A liturgical existentialism attempts to situate Christian spirituality in view of a post‐Heideggerian world. To this end, French phenomenologist Jean‐Yves Lacoste has undertaken what is perhaps the most sustained analysis of Heideggerian existential phenomenology from a theological‐mystical point of view, and this paper highlights his major achievement: the liturgical reduction. Certainly existentialism, after Heidegger, makes the “world” an object of inquiry, and yet Lacoste's reduction is problematic precisely because it privileges an ascetic spirituality that desires to “bracket” the world. Both the temporality and topology of the liturgical reduction are exposed to view in order to show that a liturgical existentialism properly conceived, does not bracket the world, but is realized carefully in and through the world‐horizon itself.

Although not directly quoted in the documents of Vatican II, Newman should be regarded as an ‘invisible Father’ of the Council. This is evident the Council Fathers’ recognition of the importance of the historical situation as the place for practicing theology, a recognition of ‘the signs of the times’. We encounter revelation as fact rather than a set of hand‐me‐down propositions. Both Newman and Vatican II appreciated the role that the whole community of the Church plays in the articulation of doctrine. Newman invoked the model of the priestly, prophetic and regal office conferred on the Church by her Lord to challenge the increasing polarization between teachers and taught in the church and the damaging centralism that ensued. In a similar way the Council wished to restore a fruitful interplay between periphery and centre by acknowledging the collegiality of the bishops, and calling for a full involvement of laity in the life of the Church.

A close reading of Hosea 2 seems to reveal some inconsistencies in a feminist approach to this particular text. This essay challenges a particular feministic reading of Hosea 2 with an analysis that contends for the hearing of Yahweh's voice as he addresses Israel with a determined and subjective love. The relationship between Hosea and Gomer is used by Yahweh as a sign-act and in no way should the psychology of Hosea and Gomer take centre stage in the reading of this text. When the text speaks, it reveals that Yahweh's love is enduring, proactive and emotional. It also sets the tone for how we may continue to understand the tension between command and promise which may give cause to reshape the responsibility of today's theologians and church leaders. Eventually this text rests on the promise of Yahweh, by way of command, that there will in fact be a great day of blessing to come for his people (Hos 1:11; 3:5).

Cyril of Jerusalem's proposed theology of the Trinity has been labeled generic. That is, the term “God” identifies not so much a species of being or an individual being, but a unique, sui generis genus. Within the genus of God there are three species or ways of being God, though not three discrete individual beings. The article will attempt to defend and renew Cyril's theology by an appeal to the contemporary philosopher, Saul Kripke, and his notion of rigid designators. One way to contemporize and perhaps better understand Cyril's position is to interpret the term “God” as a Kripkean natural kind rigid designator with the properties of Fatherhood, Sonship, and Spiration.

While the emergence of “new Movements” characterise the pontificate of John Paul II, Benedict XVI's time is marked by the Catholic Church's use of new media. It began with Catholic websites and has moved on to blogging and tweeting. This is how the Church must communicate with younger people, until these are replaced by newer digital systems. Most blogs are dominated by a conservative version of Catholicism, but this may be what appeals to those young people who are still drawn to the Church. The disposability and built –in obsolescence of devices like tablets can be a problem compared with the comparative longevity of what they are replacing, namely books.

One of the problems confronting the doctrine of the Incarnation concerns Jesus’ apparent limitation in knowledge. This paper assesses various constructive proposals by modern theologians and philosophers, focusing on three of the most widely discussed solutions, namely Ontological Kenoticism, Two Consciousnesses Model, and Divine Subconscious Model. I argue that despite recent work done on the first two, the difficulties of avoiding the implication that the Logos ceased to be divine (for the first) and the implication of Nestorianism (for the second) remain. I conclude that the most promising solution is to defend Functional Kenoticism and develop the Divine Subconscious Model.

The article considers some of the factors relevant to the question of the credibility of Christian faith. It argues that atheism is a product of a certain kind of Western Christianity: when you exceed the boundaries of what can be said about God and create “religion”, at the same time you create the conditions for disbelief in that religion. Nietzsche is a point of reference for various aspects of the question which centres on the status of “God” in relation to religious narratives that have lost power. How might Christians conduct themselves in the “Courtyard of the Gentiles” that Pope Benedict proposes?