What's Left?: Liberal American Catholics [Paperback]

Mary Jo Weaver (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 22, 1999

"What's Left? employs a thoroughly in-house approach in which self-identified liberal Catholics examine various facets of liberal Catholicism.... this book explores some of the most prominent threads of leftist Catholic aspiration and dissent." —Choice

What's Left? is the most comprehensive study to date of liberal American Catholics in the generation following the second Vatican council (1962-65). The main features of liberal American Catholicism—feminist theology and practice, contested issues of sexual conduct, new social locations of academic theology, liturgy, spirituality, ministry, race and ethnicity, and public Catholicism—are presented here in their historical and social contexts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book was originally envisioned as the mirror-image of Being Right (1995), a volume edited by Weaver and Scott Appleby focusing on conservative Catholicism. Instead of adopting the mixed insider/outsider methodology used in Being Right, however, What's Left? employs a thoroughly in-house approach in which self-identified liberal Catholics examine various facets of liberal Catholicism. Contemporary left-wing Catholicism is somewhat fragmented, bound together as much by a common sense of dissent as by any shared program of action. Rather than trying to impose an artificial orderliness on that reality, this book explores some of the most prominent threads of leftist Catholic aspiration and dissent. Fourteen essays are grouped in six sections dealing with feminist theology and practice; personal sexual morality; academic theology; liturgy, ministry and spirituality; race and ethnicity; and public Catholicism. Some essays are relatively broad in purview, such as the Mary Ann Hinsdale and John Boyle piece Academic Theology; others are much more precisely focused, such as Bernard Cooke's on the organization Call to Action. Overall, the essays cover the subject well. David O'Brien's concluding essay provides a fine summary of the history and present state of the Catholic Left. Recommended for upper-division undergraduate students through faculty and researchers, and professionals and practitioners.D. Jacobsen, Messiah College, Choice, October 2000

(D. Jacobsen, Messiah College Choice 2000)

About the Author

Biographical Statement: Mary Jo Weaver is Professor of Religious Studies
at Indiana University. In addition to her early work on Roman Catholic
modernism, she has published two editions of a textbook, Introduction to
Christianity, and two books on feminism and American Catholicism, New
Catholic Women and Springs of Water in a Dry Land. She is the co-editor
(with R. Scott Appleby) of a companion volume to this book, Being Right:
Conservative Catholics in America.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (November 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253213320
• ISBN-13: 978-0253213327
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,363,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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14 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liberal Catholic is NOT an Oxymoron!, May 26, 2000

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This review is from: What's Left?: Liberal American Catholics (Paperback)

Editor Mary Jo Weaver has gathered a great group of prominent theologians, academicians and scholars to write about "hot button" issues facing liberal/progressive American Catholics. What she has produced is an outstanding collection of essays that give voice to that group. Each essay examines a different issue, such as birth control/abortion, the role of women in the church, the liturgy and many more. The essays are academic in nature yet accessible to all readers in its style and tone. If you're a liberal/progressive Catholic and want need some support for when people attack your views, this book is a must.