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Gerard S. Sloyan

By Annette Pelletier & Patricia Panganiban

Catholic

Gerard S. Sloyan

Reverend Dr. Gerard S. Sloyan (b. 1919) is a Roman Catholic priest of Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey. Author, lecturer, professor and scholar Sloyan taught at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and as guest lecturer at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. A leader in the field of religious education, New Testament, liturgy, ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue, Sloyan's scholarship and pastoral sensitivity bridge the pre- and post-Vatican era of the Church in the United States.

Biography

Gerard S. Sloyan was born in New York City on December 13, 1919. Perhaps one of the many foundations of Gerard Sloyan's impressive contributions to Christian Education was sown in the good earth of his unique family. His parents were well educated Irish Catholics whose love of learning and deep faith informed every aspect of their family life. His mother, Marie Virginia Kelley, and his father, Jerome James Sloyan, were both born in Manhattan, New York. His mother was a teacher whose love of literature and learning was a legacy she passed on to her four children: Jean, Elizabeth, Virginia and Gerard. All became educators eminently able to integrate learning with a committed Catholic family life. Sloyan's father studied "scientific dairy farming" at Cornell University but at the onset of World War I was sent to England and France to repair U.S. Navy fighter planes. After the war, his technical expertise evolved into a successful business but the family suffered the effects of the economic downturn triggered by the Great Depression. Creativity, perseverance, hard work and hope brought them through the crisis. Jerome Sloyan rebuilt his business and later developed and marketed an oil-burning unit designed after the jet principle and after that an automatic coal furnace. Creativity, the quest to learn, and religious faith were embedded in family life from the start.

Gerard was baptized at Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church on January 11, 1920. Seven years later, his parents and two sisters, Jean and Betty, left New Rochelle, New York for Red Bank, New Jersey where Gerard grew up. Similar to most Catholic families in the era of the immigrant church, the Sloyans' family life was anchored to the parish life at St James Catholic Church in that town of twelve thousand. He attended St. James elementary school and the Red Bank Catholic High School, both staffed by the Sisters of Mercy. On the quality of Catholic education there, he recalls that the Sisters were young, handpicked educators who were "long on homework assignments and parent-teacher conferences with an operetta every spring." (Sloyan, 1997, p.3) The high school curriculum included four years of English, Latin, religion study, gymnasium, and the sciences, three of mathematics and French, two of bookkeeping, as well as, a semester of economic, Problems of American Democracy and typing. Sloyan recalls that the Sisters' school was an "intelligent, no nonsense operation" (Sloyan, 1997, p.3). Interest in learning and deep religious faith at home and at school was the parameters of his ever-expanding religious and academic quest.

In addition to a "no nonsense education," Sloyan and his family were intimately connected to the life of the parish church, St. James, particularly in the realm of sacramental liturgy. His lifelong love for the Church's public worship was inspired by his early exposure to the liturgy as an acolyte (altar server) at Masses including the frequently requested Nuptial and Requiem liturgies. He testifies to the powerful impact liturgy in his formative years:

If I were ever to write an autobiography it would mention, somewhat incidentally, that I got an elementary and secondary education, played all the sports indifferently and got to be an Eagle Scout, but mostly was an altar boy. I was so deeply in the Church's offices throughout my youth that they all but defined me … The only thought that came to me and stayed was: "This is pretty serious business. Some priests do it better than others. I think I'd like to be in group A." (Sloyan, 1986, p.312)

After graduating from Catholic high school, Sloyan matriculated at Seton Hall in South Orange, New Jersey in 1936. The course of studies at Seton Hall College was solidly academic but "unimaginative," as he recalls. (Sloyan, 1997, p. 3) Latin, Greek, mathematics, religion, seminary-type theology, chemistry, history, French, and public speaking were taught by a faculty constituted equally of laymen and Newark archdiocesan priests. Not only was Sloyan a serious young academic, he worked on the college newspaper and was assistant manager of the varsity basketball team and, also earned board and room in his sophomore year as sacristan of the college chapel.

As a youth, parish priests inspired Sloyan. As a young adult, priest professors were "eye-openers". In the lives of these men, he saw that one could be a man of books and of learning and a diocesan priest. Thus, his aspiration to become one of them converged with his aptitude and zeal for learning (Friedl, 1997, p.48).

After two years in college, Sloyan was accepted as a candidate for the Diocese of Trenton and entered Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington, New Jersey (1938). For the next six years Sloyan dedicated his impressive intellectual energy to philosophy, doctrinal, ascetical and moral theology and canon law. He recalls that in those days seminary instruction in these areas was "earnest but uninspired" (Sloyan, 1997, p. 3). On the other hand, biblical studies and Church history were "good to the point of exciting" (Sloyan, 1997, p.3). Pater Albert Hammenstede, who until 1938 had been prior of the Abbey of Maria Laach (a Benedictine abbey in Rhineland Germany that was a pre-Vatican II center for liturgical reform), taught liturgy for two years, but after that "no one was having any ideas about it in the classroom" (Sloyan, 1986, p.305). Elsewhere he comments, "We just did it, the worship tolerably well, the preaching, under supervision … earnestly but indifferently" (Sloyan, 1997 p. 3).

As a seminarian, Sloyan devoted his summers to seminars exercising his zealous intellectual energy and acumen for the theological panorama of the initial waves of European nouvelle theologie that drifted across the Atlantic through guest lecturers and professors and directed summer seminars in Patristics, Hebrew, the theologies of the Orthodox Churches, and Fundamentaltheologie . Sloyan evaluated his theological education at that time to be "as good as the best in parts, in others as bad as the worst" (Sloyan, 1997, p.4).

While the world was at war for a second time, Sloyan became a subdeacon. He recounts that he was unsure of his vocation. He thought his faith was not strong enough to serve as a spiritual leader or to preach to anyone, but himself. Voicing his fears and contemplating enlisting in the Army, his wise seminary spiritual director remarked, "Gerry, you would make a rotten soldier but a good priest. Forget it". (Friedl, 1997, p. 48)

Sloyan was ordained to the diaconate in September of 1943. Impressed by his outstanding academic performance, the seminary faculty named him one of five classmates to complete his studies at The Catholic University of America leading to a licentiate in sacred theology (S.T.L.). Since a year of residence was required before ordination, Sloyan moved to Washington, D.C. where he resided in the Theological College of The Catholic University. Seminarians from all parts of the United States made up the student body. The Theological College was administered by the diocesan priests of the Society of Saint Suplice, a company of priests dedicated specifically to the theological education of priests in Canada, Europe and the United States. Sloyan and his classmates immersed themselves in Dogmengeschichte (the history of the development of Church doctrine), moral theology, and the rubrics of sacramental celebration. His timidity about his vocation gone, he forged ahead along with the "interesting crowd" of fellow seminarians (Friedl, 1997 p.48).

Sloyan's seminary formation was, also, intensely pastoral. The weekday priest professors on weekends were priest assistant pastors, celebrating Mass and officiating at sacramental celebrations in local parishes (Friedl, 1997, p. 48). Sloyan and companion seminarians were also involved in weekend pastoral ministry in the metropolitan area. He and a half a dozen classmates helped take the census of the then fledgling parish of St. Thomas More in Arlington, Virginia (later to become the cathedral church of the Diocese of Arlington). He was "amazed to learn how many people would admit a twenty-four-year-old in a white shirt and black tie into their homes to pour out the pain that the war was bringing to them … and also (he took) a measure of door slamming in the face" by those not so welcoming (Sloyan, 1997, p. 4).

In June, 1944 Sloyan completed his studies and was ordained a priest by bishop William A. Griffin D.D. of Trenton in St. Mary's Cathedral. The bishop had plans for this young priest and budding scholar, sending him back to The Catholic University of America to pursue doctoral studies in education. The bishop had Sloyan in mind as the future superintendent of the forty elementary schools and twelve high schools in his diocese of Trenton. As a graduate student at The Catholic University, he was among lay students, sisters, brothers, and priests, many of whom were recently mustered out military chaplains. Most were involved in the study of theology, canon law, and education but some were in the Schools of Social Work and Music, plus all the fields of college teaching.

To Sloyan, the intellectual climate of graduate studies whetted his appetite for research and provided a stimulating camaraderie among those who would become future scholars in those disciplines and some would be future members of the episcopate. The friendships formed in those years were "as effective agents of intellectual formation as the course and professors" he recalls (Sloyan, 1997, p. 5). His course work for the Ph.D. illustrates the enforced broadening of his interests after seminary studies: psychology of learning, cognitive and dynamic psychology, statistics, administration of school systems and curriculum. "To retain his sanity from the leaden prose of education textbooks" (Sloyan, 1997, p.5) he audited courses in anthropology and U.S. history. Fulton J. Sheen, the first American Catholic mass media icon, captured Sloyan's admiration as an excellent pedagogue but less so as a philosopher. While a graduate student, he took advantage of the semi-professional offering of the campus theater. The Catholic University sponsored lectures by Continental scholars of renown: Sigrid Undset, Edward Kennard Rand, Etienne Gilson, Nazi-resisting Konrad Cardinal von Preysing, Lisa Meitner, and Jacques Maritain. Sloyan's quest embraced theology and education, thus endowing his expertise with both depth and breadth. For him, theological education was never purely academic.

While finalizing his doctoral dissertation, Sloyan attended the lectures of the famed guest lecturer at The Catholic University, Dom Godfrey Diekmann, who would become a consultor on the liturgy at the Second Vatican Council. Sloyan delighted to hear "that man get inside the Didache , Justin's first Apology , and various patristic homilists On the Sacraments and On the Creeds ." Sloyan's love for learning, especially in the field of liturgy, was manifested in his continued interest in this area. Upon receiving the Berakah Award from the North American Academy of Liturgy in 1986, he claimed he felt "a little bit of a goose among swans, namely, a practicer of the art of public worship without any formal training in its history or theory" (Sloyan 1986, p. 305). He was however, exposed to the great minds of European liturgical and theological traditions in various academic forums at The Catholic University of America and through research. Leaders in liturgical theology included: Victor Warnach, Ildefons Herwegen, Odo Casel, H. A Reinhold, Leo von Rudloff, the founder of Weston Priory, Vermont and later the Abbot of the Dormition Monastery, Jerusalem and Damasus Winzen, the Founder of Mount Savior Monastery in Pine City, New York. The latter two were his Darlington seminary teachers of philosophy. Additionally there was Karl Adam, dogmatic theologian of University of Tubingen, Matthias Scheeben, Josef Jungmann, Emile Mersch: all great souled scholars whose depth and breadth Sloyan creatively integrated into his approach to religious education and theology in the era of Vatican II.

