Rating: 
Summary: For Those Who Allow Themselves to Think.
Review: A very challenging and readable book. Recommended for those who allow themselves to think.
Rating:
Summary: For Those Who Allow Themselves to Think.
Review: Do not waste your time with this one. If you share the author's assumptions you may enjoy reading this book, but you will not learn anything new. If you disagree with the author's assumptions the author does not provide any convincing arguments for his views. This is the same old liberal neo-Catholicism that you can get out of any number of books, packaged in an unsatisfactory pseudo-philosophical format. According to the author tomorrow's Catholic will no longer be a Catholic. Tomorrow's Catholic will embrace a theology antithetical to the teaching of scripture and the Catholic Church. What is the reason the author gives for the rejection of Catholic theology? Why . . . it is the internet of course! For some reason the author believes that the invention of the internet precludes the belief in the Catholic faith. He seems to think that one can not use the internet and believe, for instance, that God punishes sinners. Now the internet may be a neat advance in technology, but I don't see how it disproves or is incompatable with Catholicism. Perhaps the author believes that our technology is resulting in a greater appreciation for and understanding of God. One could argue that the opposite is true. As technology leads us farther away from nature, and our world becomes increasingly more secular, why would we assume that the modern world would be moving closer to God?After reading this book I have two huge questions: (1) Why would the author remain a Catholic (in name) even after he has rejected the teachings of the Church, and (2) even more importantly, why would the Catholic Church allow this author to remain a priest when he is obviously a wolf in sheeps clothing determined to lead Christ's sheep astray?
Rating: 
Summary: Lame Book
Review: Do not waste your time with this one. If you share the author's assumptions you may enjoy reading this book, but you will not learn anything new. If you disagree with the author's assumptions the author does not provide any convincing arguments for his views. This is the same old liberal neo-Catholicism that you can get out of any number of books, packaged in an unsatisfactory pseudo-philosophical format. According to the author tomorrow's Catholic will no longer be a Catholic. Tomorrow's Catholic will embrace a theology antithetical to the teaching of scripture and the Catholic Church. What is the reason the author gives for the rejection of Catholic theology? Why . . . it is the internet of course! For some reason the author believes that the invention of the internet precludes the belief in the Catholic faith. He seems to think that one can not use the internet and believe, for instance, that God punishes sinners. Now the internet may be a neat advance in technology, but I don't see how it disproves or is incompatable with Catholicism. Perhaps the author believes that our technology is resulting in a greater appreciation for and understanding of God. One could argue that the opposite is true. As technology leads us farther away from nature, and our world becomes increasingly more secular, why would we assume that the modern world would be moving closer to God? After reading this book I have two huge questions: (1) Why would the author remain a Catholic (in name) even after he has rejected the teachings of the Church, and (2) even more importantly, why would the Catholic Church allow this author to remain a priest when he is obviously a wolf in sheeps clothing determined to lead Christ's sheep astray?
Rating:
Summary: Challenging and thoughtful
Review: I finished this book, flipped it over and started reading it again. Morwood's message spoke to me in a profound and exciting way: I've struggled to reconcile my call to Catholicism with church doctrines that appear irrelevant or affirmatively harmful; Morwood provides a framework for "re-imaging" God, Jesus and Church in a manner that resonates deeply for me. The church scandals and the relentless drumbeat of Apologist/conservative theology had me deeply depressed about the church and my role in it; this book has me feeling more hopeful and excited about my faith than I have in a long time. I hope that no one is dissuaded from reading this book by the vehemence of some of the critical reviews posted here. Sadly, I think some people let ideology impede open-minded engagement with some wonderfully rich and important ideas. (And it's clear by some comments that certain reviewers haven't even read the book!) Great stuff -- highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Jumble of half-formed ideas
Review: In the words of the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, this book "presents Christ, the Trinity and Redemption in terms which can not be reconciled with the doctrine of the [Catholic] Church." I received the book as a gift and, from the beginning of reading it, was suspicious of its content; the author and the publisher take great pains to hide the direction of the author's argument. Essentially, this now ex-priest attempts to disprove Original Sin, the divinity of Jesus and his redemptive mission, and the doctrine of the Trinity. These ideas must, according to Mr. Morwood's logic, be disregarded because these ideas can not coexist with the modern mind, and in particular with modern cosmology and contemporary Biblical scholarship. It is clear from reading this book that the author does not have a clear grasp of his subject matter. He presents the teachings of the Church in an overly simplistic and oftentimes incorrect manner; then he provides pages of self-contradictory arguments for his enlightened, "modern" viewpoint. As I understand it, he believes in some vague, pantheistic spirituality in which God is good and is in everything, and Jesus lived a very Godly life that we should emulate. There is no Original Sin (as disproved somehow--he doesn't say how--by evolution and cosmology) and thus no need for redemption, and thus no need for a redeemer. However, and here I agree with one of the other reviewers, Mr. Morwood presents no cohesive arguments; he presents a jumble of half-baked ideas that he doesn't seem to have fleshed out. If you want to dispute Catholic teaching, there are better books with more integrity and internal consistency. Tomorrow's Catholic seems most like an attempt to justify some type of vague spirituality without any firm doctrine, which is of course not Catholic, and not coincidentally this vague spirituality lets the individual ultimately do whatever he wants as long as he feels it is good, e.g., contraception, sex outside the marriage of a man and a woman, abortion, etc. He doesn't explicitly state that these types of behaviors are permitted in his theology, but it certainly is the implication. Clearly, the title of the book is a misnomer. Someone who attains to the beliefs in this book may be tomorrow's something, and it's not clear from the book exactly what that something is, but one thing he would definitely not be is tomorrow's Catholic. Anything but.
