The hallowed phrase, "the keys of the kingdom," is perhaps the most striking among the powerful phrases of the Bible. Yet the phrase has become rather overlooked among Catholics just as they have grown boastful of their biblical re-orientation. Life—individual, corporate, and global—has become dependent on keys as never before. Modern man does not, however, reflect on the technical marvels of individuality that dangle on his keyring. Nor does he suspect that his keys came into wide use in the centuries immediately preceding Christ. Christ's words to Peter, "I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven," have therefore a special cultural setting. Since Peter lives in his successors, Christ's words have a significance transcending the succession of cultures. This is the gist of the first two chapters, dealing respectively with the history of key-making and with the biblical theology of keys. The third chapter is an analysis of all major patristic and medieval texts on the keys of the kingdom. It is followed by a discussion of the interpretation of Christ's words about Peter's keys by Reformers and Counter-Reformers. The fifth or concluding chapter is a probing into the only meaning that ought to be given to the "open church"—this chief shibboleth of post-Vatican II times—if the significance of one's very own keys is not to be jeopardized.

By Fr. Stanley L. Jaki

ISBN 978-1-892548-14-6  •  vii + 228 pages  •  softcover