionary of Theology: New Revised Edition

by Karl Rahner

Book Overview

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 082450691X
• ISBN13: 9780824506919
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Crossroad Publishing
• Length: 548 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Dictionary of Theology

The first German edition of this book was publishd in December 1961. It was so well received that we felt our purpose had been understood and appreciated. This second, thoroughly revised and augmented English edition, is translated from the tenth German edition. Like the first, it is intended to provide brief explanations, in alphabetical order, of the most important concepts of modern Catholic dogmatic theology for readers who are prepared to make a certain intellectual effort. Simply to repeat time-honoured formulae would have been easier, but this has not been done. Conderned though we have been with the unity of theology and its object, no dictionary, of course, can be a substitute for the systematic exposition of Christian truth, and certainly not so condensed a volume as this present one. It is not a dictionary of biblical theology, or of apologetics, or of fundamental theology; but we take into consideration the difficulties that non-Catholic Christians feel with regard to Catholic dogma. We have tried to accomplish our task, thus circumscribed, so far as a concise edition will permit. It is these considerations of space which forced us to dispense with bibliographies, to curtail articles on the history of dogma, to distinguish between fundamental articles of some length and brief notices, to provide such sparse references to Scripture and the latest edition of Denzinger, and so on. We are keenly aware of the sacrifices which our strict confinement within this scope has required, and fair criticism of this book must take this into account As each of the two authors has contributed about half the text, it seems unnecessary to specify the precise authorship of each section. Some new explanations are by Kuno Fussell. For this new edition we have revised all the articles, and rewritten many of them substantially or entirely. We have included a number of new articles and removed those which now seem inappropriate. Where necessary, we have included references to Vatican II. Theology in the last quarter of this century has had to answer more attentively to criticism than when the first edition of this book was conceived. We have tried to confront several new aspects of theology, but without seeming to claim that Christianity knows the answer to everything. --- from book's Preface