Book excerpt: A lively debate continues in the Roman Catholic Church about the character of the teaching provided by the Second Vatican Council. Did it represent a decisive rupture with previous doctrine or the continuation of its earlier message under new conditions? In this work Dominican scholar and writer Aidan Nichols maintains that the Council texts must be interpreted in the light of their genesis, not their aftermath. They must be seen in the light of the public debates in the Council chamber not the hopes of individuals behind the scenes. On this basis, he provides a concise commentary on the eight most significant documents produced by the Council, documents which cover rather comprehensively all the major aspects of the Church’s life. The texts that emerged from the often-impassioned debates permit a reading of a classically Christian kind, and that is precisely what Nichols offers in this book.