This remarkable book covers the Second Vatican Council in less than two hundred pages, and readers acquainted with the genealogy, the procedures, and the theology of the council will marvel at such an accomplishment. As one who has been involved in the study of Vatican II for almost a decade, it is a pleasure to start this review by congratulating the authors of this monograph for their work. The unavoidable next step would then be to ask, how did they do it? The answer is multifaceted. First, the book does not try to introduce readers to the full history of Vatican II. Rather, the book is intended for a wide readership, including students, and it offers valuable schedules and diagrams useful for those not familiar with the conciliar heritage. Second, the authors are clearly interested in initiating Catholics and non-Catholics into the importance and richness of the conciliar corpus. The word “corpus” makes it clear from the outset that the book aims to introduce readers to the textual legacy of the council. The outline of the book's twenty chapters also makes this abundantly clear: each chapter is devoted to the discussion of one of the “key” paragraphs of the sixteen conciliar decrees. The authors make these “key” paragraphs their point of departure for illustrating and clarifying the aims of the council.

This approach constitutes both a value and a risk. The value is clear: readers need not plow through the entire corpus before receiving proper explanations of the council's doctrines; rather, they are guided by the authors into the conciliar thought world. The survey focuses strongly on the importance of the council's four constitutions (Sacrosanctum Concilium, Dei Verbum, Lumen Gentium, and Gaudium et Spes). No less than twelve out of twenty chapters serve to explain the fundamental insights found therein, including the importance of liturgical reform and sacramental thought, the renewal of revelation theology, the conciliar debate on the nature of the church as a baptismal and eucharistic communion, and even a refined explanation of the theology of the laity and today's so crucial debate on marriage and the family.

The variety of topics should not surprise, and reflects well the complexity and vastness of the conciliar horizon. One of the major assets of the book's approach is that the explanations given not only invite the reader into further discoveries, but also connect a discussion of key texts with references to the conciliar debate and overall atmosphere, with an eye on the evolution of the Catholic Church's thought on any given topic before, during, and after Vatican II. The authors succeed in avoiding the pitfall of detaching text from spirit, and doctrine from history—a strength that is far from evident in contemporary writings on the council.

This is not to say that the book is flawless. It is noteworthy that, aside from the four constitutions, only four other conciliar documents are discussed. Tied to the ecclesiological focus of the book, these all have to do with the position of the church today, and the overall emphasis is on the church's discovery of the (non-)religious other that so marked the twentieth century. The first document addressed, Christus Dominus, on the bishops, is logically tied to the crucial debate on episcopal collegiality, and focuses on the highly relevant issues of synodality and collegiality. Next follow explanations of the conciliar doctrine regarding religious liberty, ecumenism, and the dialogue with world religions. Each of these documents has been subject to lively theological and ecclesial debate, and their reception, even today, proves more than complex.

That said, the authors' decision to focus on precisely these texts as markers of conciliar reform is beyond discussion. However—and it should be granted here that on several occasions the missing eight documents are mentioned in the discussion—it might have increased the value of the book to add some chapters on the documents that are considered perhaps less crucial, such as those on the training of priests, on the Oriental churches, and even on social media. While I proffer this as a suggestion, such criticism does not negate the great value of this book. In all, I would warmly recommend it to any reader who longs to unlock some of the Catholic Church's teachings.