Choosing to review these two books which were offered together, because this reviewer knew they would both provide an interesting read, I began with Yves Congar’s, the product of a holy man whose prophetic voice helped to shape Vatican II.  Whether or not I read this book during the more than fifty years since its original publication, I was drawn to the power of its content.  After a brief Preface the volume is divided into four parts: I. The Hierarchy as Service: Scriptural Sources and Historical Development; II. Titles and Honors in the Church: a Short Historical Study; III. By Way of Conclusion, and IV.  Appendix: Our Pastors Speak of the Church of Poverty and Service: Passages from the Council, the Pope, and the Bishops.  Within Part I Congar treats texts from the Gospels and references in NT literature; the historical development of authority, and the Christian concept of authority; and within Part II Congar traces the invasion of legalism and how the Church acquired the appearance of privilege. 

Filled with optimism and hope, Congar lays bare the Gospel, does not deny the negativities of history, but concludes with the opportunity of the present (for him, Vatican II) to regain the Church’s commitment to service and/of the poor.  For both this reviewer whose youth embraced Vatican II and who now facesthe Church’s clergy pedophilia scandal, the cogency of Arthur Jones’ recent article on how money, sex and power corrupted the Church(NCR, 10/11/18),as well as the disappointing Synod on the Youth, and for anyone else who desires their memory of hierarchy as service to be rekindled and their hope to be renewed, Congar’s book is a must-re/read.

Two Lutheran scholars edited the second book, which also, like Congar’s, is uplifting, though its writing style (e.g., numbered paragraphs) often betrays its antiquity.  Whereas the content of Congar’s is roughly half a century old, the content of the Kreys’ volume is approximately half a millennium old.  Still, both cling to Catholic teaching and have something important to say today.  Congar’s volume reprints his original essay,written at the time of Vatican II, while the edited volume contains sevenof Luther’s writings—an excerpt from a commentary, sermons and essays— all written after the publication of his 95 theses (1517)that are traditionally associated with the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.  Kreys’ selections all contain content usually associated with Roman Catholicism, and some content commonly understood even as opposed to Lutheranism.The Introduction is both lengthy and enlightening.  It tackles the role of Mary in Luther’s Piety, including her liturgical importance; Luther’s understanding of the Communion of Saints; the significance of the Sacraments for Luther, and the importance of preparing rightly for death.  The selections from Luther are as follows: “The Magnificat Put into German and Explained” (1521); a “Sermon at Coburg,” in Passion Week on Suffering and the Cross (1530); the “Sacrament of Penance,” in which Luther distinguishes between forgiveness of the punishment and forgiveness of the guilt (1519);“The Holy and Blessed Sacrament of Baptism” (1519);  “The Blessed Sacrament of the Holy and True Body of Christ, and the Brotherhoods” (1519); “The Confession Concerning Christ’s Supper” (1528), and “A Sermon on Preparing to Die” (1519). In this final sermon Luther advises that we “have our only thought and consideration be that we cling to the will of God, which is that we attach ourselves to Christ and firmly believe that our death, sin, and hell are overcome in him and they cannot harm us.” (p. 146). 

The volume is ecumenically very important.  It, like Congar’s, could have been published during Vatican II and re-published today.  It helps to unite Catholics and Lutherans.  The man who produced the 95 theses rightly condemning the sins of the church, including nepotism, simony, usury, the sale of indulgences, etc., also held to the Catholic teachings as integral to his faith.