The Church of the Word Incarnate: Vol. 2 The Internal Structure of the Church

The monumental work of renowned twentieth-century Swiss ecclesiologist Charles Journet, The Church of the Word Incarnate, is among the most comprehensive and spiritually profound studies of the mystery of the Church. Presented here for the first time in English translation is Journet's complete five-volume "essay in speculative theology," in which he undertakes a Thomistic presentation of the Church in light of her four causes—efficient, material, formal, and final—corresponding to her four marks of apostolicity, catholicity, unity, and sanctity. In this second volume, Journet commences his examination of divine grace and charity as the Church's inherent formal cause, setting the stage for a consideration of the unity and catholicity of the Church in volume three. Foregrounded and developed here is his account of the Church's interior structure relative to Christ as her head, the Blessed Virgin Mary as her exemplar, and the Holy Spirit as her "Uncreated Soul." This theological grounding of ecclesiology in connection to the Incarnation, Mary, and the sending of the Spirit concludes with Journet's reflection on the various central definitions of the Church.

CHARLES JOURNET (1891–1975) was a Swiss priest and theologian who taught at the major seminary in Fribourg from 1924 to 1970. He was the author of more than two dozen books and many articles on Catholic theology. Together with Jacques Maritain, he was the founder of the European journal Nova et Vetera. In 1965, Journet was named a cardinal by Pope Paul VI, in recognition of his work in ecclesiology.