Rating:
Summary: Jumble of half-formed ideas
Review: In the words of the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, this book "presents Christ, the Trinity and Redemption in terms which can not be reconciled with the doctrine of the [Catholic] Church." I received the book as a gift and, from the beginning of reading it, was suspicious of its content; the author and the publisher take great pains to hide the direction of the author's argument. Essentially, this now ex-priest attempts to disprove Original Sin, the divinity of Jesus and his redemptive mission, and the doctrine of the Trinity. These ideas must, according to Mr. Morwood's logic, be disregarded because these ideas can not coexist with the modern mind, and in particular with modern cosmology and contemporary Biblical scholarship. It is clear from reading this book that the author does not have a clear grasp of his subject matter. He presents the teachings of the Church in an overly simplistic and oftentimes incorrect manner; then he provides pages of self-contradictory arguments for his enlightened, "modern" viewpoint. As I understand it, he believes in some vague, pantheistic spirituality in which God is good and is in everything, and Jesus lived a very Godly life that we should emulate. There is no Original Sin (as disproved somehow--he doesn't say how--by evolution and cosmology) and thus no need for redemption, and thus no need for a redeemer. However, and here I agree with one of the other reviewers, Mr. Morwood presents no cohesive arguments; he presents a jumble of half-baked ideas that he doesn't seem to have fleshed out. If you want to dispute Catholic teaching, there are better books with more integrity and internal consistency. Tomorrow's Catholic seems most like an attempt to justify some type of vague spirituality without any firm doctrine, which is of course not Catholic, and not coincidentally this vague spirituality lets the individual ultimately do whatever he wants as long as he feels it is good, e.g., contraception, sex outside the marriage of a man and a woman, abortion, etc. He doesn't explicitly state that these types of behaviors are permitted in his theology, but it certainly is the implication. Clearly, the title of the book is a misnomer. Someone who attains to the beliefs in this book may be tomorrow's something, and it's not clear from the book exactly what that something is, but one thing he would definitely not be is tomorrow's Catholic. Anything but.
Rating:
Summary: poorly written
Review: Sorry that one star is minimum. This book may indeed have some earth-shaking messages: but it's so poorly written I can't figure out what they are. I don't agree with Imran Currah on the main points of "tomorrow's Catholic's" beliefs, but that just illustrates how hard it is to figure out what Morwood is trying to say. It seems to me that it's the Big Bang, not the Internet, that undermines everything anyone once believed. Morwood is always saying things like "no one could possible believe ..." --when I know countless people who do just that. He will lump together in one paragraph, presumably representing one viewpoint, statements that sound to me variously outrageous, naive, perfectly obvious, and unintelligible--and by the end of the paragraph I don't know whether this is supposed to describe what "no one can believe" or the enlightened view of "tomorrow's Catholic." Morwood himself says people wonder why he bothers to call himself Catholic, but unfortunately, instead of answering this interesting question, he simply implies that anyone who asks it is closed-minded and uncharitable. I also get the impression that he has not read anything written before 1960--some of this ideas (when one flashes briefly into view) sound like things written one hundred years ago (or maybe many hundred years ago?). I would certainly like to read something written by someone who understands Morwood's views and also has seriously read some patristics, St. Thomas, and some Reformers, as well.
Rating: 
Summary: really 2 1/2 stars
Review: The idea that the church is moving into a different epoch is a true one. My feeling is that the Church will come to grips with certain scientific ideas to broaden its mission. This book was good at describing some of those ideas BUT was not in any way original. I wouldn't call it trash, but I would say that I am glad I read Hans Kung and other theologians for their original content.
Rating:
Summary: really 2 1/2 stars
Review: The idea that the church is moving into a different epoch is a true one. My feeling is that the Church will come to grips with certain scientific ideas to broaden its mission. This book was good at describing some of those ideas BUT was not in any way original. I wouldn't call it trash, but I would say that I am glad I read Hans Kung and other theologians for their original content.
Rating:
Summary: uncontroversial trash
Review: This book is about as controversial as People Magazine - with none of the intellectual content. Here's a mind shattering excerpt: "For many adult Catholics, the reforms of Vatican II, as well as the Vietnam War and the church's teaching against contraception, shattered a prided sense of uniformity of belief and practice." What? Vietnam war? A prided sense of uniformity? It is no wonder why the archbishop of Melbourne concluded his condemnation of the book with, "[Morwood's] limited understanding both of classical theologies and contemporary science is evident to any informed reader." Don't waste your money on this one. If you're looking for heresies, there's a lot better ones out there.
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