Abstract

This collection of fourteen articles, essays, and lectures produced by Fr. Congar between the years 1937 and 1962 illustrates the intellectual fecundity of a theologian who, with scholarly sympathy, examines the biblical, patristic, and liturgical sources of theological reflection and mediates their meaning in such a manner as to vivify the pastoral and eschatological self-understanding of the Christian community. The first part of the collection comprises four essays which treat of the theological significance of the Bible. Although Congar here develops theses which are, for the most part, neither original nor conclusive, he acknowledges the Holy Scriptures as the primary source of divine revelation--an acknowledgement pregnant with consequences which, unfortunately, are not critically pursued. Part Two contains essays dealing with such themes as the experience of divine revelation, the role of the incarnate Word as the revealer of God, the integrity of Creation, Redemption, and Consummation, the interdependence of pneumatology and ecclesiology, the eucharist and the fulfilment of the world, etc. and entitled The Mysteries of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Without being systematic, the work is theologically illuminating and philosophically suggestive, especially in relation to the question of the grounds and limits of a Christian philosophy. All but two of the chapters have been published previously. No index is included.--J. M. S.