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John Paul II: The Encyclicals in Everyday Language

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John Paul II stood across the last quarter of the twentieth century like a Collosus. His intellect was formed in modern and scholastic philosophy. The larger corpus of his thought and output consisted of many speeches, sermons, letters, interviews, etc. In the top tier of his output stand his encyclicals. In Roman Catholic tradition, encyclicals are letters from the Bishop of Rome to other bishops, to the church and to the world. Encyclicals contain teachings accepted as true and are given great deference among Catholics.

Unfortuantely, much of the wisdom contained in encyclicals comes wrapped in centuries' old manners of communication, much of which are foreign to today's ear.

Father Joseph Donders has provided a service to Catholics and others by rendering all of John Paul II's encyclicals into language more accessible to modern readers who are not professional theolgians. Donders points out, appropriately, that the first source always are the original encyclicals; Donders recommends having the original encyclical alongside his "translation." To enhance using this book as a refernce, Donders prepared a short Epilogue which traces some of the threads that run through the encyclicals. This makes it possible to trace the development of certain of John Paul's thought over time. This is aided also by an index of main terms and themes found in the encyclicals.

This is a great book to have on hand. Pope John Paul's set of encylicals compromise a modern, comprehsensive presentation of Catholic theology. Father Donders makes these writings available to the more casual reader. Reading these encyclicals is a great way to reflect on the great pontifcate of Pope John Paul II. Highly recommended.

If you love JP II, all his encyclicals are here in language everyone can understand. It may not be strictly loyal to the original, but it is important that his message gets through.