Ave Maria in the Afternoon
Ave Maria in the Afternoon
The Assumption: How Doctrine Develops
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The Assumption: How Doctrine Develops

The Feast may be viewed not simply as teaching a truth, that Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven, but also as exemplifying a truth about what development amounts to.

In the last two centuries, there are three examples of the Church Developing her doctrine: the definition of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, the First Vatican Council’s clarification of Papal infallibility in 1870, and Pius XII’s definition of the Assumption in 1950. Michael Pakaluk joins us with a closer look at the Assumption and what the feast tells us about how doctrine develops.

Further Reading

The Assumption: A Feast of Doctrinal Development

Guest Info

Michael Pakaluk, an Aristotle scholar and Ordinarius of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, is Professor of Political Economy in the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America. He lives in Hyattsville, MD with his wife Catherine, also a professor at the Busch School, and their children. His collection of essays, The Shock of Holiness (Ignatius Press) is now available. His book on Christian friendship, The Company We Keep, is now available from Scepter Press. He was a contributor to Natural Law: Five Views, published by Zondervan last May, and his most recent Gospel book came out with Regnery Gateway in March, Be Good Bankers: The Economic Interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel. You may follow him on Substack at Michael Pakaluk.

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