The Interpretation of Religious Liberty of John Courtney Murray, S.J. and John Paul II

This thesis looks at the perspectives of John Courtney Murray and John Paul II on the right to religious liberty particularly through their interpretations of the Second Vatican Council document “Declaration on Religious Liberty (Dignitatis Humanae) (1965).” By analyzing both Murray’s and John Paul II’s ecclesiologies, notion of the relationship between of freedom and truth, and church and state, the author explores whether or not the two thinkers interpretations of the right to religious liberty is differs fundamentally. In the end, the author concludes that too many ambiguities exist to make this claim.