The theme of this book is the theology which lies at the heart of the Second Vatican Council, Bishop Butler has written a com-plete yet concise exposition of this theology both as a unity and as found in the various texts of the Council. He has informed it with his own experience of making and voting those texts.

Bishop Butler was a Member of the Council, and for the last two of its four years a member of its important Theological Commission. He knows the texts from inside. This new edition of his book contains substantial further material both on the historical background and on the texts themselves. An extra final chapter reflects on developments since the Council.

No other work in English provides in a single readable text a general and detailed exposition of Vatican II, penetrating to the theological depths of the various leading topics and texts. It is an indispensable aid to an understanding of the Council which has in many ways transformed the life of the Catholic Church.

Christopher Butler, one-time Abbot of Downside, and now Auxiliary Bishop in Westminster, is the author of numerous books and articles including In the Light of the Council and Why Christ? published by DLT.