Our Lady and the Church [Paperback]

Hugo Rahner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2005

Our Lady and the Church is one of the great works of twentieth-century theology—a profound meditation on the riches to be found in the writings of the Early Church Fathers about Mary. Filles with richly poetic, sometimes startling imagery, Our Lady and the Church is the rare book that appeals with equal power to both the mind and the heart.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Buy two copies today, one for you and one for your pastor. This is a truly illuminating and wondrous book." -- Fr. Shane Tharp, Catholic Ragemonkey weblog

"This is an extraordinarily instructive book that well deserves the new life given it by Zaccheus Press." -- First Things, May 2005

"This marvelous work is one of the most important theological rediscoveries of the 20th century." -- Pope Benedict XVI

Product Details

• Paperback: 165 pages
• Publisher: Zaccheus Press (January 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972598111
• ISBN-13: 978-0972598118
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #676,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Sythesis and Mariologist's Companion Text, June 24, 2005

By 

P. Burdick "pataburd2" (Oneonta, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Our Lady and the Church (Paperback)

Father Hugo Rahner, S.J.--brother, I believe, to the popular and controversial theologian, Karl--has put together a compact and worthy summary of Catholic patristic teaching on Mary, her relationship to the Church, and to members within the Church.

Fr. Rahner takes the major marian doctrines of, for example, her Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity, Divine Maternity, etc., and with parallels from the Church fathers shows how the Church is prefigured in Mary, and how Our Lady is the model and fullfilment of the Church's members. The short book is well organized and chock-full of apt quotes from the great (Greek and Latin) fathers (e.g., Ambrose, Augustine, Ephrem the Syrian, etc.).

This book is a great summary and companion text to accompany one's other, more involved and specific quests in Mariology. I read it inbetween two wonderful books by Fr. Luigi Gambero: (1) Mary and the Fathers of the Church, and (2) Mary in the Middle Ages--also published by Ignatius Press.

I can't tell you how much these books, and other like them, have helped stir, legitimately direct and increase my devotion to Our Lady ("Domina"). And, since where Mary is, the Lord is also, these books have helped me grow in love and adoration of our Savior; Mary's vocation was, is and ever shall be to "magnify the Lord," in a way in which only she--by the graces and election of Almighty God--is capable.

Deo gratias!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mary in the Eyes of the Church Fathers, June 26, 2005

By 

Oswald Sobrino (Traverse City) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Our Lady and the Church (Paperback)

This small book is packed with images of Mary that are fertile for prayer and meditation. For example, you will never think of the sacrament of Baptism in the same way again when you focus on the baptismal font as representative of the womb of Mary so that Mary is indeed our Mother as she was the Mother of Christ. You will also see the Marian character of evangelization in which we as Christians become "other Marys" as we give birth to new Christians. All of these insights come from the early Church Fathers as they prayed over the Scriptures and communicated their deep faith to their listeners. Fr. Hugo Rahner (not to be confused with his controversial brother Karl Rahner) originally published this small book in 1961, just before Vatican II. The book reflects the movement for ressourcement or a "return to the sources" that was at the heart of Vatican II. In this book, Hugo Rahner returns to the Scriptures as seen through the eyes of the early Church Fathers who were very Marian.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A profound and thought provoking analysis, September 17, 2005

By 

Hamilton Armstrong - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Our Lady and the Church (Paperback)

For anyone (Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish) trying to understand the high place accorded to Mary and her veneration in the Catholic(and Orthodox) Churches, this book is a good place to start. Written by Hugo Rahner, S.J., brother of better known "modernist" theologian, Carl Rahner, S.J., this book lays out, with numerous quotes from the Eastern and Western Fathers, medieval and modern theologians up to the brink of Vatican II, the perennial teaching of the Church that the Virgin Mary the immaculate Mother of Jesus is type and for-runner of the Church,a new creation as "Spotless Bride of Christ." - "What He bestowed on Mary in the Flesh, He has destowed on the Church in the Spirit:Mary gave birth to the One, and the Church gives birth to the Many, who through the One become one." - St,Augustine.

Thus the "Woman Clothed in the Sun giving birth to the man child" of Revelations 12:1,2,5 stands for Mary as iniciator of Salvation in Christ and the Church groaning in fulfillment until the end of time. In this dual yet single role can be seen the mediation of graces of Mary and the Church

It is also in this light, according to Fr. Rahner, that the the Catholic dogmas regarding Mary, especially that of the Assumption takes on meaning. "Our Lady's Assumption, the final history of the body of the woman who gave birth to God, is therefore not so much an exception to the rule, but much more a fulfilling in advance of what is promised to the whole Mystical Body of Christ." This is a must read book on Mariology.

[..]