cover image Catholicism and Liberalism: Contributions to American Public Policy

Catholicism and Liberalism: Contributions to American Public Policy

. Cambridge University Press, $70 (368pp) ISBN 978-0-521-44528-3

The thrust of the learned papers gathered here, in the words of the editors, is to demonstrate ``how liberalism has been transforming Catholicism once again through the last half of our own century and how Catholicism might in turn contribute to a transformed liberal theory and practice.'' Douglass, a Georgetown University associate professor of government, and Hollenbach, a Boston College professor of theology, assemble a diverse collection of essays by such distinguished contributors as Peter Steinfels, Philip Gleason, David Tracy and Mary C. Segers which explore philosophical, theological and political issues through the prisms of both Catholicism and liberal secularism. A joint project of Woodstock Theological Center and the department of government of Georgetown University, this scholarly collation provides a needed historical perspective on a once adversarial relationship and could open venues for enlightenment and interaction. (Mar.)