Creative Tension

Ellen M. Leonard's study of Baron Friedrich von Hugel's life, thought, and spiritual vision rediscovers this important Catholic voice from the turn of the 20th Century. Hugel was a lay theologian who maintained both his personal equilibrium and his spiritual leadership role during the complex days of the modernist movement. Hugel sees three elements of religion: the authoritative, historical, and institutional; the critical, speculative, and philosophical; the intuitive, vocational, and mystical. Leonard's study concentrates both on Hugel's writings and spiritual activities.