Theology

In Barstool Theology, Trevor Gundlach cracks open an entirely new way to talk about beer and exactly how it can be an effervescent part of a life well lived. He invites you to become a fellow barstool theologian, ready to discuss the theology of life, friendship, art, seasons, celebrations, and, yes, delicious craft beer.

Many people today believe that the traditional Catholic view of sex is antiquated, unrealistic, and potentially harmful. In Catholic Sexual Morality, Dr. Robert Fastiggi asks whether the permissive sexual attitude of today's culture is really contributing to deeper love, better relationships, and true happiness for men, women, children, and families. He begins with the example of St. Augustine who recognized he was a slave to lust and in need of true freedom. Fastiggi then examines the foundations for Catholic sexual morality in Scripture, reason, and human experience. The hope is that people will realize that the Catholic Church is not ""against sex"" but sees sexual intimacy as something so beautiful and life-giving that it requires the stability of marriage for its true and rightful expression. Catholic Sexual Morality is grounded in the belief that the church's teachings on sex correspond to God's plan for human happiness. These teachings are challenging, and the church understands how easy it is to fail in sexual matters. God's mercy, however, is more powerful than human weakness and sin. This book explains the reasons why the Catholic Church teaches as she does on matters such as pornography, masturbation, fornication, adultery, contraception, divorce, and homosexual acts. It presents these teachings in a realistic way with full recognition of the reasons why people reject them. The ultimate desire is to help people understand that Catholic sexual morality is not a creation of church leaders but a response to what God has made known to us in Sacred Scripture and the natural law. In a world filled with infidelity, divorce, wounded children, and broken hearts, the wisdom of traditional Catholic sexual morality deserves a more sympathetic view--not just because it is Catholic but because it is true. ""Fastiggi begins his work with a recounting of St. Augustine's struggle with sexual sin. . . . Given the fact that most Catholics now have sex before marriage and engage in many other sexual sins such as the use of pornography and contraception, Fastiggi is wise to begin with the story of a reformed sinner who became one of the greatest saints of the Church. . . . Readers of this book may well find themselves undergoing a similar conversion process--to the truth itself, to the necessity of asking for grace, and to the joy of being a member of the Catholic Church."" Janet E. Smith, Ph.D., Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, Michigan ""The 'chaotic and tragic force' of sex outside of marriage is especially evident in the anxieties, questions, and concerns it generates for young persons. The secular response often comes in the form of an informational pamphlet from a 'rights based approach, ' while Dr. Robert Fastiggi offers the comprehensive response of the church in the fullness of its truth, beauty, and goodness in accord with reason, human nature, and the will of God. This book is a gem."" Dr. Jane Adolphe, Associate Professor of Law, Ave Maria School of Law, Naples, Florida Robert Fastiggi holds an A.B. from Dartmouth College and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in theology from Fordham University. From 1985-1999, he taught at St. Edward's University in Austin, TX, and, since 1999, he's been on the faculty of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, MI, where he's Professor of Systematic Theology. In addition to his own publications, he served as the co-editor of the English translation of the 43rd edition of the Denzinger-Hunermann Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals (2012) and the executive editor of the 2009-2013 supplements to the New Catholic Encyclopedia (Gale Cengage Learning in cooperation with The Catholic University of America).

St Augustine, bishop of Hippo, was one of the central figures in the history of Christianity, and City of God is one of his greatest theological works. Written as an eloquent defence of the faith at a time when the Roman Empire was on the brink of collapse, it examines the ancient pagan religions of Rome, the arguments of the Greek philosophers and the revelations of the Bible. Pointing the way forward to a citizenship that transcends the best political experiences of the world and offers citizenship that will last for eternity, City of God is one of the most influential documents in the development of Christianity.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Robert Barron is one of the Catholic Church's premier theologians and author of the influential The Priority of Christ. In this volume, Barron sets forth a thoroughgoing vision for an evangelical catholic theology that is steeped in the tradition and engaged with the contemporary world. Striking a balance between academic rigor and accessibility, the book covers issues of perennial interest in the twenty-first-century church: who God is, how to rightly worship him, and how his followers engage contemporary culture. Topics include the doctrine of God, Catholic theology, philosophy, liturgy, and evangelizing the culture. This work will be of special interest to readers concerned about the so-called "new atheism."

Origen (185-ca. 254), one of the most prolific and influential of the early Church Fathers, is best known to us for his Scripture exegesis. Henri de Lubac's History and Spirit is a landmark study of Origen's understanding of Scripture and his exegetical methods. In exploring Origen's efforts to interpret the four different senses of Scripture, de Lubac leads the reader through an immense and varied work to its center: Christ the Word.

As Hans Urs von Balthasar said in discussing this seminal work: "The theory of the senses of Scripture is not a curiosity of the history of theology but an instrument for seeking out the most profound articulations of salvation history..." (From the book The Theology of Henri de Lubac.)

What the reader finds on this journey is not only, then, a fascinating view of the mind and spirit of an important Father of the Church, but an essential key to a more profound understanding of the way in which Christ speaks to us through Scripture.

As you'll learn in The How-to Book of Catholic Theology: Everything You Need to Know But No One Ever Taught You, theology at its core is about encountering God's self-revelation in Christ through the Church. In his clear, conversational style, theologian Father John Cush offers a comprehensive overview of Catholic theology, making it both approachable and actionable.

Here -- carefully documented, footnoted, and indexed -- is not only what the Church teaches but also why it is obligated to do so. This updated and expanded edition of a text widely used in colleges, universities, and seminaries (as well as in high schools and parish religious education programs), offers the latest Catholic teaching on moral theology, including: moral theology; human dignity, free human action, virtue, and conscience; and natural law, moral absolutes, and sin. Read why -- and how -- living what the Church teaches can transform hearts, minds, and souls.

Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988), a prolific Catholic theologian from Switzerland, has been called a "new Father of the Church". His work--shaped not only by traditional theology and philosophy, but by literature, art, and music--made an impact on both Saint John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Aidan Nichols, O.P., describes Balthasar's fifteen-volume masterwork, the Trilogy, as "perhaps the high-point of twentieth-century Catholic theology".

Yet for all Balthasar's brilliance, the core of his theology is extraordinarily simple: love--for God is love. Love lies at the center of life, indeed, at the center of being itself. For Balthasar, the answers to all of man's big, existential questions revolve around love.

The Meaning of the World Is Love, compiled by psychologist Richard Clements, brings Balthasar's meditations to a wider audience, using brief excerpts from the theologian to walk readers through the landscape of divine love, which is our home. The path of love is the path of self-gift--as well as of truth, goodness, and beauty--and it is the only way to genuine fulfillment. Balthasar, as Clements shows, can point us to the very heart of reality: God, who gives himself to us without reserve.

"In His divine mercy, Jesus pours His power out through us. In this radiance, you will view different aspects of the virtue of hope-- how to rekindle it in your life and share it with the world. These pages also illustrate how: We're made holy and learn to encounter the mysterious presence of God by "the struggle" of faith-- Surrendering our lives in trustful offering to God brings Him joy and frees us of discouragement-- We can learn to be 'a child before God' and thereby grow in receptivity to the Holy Spirit and receive healing-- We can 'borrow' divine love, like St. Therese, and thus quench God's thirst and nourish others." [taken from back cover]

Here is the book that shows you the road to happiness through the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle. It proves the relationship between the science of faith and human reason and how the truth will set you free in the hereafter and now.Â

This book is invaluable for anyone who wants a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental principles of Catholic moral teaching. In these powerful pages, Fr. Mullady unpacks how the Church is called to help form the culture and not vice versa. He explains a spectrum of truths, from man's ultimate end, to the role of the will, to conscience and responsibility, to types of sins, virtues, and laws, and ultimately, to grace.

Fr. Mullady soundly refutes relativism and explains the consistency in Church teachings using examples, such as Her teachings on birth control and capital punishment. He explains the connection between the intellect, the will, and the passions. He shows how moral teaching and theology must incl

In this volume five Cardinals of the Church, and four other scholars, respond to the call issued by Cardinal Walter Kasper for the Church to harmonize "fidelity and mercy in its pastoral practice with civilly remarried, divorced people."

Beginning with a concise introduction, the first part of the book is dedicated to the primary biblical texts pertaining to divorce and remarriage, and the second part is an examination of the teaching and practice prevalent in the early Church. In neither of these cases, biblical or patristic, do these scholars find support for the kind of "toleration" of civil marriages following divorce advocated by Cardinal Kasper. This book also examines the Eastern Orthodox practice of oikonomia (understood as "mercy" implying "toleration") in cases of remarriage after divorce and in the context of the vexed question of Eucharistic communion. It traces the centuries long history of Catholic resistance to this convention, revealing serious theological and canonical difficulties inherent in past and current Orthodox Church practice.

Thus, in the second part of the book, the authors argue in favor of retaining the theological and canonical rationale for the intrinsic connection between traditional Catholic doctrine and sacramental discipline concerning marriage and communion.

The various studies in this book lead to the conclusion that the Church's longstanding fidelity to the truth of marriage constitutes the irrevocable foundation of its merciful and loving response to the individual who is civilly divorced and remarried. The book therefore challenges the premise that traditional Catholic doctrine and contemporary pastoral practice are in contradiction.

"Because it is the task of the apostolic ministry to ensure that the Church remains in the truth of Christ and to lead her ever more deeply into that truth, pastors must promote the sense of faith in all the faithful, examine and authoritatively judge the genuineness of its expressions and educate the faithful in an ever more mature evangelical discernment." - St. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio

First published in 1930, The Spiritual Life remains the most comprehensive one-volume treatise on ascetical and mystical theology. Widely respected among members of the Catholic faith, this book depicts the human experience of spirituality by examining the nature of the soul, path to salvation, and strategies for strengthening one's union with God. Father Adolphe Tanquerey sources his inspirational guidance from Sacred Scripture in addition to the writings of spiritual leaders and saints, including Thomas Aquinas. In this pioneering and instructional work, Father Tanquerey has compiled a complete, practical, and orderly overview of all the questions concerning the spiritual life in one volume. Although initially intended for clergy, this text proves especially efficacious in showing faithful followers the path to piety.

The Reverend Father Adolphe Tanquerey, S.S., D.D., (1854-1932) was born in Blainville, France and joined the Society of St. Sulpice at the age of 18. After five years as a seminarian, he was ordained a priest and began his successful teaching career. His best known works include the three-volume Synopsis Theologiae Dogmaticae and comprehensive one-volume treatise The Spiritual Life.

For a more durable hardcover edition of The Spiritual Life, please search ISBN 1626540896.

The acclaimed Catholic writer and apologist Frank Sheed presents one of the most clear and outstanding explanations of the central doctrines of the Christian faith ever written. He starts with a compelling case of good reasons for anyone to study theology, and the wonderful rewards that accompany such a pursuit.

After explaining how God is Spirit, Sheed examines God's infinity and man's creation from nothing. He then covers in depth such key doctrines as the Trinity, the Fall, the Incarnation and Redemption, the Mystical Body, Grace and the Sacraments, and the Last Things. For those to whom these doctrines seem formidable, Sheed brings a fresh approach with lucid and carefully reasoned prose. His beautiful insights and clear explanations will help stir our minds to the inspiring truth of the spiritual realities at the center of human existence.