Beyond Naive Belief: Bible and Adult Catholic Faith - Hardcover

Few encounters have as much potential for both enlightenment and danger as the clash between the psychological "self" of modernity and the religious "soul" of traditional Christianity. Paul Dinter asks whether a new stage on the way that faith seeks understanding can move post-Vatican II Catholics beyond this impasse - and he provides fresh and compelling answers. By taking advantage of Vatican II's recognition that both the Bible and the church "have a history" and must be seen accordingly, Dr. Dinter suggests a way for mature believers to profess Catholic faith beyond the anti-modern formulations of natural law, papal infallibility, and the recent Marian doctrines. Not content to critique these definitions for their flaws, he re-appropriates their truth for today. "In a mature perspective, " Dinter writes, "Catholic unity is not guaranteed by mind-numbing obedience to the magisterium but by participation in sacramental reality, post-critically understood." Beyond Naive Belief is a bridge-building book for all believers of good faith.

Paul E. Dinter has taught at Fordham University, Manhattan College, and the Maryknoll School of Theology.