Church A Predestined Entity: An Analytical Study of the Predestination and the Actualization ( Trinitarian Foundation) of the Church According to Yves Congar

includes index and biblioraphy

Part one Historico-Theological factors in the developments of ecclesiology of yves Conger .....23 Chapter one The intellectual and cultural milieu that influenced yves conger`s understanding of the trinatarian basis of the church ....25 1. Cultural, political, background and theological formation of congar .....29 2. The unity of the church and the encyclical Satis cognitum of pope leo XIII .....36 3. Developments in the philosophical, biblical, liturgical and patristic fields during the twentieth century .....43 4. Congar`s relationship to orthodoxy and protestantism .....53 5. Congar`s writings related to the predestination of the church .....75 Part two Exposition and analysis of yves congar`s understanding of the church .....77 Chapter two The holy trinity as the foundation of the church: The principal writings of congar from 1937 to 1961 ....79 1. Creation as the life of the trinity shared ....82 God manifests himeself in creation .....83 The church as an extension of the blessed trinity ......85 Various ways and means of revelation ....87 2. God and his covenant with Abraham and his posterity .....89 The purpose of Abraham`s call .....89 The promises and covenant of god with Abraham ....91 Israel as the chosen people of god .....92 A Mystical relationshipbetween israel an yahweh ....93 3. The church as pre-destined before christ .....95 The pre-existent church in relation to the community of divine persons .....96 The synagogue as the church before the church .....96 The twofold ways of the church`s existence ....98 The pre-existent church is the communio sanctorum .....100 4. Jesus as the culmination of god`s communication and revelation ....101 The spirit of god as theunifying element of god`s action in history .....102 The incarnation as the chosen event of fulfillment .....103 Christ as theinaugurator of the new covenant ....104 Christ as the sole principle of salvation and the revealer of the father ....107 5. Church as the fulfilment of the covenant ....110 The church as partially established in the O.T ....110 The church is the outcome of the old and the new covenants .....111 The church existed in christ ....113 The internal and external principle of the church ....117 Chapter three The church as the continuation of the Jewish concept of israel as the people of god. The principal writings of congar from 1962 to 1971 ....120 1. Incarnation: Expression of god`s love for his creation .....122 Insufficiency of earlier mediators to convey the total experience of life ....123 Jesus christ: God himself in human form .....125 The purpose of incarnation ....127 The effect of incarnation .....130 Jesus and the chuch: both reveal the same reality ....134 2. The church and her historical foundation ....136 The origin and re-discovery of the concept of the people of god ....137 The church purpose behind the formation of the church, the people of god ....140 Possible definition of the nature of the church ....142 Chapter four The word and the spirit in the fulfilment of god`s promise: The principal writings of congar from 1972-1985 .....166 1. The relationship between the spirit and the word ....168 2. The role of the spirit in the building up of the church ....191 Chapter three An appraisal of the contribution of yves congar to the trinitarian understanding of the church .....222 Chapter five Recapitulation and assesment of yves congar`s concept of the church`s predestination in the will of the father and her actualisation in the missions of the son and the spirit 1. Congar`s view of tradition as an exemplification and verification of his understanding that the church stems from the will of the father and missions of the son and the spirit .....225 2. The influence of congar`s thought upon vatican II and later catholic ecclesiology .....233 3. Congar`s contribution to the catholic ecclesiology a critical assessment .....244