Virtues and Vices In Early Texts on Pastoral Care
The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 can undoubtedly be counted among the formative events in medieval history.1 Pope Innocent III successfully reinforced the pastoral responsibility of the clergy towards all the faithful and fundamentally redefined the relation between the Church and the Christian individual. All Christians were required to make a full confession of all their sins and to take part in Holy Communion at least once a year.2 Priests had to be qualified to fulfill their duties by preaching, hearing confession, imposing penance and by educating their flock both morally and theologically in the confessional interrogation. An important side effect of this new rule was the rise of a great number of different new genres of pastoral texts, leading to a true discursive explosion with deep impact on the literate culture of the later Middle Ages. These new genres include confessionals, catechetical handbooks, preaching aids, collections of exempla , mirrors of princes and laymen and many others.3 The mendicant orders who received their
Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils
This monumental two-volume publication brings together in the original languages and an English translation, all the decrees of all the ecumenical councils from Nicaea I to Vatican II. As such it represents an indispensable reference work for theologians and historians, as well as for anyone interested in the development of Christian thought and doctrine. Indeed, these decrees represent the authoritative distillation of Christian tradition which itself is bound together with scripture "in a close and reciprocal relationship" so that the two "form a single sacred deposit of the word of God, entrusted to the church." The original text is a reproduction of the brilliant edition by G. Alberigo and others of the decrees Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, which provides for the first time a reliable critical text for all the ecumenical councils. The English translation faces each page of the original text and is the first rendering into English of all these decrees taken together. The translators have used inclusive language throughout to emphasize the continuity of conciliar documents. The 2,528 total pages of these two volumes include all the authenticated texts and their English renderings as well as a preface and introduction by the oringinal languages editor, a foreword by the English language editor, a bibliography for each decree, various commentaries and explanatory notes, and ten comprehensive indices.
Reforming the Russian legal system
Preface 1. Pre-revolutionary Russian law 2. The Bolshevik experience 3. The history of legal reform 4. Forging a new constitution 5. Citizens and the state: the debate over the Procuracy 6. In search of a just system: the courts and judicial reform 7. Law and the transition to a market economy 8. Legal reform in the republics 9. Legal reform and the transition to democracy in Russia Appendix Notes Index.