In 1953, Sister Mary Rose Eileen Masterman, C.S.C, initiated the founding of a professional society for college theology teachers, the Society of Catholic College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine, that, in 1965, became the College Theology Society. A fifty year retrospective on the Society presents U.S. Catholic theological studies in an era of rapid change, accelerated by the Second Vatican Council.

By examining the College Theology Society's publications and discussions, Joining the Revolution in Theology traces the remarkable developments in theology, especially among Catholics, from 1954 to 2004. Readers can consider the influences of historical-critical biblical studies, Christian existentialism, transcendental Thomism, Marxist social analysis, second-wave feminism, among many others. Producing this scholarship is a new academic persona, the college or university theologian, whose influence on the twentieth-century U.S. Catholic community is greatly contributing to America's burgeoning knowledge industry.