A Catholic Vision

de Stephen Happel, David Tracy

Although the bulk of this slender volume is devoted to an examination of the familiar major events, figures and trends of Catholic history, it is by no means a standard survey of Catholic history. Rather, it is a sustained meditation on the theological and/or ecclesial significance of church history by two systematic theologians concerned with the future orientation of the Church. Beginning from a brief that only the secure possessing of an ecclesial identity can both ground and direct action, the authors examine each of the major periods of church history in order to discover the ways in which the church, through its continuing struggles to protect, hallow, and present the memory of Christ to different ages, has developed not only a repertoire of strategies and an array of useful structures but also a style and that kind of identity (at once traditional, prophetic, and apocalyptic) which can enable the church to face the future with confidence and creativity. Church historians who yearn for a more general appreciation of the identity bestowing and hence enabling power of their discipline will applaud this fine little book and long for more works of its kind.