* Preface * Introduction * Big Perspectives on a Big Meeting * The Long Nineteenth Century * The Council Opens * The First Period (1962): The Lines Are Drawn * The Second Period (1963): A Majority Prevailing * The Third Period (1964): Triumphs and Tribulations * The Fourth Period (1965): Bringing the Ship into Port * Conclusion * Chronology of Vatican II * Council Participants Frequently Mentioned * Abbreviations * Notes * Index
This remarkable book, in places a veritable page-turner, not only recaptures the drama and the struggles of Vatican II, but gets to the very heart of the issues under all the many ramifying words and acts of the Council. The reader can see how awkward and inadequate the familiar oppositions of liberal/conservative and progressive/reactionary are to the passionate struggles that took place. In fact, it was only through a recovery of Biblical and Patristic sources that Vatican II managed to return the Catholic Church to the twentieth-century world, and to open a dialogue which the traumas of the Reformation and French Revolution had inhibited. -- Charles Taylor, author of A Secular Age In this elegant and erudite book, the dean of American historians of Christianity tells the story of Vatican II. As a student, John O'Malley attended sessions of the Council. Now he shows us what happened, sets the Council before a richly reconstructed historical background, and makes clear why it still matters so much. His book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the modern history of the Catholic Church. -- Anthony Grafton This is a masterful presentation. It carries the reader deeper into the reality and outcome of Vatican II than do the other existing books on the Council. -- Jared Wicks, Professor emeritus, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome What Happened at Vatican II offers a one-volume history of the Second Vatican Council that not only tells the story in a way that brings out its drama, but, more importantly, calls the reader's attention to distinctive features of this council that are crucial for its interpretation. I do not know of any one volume that compares with this book for an in-depth account of what happened at Vatican II and of the factors that were at play in this major event in the life of the church. -- Francis Sullivan, Boston College It is an axiom that Ecumenical Councils take 50 years to assimilate and digest. If so, this clear and readable account of Vatican II is right on time-and on target. O'Malley's characteristic concision and wide learning luster every page. -- Kenneth L. Woodward, Newsweek Contributing Editor and author of Making Saints With characteristic acumen and grace, John O'Malley has written a splendid book on Vatican II: the history, the meanings, and above all the enduring importance. Once again we are all in this great scholar's debt. -- David Tracy
John W. O’Malley was University Professor in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University and the author of many books, including Four Cultures of the West, Trent, Vatican I, What Happened at Vatican II, and The First Jesuits (all from Harvard); The First Jesuits has been translated into twelve languages. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Philosophical Society, and a recipient of the Harvard Centennial Medal as well as Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Society for Italian Historical Studies, the Renaissance Society of America, and the American Catholic Historical Association. O’Malley was a member of the Society of Jesus and a Roman Catholic priest.
Father O’Malley has written one of the best and most needed books
about [the Second Vatican Council]… [A] superb history… How the
bishops took charge of the agenda and radically reshaped the
outcome is a story of bold confrontations, clashing personalities
and behind-the-scenes maneuvers, all recounted in colorful detail
by Father O’Malley. A majority of bishops seemed primed for change,
yet the path to final agreement was strewn with obstacles, whether
from the stalwarts of the status quo or papal interventions. This
is a tale with plenty of cliffhangers.
*New York Times*
[An] acutely observed history of the Council, now the go-to work on
‘what happened at Vatican II.’ [O’Malley] is particularly
illuminating when he gives the background and context to the
debates (often very heated) that gave birth to its decrees. The
narrative might be Whig, but the history is fair—and rivetingly
told.
*Wall Street Journal*
Based on my experience of the same events, O’Malley does a truly
superior job of reporting the crucial details and capturing the
moods and passions of that time. Secondly, he has the advantage of
many testimonies not known to us back then. These, too, he handles
deftly… O’Malley’s book is a splendid introduction to a story of
longed-for change, its good consequences and its sometimes
depressing, unintended ones.
*Washington Post Book World*
The highest accolade that the late John Tracy Ellis could pay a
historian was to say that he had written a ‘rich’ book. There is
little doubt that he would have been ready to pronounce that
judgment on this book because of O’Malley’s thorough research,
lucid presentation, balanced judgments, shrewd insights and elegant
style. If you want to know what happened at Vatican II, begin with
O’Malley.
*America*
O’Malley’s book represents a gift from his generation, which
experienced the council, to the cohort coming of age today. The
signal accomplishment of the book is synthesis. In just four
hundred pages, O’Malley provides a thorough yet gripping overview
of the lead-up to the council and each of its four sessions. He
wisely avoids lengthy quotations from the sixteen documents
produced by the council, which are sometimes written in opaque,
‘churchy’ language. Instead, he captures the main points of the
texts, as well as the floor debates and behind-the-scenes struggles
that generated the council’s drama. He thus fills what has long
been a gaping hole: the absence of a single volume written at a
popular level that provides a guide to the council—both its actual
results and what might have been had the bishops headed in another
direction… The book is a major accomplishment, which no doubt will
help to keep the memory of the council alive.