Sloyan and his scholarly colleagues formed a community of mentors: James Rea, Eugene Walsh, Myles Bourke, Maurice Dingman and Joseph Konrad. They "talked for hours into the night of a world that might be a pastoral, not a monastic, liturgy that invited the people to pray in concert - knowingly, lovingly, in art forms that were simple but elegant - as Christ, head and members, singing God's praises in the Spirit" (Sloyan, 1986, p. 309). Sloyan, himself, helped to create the "world" that the Second Vatican Council made a reality, not a nighttime conversation. Johannes Quasten, one of the authors of the first drafts of Sacrosantum Concilium , was later a faculty colleague in Washington. Sloyan assimilated the ideas of renowned theological scholars, particularly in the area of the Bible and the Liturgy, and creatively wove them into new approach to Catholic religious education. Sloyan helped blaze a new trail for integrative religious education in the United States.

Sloyan's dissertation, Christian Concepts in Social Studies in Catholic Elementary Education (1948), manifested his talent for sharp analysis and creative vision. He investigated the social studies curriculum in the Catholic elementary school in view of its formative influence on the life of the student. He questioned whether or not the prevailing model of the Catholic elementary school social studies curriculum integrated a religious vision of social reality in both content and method. According to his analysis it did not. His dissertation was published as a book, which was reprinted a number of times. Others were interested in his early reading of the signs of the times for education prior to the critical examination inspired by Vatican Council II.

Sloyan drew seven conclusions that challenged the status quo of social studies curriculum of the 1940's. His research revealed that only two of the twenty five elementary social studies curricula integrated Catholic social doctrine (Sloyan, 1948, p.176). This curriculum did not come to grips with any of the social problems that Catholic children face and before long will be their major preoccupation (Sloyan, 1948, p.179). Catholic courses in geography "contribute almost nothing to the socialization of the child." History courses seldom include a religious vision of history except for a possible mention of the Incarnation (Sloyan, 1948, p.179) Racism, as a social reality was not addressed; hence, there was no serious application of the theology of the Mystical Body. Instead, generalities about "sympathy and understanding" dilute its social impact (Sloyan, 1948, p.179). Catholic mission activity was presented in isolation from the growth of Christianity. Christianity's contribution to the alleviation of social, cultural and economic ills was not linked to the mission of the church (Sloyan, 1948, p.179). Catholic teachers lacked an informed understanding of Catholic social teaching. And, the curriculum guidelines were inadequate. Few additional resources for development or enrichment were provided (Sloyan, 1948, p. 180).

Aware that his study was an indictment of the status quo of Catholic elementary education of the time, Sloyan commented,

"Should it (this study) sting … the writer sincerely trusts that such smarts will be taken as merely antiseptic. Or, to change the metaphor … remember the ancient difficulty of making an omelet without breaking a few eggs." (Sloyan, 1948 p. 180)>

"Breaking a few eggs" was only the entrée! Sloyan's sharp wit, meticulous research, and appealing style in preaching, writing and speaking became his trademark. All of his audiences, both academic and popular, found fine fare in whatever banquet he prepared.

Sloyan graduated from The Catholic University of America with a Ph.D. in education in 1948. He returned to the diocese of Trenton, New Jersey where he served for a year in Trenton's German Catholic parish and then for two in Maple Shade. Bishop William A. Griffin's death signaled the end of his brief career as assistant superintendent of Catholic schools. The rector of the Catholic University, Rev. Patrick McCormick, made overtures to the new bishop, George W. Ahr, requesting that Sloyan return to his alma mater as instructor in the graduate department of religious education. (1950-1967). At this time, the University offered religion courses to all undergraduates and was distinguished in the country for its groundbreaking M.A. and PhD program in religion, studies distinct from the theology curriculum ordinarily offered to men studying for the priesthood. These were courses designed for non-clerics but a few priests were also enrolled as degree candidates, finding the approach refreshingly different from their seminary studies.

In 1957 Sloyan was appointed the head of the department of religious education, a post which he held for ten years (1957-1967). In the headship he actively promoted graduate and undergraduate courses in religion and theology for religious sisters, lay men and women. During his tenure the department progressively became a center for research in the history of religious education and for the preparation of professors and teachers in Catholic schools and religious education programs throughout the United States and the world through missionaries earning graduate degrees.

Because the university was Catholic and the department pastorally oriented, Sloyan and his colleagues were significantly instrumental in articulating an American response to ressourcement envisioned by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). The department became intensely engaged in promoting conciliar reform and renewal. It sponsored a weekday Mass of faculty and graduate students incorporating all the modes of celebration that the Liturgical Conference has been proposing over the previous twenty five years and the changes promulgated by the Council on December 4, 1963. Catholic theological life passed from famine to feast in the conciliar years according to Sloyan. He became a recognized and respected leader in the post-conciliar Church. As he says, he was deeply engaged in "barnstorming the country to explain what the Council's documents were teaching" (Friedl, 1997, p. 49). A gifted speaker and writer, his numerous contributions shaped the post-Vatican II United States. His publications, both popular and academic, betrayed his talent for translating "the signs of the times" to virtually any audience: priests, sisters, brothers, the laity, Catholics, Protestants, some Jews, even perhaps the occasional unbeliever. A sample of his books include: Worship in a New Key: What the Council Teaches on Liturgy (1965), Commentary on the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council (1964) To Hear the Word of God: homilies at Mass (1965); Nothing of Yesterday Preached (1966); Rejoice and Take It Away (two volumes, 1984) How Do I Know I am Doing Right (1967); Speaking of Religious Education (1968).

Sloyan's literary output also addressed a broad spectrum of educational issues: Catholic education, seminary education, and religious education/catechesis. He relentlessly challenged educators to evaluate soberly the impact of Christian educational theory and practice in light of current theological renewal and sound educational pedagogy. Sloyan was always the advocate of strong academic programs on the undergraduate and graduate level. He was among the strongest proponents of the College Theology Society, an organization dedicated to fortifying the academic character of theology and religious courses on the college level. Over the years he assumed roles of leadership in this organization and was instrumental in the publication of the Society's academic journal, Horizons. It was his hope that the College Theology Society would become more ecumenical in scope through the contributions of authors of other religious denominations. As head of the department, he was the first to appoint a professor of Protestant theology. Sloyan was also the first Catholic to be invited to join the editorial committee of Religious Education , the official journal of the Religious Education Association and served in that position from 1952-1970.

A sample of Sloyan's articles and reviews on educational topics and issues reveals the depth and scope of his attentive reading of "the signs of the times": "Undergraduate Studies in Sacred Doctrine in One U.S. University" ( Lumen Vitae ,1960), "Vital Concern: Seminaries in America" ( Commonweal , 1973), "Catechetical Progress" ( Worship , 1961), "Fifty Years of Telling the Good News: Canon Drinkwater" ( Worship , 1961), "Bibliography of Landmarks in the History of Catechizing" ( Worship , 1962), "Catechetical Roundup" ( Worship , 1962); "Religious Education" (Commonweal, 1973), "Religious Education Analyzed" ( North American Liturgical Weeks Proceedings , 1965). To him, teaching, whether in writing or by speaking, was preeminently "pastoral work without the hurly burly of the parish". (Friedl, 1997, p.49)

Not only did Sloyan "barnstorm" the country but, also, he "barnstormed" the metropolitan area of the nation's capital. His commitment to ecumenism and interreligious dialogue ushered him into synagogues, meeting halls, churches, university campuses; before diverse audiences: youth, adults, professional educators, ministers, rabbis. Sloyan's great gift was his ability to engage anyone, anywhere in the proclamation of the authentic catholicity of the Christian faith. Colleagues in both church affiliated and secular universities recognized and esteemed Sloyan's erudition and scholarly critique of contemporary theological issues and institutions.

It was this avid interesting in other religious traditions that led him to accept a professorship in the School of Religious Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1967). He was the first Catholic priest to accept a full time appointment at a state related institution. Here, he also flourished as a writer, speaker, and professor. The multi-cultural, multi-religious ambience of Temple University tapped his talent as a gifted educator and adroit administrator. Elected chairperson of the Department of Religion after only three years, he helped to make it a large and vigorous department by adding Hindu and Buddhist studies to the existing areas of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam (Sloyan, 1997, p. 6). This could not have happened without the active support of the institution's dean and president, something the religion faculty at the neighboring University of Pennsylvania did not enjoy.

Commenting on his resignation from the faculty of The Catholic University Sloyan remarks that his "chief motivation was the desire to return to fulltime teaching and research." (Sloyan, 1968, p.7) He lamented the lack of time for serious scholarship during his tenure as professor and chairperson . For him, private study and research were the strongest influence in preparation for classroom teaching . Yet, the priceless value of "learned papers heard" and "conversations engaged in" among his colleagues and students enhanced his creativity. Sloyan was a great admirer of Karl Rahner. He appreciated his erudition and prized Rahner's high estimation of theologians able to popularize theological themes without trivializing their truth (Sloyan, 1997, p.7). At Temple University, Sloyan broadened the scope of his scholarship. He continued to write and speak in the domain of religious education at the college level but because Temple was state-related, no courses in that branch of pastoral theology were able to be offered. He intensified his research in the New Testament producing three substantial books and three smaller ones in biblical interpretation while there. He also reached out to other religious traditions and vigorously promoted inter religious dialogue, chiefly with Jews in the Philadelphia area, but also through colleagues in that tradition and the numerous Jewish and Muslim students earning doctorates in the study of their respective religions.Another significant element of Sloyan's ministerial contributions was the depth of his knowledge of and appreciation for pastoral liturgy. He was not joking when he admits he was "born an altar boy" (Sloyan, 1986, p. 308). At least he was coached by his mother in learning the extensive Latin responses at Holy Mass by age six in New Rochelle, New York. Presiding at the Eucharist and celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation along with occasional baptisms, nuptial liturgies and funeral rites has been an integral part of his priestly life throughout his academic career.

For Sloyan, liturgy and education were linked. From its beginning in Europe, liturgical renewal was associated with biblical, catechetical, and ecumenical movements. Sloyan integrated the developments in all fields of renewal in a remarkably creative way. Gabriel Moran notes that Gerard Sloyan bridged two eras providing a "distinctive spirit to a generation of religious educators" in the United States (Moran, 1997, p.152).

The depth of Sloyan's scholarship evoked an unusual pastoral sensitivity. His numerous contributions in almost every imaginable field: liturgy, worship, Scripture and catechesis all manifest the giftedness of this "born altar boy". Parallel to his leadership in the field of religious education and catechesis, Sloyan was known and recognized for his contributions to liturgical renewal in the United States. He assumed various positions of leadership in the North American Liturgical Conference. And, in recognition for his leadership and scholarship, he was awarded the Berakah Award by the North American Academy of Liturgy (1986) and the Michael Mathis award from the University of Notre Dame Center for Pastoral Liturgy (1994). The Berakah Award presentation captures the convergence of Sloyan's multifaceted gifts.

