000			01451nam a22001097a 4500
100			_aFrancis Dvornik
245			_aThe general councils of the church
260			_aLondon: _bBurns & Oates, _c1961.
500			_aSpecially commissioned for this series shortly after the announcement by Pope John XXIII of a forthcoming General Council of the Church, Father Dvornik's history of previous councils is a lucid and authoritative guide covering the period from the assemblies of the Apostles to the Vatican Council of 1870. Father Dvornik examines in detail the first seven Ecumenical Councils at which the Eastern Fathers, united with Rome, defined the fundamental dogmas on the Holy Trinity and on our Lord, doctrines which are common to all Christians and which still link Eastern Christianity to that of the West. He shows how these and others councils not only defined dogma but also engaged in a constant struggle against heresy and, during the Middle Ages, against the encroachments of the secular powers. The conciliar theory that councils were superior in authority to the Pope is also examined against the background of the Western and Eastern schisms and, subsequently, the Reformation whose challenge was answered by the Council of Trent. A final chapter is devoted to the last general council, the Vatican Council, and the relationship of its definition of papal infallibility to the conciliar principle
690			_aGeneral Councils
942			_cBK _n0
999			_c543 _d543