Ormond RUSH. The Vision of Vatican II: Its Fundamental Principles. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press Academic, 2019. pp. 624. $69.05 hb. ISBN 9780814680742. Reviewed by Kathleen BORRES, Retired from Saint Vincent Seminary, Latrobe, PA 15650.

Ormond Rush’s The Vision of Vatican II: Its Fundamental Principles is an outstanding theological work about an extraordinary conciliar event in the history of the church.In this work, Rush systematicallyexplores the history of  Vatican II through the lens of certain hermeneutical, theological, and ecclesiological principles, which he identifies and presents in an organic way that contributes greatly to the sense of the church’s living tradition.Rush’s approach, historical in the broadest sense, breathes life into the documents and shows how dynamic each principle is; and how the principles relate to one another. Readers will appreciate the different readings he provides relative to each principle; meaning, he looks at each principle and various conciliar documents (and preparatory drafts, etc.) from the lens of the authors of the texts, the texts themselves, and the readers. Note however that this threefold reading involves a lively and complex world of dynamic discussion. Understanding the intent of the conciliar authors involves more than a review of conciliar speeches, written interventions, etc. Rush reminds his readers to also pay attention to the extended communications and speeches experienced in informal meetings, in personal diaries and in minutes of conciliar commissions, in the history of the drafts of the texts themselves, in the reports presenting the drafts to the council, and in voting records. As Rush notes, “a ‘hermeneutics of the authors’ highlights the need to give attention to the complex interaction of all these factors” (4). Likewise, he reminds his readers that the texts are not limited to the conciliar documents themselves, read intertextually or intratextually. While Rush maintains the need to read the texts intertextually and intratextually, he rightfully adds that one also should consider the texts “within a longer context . . . in the context of a two-thousand year living tradition.” As for the readers, Rush explains that this group is not limited to the first generation of recipients of the texts but includes the church as a whole as she moves beyond her 20th century history. Altogether, these extended views of authorship, text and reading audience add to the dynamic sense of the principles and the work of the council, this threefold “read” of each principle and the associated documents Rush discusses under each principle.

Combined with Rush’s appreciation for the untold story, especially seen in his discussion of a protological/eschatological principle that he identifies as one of the five theological principles, but also seen in his discussion concerning other hermeneutical, theological and ecclesiological principles, the richness of the catholic faith shines forth as a light to the nations so to speak. In all this, he shows balance. He is neither “this worldly” nor “ahistoric,” neither rigid nor so open that he compromises the reality to which his work refers. Rather, he systematically explores and shows through his method of exposition that the mystery is working itself out in history for the consummation of all things “at the end of time”; that is, history will reach its end but the kingdom of God will live on. His work reflects a deep appreciation for the preconciliar and conciliar efforts of ressourcement and renewal.

More specifically, the book is broken down into three parts. Part I builds upon the work of the 1985 Extraordinary Synod of Bishops, which articulated six principles for understanding the work of the council and interpreting the conciliar documents. Appropriately, Rush identifies six hermeneutical principles and illuminates for this readers how as a body the council fathers, maintaining the integrity of the catholic faith, together with the periti and the faithful as a whole, hermeneutically “shifted the sails” of the church. The church approaches the faith, the world, and history, etc. in a new way with fidelity and creativity.

Rush opens Part II: Theological Principles with a rich discussion concerning the nature of revelation and faith; revelation is fundamentally God’s loving invitation to relationship and faith is a response to that invitation. Rush shows how the council fathers, not without considerable tension, moved the church away from a predominantly propositional approach to revelation and faith toward a more personal approach that lays the groundwork for a deeper appreciation for, and articulation of, the other four principles he identifies as theological principles. These other principles concern the christological and pneumatological realities of revelation and faith - and the conciliar work; the mystery of the church in the world as sign and instrument of God’s revealing grace; salvation, broadly speaking, as an “integral salvation” willed by the Triune God and mediated through the life, love, and work of the church; and, finally, the protological and eschatological realities of God’s revealing love “realized within the conditions of creation and the particular contexts of human history, yet . . . only . . . fulfilled at the end of human time.”

In Part III, Rush unpacks thirteen more principles, which he identifies as ecclesiological principles. These principles overlap and/or touch upon many of the points he discussed in the earlier sections. However, he believes it is important to call them out as distinct principles. He is right to think this and readers should be grateful for him having done so. For as he moves through each principle, he unpacks even more the integral and organic nature of the catholic faith without compromise. These principles touch upon the relationship between scripture and tradition; faith and history; the particular and the universal; communion and mission; unity and diversity; the church ad intra and ad extra; the faithful as a believing body and the “importance of the single believer within the community of all believers;” the people of God and the hierarchy; the college of bishops and the bishop of Rome; the magisterium and theologians; the catholic church and ecumenism; the catholic church and world religions; and, finally, the church and the world.

Altogether, Rush’s identification of these twenty-four principles contributes greatly to a deeper appreciation for the work of the council and the importance of a) following a conciliar and postconciliar vision and trajectory of thought and b) synthesizing what is learned in the light of newer questions and opportunities. As Rush notes in key places, some of the principles are not as well articulated or synthesized in the conciliar documents, nor was the council’s work a finished product. It was an “event” in the history of the church. Rush’s epilogue addresses these points as well; that is, the need to adopt “the same spirit of ressourcement and aggiornamento that the bishops embraced at Vatican II.” New questions and opportunities arise, and the church must address these questions and opportunities in the same spirit as the bishops addressed the questions and opportunities of their time. As such, The Vision of Vatican II: Its Fundamental Principles would make a very fine textbook in any number of graduate theological programs.