The Blackwell Companion to Catholicism offers an extensive survey of the history, doctrine, practices, and global circumstances of Roman Catholicism, written by a range of distinguished and experienced Catholic writers. The essays are addressed to all those who wish to broaden and deepen their knowledge of Catholic life and thought. The Companion is divided into four accessible parts:

• Catholic Histories includes essays on major eras of the Catholic story, from Scriptures and the early Church through the Middle Ages and Reformation to Modernity and Post-Modernity
• Catholic Cultures describes Catholics in different lands - the Holy Land and India and Africa, Europe and the British Isles and Ireland, Latin America and North America, Asia and Oceania
• Catholic Doctrines has essays on central topics in the practice of Catholic theology and development of doctrine - God and Jesus Christ, creation and Church and Mary, sacraments and moral theology, and eschatology
• Catholic Practices surveys some of the central Catholic practices: spirituality and ecumenism, inter-religious dialog and Catholic institutions (schools, hospitals, and charitable organizations), art and the natural sciences, the Holy See.

The result is a comprehensive and illuminating reference work, spanning the diversity and capturing the resonances of Roman Catholic life and thought.

James J. Buckley is Professor of Theology and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola College in Maryland. He has published Seeking the Humanity of God: Practices, Doctrines, and Catholic Theology (1992), is an associate editor of the journals Modern Theology and Pro Ecclesia and has co-edited (with L. Gregory Jones) the Blackwell Readings in Modern Theology series.

Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt is Associate Professor of Theology at Loyola College in Maryland. He is the author of Julian of Norwich and the Mystical Body Politic of Christ (1999) and Why the Mystics Matter (2003). He is also co-editor of Aquinas in Dialogue (Blackwell, 2004).

Trent Pomplun is an Assistant Professor of Theology at Loyola College in Maryland. A frequent contributor to Pro Ecclesia, Nova et Vetera, and Modern Theology, he writes about late medieval and early modern Catholicism, with special interests in scholasticism, positive theology, and inter-religious dialog.