From the deep wells of intellect and heart … as biblical scholar and theologian you have drawn us sources of refreshment for renewing liturgical life. Presiding and proclaiming at altar and ambo … teaching and ministry is your seamless vestment. Rarely has care for essentials of text and spirit so combined with sustained work and prayer for true ecumenism; more rare the words and deeds of Jewish-Christian dialogue which deepen both (Berakah Award, 1997).

In 1990 Sloyan retired from full time work at Temple University. He continued, however, to be active in part time teaching, writing and speaking at Temple from 1992 to 1994. He returned to The Catholic University of America in 1994 as Distinguished Professor and in 1996 as Distinguished Professor at Georgetown University. One could hardly say he is retired from active duty. He continues to write, speak, lecture and preside at the liturgy in local parishes and in the University community. Not one to tire of pastoral zeal, he continues to travel and lecture, most recently in a Catholic Jewish Dialogue on the Holocaust sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania's Newman Center and its Hillel Holocaust Education Committee. Ever ready to embrace the new and the challenging, Sloyan is expanding his linguist talents (French, German, Italian) to include Spanish. How else could he be priest, brother, tio and friend to the Hispanic community?

Contributions to Christian Education

Sloyan's contribution to Christian education can be appreciated in light of the state of Catholic religious education (catechesis) at the advent of Vatican II. In response to the post-World War II baby boom, Catholic schools, staffed largely by religious Sisters and Brothers, flourished in the United States, particularly in urban areas with high concentration of Catholics, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles. As already mentioned, Sloyan's bishop had intended him to become the superintendent of the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Trenton. Instead, his background as professional educator and theologian at The Catholic University of America enabled him to spearhead the professionalization and modernization of Catholic faith education, particularly on the college undergraduate and graduate level. The term "Religious Education" was not widely used in the Roman Catholic community but Sloyan, like John Montgomery Cooper before him, incorporated the terminology of fellow Christian educators of the Religious Education Association. "Religious education", rather than catechism instruction was the real focus of the Catholic school (Sloyan, 1968, p. 8). Through his dialogue with Protestant scholars Sloyan reminded his Catholic colleagues that Catholics were by no means the only ones convinced of the importance of academic study of Christian education in the field of religion and religious education. As head of a department of that name at The Catholic University of America, Sloyan and his colleagues taught numerous students of other faiths and churches, chiefly in the Schools of Engineering, Music, Speech and Drama. He was able to negotiate a regular appointment of a Protestant scholar lecturing in that tradition at about the same time St. John's University in Jamaica, New York did the same: two important "firsts." Later at Temple University he joined others in offering courses in various religious traditions on the graduate and undergraduate levels, the first university to do so with public funding.

In view of the limits of this article and the scope of Sloyan's scholarship in this field, the focus on his contributions will be in three areas: the theological foundation for religious education and the integration of educational theory in curriculum design; the academic preparation of Christian educators, particularly religious Sisters, Brothers, priests in school work and the laity; and his inclusive approach to religious education realized in the integration of Scripture, liturgy, and worship.

Sloyan helped break new ground when he joined Mary Nona McGreal, O.P. in her three volume Guiding Growth in Christian Social Living in facing the question of the adequacy of social studies curricula in Catholic elementary schools. This he first did in his dissertation (which was published, then reprinted twice due to demand). He applied the same keen critical analysis to the method and content of religion classes in Catholic schools, namely memorization of answers to questions in the Baltimore Catechism (1885)and its revised but not improved version (1941), the daily bread of practically every Catholic student in the country prior to 1960. Influenced by the European catechetical movement, Sloyan led the way on this side of the Atlantic to a return to the kerygmatic approach to pedagogy in keeping with the psychological maturity of the child. In his words, basing religious education solely on question and answers to the catechism amounted to the imposition of a "pedagogical straight jacket" not a living transmission of the Christian message (Sloyan 1968, p. 16).

Faith is a reality which must live, but it cannot live if its presentation prescinds from the vital spiritual, economic, or social forces and tendencies of the historical situation in which the believer lives (Sloyan, 1968, p.16).

He lamented that the 1941 revision of the catechism ignored a rich theological tradition available in the works of eminent scholars such as Johann Adam Mohler, M.J. Scheeben, and Emile Mersch. On theological and pedagogical grounds, he challenged the caliber and impact of religious instruction based exclusively on the question and answer method, He argued that the task of religious education was to "find the existentially important questions which are alive in the minds and hearts of the students" (Sloyan, 1968, p. 21). Moreover, a "catechism that has all the answers methodologically and logically arranged tends to give answers before the questions are asked" (Sloyan, 1968, p. 21). He charged that religious education in the United States amounted to a memoristic formality, extrinsic to the religious experience of the learner. Michael J. Wrenn, notes that Gerard Sloyan's publication of Shaping the Christian Message (1958) mirrored the influx of prominent European scholars in the field of catechesis (Lane, 1986, p.37).

Very creative and committed to a more authentic and timely approach to education in Christ, he explored the psychological dynamics of religious learning. Basing his claims in part on Piaget, Sloyan proposed that religious education coincide with the psychological maturity of the learner (Sloyan, 1968, p.22). Citing David Elkind's application of Piagetian principles in the Child Study Center, Sloyan suggests that the emotional and conceptual development of the learner be the focus of religious education.

The child can experience religious emotions before he can entertain religious thoughts … For children, religion is first of all feelings and action within the sphere of the actions of the Church (Sloyan, 1968, p.23).
Thus, he challenged the Roman Catholic educational community to shift the focus of both content and method in religious education. To him, "the encounter of faith contains a new type personalism and anthropology" (Sloyan, 1968, p. 25).

Sloyan's earliest insights about religious education can be traced to his dissertation, Christian Concepts in the Catholic Elementary School Social Studies (Catholic University Press, 1948). Prior to Vatican II's "Declaration on Christian Education" he envisioned education as a formative process of "growing up in Christ" (Co 3:4) as Francis Drinkwater had long been doing in England through his journal, The Sower .

The work of the Christian educator is cooperation with divine grace so that the supernatural virtues infused at Holy Baptism may be practiced by the learner with facility rather than possessed as mere capabilities; so that the person educated may become that image of the Divine Trinity longed for by God and for him for eternity (Sloyan, 1948, p. viii).

Sloyan challenged the enclave mentality of the Catholic school as bastion of Catholic identity:

The specific canon of success or failure in Catholic education is whether or not everything the child studies in the Catholic school is calculated to teach him more about Jesus Christ, and everything he experiences makes him more like Christ (Sloyan, 1948, p.xiii).

Sloyan responded to criticisms that Catholic schools were copies of public schools with a thin veneer of Catholicism thrown over them (Sloyan, 1958 p. xii). He defined Catholic education as a form of Christian education, but singular for its expression of the Catholic theological tradition. Education, Catholic and Christian, can and must educate the whole person towards the fullness of his Christian destiny. Much of his formation as a religious educator came through his membership in the Liturgical Conference beginning in 1944, which he also served as president in 1962-1964 continuing as an active board member for the next thirty-five years.

Undoubtedly, Sloyan is one of the preeminent educational leaders upon whose back the Roman Catholic Church in the United States journeyed from pre-Vatican II to post-Vatican era (Moran, 1997, p. 152). Gabriel Moran, his student and fellow educator, appraises Sloyan's contributions as a decisive link between eras, particularly in the shape and direction the Department of Religious Education took under his direction. Prior to the 1960's many courses in college religion for undergraduate students focused on apologetics and moral instruction. Sloyan redesigned the program by offering college theology taught by a select faculty (Nuesse, 1990, p. 398). Firmly grounded in the Catholic theological tradition, college theology began to be on par with the academic standards of courses in the arts, sciences, technology and law. Sloyan was in tune with "a nationwide movement for the reorientation of undergraduate instruction in a stricter, more critical, disciplinary direction" (Nuesse, 1990, p.398) No longer would clerics be the only Catholics with a genuinely theological education; so also, would the laity, religious sisters and brothers. Sloyan's innovative approach provoked controversy in the School of Theology since, up until that time, only ecclesiastical students took courses in theology (Nuesse, 1990, p. 398). Not only did undergraduates benefit from the Department of Religion and Religious Education, but also M.A. and Ph.D. programs were initiated to meet the growing demand for leadership and scholarly research in religious education.

From 1957 to 1967 Sloyan was chairperson of this Department which, in the wake of Vatican II, became the foremost center in the Catholic Church for the reform of religious education and catechesis in the United States. Before long, other such centers, notably at Boston College and Fordham University came into existence. Sloyan invited European scholars in theology, Scripture, catechetics and religious education and liturgy to give six week courses in summer sessions as part of year-round M.A. programs at the Catholic University of America. Always the champion of academic excellence and pastoral commitment, Sloyan and his colleagues established graduate programs which shaped a generation of renowned Christian educators, not only in the Catholic theological tradition, but also, in educational pedagogy, religion and culture. During this time, Sloyan edited an eleven book series of college textbooks for Prentice Hall, Foundations of Catholic Theology , to which he added his own, The Three Persons in One God , (1964), and the multi authored Modern Catechetics: Message and Method in Religious Formation (1963).

Sloyan not only bridged two eras of Catholicism in the United States, he also paved pathways to friendly interreligious and ecumenical dialogue, specifically with Judaism and Islam (Truitt, 1990, p. 294). During his tenure at Temple University, as both professor of New Testament Studies and Chair of the Department of Religion in the 1970's and again in the 1980's, he journeyed with his colleagues in the religion department notably Robert Gordis, Jacob Agus, Isma 'el al Faruqi, Hassan Hanafas, Leonard Swidler, and Mahoud Ayoub into the rich and bountiful land of interfaith dialogue. Earlier he had made the acquaintance of John M. Osterrmiecher who gave him a place on the first board of Seton Hall University's Institute of Judeo-Christian Studies, later carried on by Asher Finkel and Lawrence Frizzell. He relished the contributions of Protestant scholarship and the found the new vistas of the Jewish and Muslim traditions compelling.

The result of Sloyan's association with scholars in other religious traditions occasioned contributions in the sphere of interreligious dialogue. A Commentary on the Oberammergau Passionsspiel: In Regard to its Image of Jews and Judaism (1978) [with Leonard Swidler], which achieved twenty-three changes in the text as well as others in the continuing 1990 season long production. Bursting The Bonds? A Jewish-Christian Dialogue on Jesus and Paul (Orbis Books,1990). [with Leonard Swidler, Lewis Eron and Lester Dean] and What Men Owe to Women, Men's Voices from World Religions (SUNY Press, 2001) were other works. Besides his impressive literary output, Sloyan made deep and lasting friendships with his Jewish and Muslim counterparts. Still recognized as an expert and enthusiast in this field, he is often invited as guest lecturer in Jewish-Christian relations having served for its entire duration on Philadelphia Interfaith Council on the Holocaust. In 1970, while at Temple University Sloyan was awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal for his work as English editor of the New American Bible's New Testament (1970). He has also served as president of the College Theology Society (1964-1966) and the Catholic Theological Society of America (1993-1994).