*Bookforum*
In this single volume, O’Malley has filled the need for a readable
account that meets three goals: providing the essential storyline
from Pope John’s announcement on January 25, 1959, to the council’s
conclusion on December 8, 1965; setting the issues that emerged
into their historical and theological contexts; and thereby
providing ‘some keys for grasping what the council hoped to
accomplish.’… O’Malley analyzes Pope John’s motives and goals, and
masterfully lays out the contexts and important issues of the
council… O’Malley’s book enables one to re-experience the event of
Vatican II and to ask whether its initiatives will ever be fully
implemented.
*Commonweal*
Enthralling, bringing back memories of my student days in Rome, but
also supplying a perceptive perspective on those events, especially
as the Church was emerging from what O’Malley has aptly called the
long nineteenth century. As Pope Francis seeks to fulfil the
council’s vision, to the delight of many, but the bewilderment of
some, this book makes a wise and entertaining companion and
guide.
*The Tablet*
It’s 50 years since the Second Vatican Council. It can seem a long
time ago, or only yesterday. What really went on? In What Happened
at Vatican II, John W. O’Malley, historian and theologian, has the
story. He unfolds the events, presents the main actors, describes
the issues, assesses the results. Serious, but not heavy reading.
Just right for a long summer’s evening.
*The Tablet*
An insightful and quite gripping account that brings Vatican II to
life in all its complexity. It celebrates a council pastoral rather
than condemnatory in spirit, struggling to open the Church to the
modern world.
*The Tablet*
A gripping account of the drama of Vatican II as it played itself
out over its four sessions from 1962 to 1965. Far from being a dry
analysis of the sixteen conciliar documents, the book concentrates
on the debates that frothed beneath the deceptive serenity of these
documents. Personalities come to the fore in the contest between
the minority of bishops who resisted change and the majority who
favored it as desirable and necessary… O’Malley’s emphasis on the
importance of style is arguably his greatest contribution to
understanding what happened at Vatican II… O’Malley’s book is a
helpful remedy for preserving Catholic memory. It rehearses not
only what happened at Vatican II for a growing number of readers
unfamiliar with the debates and documents but, more important, it
gives them a way to think about what happened.
*The Tablet*
Volumes have been written on the council, but O’Malley offers a
fresh perspective by setting it in the historical context of
earlier councils and by attending to the language of the documents
as well as the personalities and politics of the participants… It
should appeal to a wide readership, populated as it is by colorful
characters and offering an original approach to the study of the
council and an authoritative guide through its proceedings and
documents. O’Malley conveys a vivid sense of why Vatican II remains
a beacon for some and a burden for others in the ongoing conflict
between conservatives and liberals—words that, as O’Malley makes
clear, are inadequate to describe the complexity of the positions
they describe, and the visions invested in them.
*Times Higher Education Supplement*
[A] lucid, coherent assessment of the Second Vatican Council.
*Choice*
From 1961 to 1965, the world closely watched the proceedings of
Vatican II, the Catholic Church’s council on the condition and
future of the faith. Georgetown historian O’Malley presents the
most thorough account of the proceedings of the council itself,
from the time it was declared in 1959 until its conclusion in 1965,
fulfilling the book’s title. O’Malley gives a thorough and detailed
history of the event, situating it in the longer history of the
church and previous councils… O’Malley shows how Vatican II allowed
the church to modernize while also remaining true to its traditions
and convictions.
*Publishers Weekly*
What Happened at Vatican II offers a one-volume history of the
Second Vatican Council that not only tells the story in a way that
brings out its drama, but, more importantly, calls the reader’s
attention to distinctive features of this council that are crucial
for its interpretation. I do not know of any one volume that
compares with this book for an in-depth account of what happened at
Vatican II and of the factors that were at play in this major event
in the life of the church.
*Francis Sullivan, Boston College*
In this elegant and erudite book, the dean of American historians
of Christianity tells the story of Vatican II. As a student, John
O’Malley attended sessions of the Council. Now he shows us what
happened, sets the Council before a richly reconstructed historical
background, and makes clear why it still matters so much. His book
will be essential reading for anyone interested in the modern
history of the Catholic Church.
*Anthony Grafton*
This remarkable book, in places a veritable page-turner, not only
recaptures the drama and the struggles of Vatican II, but gets to
the very heart of the issues under all the many ramifying words and
acts of the Council. The reader can see how awkward and inadequate
the familiar oppositions of liberal/conservative and
progressive/reactionary are to the passionate struggles that took
place. In fact, it was only through a recovery of Biblical and
Patristic sources that Vatican II managed to return the Catholic
Church to the twentieth-century world, and to open a dialogue which
the traumas of the Reformation and French Revolution had
inhibited.
*Charles Taylor, author of A Secular Age*
With characteristic acumen and grace, John O’Malley has written a
splendid book on Vatican II: the history, the meanings, and above
all the enduring importance. Once again we are all in this great
scholar’s debt.
*David Tracy*
This is a masterful presentation. It carries the reader deeper into
the reality and outcome of Vatican II than do the other existing
books on the Council.
*Jared Wicks, Professor Emeritus, Pontifical Gregorian University,
Rome*
It is an axiom that Ecumenical Councils take 50 years to assimilate
and digest. If so, this clear and readable account of Vatican II is
right on time—and on target. O’Malley’s characteristic concision
and wide learning luster every page.
*Kenneth L. Woodward, Newsweek Contributing Editor and
author of Making Saints*
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