The purpose of this course is to present the documents of the 2nd Vatican Council and to point out their importance for contemporary theology. A short historical summary is followed by presentation of the four council constitutions (Lumen Gentium, Dei Verbum, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Gaudium et Spes).
Subsequently, their main topics are analysed (ecclesiology, Bible and the divine revelation, liturgy, pastoral theology / Church and the world) with focus on theological methods that the council fathers have used in order to make the traditional teaching comprehensible to the modern human person. The same methods can be traced in the encyclicals of the last four popes.