One of Sloyan's most recent works in the field of ecumenism is Preaching from the Lectionary: An Exegetical Commentary (2004). This substantial volume offers informed and insightful commentaries on the biblical texts for the Roman Catholic Lectionary for Mass (1969, 1981) and the Consultation of Common Text's Protestant Revised Common Lectionary (1992). To assist pastors in "identifying central issues, struggling with difficult elements, and suggesting new insights" a CD ROM accompanies the hefty volume (Preface, xvii). Ever the educator, liturgist, biblical scholar and ecumenist, Sloyan has yet to deliver his last word!

George Albert Coe, one of the great scholars in religious education at the beginning of this century, asked a perennial question: "Shall the primary purpose of Christian education be to hand on religion or create a new world?" (Coe, 1929, p.29) Sloyan, at the close of the same century, suggests that it is in the handing on of the tradition celebrated in the liturgy, proclaimed in the Word, and articulated in educational praxis that the Kingdom comes.

Works Cited

  • The Berakah award for 1986. (1986). Worship , 60, 304.
  • Coe, G. A. (1929). What is Christian education ? New York: Scribner and Sons.
  • Friedl, F. P., & Reynolds R. (Eds.). (1997). Extraordinary lives . Notre Dame, Indiana: Ave Maria Press.
  • Moran, G. (1997). Religious education after Vatican II. In J. Raines, & D. P. Defroymson (Eds.), Open Catholicism: The tradition at its best: Essays in honor of Gerard S. Sloyan (pp. 151-166). Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press.
  • Nuesse, C. J. (1990). The Catholic University of America: A centennial history . Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1948). Christian concepts in social studies in catholic elementary education . Washington, D. C.: Catholic University Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1958). Shaping the Christian message . New York: The Macmillan Company.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1968). Speaking of religious education . New York: Herder and Herder.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1997). I was there when some of it happened. In J. Raines, & D. P, Efroymson (Eds.), Open Catholicism: The tradition at its best: Essays in honor of Gerard S. Sloyan (pp. 1-8). Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2004). Preaching from the lectionary: An exegetical commentary . Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
  • Truitt, G. E. (1990). Gerard Sloyan. In R. L. Tuzik (Ed.), How firm a foundation: Leaders of the liturgical movement (pp. 292-299). Chicago: Liturgical Training Publications.
  • Wrenn, M. J. (1986). Religious education at the crossroads: U.S.A. In D. Lane (Ed.), Religious education and the future (pp. 31-51). New York: Paulist Press.

Bibliography

Books and Pamphlets

  • Sloyan, G. S. (2004). Preaching from the lectionary: an exegetical commentary . Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2004). Why Jesus died . [Edited excerpt of The crucifixion of Jesus (1995)]. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (Ed.). (1996). Religions of the book . Annual publication of the College Theology Society vol. 38. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1995). The crucifixion of Jesus: History, myth, faith . Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1995). Walking in the truth: Perseverers and deserters: The First, Second, and Third Letters of John . Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994). Pentecost 1: Interpreting the lessons of the Church year . Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). So you mean to read the Bible! Some tips for absolute beginners . Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1991). What are they saying about John ? New York: Paulist Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1990). Catholic morality revisited: Origins and contemporary challenges . Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1989). Jesus: Redeemer and divine Word . Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1988). Holy week . Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1988). John: A biblical commentary for teaching and preaching . Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1986). The Jesus tradition: Images of Jesus in the West . Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). Advent, Christmas . Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S., & Swidler, L. (1984). The passion of the Jews, recommended changes in the Oberammergau passion play after 1984 . New York: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1984). Rejoice and take it away: Vol. 2. Sunday preaching from the scriptures . Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1984). Worshipful preaching . Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1983). Jesus in focus: A life in its setting . Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications. [Revised, 1994)
  • Sloyan, G. S., & Swidler, L (1978). Commentary on the Oberammergau passionspiel in regard to its image of Jews and Judaism . New York: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1978). Is Christ the end of the law ? Philadelphia: Westminster.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1975). Commentary on the new lectionary . New York: Paulist Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S., & Kee, H. C. (1974). Pentecost 3 . Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1973). Jesus on trial: The development of the passion narratives and their historical and ecumenical implications . Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1971). New American Bible . Washington, DC: National Center for Religious Education. [English Ed., New Testament].
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1968). The books of Ruth and Tobit . Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1968). Speaking of religious education . New York: Herder & Herder.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1967). How do I know I'm doing right? Toward the formation of a Christian conscience . New York: George A. Pflaum. [Revised, 1976]
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1966). Nothing of yesterday preaches: Homilies for contemporaries . New York: Herder & Herder.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1965). To hear the word of God: Homilies at Mass . New York: Herder & Herder.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1965). Worship in a new key: What the council teaches on the liturgy . Washington, DC: The Liturgical Conference. [Reprinted, 1968. New York: Doubleday Echo].
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1964). Commentary on the Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council and the Motu Propio of Pope Paul VI . Glen Rock, NJ: Paulist Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1964). Liturgy in focus . Glen Rock, NJ: Paulist Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1964). Foundations of Catholic theology: Vol. 11 Three persons in one God . In Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963). The Trinity . Glen Rock, NJ: Paulist Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1962). Christ the Lord . New York: Herder & Herder. [Revised, 1965. New York: Doubleday Echo].
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1962). Vocabulary for the Roman Catholic Faith. New York: Data Guild. [Solid plastic religion charts].
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960). The Gospel of St. Mark: Introduction and commentary . Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press. [Also in Spanish and Malayalam].
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1954). The sacrament idea . Washington, DC: National Council of Catholic Men. [Catholic hour radio address NBC].
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1950). Christian concepts in social studies in Catholic education (2nd ed.). Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C. [second printing; first published under the title: The recognition of certain Christian concepts in the social studies in Catholic elementary education, 1948.].

Chapters in Books

  • Sloyan, G. S. (2003). Bernard Cooke: Creator of the need for suitable textbooks in theology. In Sacramental life (pp.33-38). Milwaukee: Marquette University Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2003). Christ and redemption. In T. Wiley (Ed.), Thinking of Christ, proclamation, explanation, meaning . New York: Continuum.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). Holy week. In New proclamation year B 1999-2000 . Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). God's mercy endures forever: guidelines for the presentation of Jew and Judaism in catholic preaching. In The liturgy documents (Vol. 2). Chicago: The Liturgy Training Publications.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1997). I was there when some of it happened. In D. Efroymson, & J. Raines (Eds.), Open Catholicism: The tradition at its best: essays in honor of Gerard S. Sloyan (pp.1-8). Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1996). Preaching. In C. Stuhlmueller (Ed.), The Collegeville pastoral dictionary of biblical theology (pp. 765-769). Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1996). Teach/Teaching. In C. Stuhlmueller (Ed.), The Collegeville pastoral dictionary of Biblical theology (pp. 974-977). Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1995). Liturgical preaching. In W.H. Willimon, & R. Lischer (Eds.), Concise encyclopedia of preaching (pp. 311-313). Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox.
  • Sloyan, G. S (1994). The homily and catechesis. The catechism and/or the lectionary? In B. L. Marthaler (Ed.), Introducing the Catechism of the Catholic Church (pp. 133-141). New York: Paulist Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994). The role of the bible in catechesis according to the catechism. In In B.L. Marthaler (Ed.), Introducing the Catechism of the Catholic Church (pp. 32-42). New York: Paulist Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). Jesus and history. In R. C. Miller (Ed.), Empirical theology: A handbook (pp. 142-154). Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). A Response to the Study [of post-Vatican II liturgy in 15 U.S. parishes] from the standpoint of Christology. In L. J. Madden (Ed.), The awakening church: Twenty-five years of liturgical renewal (pp. 46-54). Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S., & Dean L. (1990). A Jewish-Christian dialogue about Paul. In L. Dean, L. Eron, & L. Swidler (Eds.), Bursting the bonds? A Jewish-Christian dialogue on Jesus and Paul (pp. 125-216). Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1989). Colossians. In B.W. Anderson (Ed.), The books of the bible 2 (pp. 301-310). New York: Scribner's Sons.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1989). Ephesians. In B.W. Anderson (Ed.), The books of the bible 2 (pp. 282-292). New York: Scribner's Sons.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1988). Forming catechumens through the lectionary. In J. Wilde (Ed.), Before and after baptism (pp. 27-37). Chicago: Liturgical Training Publications.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1987). Biblical Theology. In J. Komonchak, M. Collins, & D.A. Lane (Eds.), The new dictionary of theology (pp. 118-129). Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1987). The Catholic-Protestant conflict in Northern Ireland. In C. Fu, & G. Spiegler (Eds.), Movements and issues in world religions: A sourcebook and analysis of developments since 1945 (pp. 39-55). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1987). A light of revelation to the gentiles [homily for Epiphany]. In J. T. Pawlikowski, & J. A. Wilde (Eds.), When Catholics speak about Jews (pp. 35-37). Chicago: Liturgical Training Publications.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1983). Liturgical basis for social policy: A Catholic viewpoint. In D. F. Polish, & E. J. Fisher (Eds.), Liturgical foundations of social policy in the Catholic and Jewish traditions (pp. 169-179). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1981). Who are the people of God? In A. Finskel, & L. Frizzell (Eds.), Standing before God, Studies on prayer in scripture and in tradition with essays in honor of John M. Osterreicher (pp. 103-114). New York: Ktav.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1980). Come Lord Jesus: The view of the post-resurrection community. In F. A. Eigo (Ed.), Who do people say I am ? (pp. 91-122). Villanova, PA: Villanova University Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1980). Obeying for conscience sake. In K. Nichols (Ed.), Voice of the hidden waterfall: Essays on religious education in honour of Francis Drinkwater (pp. 61-75). Middlegreen, Slough, England: St. Paul Publications.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1980). Response to Samuel Terrien's The Elusive Presence. In L. Frizzell (Ed.), God and his temple: Reflections on Professor Samuel Terrien's The Elusive Presence: Toward a new biblical theology (pp. 66-71). South Orange, NJ: Institute of Judeao-Christian Studies, Seton Hall University.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1979). Conscience. In R. A. Boulet (Ed.), Moral education and development . Dayton, OH: Pflaum.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1977). Letter of James. In R. H. Fuller, et al. (Eds.), Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter (pp. 28-49). Philadelphia, Fortres Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1977). Recent literature on the trial narratives of the four gospels. In T. J. Ryan (Ed.), Critical history and biblical faith. Proceedings of the College Theology Society 1977 (pp. 136-176). Villanova, PA: College Theology Society.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1975). Postbiblical development of the Petrine mystery. In J. W. Flanagan (Ed.), No famine in the land. Studies in honor of John L. McKenzie (pp. 223-233). Missoula, MT: Scholars Press for the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1974). Christianity [plotting of maps and text]. In I. Al-Faruqi (Ed.), A historical atlas of the religions of the world (pp. 201-236). New York: Macmillan.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1972). Biblical and patristic motives for celibacy of church ministers. In W. Bassett, & P. Huizing (Eds.), Concilium: Vol. 78. Celibacy in the church (pp.13-29). New York: Herder and Herder.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1972). Some problems in modern Christology. In G. Devine (Ed.), A world more human, a Church more Christian. Proceedings of the College Theology Society 1972 (pp. 27-51). Villanova, PA: College Theology Society.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1968). Blessed are certain of the peacemakers. In T. Quigley (Ed.), American Catholics and Vietnam (pp. 27-38). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. [reprinted in Spiritual Life , 13, 231-243].
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1967). Catechetics. In The new Catholic encyclopedia (Vol. 3) (pp. 220-225). New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1967). Catechisms. In The new Catholic encyclopedia (Vol. 3) (pp. 225-231). New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1967). English literature on the homily. In P. Benoit, R. E. Murphy, & B. van Iersel (Eds.), Concilium: Vol. 20. The dynamism of biblical tradition (pp. 124-130). New York: Paulist Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1967). The parish as educator. In J. O'Gara (Ed.), The postconciliar parish (pp. 127-136). New York: Kenedy.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1967). Spirituality for the secular priesthood. In G. S. Sloyan (Ed.), The secular priest in the new church (pp. 55-76). New York: Herder and Herder.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1966). The meaning of Israel as idea and reality. In P.J. Scharper (Ed.), Torah and Gospel: Jewish and Catholic theology in dialogue (pp. 215-228). New York: Sheed and Ward.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963). Liturgy and catechetics. In F. R. McManus (Ed.), The revival of the liturgy: Gift to Father Godfrey Diekmann on his jubilee as editor of Worship (pp. 42-61). New York: Herder and Herder.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963). Relation of the catechism to the work of religious formation. In G. S. Sloyan (Ed.), Modern catechetics: Message and method in religious formations (pp. 63-101). New York: Macmillan.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963). Roman Catholic education in the U. S. A. In K. B. Cully (Ed.), Westminster dictionary of religious education (pp. 576-581). Philadelphia: Westminster.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963). Seminary training and religious education. In G. S. Sloyan (Ed.), Modern catechetics: Message and method in religious formations (pp. 291-303). New York: Macmillan.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1962). The Good News and the catechetical scene in the United States. In J. A. Jungmann (Ed.), The Good News yesterday and today (W.A. Huesmann, Trans.). (pp. 211-228). New York: Sadlier.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). Amerika, die Vereinigte Staten von . In L. Lentner (Ed.), Katechetisches Lexikon (cols. 11-26). Freiburg: Herder.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). Marian prayers. In J. B. Carol, (Ed.), Mariology (Vol. 3) (pp. 64-87). Milwaukee, WI: Bruce.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960). Pastoral formation as an aim of the seminary liturgy course. In Yearbook of liturgical studies (Vol. 1) (pp. 3-14). Notre Dame, IN: Fides.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960). The problem of prohibited books and the American Catholic intellectual: Vol. 6. Society of Catholic College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine Proceedings (pp. 83-89). Villanova, PA: Catholic College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960). Roman Catholic religious education. In M. J. Taylor (Ed.), Religious education (pp. 396-409). New York: Abingdon.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960). The youth of the church. In D. Flanagan (Ed.), The city: Essays on the Church (pp. 5-12). Dublin, Ireland: Gill.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1958). Shaping the Christian message. In G. S. Sloyan (Ed.), Shaping the Christian message: Essays in religious education (pp. 11-45). New York: Macmillan.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1955). From Christ in the Gospel to Christ in the Church: Catholic College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine. Proceedings 1 (pp. 10-24). Villanova, PA: Catholic College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1951). Thomas Wolfe: A legend of a man's youth in his hunger. In H. C. Gardiner (Ed.), Fifty years of the American novel, 1900-1950 (pp.197-215). New York: Scribner's Sons.

