Why should Catholics read church documents from Vatican II?

This week Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly are joined by Dr. Russell Hittinger to speak about two declarations from the Second Vatican Council, Nostra Aetate (On the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions) and Dignitatis Humanae (On Religious Freedom).

Russell Hittinger, a leading scholar of Catholic political and social thought, serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Human Ecology (IHE). He is a Research Professor Ordinarius in The Catholic University of America’s School of Philosophy and a member of the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, where he served on the consilium from 2006-2018. He co-directs the IHE’s Program on Catholic Political Thought and delivered the Program’s inaugural lecture, “How to Inherit a Kingdom: Reflections on the Situation of Catholic Political Thought,” in 2022.

From 1996-2019, Dr. Hittinger was the incumbent of the William K. Warren Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Tulsa, where he was also a Research Professor in the School of Law. He has taught at the University of Chicago, the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Fordham University, Princeton University, New York University, Providence College, and Charles University in Prague. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Dr. Hittinger for a ten-year term as an ordinarius in the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

In January 2020, Dr. Hittinger delivered the Aquinas Lecture at Blackfriars, Oxford. The American Catholic Philosophical Association awarded him the Aquinas Medal in November 2023.

Dr. Hittinger’s books and articles have been published by the University of Notre Dame Press, Oxford University Press, Columbia University Press, and Fordham University Press, and have appeared in the Review of Metaphysics, the Journal of Law and Religion, the Review of Politics.

Be sure to tune into this episode to learn from Dr. Hittinger about Vatican II and how Catholics can tap into their Hebraic and Near Eastern Christian roots.

Beyond Rome is available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and a variety of other media platforms!

⬆️ LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE ⬆️

_______________________

1:18 – Constitution versus declaration- what's the difference?
4:30 – Four Constitution, two Dogmatic and two Pastoral
6:45 – Why were they written?
8:04 – Nostra Aetate makes five points
12:00 – What are they saying in Nostra Aetate?
16:41 – Most Controversial Document of Vatican II
22:23 – Why "Beyond Rome"?
24:25 – The State of Israel allows religious liberty
_______________________

Giving to Philos Catholic:

If you've enjoyed this podcast, then please consider supporting our work! You can mark your gift for "Beyond Rome" through our giving page (see link below).

Give here ➡️ https://raisedonors.com/philosproject
_______________________

Follow Philos Catholic:

➡️ Website: https://philosproject.org/catholic
➡️ Instagram: / philoscatholic
➡️ X: / philoscatholic

_______________________

➡️ Learn more about the Institute for Human Ecology: https://ihe.catholic.edu/

➡️ Facebook:   / cuahumanecology  

➡️ Nostra Aetate: https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_c...

➡️ Dignitatis Humanae: https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_c...

➡️ What are the 24 Catholic Churches? https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid