The Faith Once for All Delivered: Doctrinal Authority in Catholic Theology

Jude, in the third verse of his epistle in the New Testament, urges his readers to "contend for the faith which was once for all given." In answer to the apostle's exhortation, this anthology of articles diagnoses the problems with contemporary progressive Catholic doctrinal and moral theology and offers a remedy in the form of a return to the traditional sources of theology, interpreted correctly, in order to preserve orthodoxy.

The topic, "What went wrong with Catholic theology since the Second Vatican Council?" is addressed in the pieces that make up the first section of this book. After providing a brief history of modern theology from its philosophical roots in Kant and Hegel to the nouvelle théologie and later progressivist theologies of the twentieth century, this section examines the concept of heresy as it has been understood historically and how it operates in the Church today by analysing the works of Karl Rahner, Walter Kasper, and Bernhard Häring as representative of principal problematic trends in modern theology. The second section of the book contains essays that point the way forward for Catholic doctrinal and moral theology by analysing and differentiating the orthodox use of the fontes theologiae of magisterial teachings, the deposit of faith in its development, the "sense of the faithful" (sensus fidelium), Sacred Scripture, and Church councils and synods.

"Christians today are divided between those who are servants of the Word, accepting Revelation as godly, and those who see themselves as masters of the apostolic tradition, able to change the deposit of faith and morals. One cannot belong to both camps. This superb collection of essays, sometimes blunt and regularly demanding, merits the effort required of the reader."