Articles

  • Sloyan, G. S. (2005). Jesus encounters sinners. The Bible Today , 43, 16-22.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2005). The art and craft of Preaching. The summit: journal of the liturgical commission Archdiocese of Melbourne , 37, 10-11.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2002). Cruciformity: Paul's spirituality of the cross. Worship , 76, 567-569.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2002). Thus faith comes from what is heard (Romans 10:17): How much of the Bible do people hear? Biblical Theology Bulletin , 32, 100-107.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2001). Some thoughts on Bible translations. Worship , 75, 228-249.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2000). What kind of canon do the lectionaries constitute? Biblical Theology Bulletin , 30, 27-35.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2000). Coming soon: The return of an old tradition: Married presbyterate in the west. America , 182 (13), 12-17.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2000). The Torah's vision of worship. Worship , 74, 279-280.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2000). Take care," as everyone says nowadays. Worship , 74, 168-173.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2000). The wall was of jasper, the city pure gold, clear as glass. Worship , 74, 55-59.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). Some notes on becoming a Holy Communion. Worship , 73, 541-545.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). The Playing of the Merry Org' Sweet singing in the choir. Worship , 73, 453-457.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). We read fine things but never feel them to the full. Worship , 73, 348-351.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). On leadership in prayer. Worship , 73, 246-249.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). Why ignorance of the Bible makes good liturgical observance impossible. Pastoral Music , 24 (1), 25+.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). How does the proclaimed Word mean? Pastoral Music , 23 (4), 21+.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1998). Christian Persecution of the Jews over the centuries. United States Holocaust Museum. Retrieved from http://www.ushamm.org/research/center/persecution/persecution.pdf
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1997). Some thoughts on liturgical preaching. Worship , 71, 386-399.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1996). The Gnostic adoption of John's Gospel and its canonization by the Church Catholic. Biblical Theology Bulletin , 26, 125-132.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1996). A people delights in the Triune NAME: Preaching the readings. Liturgy , 13 (1), 4-9.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1995). Do Catholics understand the sacraments? Church , 11 (3), 12-17.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1995). The popular passion piety of the Catholic west. Worship , 69, 2-28.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1995). Presence and absence in the Eucharist. Worship , 69, 263-269.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1995). The use of the Bible in A new resource Bbook. Biblical Theology Bulletin , 25, 3-13.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994). Demons and exorcisms. The Bible Today , 32, 21-26.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994). The Jesus in whom the churches of the apostolic age believed: Vol. 48. Presidential Address, The Catholic Theological Society of America Proceedings (65-79).
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993, December-1994, January). Not even Solomon in all his splendor. The New Testament and creation. Pastoral Musician , 18, 25-26, 33-35.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994). Statement commemorating the 30th anniversary of Vatican II's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and Responding to conservative criticism of Catholic liturgical reform; the Amen corner. Worship , 68, 157-167.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994). A theological and pastoral critique of Catechism of the Catholic Church. Horizons , 21, 159-171.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994, Summer). Thirty years after the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy [statement]. Liturgical Ministry , 3, 111.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994). An all saints prayer. Liturgy , 12, 8+.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994). Guides for preaching in a spirit of prayer. Liturgy , 12, 37+.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993). Piety Centered on Jesus' Sufferings and Some Eccentric Christian Understandings of the Mystery of Calvary. Worship , 67, 98.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993). Jewish-Christian dialogue: An annotated book list. Living Light , 30 (1), 93-99.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993). The scriptures of the season: Eastertime. Liturgy , 11, 43-53.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993). Easter's fifty days. Liturgy , 11(2), 64-65.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993). The fiftieth day. Liturgy , 11 (2), 66.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). Book Roundup: Preaching Matthew. Church , 8 (4), 51-54.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). Homily, Brooklyn, New York [liturgy for Christian burial of R. W. Hovda; Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 23; Thessalonians 4: 13-18; Matthew 11:25-30]. Worship , 66, 267-270.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). Make us to be one body, one spirit, in Christ. Sisters Today , 64, 377-385.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). Preaching Matthew. Church , 8 (4), 51-54.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). What is John 17 saying to the churches? Liturgy , 10 (1), 53-55.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1991, January). The lectionary: The independent second readings and the psalter. Liturgy , 90, 8-10, 13.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1991, February). To be the best we can be. Religion Teacher's Journal , 25, 24-25.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1991, May-June). Studying the lectionary. Liturgy , 90, 8-11.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1990, November-December). The lectionary. The four gospels: Four interpretations of Jesus. Liturgy , 90, 9-11.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1990, October). The lectionary. The Hebrew scriptures apart from their fulfillment in Christ. Liturgy , 90, 9-11.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1990, August-September). The lectionary. A treasure-house of images. Liturgy , 90, 7-9, 15.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1990, July). The lectionary. Richer fare for God's people. Liturgy , 90, 8-10.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1989). Some suggestions for a biblical three-year lectionary. Worship , 63, 521-535.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1989, August-September). The paschal triduum: An enduring drama. Pastoral Musician , 15-18.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1989). Christianity's view of the religious 'other'. Drew Gateway , 58, 47-51.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1987). Is church teaching neglected when the lectionary is preached? Worship , 61, 126-140.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1986). Word and sacrament in the life of the Spirit. Liturgy , 5 (3), 59-69.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1986). The resurrection of the body and life-everlasting - personal fulfillment. Furrow , 37, 747-755.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1986). Response to the Berakah award. Worship , 60, 305-311.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1986). The bible as the book of the church. Worship , 60, 9-21.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). Review symposium: resurrection: New Testament witness and contemporary reflection. By P. Perkins [4 reviews: rejoinder]. Horizons , 12, 358-370.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). Outreach to Gentiles and Jews: New Testament reflections. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 22, 764-769.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). Some theological implications of the Holocaust. Interpretation , 39, 402-413.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). Jewish ritual of the first century C. E. and Christian sacramental behavior. Biblical Theology Bulletin , 15, 98-103.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1984). Transmitting the heritage of faith through libraries. Catholic Library World , 53, 15-20.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1984). Preparation for preaching [excerpt from Worshipful Preaching , 1984]. Christian Ministry , 15 (4), 5-7.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1983). The Samaritans in the New Testament [2 Kings 17:25-41; John 4]. Horizons , 10, 7-21.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1983, October). Jesus in focus. Today's Parish , 15, 8-10.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1983). The bible on sacred space. Liturgy , 2 (4), 21-27.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1982). Israel: Warp and woof in John's gospel. Face to Face: An Interreligious Bulletin , 9, 17-22.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1982, January-February). Discipleship of Christ in the Book of Revelation. National Catholic World , 225, 38-40.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1981). Faith and law: An essay toward Jewish-Christian dialogue. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 18, 93-103.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1980, March). We're not ready for it. Pastoral Music , 4, 64-65.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1980). Jesus of Nazareth: Today's way to God. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 17, 49-56. Reprinted in (1980). L. Swidler, (Ed.), Consensus in Theology? A Dialogue with Hans KÜng and E. Schillebeeckx (pp. 1-32) Philadelphia: Westminster Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1980). An instructional cycle to prop up the lectionary. Living Light , 17 (4), 182-186.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1980). Bibliography File. Liturgy , 25 (1980 March-April), 41.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1980, January-February). Bibliography File. Liturgy , 25, 45.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1980). The bible and Christian prayer. Liturgy , 1, 3-8.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1979). Why is Christianity resisted today? Spirituality Today , 31, 149-156.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1979, November-December). Bibliography File. Liturgy , 24, 44.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1979, September-October). Bibliography File. Liturgy , 24, 39-40.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1979, July-August). Bibliography File. Liturgy , 24, 7-8.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1979, May-June). Bibliography File. Liturgy , 24, 9-10.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1978, November). Visions of unity in bible and liturgy. Liturgy , 23, 9-14.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1978, May). Moral education and development: Forming a right conscience. Today's Catholic Teacher , 11, 24-25.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1977, November). The power of God. Liturgy , 22, 26-17.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1977). The lectionary as a context for interpretation. Liturgy , 2 (3), 43-49. Also found in Interpretation, 31, 131-138.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1977). Jesus in Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 14, 448-465.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1976, May). Sunday, a different day. Sign , 55, 5-9.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1976). Roman Catholic Eucharistic reforms: A basis for dialogue? Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 13, 286-291; and in L. Swidler (Ed.), Eucharist in ecumenical dialogue (pp. 96-101). New York: Paulist Press.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1976). The Jews and the new Roman lectionary. Face to Face , 2, 5-8.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1975, November-December). Doing right revisited. Religion Teacher's Journal , 9, 37-39.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1973). An annotated bibliography of selected titles in Christology. Living Light , 10 (4), 566-571.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1972). What has Christianity to do with Jesus? Monastic Studies , 8, 45-66.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1972, February 25). Selections for religious book week: Critic's choices. Commonweal , 95, 506-508.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1971, March 26). The permanent diaconate: A new servant class? Commonweal , 94, 56-60.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1971). The last days of Jesus. Judaism , 20, 56-68.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1970, October 7). Seminaries in America. Commonweal , 73, 37-40.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1970). Orthodoxy and heterodoxy: The situation in the Church Today. Catholic Theological Society of America Proceedings , 25, 137-154. Reply by N. McEleney, 25 (1970), 155-158.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1970). The new rite for celebrating marriage. Worship , 44, 258-267.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1970). The New American Bible. Living Light , 7 (1), 87-104.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1970, March 27). Is there any hope for liturgy? Commonweal , 93, 56-60.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1969). The new role of the study of religion in higher education: What does it mean? Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 6, 1-17.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1969). Meaning and qualities of ministry: The office of permanent deacon. Living Worship , 5 (7), 1-6.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1968). A new catechism: Catholic Faith for Adults, 1967. Religious Education , 63, 328-330.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1967, December). What about the Dutch catechism? U. S. Catholic , 33, 6-10.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1967, January 7). A statement on teaching religion. America , 116, 16-20.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1967). Religious studies in Roman Catholic colleges and universities. Theological Education , 3 (2), 376-383.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1967). On Christian education. North American Liturgical Week Proceedings , 28, 23-30.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1967). The age of first confession. Catholic Theological Society of America Proceedings , 22, 201-213.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1966). Religious education as a correlate of 'religious knowledge': Some problem areas. Religious Education , 61, 286-291, 298.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1966, March 25). The parish as educator. Commonweal , 84, 20-23.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1966). How worldly must the Church be? North American Liturgical Week Proceedings , 27, 49-56.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1966, June 17). Debate on the Eucharist, The real presences. Commonweal , 84, 357-361.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1966, March). Changes coming in penance. Catholic Layman , 80, 46-49.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1966). Books on religious education, 1955-1965 [annotated bibliography]. Worship , 40, 209-217.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1965). Religious education analyzed. North American Liturgical Week Proceedings , 26, 210-214.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1965). Faith comes through hearing. North American Liturgical Week Proceedings , 26, 125-131.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1964, August 22). Progress report on the liturgy. America , 111, 179-183.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1964). The liturgy: The summit and source of the Church's activity. National Liturgical Week Proceedings , 25, 194-197.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1964). The liturgy and the average priest. Homiletic and Pastoral Review , 64, 105-117.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1964). The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and prayer life in the college. Society of Catholic College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine. Proceedings of the 10th Annual Convention , 10, 107-121.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1964). Catechetical crossroads. Religious Education , 59, 145-148.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963, January 25). Religious education. Commonweal , 77, 459-460.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963). Preaching at Mass. North American Liturgical Week Proceedings , 24, 191-194.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963). The mystery of Christ. North American Liturgical Week Proceedings , 24, 16-21.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963). Good music needed for Mass singing: Excerpts from interview. Choir , 49, 136-137.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963). God's secret design summed up in Christ: The heart of catechizing. The Bible Today , 7, 412-417.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963). Faith and modern subjective thought. Catholic Theological Society of America Proceedings , 18, 77-87.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963, September-October). Catechetics today. Perspectives , 8, 132-137.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1963). Catechetical renewal (a midstream evaluation). Worship , 37, 96-102.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1962). Use of sacred scripture in catechetics. Religious Education , 57, 329-334.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1962). The holy Eucharist as an eschatological meal. Worship , 36, 444-451.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1962). Feast of St. Jane Frances FrÉmiot de Chantal. National Liturgical Week Proceedings , 23, 109-112.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1962). Catechetical round-up [literature review]. Worship , 36, 366-371.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1962). Bibliography of landmarks in the history of catechizing. Worship , 36, 371-373.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1962). A theology of election: Review of Jakob JÓcz's book. The Bridge: Yearbook of Judeao-Christian Studies , 4, 361-370.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). Trinitarian devotion and spiritual life. North American Liturgical Week Proceedings , 22, 125-128.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). "Primitive" and Pauline concepts of the Eucharist. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 23, 1-13.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). Liturgical proclamation of the Word of God. North American Liturgical Week Proceedings , 22, 7-15.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). Is it Good News or isn't it? Catholic Book Reporter , 1, 10-11.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). Fifty years of telling the Good News [Canon F.H. Drinkwater, 1886-1982]. Worship , 35, 210-213.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). Catechetical progress [Europenne de Recherches catechetiques. London, (1961, May), 22-25]. Worship , 35, 661-669.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). The liturgy and the Word of God. Worship , 35, 105-107.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960, October 7). Vital concern: Seminaries in America. Commonweal , 73, 37-40.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960). Undergraduate studies in sacred doctrine at one U. S. university. Lumen Vitae , 15, 712-722.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960). The response of faith in the sacraments: Comments. North American Liturgical Week Proceedings , 21, 27-28.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960). The joy of Christ. Furrow , 11, 91-98.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960). The International Study Week on mission catechetics (Eichstätt, Germany). Worship , 35, 48-57.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960). Good news? The Priest , 16, 615-619. Also in Shield , 41, 16-17+.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1959). Some problems of religious formation in our day. Catholic Educational Review , 57, 217-226.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1959). Religion in a state university. Commonweal , 67 (1959, October 2), 7-10.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1959). The Gospel according to Luke. Worship , 33, 633-641.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1958). Presenting God's plan of salvation. Commonweal , 67 (1958, January 3), 365-366.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1958). In quest of God. Commonweal , 67 (1958, February 21), 531-533.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1958). The Gospel according to Matthew: The semitic character of the Gospel. Worship , 32, 342-351.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1958). The Gospel according to Mark. Worship , 32, 547-557.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1958). Catholic catechism. Worship , 32, 305-308.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1958). Buber and the significance of Jesus. The Bridge: A Yearbook of Judeao-Christian Studies , 3, 209-233.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1957). Springs of morality in current Catholic ethics. Worship , 31, 188-199.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1957). Liturgy in the colleges. North American Liturgical Week Proceedings , 18, 141-146.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1957). Liturgical week. Worship , 31, 544-549.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1957). Experience of mystery. Requisite for theology. Catholic Educational Review , 55, 289-199.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1957). Eucharist and the aims of Christian education. Worship , 31, 312-319.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1957, March 8). Catechism and the Word. Commonweal , 65, 586-589.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1957). Books. America , 96 (1956, November 6), 132-133.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1957). Books. America , 96 (1956, January 26), 488.
  • Sloyan, G. S. ((1956, June 27). Shaping the Christian message. Commonweal , 64, 413-417.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1956). Religious education today [Antwerp Congress]. Catholic Educational Review , 54, 577-588.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1956, January 28). Pewholder's theology. America , 94, 481-482.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1956, August 11). Dignity of the laity. America , 95, 448.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1955). Some factors in the teaching of sacred doctrine. Catholic Educational Review , 53, 1-17.
  • Sloyan, G. S. ((1954, February). Working with men of good will: Fiftieth anniversary convention of the Religious Education Association. National Catholic Education Association Bulletin , 50, 7-17.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1954). Mary in the temporal cycle-Easter season. National Liturgical Week Proceedings , 15, 115-135.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1954, June). Chalk dust on a black suit: William H. Russell. Columbia , 33, 15+.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1953, October). They're all ours and it's no picnic. Columbia , 33, 11-21+
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1953, November). Presentation of Our Lady. American Ecclesiatical Review , 129, 314-316.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1953, August). Curriculum in transition. National Catholic Education Association Bulletin , 50, 341-347.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1953, April). Catholic high school: Idea and reality. Catholic Educational Review , 51, 217-233.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1952, April). That I may never be thirsty. Catholic Educational Review , 50, 223-234.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1952, Spring). School: Religion's too secret weapon. Columbia , 32, 4-5.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1952). Reading the Bible: Some suggestions. Worship , 26, 310-315.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1951). Read the Bible and … Worship , 26, 144-51.
  • loyan, G. S. (1951, November). On educating leaders. Catholic Educational Review , 49, 577-585.

