The Apostolate -- Conversion : A Study in Theology and Psychology -- Proselytism and Evangelisation -- St Paul's Casuistry -- The different Priesthoods: Christian, Jewish and Pagan -- Notes on our Priesthood -- The two Forms of the Bread of Life: In the Gospel and Tradition -- A 'real' Liturgy and 'real' Preaching -- The Mission of the Parish -- Two Aspects of apostolic Work: The Priest as Head of his People and as Apostle -- The Mission of the Priest in the Modern World -- Christ in France -- Reflections on the spiritual Aspect of church Buildings
Few theologians have had an impact on the conciliar Church that compare with that of Yves Congar. When the names of Rahner, Lonergan, and von Balthasar were relatively unknown save among small groups of admirers, Congar had already achieved as a distinguished, a pioneer ecumenist, a spiritual writer of the first rank, and an earnest advocate of Church reform. Of no theologian can it be said more truly than of Congar that the second Vatican Council came as the ratification of everything he had long stood for. The Council was the crowning of his work and the vindication of his viewpoint after prolonged struggle and controversy.A Gospel Priesthood contains a selection of those studies by Father Congar that were most influential in creating the theological climate in which the decrees of Vatican II were nurtured and have flourished. Among the subjects treated are the apostolate, the mission of the parish, theological and psychological aspects of conversion, proselytism and evangelisation, and the nature of fruitful preaching and fruitful liturgy. Here is theology which has shaped the present and which will have an abiding value for the future.