Bridging the Great Divide

These essays afford an opportunity of moving, in the company of Father Robert Barron, away from some of the polarizations that have left much modern theological writing in a cul-de-sac. The reader will judge how successful he has been in avoiding both a stuffy traditionalism and a liberalism without content; but the discussion is everywhere stimulating, the product of a fertile and cultivated theological mind. -- Francis Cardinal George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago
Clearly well versed in his own and other Christian denominational traditions as well as with contemporary popular and academic culture, Barron puts all these in dialogue in ways engrossing and accessible to a variety of audiences…Spiritual and theological richness-not to mention sheer pleasure…await the reader in this volume. * Anglican Theological Review *
Barron takes his readers on an interesting ride through systematic theology, liturgy, homiletics and spirituality, social ethics and finally through several essays on theology of priesthood and the laity. * Catholic New World *
Father Robert Barron grew up after the Council and hence was in a position to compare the riches of the Catholic heritage with the dry, lifeless version taught in the schools after the Council. He calls this "beige Catholicism"—a Catholicism devoid of its historic color and vitality and energy. The Council did not create this beige church, rather priests and nuns, desperately seeking a new certainty to replace those which had been lost fashioned it, doubtless in good faith and with good intentions. Father Barron does not indulge in nostalgia for the Church of the fifties and sixties. He supports the Council enthusiastically. He insists, however, the the Church must retrieve the theological and cultural riches of its age-old tradition—not as a museum piece but as resource for further growth. -- Andrew Greeley, University of Arizona; author of The Great Mysteries