Book Reviews

  • Sloyan, G. S. (2002). [Review of the book Liturgical works ]. Worship , 76, 191.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2002). [Review of the book Has God only one blessing? Judaism as a source of Christian self-understanding ]. Horizons , 29, 164-166.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2001). [Review of the book Symbols of God's presence to the Church: Verbal and non-verbal ]. Theology Today , 58, 304-320.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2001). [Review of the book Written that you may believe: Encountering Jesus in the fourth gospel ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 63, 560-561.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2001). [Review of the book At this time in this place: The spirit embodied in the local assembly ]. Worship , 75, 374-376.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2000). [Review of the book Jesus the meek king ]. Horizons , 27, 393-394.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2000). [Review of the book Essai sur les origines du christianisme: une secte ÉclatÉe ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 62, 560-563.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (2000). [Review of the book New Testament Christology ]. Interpretation , 54, 96-97.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). [Review of the book History of theology, the Renaissance (Vol. 3)]. Biblical Theology Bulletin , 28, 167-168.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). [Review of the book Liturgy and the moral self: Humanity at full stretch before God ]. Worship , 73, 370-372.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). [Review of the books The reading and preaching of the Scriptures in the worship of the Christian Church: Vol. 2 patristic age and The reading and preaching of the Scriptures in the worship of the Christian Church, Vl.1 The biblical period ]. Worship , 73, 284-286.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1999). [Review of the book The unread vision: The liturgical movement in the United States of America, 1926-1955 ]. Worship , 73, 273-275.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1998). [Review of the book Johannine perspectives on the death of Jesus ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 60, 151-152.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1998). [Review of the book Scripture and memory: The ecumenical hermeneutic of the three-year lectionaries ]. Worship , 72, 186-189.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1998). [Review of the book History of theology: Vol. 1 the patristic period ]. Biblical Theology Bulletin , 28, 86-88.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1997). [Review of the book The death of the messiah: From Gethsemane to the grave: a commentary on the passion narratives of the four Gospels (2 Vols.) ]. Horizons , 24, 297-298.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1997). [Review of the books The Gospel according to John: A literary and theological commentary and The quest for the origin of John's gospel: A source-oriented approach ]. Thomist , 61, 660-664.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1997). [Review of the books The Jews in the time of Jesus: An introduction and Jesus' Jewishness: Exploring the place of Jesus within early Judaism ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 34, 608-609.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1996). [Review of the books The origins of Christian faith and An introduction to New Testament Christology ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 58, 537-539.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1996). [Review of the book The apostolic see and The Jews: Documents: 1522-1538, 104; Documents: 1539-1545, 105; Documents: 1546-1555, 106; History 110; Addenda, Corrigenda, Bibliography and Indexes, 110 ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 33, 250-252.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1995). [Review of the book The Psalms through three thousand years: Prayerbook of a cloud of witness ]. Worship , 69, 180-182.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1995). [Review of the book JÉsus, Fils de l'Homme et Fils de Dieu: Jean 2:23-3:36 at la double Christologic Johannique ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 57, 183-84.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1995, September). [Review of the book Saudi Arabia ]. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , 541, 193.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994). [Review of the book From synagogue to church: Public services and offices in the earliest Christian communities .]. Worship , 68, 80-81.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994). [Review of the book Divorce in the New Testament ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 56, 362-364.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1994, January). [Review of the book Politics in the Middle East ]. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , 531, 187.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993). [Review of the book The parting of the ways: Between Christianity and Judaism and their significance for the character of Christianity ]. Interpretation , 47, 201-210.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993). [Review of the book A marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, VI: The roots of the problem and person ]. Horizons , 20, 484.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993) [Review of the book Jewish prayer: The origins of Christian liturgy ]. Worship , 67, 287-288.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993) [Review of the book The historical Jesus: The life of a Mediterranean Jewish peasant ]. Horizons , 20, 143-145.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993). [Review of the book Disinheriting the Jews: Abraham in early Christian controversy ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 55, 296-297.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993). [Review of the book A Marginal View: Rethinking the Historical Jesus: The Roots of the Problem and the Person; The Historical Jesus the Life of a Mediterranean Peasant ]. Horizons , 20, 143.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1993). [Review of the book Women in the Genesis of Christianity; The Christology of Jesus ]. Horizons , 19, 312
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992, January). [Review of the books Islamic Fundamentalism and Between Qur'an and Crown: The challenge of political legitimacy in the Arab world ]. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , 519, 204-205.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). [Review of the book The non-violent coming of God ]. Sisters Today , 64, 382-383.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). [Review of the book The new Jerome biblical commentary ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 29, 273-274.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). [Review of the book Dying we live: A new enquiry into the death of Christ in the New Testament ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 29, 117.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). [Review of the book A dictionary of biblical interpretation ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 52, 388-389.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1992). [Reviews of the books The Christology of Jesus and Women and the genesis of Christianity ]. Horizons , 19, 312-313.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1991). [Review of the book Sociology in the Jesus movement ]. Horizons , 18, 317-318.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1991). [Review of the book Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Vol. 3. The classical texts and their interpretation ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 28, 507-508.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1991). [Review of the book American Catholic biblical scholarship: A history from the early republic to Vatican II ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 53, 133-134.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1991). [Review of the book Jesus: One and many - The Christological concept of New Testament authors ]. Horizons , 17, 326-327.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1991). [Review of the book Epistle to the Hebrews: A commentary ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 27, 127.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1990). [Review of the book The apostolic see and the Jews: Documents: 492-1404, studies and texts 94; Documents 1394-1464, 95; Documents: 1464-1521, 99 ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 27, 783-784.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1989). [Review of the book Johannine faith and liberating community ]. Theology Today , 46, 241-242.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1989). [Review of the book Jesus and the spiral of violence: Popular resistance in Roman Palestine ]. Horizons , 16, 380-382.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1989). [Review of the book Jesus, a new vision: Spirit, culture, and the life of discipleship ]. Worship , 63, 270-272.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1989). [Review of the book Hebrew gospel: Cracking the code of Mark ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 26, 396-397.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1989, July). [Review of the books American mainline religion and evangelicalism ]. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , 504, 163.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1988). [Review of the book Understanding scripture: Explorations of Jewish and Christian traditions of interpretation ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 25, 294-295.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1988). [Review of the book Theology as hermeneutics: Rudolf Bultmann's interpretation of the history of Jesus ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 50, 541-542.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1988). [Review of the book The Halakah of Jesus of Nazareth according to the Gospel of Matthew ]. Judaism , 37, 122-124.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1988). [Review of the book The formation of Christendom ]. Horizons , 15, 390.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1988). [Review of the book Christ and his benefits: Christology and redemption in the New Testament ]. Theology Today , 45, 359-361.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1987). [Review of the book Woman: First among the faithful ]. Worship , 61, 188-189.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1987). [Review of the book The original New Testament ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 24, 312-313.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1987). [Review of he book New testament hospitality: Partnership with strangers as promise and mission ]. Horizons , 14, 142-143.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1987). [Review of the book Irony in the fourth gospel ]. Interpretation , 41, 318-319.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1986). [Review of the book The supper of the Lord ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 48, 757-758; also in Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 23, 549.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1986). [Review of the book The Old Testament in the Gospel passion narratives ]. Interpretation , 40, 94-95.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1986). [Reviews of the books Midrash in context: Exegesis in formative Judaism; Messiah in context ; and Torah: From scroll to symbolism in formative Judaism ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 23, 119-120.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). [Reviews of the books The world of St. John: The gospel and the epistles ; and Jesus in the Gospel of John ]. Theology Today , 42, 146-147.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). [Review of the book Somatic comprehension of unity: The Church in Ephesus ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 47, 176-178.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). [Review of the book Resurrection: New Testament witness and contemporary reflection ]. Horizons , 12, 358-360.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). [Review of the book Meanings: The Bible as document and guide ]. Theology Today , 41, 478-482.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). [Review of the book A commentary on the gospel of John ]. Theology Today , 42, 397-398.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). [Reviews of the books Le Christ HÉbreu: La langue et l'age des evangiles; La naissance des evangiles synoptiques ; and Evangiles et tradition apostolique: Reflexions sur un certain Christ Hebreu ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 47, 745-747.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1985). [Review of the book The Christology of Mark's gospel ]. Dialogue , 24, 151-152.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1984). [Review of the books The miracle stories of the early Christian tradition; Miracle in the early Christian world: A study in sociohistorical method ; and Pagan-Christian conflict over miracle in the second century ]. Horizons , 11, 431-433.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1984). [Review of the book Jewish and Pauline studies ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 21, 563-564.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1984). [Review of the book Essays on Paul ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 21, 563.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1984). [Review of the book Die stunde der Warheit: Untersuchungen zum strafverfahren gegen Jesu ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 46, 375-376.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1983). [Review of the book Jesus and the transformation of Judaism ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 20, 497-498.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1983). [Review of the book The Gospel According to Luke, I-IX ]. Horizons , 10, 370-371.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1983). [Review of the book The first urban Christians: The social world of the apostle Paul ]. Horizons , 10, 352-354.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1982). [Review of the book Mark's treatment of the Jewish leaders ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 19, 615-616.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1982). [Review of the book Il dialogo ecumenico sulla successione attorno all'Opera di Oscar Cullman (1952-1972) ]. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 19, 604-605.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1982). [Review of the book Christ: The experience of Jesus as Lord ]. Journal of the American Academy of Religion , 50, 314-315.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1982). [Review of the book Christology in the making ]. Horizons , 9, 134-136.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1981). [Review of the book The Word in worship: Preaching in a liturgical context ]. Worship , 55, 462-463.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1981). [Review of the book Jews and Christians in dialogue: The New Testament foundations ]. Interpretation , 35, 312-314.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1980). [Review of the book New liturgy, new laws ]. Worship , 54, 465-466.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1979). [Review of the book Unity and diversity in the New Testament ]. Horizons , 6, 124-126.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1979). [Review of the book Judaism and Christian beginnings ]. Horizons , 6, 286.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1979). [Review of the book Anti-semitism in the New Testament ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 41, 497-498.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1979). [Review of the book The elusive presence: Toward a new biblical theology ]. Worship , 53, 553-554.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1979). [Review of the book The birth of the Messiah: A commentary on the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke ]. Interpretation , 33, 81-84.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1978). [Review of the book Redating the New Testament ]. Horizons , 5, 96-99.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1978). [Review of the book Jesus on trial: A study in the fourth gospel ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 40, 633-634.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1978). [Review of the book To heal and to reveal: The prophetic vocation according to Luke ]. Religious Education , 73, 97-98.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1977). [Review of the book Ministry and imagination ]. Worship , 51, 166-168.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1977). [Review of the book Aspects of religious propaganda in Judaism and early Christianity ]. Interpretation , 31, 320-321.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1976). [Review of the book Byzantine theology: Historical trends and doctrinal themes ]. Horizons , 3, 265-267.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1974, Fall). [Review of the book Jesus the Jew ]. Judaism , 497-499.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1970). [Review of the book The future of Roman Catholic theology: Vatican II, catalyst for change ]. Worship , 44, 376-377.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). [Review of the book Sacraments and forgiveness: History and doctrinal development of Penance, Extreme Unction, and Indulgences ]. Theological Studies , 22, 679-681.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). [Review of the book Troisieme Congres National, Centre de Pastoral Liturgique, France ; ed. by J. Martimort, et. al.] Worship , 35, 105-107.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1961). [Review of the book Eucharistic sacrifice and the Reformation ]. Worship , 35, 590-592.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1960). [Review of the book Introduction Á la Bible: Vol. 2. Nouveau Testament ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 22, 97-100.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1959). [Review of the book The life of Jesus Christ ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 21, 230.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1958). [Review of the book The art of teaching Christian doctrine ]. Commonweal , 67, 365-366.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1958). [Review of the book Word of salvation: Translation and explanation of the Gospel According to St. Mark ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 20, 123.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1956). [Review of the book Two-edged sword: An interpretation of the Old Testament ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 18, 429-431.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1952). [Review of the book Unless some man show me ]. Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 14, 86.
  • Sloyan, G. S. (1951). [Review of the book Les justes et la justice dans les evangiles et dans le Christianisme primitive hormis la doctrine proprement Paulinenne ]. American Ecclesiastical Review , 24, 476-478.

