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BOOKS

To begin, discover the Catholic Reformation and responses to the Reformation with John O’Malley, Trent: What Happened at the Council (2013) and Joseph Stuart and Barbara Stuart, The Church and the Age of Reformations: Martin Luther, the Renaissance, and the Council of Trent (2022). Also, James White, Roman Catholic Worship: Trent to Today (2004) and John O’Malley, When Bishops Meet: An Essay Comparing Trent, Vatican I, and Vatican II (2019) both provide comprehensive looks at Catholic ecumenical councils from Trent on.

For more on Catholicism in the early modern era and the modernist controversy, see John Birely, The Refashioning of Catholicism, 1450–1700 (1999); John O’Malley, Trent and All That: Renaming Catholicism in the Early Modern Era (2002); and Ulrich Lehner, The Catholic Enlightenment (2016).

Learn also about reform and renewal in the Catholic Church with R. Po-Chia Hsia, The World of Catholic Renewal (2005); Matthew Lamb and Matthew Levering, Vatican II: Renewal within Tradition (2008); and Shaun Blanchard, The Synod of Pistoia and Vatican II: Jansenism and the Struggle for Catholic Reform (2019). Finally, read about the world wars and Catholic responses with James Chappel, Catholic Modern: The Challenge of Totalitarianism and the Remaking of the Church (2018); Michael Hesemann, The Pope and the Holocaust: Pius XII and the Secret Vatican Archives (2022).

For the First Vatican Council, read John O’Malley, Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church (2018) and John Quinn, Revered and Reviled: A Re-Examination of Vatican Council I (2017). For overviews of the Second Vatican Council, read John O’Malley, What Happened at Vatican II (2010); Massimo Faggioli, Vatican II: The Battle for Meaning (2012); Matthew Levering, An Introduction to Vatican II as an Ongoing Theological Event (2017); Shaun Blanchard and Stephen Bullivant, Vatican II: A Very Short Introduction (2023); and Catherine Clifford and Massimo Faggioli, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Vatican II (2023). 

Follow these up with the actual documents of Vatican II themselves, which are available online at the Vatican website. Print versions include Austin Flannery, ed., Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post-Conciliar Documents (2014); Vatican Council II: More Post-Conciliar Documents (1983); and Vatican Council II: Constitutions, Decrees, Declarations: The Basic Sixteen Documents (1996). Read Edward Hahnenberg, A Concise Guide to the Documents of Vatican II (2007) for a handy guide.

Find out about the lives of some popes named in this issue with Owen Chadwick, The Popes and European Revolution (1980) and also A History of the Popes 1830–1914 (1998); Richard McBrien, Lives of the Popes (2000); Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes (2002); Roberto de Mattei, Pius IX (2004); Joseph Ratzinger, The Legacy of John Paul II: Images and Memories (2005); John Allen Jr., Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger (2005); and Georg Ratzinger and Michael Hesemann, My Brother, the Pope (2012); and Thomas Albert Howard, The Pope and the Professor: Pius IX, Ignaz von Döllinger, and the Quandary of the Modern Age (2017).

For other people of interest, read Karl-Josef Kuschel and Herman Haring, Hans Küng: New Horizons for Faith and Thought (1993); Harvey Egan, Karl Rahner: Mystic of Everyday Life (1998); Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain (1999); Rudolf Voderholzer, Meet Henri De Lubac: His Life and Work (2008); Jim Forest, Living with Wisdom—A Life of Thomas Merton (2008); Barry Hudock, Struggle, Condemnation, Vindication: John Courtney Murray’s Journey toward Vatican II (2015); Ian Ker, John Henry Newman: A Biography (2019); David Grumett, Henri De Lubac and the Shaping of Modern Theology (2020); Jean-Luc Barré and Bernard Doering, Jacques and Raïssa Maritain: Beggars for Heaven (2022); Etienne Fouilloux and Patricia Kelly, Yves Congar 1904–1995: A Life (2023); and Richard Zmuda, The Mole of Vatican Council II: The True Story of Xavier Rynne (2024).

And finally, for more on Protestant and interreligious dialogue with Vatican II, see James White, New Forms of Worship (1971); Christian Worship in Transition (1976); and Protestant Worship: Traditions in Transition (1989); Hoyt Hickman et al., New Handbook of the Christian Year (1992); Marva Dawn, Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down (1995); Rob Staples, Outward Sign and Inward Grace (1991); Don Saliers, Worship and Spirituality (2016); and Thomas Albert Howard, The Faiths of Others: A History of Interreligious Dialogue (2021). 

PAST CH ISSUES

Check out these past issues of Christian History for more content related to this issue—all are available online; some are available for purchase as hard copies.

28 – 100 Most Important Events in Church History

65 – Ten Most Influential Christians of the 20th Century

71 – Huguenots and the Wars of Religion

72 – How We Got Our History

73 – Thomas Aquinas

122 – The Catholic Reformation

149, 151, and 153 – Revivals I, II, and III

VIDEOS FROM VISION VIDEO

History of Christianity contains a helpful overview of some topics relevant to this issue. While History of Christian Worship covers Catholic expressions of worship, Ritual: The Language of Worship is a deeper explanation of the Mass and liturgy in the Catholic Church. Each of these documentaries has a free downloadable study guide. Some Catholic figures whose stories were told in this issue or are contemporary to the issue’s topic include Pope Benedict XVI, Father Placido Cortese, Isaac Hecker and the Journey of Catholic America, Journey of the Heart: Henri Nouwen, and Soldiers of the Pope. Most of these titles are only available via digital download; you may access more content by streaming on Redeem TV. 

WEBSITES

Numerous organizations and universities have compiled documents and scholarly resources relevant to Vatican II; some of the most extensive include The Catholic University of America, Atla LibGuides, and Internet Archive. As noted above, The Holy See, which is the Vatican’s official website, has made available all the council documents.

Public-domain primary source documents mentioned in this issue can be found in the usual collections, including the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Gutenberg Project, and Internet Modern Sourcebook. 

Papal Encyclicals Online provides a directory of popes with accompanying authored documents, letters, and council addresses. See our own website for dates of concurrent Popes and Patriarchs. 

Find out more about the United Methodist Church’s Order of St. Luke’s liturgical renewal tied to Vatican II. Finally, the multi-authored website New Liturgical Movement seeks to work out Vatican II’s theology for today. CH 

By the editors and authors

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