The Spirit and the Church

The Spirit and the Church celebrates the life and legacy of Peter Damian Fehlner, OFM Conv., who for the past six decades has carried the torch of the Franciscan theological and philosophical vision in the fields of ecclesiology, pneumatology, Mariology, and anthropology. Articles by colleagues, former students, and associates fall into three broad categories, corresponding with several of the main areas in which Fehlner has made a longstanding scholarly contribution: the Church's Magisterium and development of doctrine, anthropology,comma and creation; the relation between Mariology, pneumatology, and ecclesiology; and scholarly seeds planted by Fehlner now being cultivated and harvested by younger scholars. All of the essays in this volume engage with Fehlner, evaluate his contributions, and build upon and expand in new directions the contributions of our honoree. The essays in this volume manifest the contemporary relevance of Fehlner's Franciscan vision in terms of his invitation to renew the theology of the Church in a Marian mode in the light of Vatican II.

""The theology of Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner is a little-known gem of brilliance that deserves a much wider readership. This volume with its wonderful mixture of well-known senior scholars and soon-to-be-known junior scholars will go a long way towards achieving this end! Fehlner provides a magnificent reawakening of the Franciscan charism in theology, inspired equally by St. Bonaventure and Vatican II, under the inspiration of Fehlner's own unique genius.""
--John Cavadini, Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame

""This is a collection of essays worthy of Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, a profound theologian whose interests and expertise ranged widely. As much as anyone alive, he explored the relations of the Holy Spirit to the Catholic Church and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this he followed his Franciscan confreres Sts. Bonaventure and Maximilian Kolbe, and with his sanctified intellect developed their thought in new and fascinating ways.""
--Scott Hahn, Franciscan University of Steubenville, and author of The Creed: Professing the Faith Through the Ages (2016)


J. Isaac Goff is an instructor in theology at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Seminary. His recent publications include: Caritas in Primo: A Study of Bonaventure's Disputed Questions on the Mystery of the Trinity (2015) and, as co-editor, A Companion to Bonaventure (2014).

Fr. Edward J. Ondrako, OFM Conv., is currently Research Fellow at the Pontifical Faculty of St. Bonaventure, Rome, and Visiting Scholar at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. He edited and contributed to ita published in 2015.

Fr. Christiaan W. Kappes is academic dean of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary. His latest publications include ""Gregorios Palamas' Reception of Augustine's Doctrine of the Original Sin and Nicholas Kabasilas' Rejection of Aquinas' Maculism as the Background to Scholarios' Immaculism,""...