Renewal Within Tradition series
In this collection of essays, distinguished Australian theologian
Tracey Rowland takes up the relationship of Christ and culture, broadly
understood. She contrasts the principles undergirding what St. John Paul
II called a “culture of death” with those required for the flourishing
of a humanism that flows from the grace of the Incarnation.
Rowland returns frequently to the theological insights of Joseph
Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI, to whose thought she is deeply indebted.
Drawing upon the Augustinian and Thomist traditions of political
theology, she offers a trenchant theological critique of liberalism in
all its forms, with attention to our modern attraction to false utopias
and accommodationist impulses.
The nine essays in this volume engage such perennial topics as the
place of natural law, the theological status of the “world,” and the
nature of true humanism, along with timely topics such as the retrieval
of the sources of Catholic resistance to Communism and what is now
commonly called cultural Marxism. Rowland’s inimitable voice, keen wit,
and penetrating insight into the distinctiveness of Catholic truth make
this book a landmark volume as the Church today revisits anew its
relationship to the world.
Pages: 184. Hardcover.
About the author:
Professor Tracey Rowland holds two doctorates in theology—the civil
Ph.D. from the Divinity School of Cambridge University—and the
pontifical S.T.D. from the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and
Family in Rome. From 2001-2017 she was the Dean of the John Paul II
Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne. She currently holds the
St. John Paul II Chair of Theology at the University of Notre Dame
(Australia). In 2010 she was awarded the Archbishop Michael J. Miller
Award by the University of St. Thomas in Houston for the promotion of
faith and culture. In 2011 she was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland and in 2014 she was appointed
to the International Theological Commission. Her previous books are Culture and the Thomist Tradition, Ratzinger’s Faith, Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed, and Catholic Theology.
Endorsements:
“In this fine collection of essays Tracey Rowland sustains and
deepens her articulation of a non-correlationist theology of culture for
which culture as formation is nonetheless essential to the theological
project. In the course of doing so she shows us what a wise and
significant theologian of culture Joseph Ratzinger has been, and why his
influence is likely to outlast those of his detractors.”—John Milbank,
University of Nottingham
“In this learned collection of essays, Tracey Rowland offers a sober
challenge and corrective to the anti-culture generated by modern liberal
orders. While engaging a wide range of major figures in this essential
study of our theological-political condition—including Wojtyla,
Ratzinger, Havel, MacIntyre, and Guardini—Rowland not only distills and
integrates but achieves a critical perspective that is distinctive,
instructive, and timely.”—Patrick J. Deneen, University of Notre Dame
“The Australian theologian Tracey Rowland is recognized as an
internationally esteemed expert in all matters pertaining to Pope
Benedict XVI. This precious collection of essays offers a rich,
variegated tapestry of topics: from Benedict XVI, culture, Augustine,
Thomism, John Paul II, natural law, and Vatican II to ecumenism. New
perspectives are being unlocked. The uniting melody is the mystery of
the Godman among us. I cannot recommend it highly enough.”—Fr. Emery de
Gaál, University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, IL
“We need to be grateful to Dr. Rowland for this volume, which places
culture back at the center of the Church’s attention. Drawing chiefly on
the thought of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, Rowland points out the
distinguishing marks of a culture that is truly Christian. By dedicating
two chapters on the overthrow of communism in Poland, she also gives a
concrete and opportune example of a culture’s successful transformation
by the workings of a creative minority.” —Stephan Kampowski, Pontifical
John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, Rome