The Second Vatican Council (‘Vatican II’:1962-65) sought to bring Church tradition into the present and to provide a renewal for our time of all that is Catholic. Sixty years later, many of the insights which were enthusiastically supported at the time have still not been fully implemented and there are elements within the Church’s hierarchy today whose preference is to return to the more rigid and doctrinaire approach to religion which was in evidence prior to the Council.

This becomes apparent by the way in which official teachings and practices frequently continue to be presented and is one of the principal reasons to explain the ongoing level of defections from within the Church and our negative rating in society at large.

The aim of the book is to provide a brief summary of the contribution of Church Councils over the centuries in the development of Christian teachings and practices and the particular contribution of Vatican II in expanding our understanding of the nature and purpose of the Church. Secondly, it is an attempt to portray God and the import of the incarnation of Jesus with the benefit of modern scholarship and using a language which reflects the currents of modern thought.