Review by Choice Review
Contemporary debates in postmodern theology often return to ground covered by a mid-20th-century Catholic theological "sensibility" described as la nouvelle theologie (particularly questions of nature and grace, immanence and transcendence). Theologians involved in la nouvelle theologie, a movement of ressourcement, looked to the ancient fathers as a resource for engaging contemporary culture. It is just this sort of constructive retrieval that characterizes much of the best work now being done in theology. Boersma (Regent College, Vancouver) has written a comprehensive, carefully researched monograph that will stand as a classic study of this movement. Immersed in the primary documents, but with one eye on contemporary debates, he especially shows that what was at stake in nouvelle theologie was a comprehensive vision of culture. These were not just intramural debates in ecclesiology or liturgical theology; nouvelle theologie was concerned with nothing short of a sacramental ontology--a theological account of the nature of reality per se. It is this ontology that unifies a coherent theological sensibility associated with a diverse array of theologians. Boersma also provides a reading that sees the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI as extensions of the ressourcement vision rather than a derailing of it. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers. J. K. A. Smith Calvin College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
