After an earthquake destroyed the Cathedral of Oakland, California (pop. 450,000) in 1989, it was decided to erect a new one on a different site. After much planning a new, quite striking building was constructed, but one that was to be the centre of a complex of building hosting other church ministries. The building and plan has been much admired by architects, liturgists and theologians. This short article explores how well this building complex will help parishioners to pray and serve needs of the local church.

In the early 1930s the artist Stanley Spencer committed himself to working on the never-achieved Church-House project. It was intended to reflect his understanding of God and religion as love, and, furthermore, of the sacred being fully integrated in secular times and places. The first painting he finished for the project was Villagers and Saints (1933), now in the collection of the University of Hull. This paper uses Villagers and Saints as a way into a reading of Spencer's work, drawing on insights from Charles Taylor's A Secular Age to explore how Spencer sacramentalises the material world. The first part of the paper contextualises Villagers and Saints, and the second part identifies its vision with what appears to have been a conversion experience, discussed by Spencer in his public writing.

On the one hand, arguably, I am neither this nor that. Arguably, neither is God this or that – so, am I God? Otherwise it seems that I must be this and God must be that. On the other hand, the being of the universe is not something of which I could plausibly be construed as the ultimate cause. That is God's creative act. Because I do not create the universe, I am not God. So I am God and I am not God. Here's a solution: God is One but also Three, I am but one.

This is a response to two articles by William Charlton and Nicholas Lash. These authors criticize a view which they attribute to Descartes. According to this view, there is a dualism of mind and body. In this paper it is argued, first, that some form of dualism is intrinsically plausible, second, that the view these authors attribute to Descartes is not one he held and, third, that a dualism of mind or soul and body has always been central to the Christian faith. It concludes by considering Charlton's attempt to elucidate the Christian belief in an after life by reference to what he calls a process of divinisation. The importance of this process is not denied. It is argued, however, that it must itself involve a dualism of mind or soul and body.

The increasing prevalence of forms of dementia poses some profound challenges, not least to our Christology and soteriology. In particular, it exposes the degree to which faith, grace and salvation are all still linked to the concept of the self-conscious individual, and how this approach limits the range of possible theological responses to dementia. In this paper, the author argues that a theological response in depth requires us to consider the possibility of saying that Christ ‘demented’ on the Cross. Some implications of making such an assertion are explored, both for Christology in general and for the ways Christ may be spoken of as ‘present to’ those with dementia.

The two changes (1, a new rite; and 2. the move to the vernacular) that occurred in the eucharistic liturgy of the Roman Rite have often been seen as simply evolutionary, liturgical variations: this perception suited that time of great change in the liturgy, and has continued among many in that they assume that these changes are somehow optional. However, this change is better seen as a change in paradigm: no longer is the general understanding of the Eucharist based in catechesis or theology that is parallel to the liturgy, but the understanding of the Eucharist is a function of participating linguistically in the actual event of the Eucharist. This paradigm shift needs to be appreciated if we are to discuss the state of eucharistic theology and liturgical celebration today.

This article addresses the idea that, over the centuries, Christianity has survived only by betraying its own uncompromising ideals. It investigates how damaging this interpretation could be for Christianity, and suggests that Christianity's survival might paradoxically be a function of the very phenomenon that seems at first sight to undermine it.

Taking part in secular discussion is difficult for a Christian philosopher. An approach that has often been favoured by Catholic philosophers is to attempt to engage at a level of pure reason using natural law concepts. This paper argues that such an approach sells us short and represents a failure to engage in secular discussion on equal terms and a failure to give adequate witness to the teachings of Christ. The paper seeks to argue that while it is not true that reason has a wax nose, as former Cardial Ratzinger argued, there is a role for faith-derived concepts in secular discussion and for encouraging others to share their view whether faith based or not, and for subjecting those concepts to the scrutiny afforded by rational analysis in an effort to achieve an identified common ground of human goodness that both transcends individual culture and belief but has its individual origins within the disparate cultures and traditions.

This paper shows the theological vision of Aquinas’ moral theology by exploring the intimate connectedness of his moral thought in the prima secundae of the Summa theologiae with his sacramental theology and Christology in the tertia pars. While some have disputed the theological and Christological character of Aquinas’ moral thought, both the structural presentation of the Summa and the key role grace plays in his treatment of the moral life point to the importance of the sacraments, which, empowered by the Holy Spirit, communicate the grace of Christ's Passion to men, who by themselves cannot act to attain their end in God because of God's infinity and man's sinfulness. The paper proceeds by exploring Aquinas’ moral writings on man's end, habits and human action, and law and grace to a discussion of why man needs a savior. The paper then discusses the Passion of Christ the savior and its function in forgiving sin and opening the way to the infinite God in heaven for finite men, and concludes with a discussion of the importance of the Sacraments in the moral life as the instruments through which the effects of Christ's Passion are transmitted to men.