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The Spirit of God
Short Writings on the Holy Spirit
by Yves Congar
Translated by Susan Mader Brown, Mark E. Ginter, Joseph G. Mueller and Catherine E. Clifford
Imprint: Catholic University of America Press
Yves Congar was the most significant voice in Catholic pneumatology in the twentieth century. This new collection of short pieces makes his thought accessible to a broad range of readers – scholars, teachers, ecumenists and laity – and thus helps to ensure that an important theological voice, one that influenced many of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, continues to be heard.
The Spirit of God brings together for the first time eight of Yves Congar's previously untranslated writings on the Holy Spirit composed after Vatican II (from 1969 to 1985). Two of these selections offer general overviews of Congar's pneumatology, a pneumatology based upon Scripture and the Tradition of the Church, but articulated in conversation with philosophers, ecumenical partners and non-believers. Other articles make clear the historical context of Vatican II's pneumatology and the Holy Spirit's crucial influence upon the unfolding of history and upon the moral life, the efficacy of the sacraments and, especially, upon ecclesial life.
The writings in The Spirit of God have been translated and edited by a team of scholars familiar with the work of the French Dominican theologian. An introduction situates each of the writings historically and highlights its theological significance. A bibliography lists Congar's publications on the Holy Spirit, the major articles and books written about his pneumatology, and the major scholarly resources to which Congar made reference in the notes that accompanied these writings. An index of biblical references and of personal names is also included.
Yves Congar, OP
" The Spirit of God: Short Writings on the Holy Spirit is an inspired gift to the Christian Church that will enrich the spiritual lives of all who read it. Theologians will find in this handsome and timely volume of Congar’s postconciliar writings on the Holy Spirit a sourcebook for ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue, and the ongoing reception of the Second Vatican Council. University chaplains, as well as religious educators, will discover in it a bridge between the human spirit and the Spirit of God to assist them in the vital work of sharing the Good News of Christ with young people. The editorial and translation work are of the highest standard; the latter is enhanced by appropriate sensitivity to gender and religion, without compromising technical precision. The General Introduction by Mark E. Ginter with Susan Mader Brown and Joseph G. Mueller highlights the voluminous works of Congar, and his gargantuan contribution as priest, educator, and academician."
~Gabriel Flynn, Dublin City University
"Yves Congar was arguably Vatican II's most influential theologian. His work on the theology of the Holy Spirit found its way into many council texts. Yet it is his work on the Holy Spirit after the council that may be his greatest gift to our church. This collection of newly translated texts provides a wonderful synthesis of Congar's pneumatology. Stripped of unnecessary theological jargon, these texts provide a marvelously accessible set of reflections on the ubiquity of the Holy Spirit in the world, in the life of the church and in each individual believer."
~Richard R. Gaillardetz, author of An Unfinished Council: Vatican II, Pope Francis and the Renewal of Catholicism
"This beautifully presented volume is a collection of eight of Congar’s opuscula on the Holy Spirit, originally written in French or German as lectures, talks, reference articles, and scholarly contributions to journals. They have never been translated into English, and the team who have assembled these articles and translated them have done us Anglophones a service. This volume is a labor of love, well-edited with extensive bibliographies and notes, presented by firm admirers of Congar’s work who rightly want to expose a new generation to his thought. Hence the translation is accessible, with Latin quotations helpfully translated into English as well as the odd editorial comment to facilitate understanding."
~New Blackfriars