Bücher von Yves Congar

Yves Congar, OP, was one of the most important and influential theologians of the twentieth century. Much of this influence came as a result of his role as theological advisor to the bishops who participated at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). After working under a cloud of ecclesiastical censure and suspicion in the decade prior to its start, Congar was, from beginning to end, an influential day-to-day participant in the councils work. He also managed to keep detailed personal notes throughout the time. At long last, the council diaries of Yves Congar are available in English! This material is a treasure trove of information and insight for anyone interested in the history of that council and its remarkable and historic teaching. It provides a window into the councils workings and the development of what would become a series of historic documents and declarations. It also offers Congars own down-to-earth and personal perspective on many of the other remarkable figures who played a role in the council.

It was in 1937 that Fr Congar's first book was published: Disunited Christians: Principles for a Catholic Ecumenism. This book called for dialogue among Christians with a view to a renewal of the church. Fifty years later, and twenty-five years after the Second Vatican Council, the church is very different. It has a new awareness of itself and its different charisms and ministries.There are those who have spoken of the changes that have taken place as a break with the earlier period marked by the Council of Trent; others stress that they are innovations within a degree of continuity. Fr Congar, who was a peritus at Vatican II and has much theological study and writing behind him, can bring both historical knowledge and a deep spiritual understanding to the developments which have taken place in his lifetime. In these conversations he comments on a wide range of theological issues, including authority in the church, the role of the Pope, liberation theology, Christianity and other religions, the numerical decline of the priesthood, the role of the laity, and the right to differ within the church.

The traditional date of the beginning of the Oriental Schism is 1054. Congar shows that the seeds of this break were sown centuries before when the creation of Byzantium, the Crowning of Charlemagne as Roman Emperor, and emergence of Islam divided East and West politically.