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Papal Primacy, from its Origins to the Present. By Klaus Schatz, S.J. Translated by John A. Otto and Linda M. Maloney. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1996. x + 197 pp. $19.95.
The original text of this brief but thorough work, Der papstliche Primat: Seine Geschichte von den Ursprungen bis zur Gegenwart (1990), has appeared in such a professional and reliable English translation that the reader could not tell whether the book was written in English or translated from a foreign language. The author with his customary scholarly thoroughness (let it suffice here to refer to one of his earlier studies, "Papsttum und partikularkirchliche Gewalt bei Innocenz III (1198-1216)," Archivum historiae pontificiae 8 [1970]: 61-111), deals with the development of the papal primacy, beginning with the early Christian centuries through the Second Vatican Council, though one fears that occasionally he is far too brief with his subject; for instance, in the last subchapter of the book he condensed his narrative far too much in discussing Vatican II (pp.169-170).
In the first chapter he explains the formation of the pope's primacy by emphasizing the need for being responsible for the whole church according to the concept of Communio ecclesiarum (commonwealth of churches),...