This is an analysis and criticism of the development of modern Catholic social teaching from the perspective of theology, ethics and church history. Curran studies the methodology and content of the documents of Catholic social teaching, generally understood as comprising 12 papal letters beginning with Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical "Rerum Novarum", two documents from Vatican II and two pastoral letters of the US bishops. He contends the fundamental basis for this body of teaching comes from an anthropological perspective that recognized both the inherent dignity and the social nature of the human person - thus charting a middle course between the two extremes of individualism and collectivism.