In his new book, The Irony of Modern Catholic History (Basic Books £25 / $30), George Weigel traces the root of debates at the recent Amazon synod to a fracture within reformist theologians at the Second Vatican Council.
Although the drama of Catholicism and modernity is often described in terms of a battle between traditionalists and modernisers, it is more accurate to think of it as a three-way contest between those committed to resisting modernity in all its forms, those seeking an accommodation with modernity because they believe it has made classic Christian truth claims and practices implausible if not false, and those seeking to convert modernity by placing its noblest aspirations on a firmer, Christ-centred foundation."
