Almost sixty years after Vatican II, the question of its interpretation is as lively as ever. While numerous theologies of renewal are advanced, conspicuously absent is any serious erudition of the text taken by Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI as the hermeneutical key to understanding the Council’s goal and method, namely, Paul VI’s encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam.

This study corrects this inattention and proposes that Pope Paul’s “logic of renewal” is so profoundly a dimension of divine revelation and of the Church’s life that it is not just one theology of renewal among many, but the theology of renewal. It is thus the key to understanding the Council’s authentic pastoral character.

The “logic of renewal” sets personal, spiritual metanoia as the center path of renewal, preceded by the path of doctrinal penetration, which assures that renewal is faithful to God, and complemented by the path of reinvigorated mission, which is the fruit of conversion. As the first post-Christendom ecumenical council, Vatican II addressed the question: What does it mean to be the Church of Christ at this point in history? Its answer: Become what you are! Convert into a more perfect realization of your own mystery, vocation, and mission.

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