Books, Dissertations and other publications on Dr. Gerard S. Sloyan

  • Carey, P. (2002, Spring). Two pioneers in theological education: Gerard Sloyan and Bernard J. Cooke. U. S. Catholic Historian , 20, 1-12.
  • Efroymson, D., & Raines, J. (Eds.). (1997). Open Catholicism: The tradition at its best. Essays in honor of Gerard S. Sloyan . Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
  • Swartz, A. M. (1997). Gerard S. Sloyan: A career in bible and liturgy and a ministry to all people of God, 1950-1995 . Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Drew University.
  • Twentieth anniversary issue honoring Gerard S. Sloyan [Special Issue]. (1994). Horizons , 21, 7-129.
  • Rodgers, R. (1973). The changing concept of college theology: A case study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Catholic University of America.

Excerpts from Publications

Sloyan, G. S. (1958). Shaping the Christian message . New York: The Macmillan Company.

The first two studies in this book establish two things: that the special needs of children were not attended to in any special way, in a context whether of liturgy or of formal pedagogy; and that because believing Christians multiplied consistently for the fifteen or so centuries under discussion, the family, the Sunday Eucharistic assembly, and sacrament preparation must have sufficed somehow. How effectively we cannot say. What we can do about effectiveness is surmise. A pedagogy inattentive to child nature cannot be good for children. The evidence is that it was not good because it was not so attentive. What we may do is make a general act of faith in parents and pastors of those early times, and conclude that the riches of the great bishops of Jerusalem and Hippo and the others were ideally adapted and transmitted to children by adult hearers. It may have been so; that is history's strongest verdict. (pp. vii, viii)
In reading the conciliar legislation of pre-Tridentine Europe, one has the feeling that life was a good deal simpler in days when bishops could insist on enough Latinity in their clerics to have them recite Pater, Ave, Credo and read the text of Mass and the other sacraments. The faithful had only to know the Lord's Prayer and Creed in their own tongues; these priests were required to be able to expound in the vernacular of the place. This public instruction delivered to adults and children indiscriminately on the occasion of the Eucharistic liturgy is the oldest form of catechetical presentation. Nothing can be expected to supplant it in importance, though a myriad of devices can and should be worked out to meet the special needs of the young.
One such device is the catechism … This is a development no more than four centuries old, that each child should have a summary of doctrine in the form of a handbook for his own use … In brief, then, the efforts of men like Overberg, Hirscher, Pichler and the modern giants of the catechetical revival must be seen for what they are: a break clean away from fifteen centuries of pedagogic practice and a return to a better, surer ways of teaching Christ, in a way suited to children, which is quite new. Analysis of prayers, commandments, sacred practices, had dominated the field. The great contribution of the "new catechetics" has been synthesis: the setting into place of each dogma and moral demand in a framework of God's saving action in biblical times, made present to us in every age in joyful liturgical celebration. (pp. 3, 37)

Sloyan, G. S. (1968). Speaking of religious education . New York: Herder & Herder.

If, however, we make a shift in emphasis so that the encounter of faith contains a new type of personalism and anthropology, and if this new type finds a certain sympathy in the thought patterns of modern man, then we are face with two alternatives. Either we continue to think of revelation as the imposition of absolute truth, and faith as man's assent to it, thereby running the risk of extrinsicism, dechristianization, and indifference; or we speak of revelation and faith as the I-thou encounter through the historic, saving events in the life of Christ now lived in the experience of the Church. In the first alternative, propositional truth and the constant rephrasing of propositional truth will serve the cause in an adequate fashion. In the second, there will be a demand for the retention of propositional truth, but there will also be a clear demand that the reality of salvation continue in the life and witnessing of the Church, in Word and Sacraments spoken and done by this community.
But even in the second alternative, it will only be a question of old wine in new skins if it is not adequately conveyed that this reality of salvation is the personal communication of the triune God to man in the person of Jesus Christ and that man must take a position before this personal communication in Christ …The recent writing of men such as Tillich, Buber, Jean Mouroux, and Roger Aubert, to name the obvious ones, would seem to indicate that the second alternative is more in keeping with the mentality of the Scriptures. The theological reflections of men such as Barth, Rahner, and Schillebeeckx … have clearly indicated the insufficiencies of a faith-revelation which accepts solely and exclusively propositional truth. The recent reflections on the Second Vatican Council on revelation indicate how these insights, once the private possession of a gifted few, are now finding their way into the reflective consciousness of the Church.… the great challenge to the Roman Catholic community now: to see that the solid progress of our biblical and systematic theologians who are men of great faith, and of our few perceptive sociologists and psychologists, makes its way fairly swiftly into the area of religious education, where we haven't a moment to lose. (pp. 24, 25)

Sloyan, G. S. (1968). Speaking of religious education . New York: Herder & Herder.

Since a satisfactory theology of the Church is the last bastion to be taken in the entire ecumenical movement, we should not expect classroom educators to solve what worldwide councils, synods, and congresses have not yet achieved. We are making some progress in areas like that of scientific biblical study. There, practically speaking, there is no difference among members of the various Christian churches except such as comes from basic differences in world outlook (Weltanschauung) or ecclesiology. Our most appreciable successes in ecumenical religious education have been in the area of joint appreciation for God's written word - the refreshing discovery that at the level of love for the Scriptures we are all one church. Biblical fundamentalism is, to be sure, not yet dead everywhere. The challenge to demythologize the New Testament - whether partially or totally as radical critics like Bultmann demand - is not yet widely understood or received. What does exist is a central core of biblical faith and exegesis on modern critical terms which is surely the chief bridge or link between Roman and non-Roman Christians in our day. There is likewise some progress being made in the area of liturgics or sacramental worship: the discovery of the importance and significance of baptism to all Christians; the near universality of our eucharistic meal behavior; even the likenesses of contour of the great Protestant Western liturgies - Anglican, Evangelical, Reformed - all extremely close in spirit to the Roman, though frequently enriched by Eastern elements in a way we of the Roman Church have only just begun to do. But there is not much factual information available to teachers on these matters.
The question that needs asking, it seems, is: must religious educators wait for their church leaders, aided by their theologians, to solve all problems of New Testament faith, theology, and polity - orders, ministries, power - before they begin to act as if they really were one Church with all other Christians in a transcendent but nonetheless true sense? I think the answer has to be no; that they really must go on the assumption of Christian unity as a present reality if only because it is the Master's clearly expressed will, hence something no one wishes to go against. All who wish to obey God and his incarnate Son are of the Church of his Son by their very will to obedience. Their own sinfulness and disobedience of the present, the pride and posturing of their fathers in the faith in the past, are realities which cannot be ignored. The past cannot be undone; the present can only be reversed by humility and repentance and good theology …What I have said means that the religious educator is not only a practical ecumenist but also - since he is a teacher, hence a theorist by definition - a theoretical one … This means that differences among Christians and between Christians and Jews will be kept in proportion; that likenesses will equally be kept in proportion; that likenesses equally will be kept in proportion. (pp. 76, 78, 79)

Sloyan, G. S. (1968). Speaking of Religious Education . New York: Herder & Herder.

An important consideration is the relation between religion study in college and university to that in the seminary in the Roman Catholic community. Our seminaries increase in seriousness of purpose as academic institutions, many of them having sought state and regional accreditation for master's programs offered in course to the better students. An important and inevitable difference between the seminary and the graduate schools is that graduate schools are populated by students who opt for degree work after the bachelor's degree. This is generally a sign of intellectual concern if not necessarily of competence. The seminary, on the other hand, is populated by students whose primary concern is to become members of another profession than the learned profession, namely the priestly ministry. Not even the fact of height intelligence and scholarly habits in seminary bodies can alter the purpose of such institutions. They simply have no existence as graduate schools of religion in the Roman Catholic community. Many of their students feel a calling to the learned profession as well, as they go through the seminaries, and they engage in theological study in such away as to ready themselves for more of the same, i.e. in circumstances that will prepare them for the college or university lecture hall. Nonetheless, the respective make-ups of the two student bodies constitute important differences in the approaches taken to sacred studies. (pp. 98, 99)

Sloyan, G. S. (1958). Shaping the Christian message . New York: The Macmillan Company.

In 1958, these essays written by European and American scholars (to which Sloyan contributed two) proposed markedly innovative directions for religious education in the United States and Canada.

Sloyan, G. S. (1968). Speaking of religious education . New York: Herder and Herder.

This is a series of essays on a broad variety of issues in the Catholic Church in the years following the Second Vatican Council.

Sloyan, G. S. (1997). I was there when some of it happened. In J. R. D. Defroymson (Ed.), Open catholicism the tradition at its best: Essays in honor of Gerard Sloyan (pp. 1-8). Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press.

The autobiographical essay gives insight into the achievements and personality of the author.

Sloyan, G. S. (2004). Preaching from the lectionary: An exegetical commentary . Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

The lectionary in question is the Lectionary for Mass (1969), revised Common Lectionary (1992) and the Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer (1979). The exegetical analysis of each Sunday and major feast in a three year cycle is situated in its historical background and its liturgical setting.

Author Information

Annette Pelletier

Annette Pelletier, I.H.M. Ph.D. candidate, School of Theology and Religious Studies, The Catholic University of America.

Patricia Panganiban

Patricia Panganiban, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Theology and Religious Studies, The Catholic University of America.