Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church Paperback – March 7, 2005

The Compendium is an ambitious, much needed, admirable, and probably widely unknown overview of the fundamental framework of the doctrinal corpus of the Catholic Church's social doctrine, focusing on Scripture and on Church documents and proclamations in the 110 years from Rerum Novarum to the compilation of this volume. The "citations of Magisterial texts are taken from documents of differing authority ... the reader should be aware that different levels of teaching authority are involved." (para 8.)The titles of the three sections of the book - God's Plan of Love for Humanity; The Family, the Vital Cell of Society; Social Doctrine and Ecclesial Action - suggest the book's framework but they are inadequate to capture or describe the breadth of the book. The Church's social doctrine is based on the principles of the dignity of the human person, the common good, subsidiarity, and solidarity. There is a necessary interplay and sometimes an apparent tension between these principles that the doctrine attempts to capture. The Church's social doctrine therefore addresses the right to work, human rights, the environment, forms of government, private and public property, international relations, economics, Christ, and much more.The language of the book can be stilted, and it uses terms and phrasings that have a meaning in Catholic thought that either is not frequently used in American English or is used with a different meaning. [Try this sentence: "The Magisterium finds the motivation for its opposition to a concept of the environment based on ecocentrism and on biocentricism in the fact that 'it is being proposed on the ontological and axiological difference between men and other living beings being eliminated, since the biosphere is considered a biotic unity of undifferentiated value.'" (para 463)] Sometimes it seems to present truisms, sometimes generalities, sometimes speculations, sometimes ambiguity, and, particularly in the portion on the fundamental relations of the international community where the existence of original sin seems a remote consideration, sometimes platitudes. The book sometimes skirts issues: though it condemns usury it does not define the term. Even well informed Catholics will grapple with understanding portions of the book.It's not always easy - indeed sometimes it seems prohibitively difficult - to ascertain the level of teaching authority behind specific statements. Those looking for citation to St. Augustine's City of God, Unam Sanctam, Quas Primas, Vix Pervenit, the Council of Trent, or the Catechism of the Council of Trent will be disappointed. Aquinas, though, appears. Incongruously, the Index of References, which runs for almost 200 pages, is printed in a larger font than that in the body of the book.This is a book to study rather than a book to just read. It's an admirable, but sometimes frustrating, undertaking.

The Compendium is a foundational document for understanding the major driving force behind the global Social Justice Movement. The Roman Catholic Church is a global religious organization with a "top/down" governance structure as a major historical feature. The Compendium contains principles for and advocates the formation of an international binding juridical order with final authority to redistribute material goods, manage the environment, and establish global security and peace as well as support for the traditional family. Major concepts repeated throughout the Compendium include the Universal Destination of Goods, Subsidiarity, Solidarity, and the Common Good. The continuing technological advances in industrialization, communication, and transportation have made it possible for the first time to advocate unified global governance as the solution to growing threats to human survival on the planet. Inequality between individuals and nation states is considered a major source of social conflict that must be brought under global control. Overall such a system of governance requires the union of Religion and Government which has historically been a source of conflict for supremacy of one over the other. Those who believe global governance is mankind's only hope for the future will find this book vital to their ideological position. Those who fear any experiment with global governance will lead inevitably to a global tyranny will find the principles elaborated in the Compendium a cause of grave concern and threat to human freedom.

The Compendium serves as food for thought and discussion regarding the Church’s position on the most consequential issues affecting us now. Agree with it. Disagree with it. But read it. It’s a great stepping point from which to launch into other sociopolitical studies.

This is a modern day prescription for living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our culture and society and in our daily lives. While written by theologians and leaders of the Catholic Church, the teachings provide a solid moral basis for living a life of social justice for men and women of every creed. Its emphasis is on the dignity of the human person, the importance of work, the benefits and dangers of capitalism, as well as of socialism. It addresses the accumulation of wealth and speaks of it as a gift which must be shared and not horded or used to satisfy the never-ending thirst for personal pleasure and the accumulation of "things." I used this volume as a basis for a recent homily and offered to order the book for any church-goers that would like to read it themselves. I ended up ordering over 60 copies from Amazon. If you question the justification of war, our response to terrorism, the role of government in feeding the hungry and caring for the sick... give this book a thorough reading.

This book contains the information I was seeking for the research I am currently undertaking. Thank you very much for your prompt service.

Useful book to find references on Roman Catholic social teaching.

good

course material - easy read - little pricey - overall good buy - good resource - seen it cheaper and more expensive elsewhere

great