FREEDOM TODAY is the first book to be issued in this important new series under the general editorship of Dr. Hans Kung. The second book, THE GOD OF EVERY DAY, deals with modern man's understanding of God: "The Unknown God" by Gotthold Hasenhuttl; "The God of the Beginnings . . . and of Today" by Herbert Haag; and "God in Daily Things" by Karl Rohner. The third book in the series, SPIRIT AND LIFE, treats the sadly-neglected theme of the role of the Spirit in the Church of the twentieth century: "A Priestly People" by Karl Hermann Schelkle; "Celibacy" by Michael Pfiegler; and "To Believe Today" by Karl Rahner. This series has been conceived in an effort to bridge the present gap between theology and religious reflection. In the words of Father Kung: "Theologians complain that our devotional literature has long been, and still is, overly superficial and moralistic, that it all too rarely stems from the center of the Christian message, that it commonly lacks true orientation to biblical perspectives, that it does not give adequate recognition to the important advances theology has made on so many fronts in our age.
"Non-theologians also take issue with theologians in this dispute. They complain that our theological literature likewise has long been, and continues to be, by and large esoteric and intellectualistic, that it frequently disdains to rub shoulders with the real world, indeed that it rarely. if ever, displays real concern for the needs of people living today. "The volumes of our series are not intended as substitutes for that to which the theologian must always direct and orient whatever he does. But it is hoped that they will do expressly and directly that which the theologian all too often, in his dedication to extracting from things what is essential to theology, must do only indirectly and by implication. We hope to tie theology and meditation together in various important ways, and to practice the two as a single activity. Thus we shall strive not only to think out and to examine problems according to the strict disciplines of research, but also to ponder reflectively over God's Word, considering what that Word, be it familiar or foreign to us, truly signifies for us today, here and now."