Catholic theologian Tracy Rowland’s latest book, Introducing Communio Theology, was launched in Melbourne on April 23. Source: Melbourne Catholic.
Published by Word on Fire Academic, the book was launched by Alex Sidhu, director of the Catholic non-profit think tank, the Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies.
The evening was organised by the Thomas More Centre in collaboration with the Parish of St John Paul II and the Central Catholic Bookshop, which is the book’s Melbourne stockist.
Professor Rowland is an internationally respected Catholic theologian and one of Australia’s leading voices in contemporary Catholic thought.
Her work explores major questions of culture, secularism, the theology of Joseph Ratzinger and the renewal of Catholic intellectual life.
She is Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia, a member of the International Theological Commission, and the first Australian to receive the prestigious Ratzinger Prize for theology.
The book’s title refers to the journal Communio: International Catholic Review, which is published in a dozen languages.
The journal was founded in 1972 by prominent 20th-century theologians Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI.
Balthasar was a student of Lubac, and while Ratzinger was not formally a student of either, he once wrote that it was impossible to say just how much he owes to Lubac and Balthasar for his theological formation.
Professor Rowland said her book sought to synthesise the ideas of scholars who have contributed to the Communio journal over the past five decades. She added that it was written at a level that any educated Catholic should be able to follow, and she especially hoped that it would be read by Generation Z Catholics.
In his speech, Mr Sidhu provided a summary of the key themes of the work, and focused, in particular, on the reasons for the development of the Communio theology approach historically, as outlined in the book.
He noted that there was “a very poor understanding among Catholics of the significant role played by the Communio theological approach in the documents of the Second Vatican Council”, observing that Professor Rowland’s book will “greatly help to address this situation”.
FULL STORY
Prof Tracy Rowland brings 50 years of Communio theology to a new audience (Melbourne Catholic)
