Cosponsored by the University of Chicago Ethics Club
After decades of ideological upheaval that often placed the Catholic Church in conflict with modernity, Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council in part to open a dialogue with modern culture. This lecture will reflect on the theological developments that led to Vatican II’s Pastoral Constitution on the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, the document’s text itself, and the history of its reception, and offer a perspective on the current health of the Church and its prospects for bringing the light of Christ to the world.