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Marian Metaphysics
The Collected Essays of Peter Damian Fehlner, OFM Conv: Volume 1
by Peter Damian Fehlner OFM Conv.
Edited by J. Isaac Goff
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
This first volume of Collected Essays presents Peter Damian Fehlner's later reflections on the unique role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the place of God's eternal design for creation. These essays explore personhood, the divine missions, and ecclesiology. Framed within a Trinitarian vision and flowing out of fifty years of prayerful study of Scripture and the Tradition, Fehlner deepens and extends the wisdom of his Franciscan theological forebears, St. Bonaventure, Bl. John Duns Scotus, and St. Maximilian Kolbe, along with John Henry Newman, in Trinitarian theology, Christology, Mariology, and ecclesiology. This vision is particularly relevant in today's theological and philosophical contexts, shedding light on the joint work of the Son and Holy Spirit as they constitute and build up the body of Christ through salvation history. The intimate relationship between Jesus and Mary in the Holy Spirit is clarified in these essays, unveiling the true face of the church as mother, teacher, and bride. Mary is exemplar and active associate with her Son as a member of his body. Within this volume, we discover our true nature and calling in Christ. Fehlner shows us how salvation history and metaphysical theology meet in the church, our mother, a true Marian Metaphysics.
Peter Damian Fehlner, OFM Conv (1931–2018), was a Franciscan priest and theologian. For nearly forty years he taught theology in Franciscan schools and seminaries in Italy and the United States. He is the author of several books and countless articles in theological and pastoral journals. His final work was published posthumously as The Theologian of Auschwitz: St. Maximilian Kolbe on the Immaculate Conception in the Life of the Church (2019).
J. Isaac Goff is an instructor of dogmatic theology at Saints Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary. He is coeditor of A Companion to Bonaventure (2014) and author of Caritas in Primo: A Study of Bonaventure’s Disputed Questions on the Mystery of the Trinity (2015).
“Marian Metaphysics is a beautiful synthesis of Franciscan Mariology rooted in the insights of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bonaventure, Bl. John Duns Scotus, and St. Maximilian Kolbe. J. Isaac Goff deserves much credit for editing this volume of Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, which brings to light insights on the primacy of Christ, the incarnation, and the role of Mary, the Immaculate Conception, in the metaphysical structure of the universe.”
—Robert Fastiggi, professor of dogmatic theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary
“In these superb and brilliant studies, Fr. Peter Fehlner proves himself to be the architect of a wholesale renewal of Christian theology through a renewal of Marian theology. The mystery of Mary, Mother of God, leads one to a metaphysics which, far from abstracting for the concrete specificity of incarnation and revelation, guarantees its primacy. We can almost see St. Francis, building the first creche scene, as the ultimate inspiration of this truly magnificent work.”
—John C. Cavadini, professor of theology, University of Notre Dame
“Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner was to me a friend, a teacher, a counselor, and a model of holiness and deep learning, and I am pleased that many more scholars and students can now share his company in the pages of his collected works and essays. Fr. Fehlner is a true master of the Franciscan theological tradition, worthy to share the intellectual company of Bonaventure, Scotus, Kolbe, and Bonnefoy, and has a profound contribution to make to a wide range of related fields, especially cosmology, ecclesiology, pneumatology, and Mariology.”
—Scott W. Hahn, professor of biblical theology, Franciscan University of Steubenville
“Although St. Bonaventure and Bl. John Duns Scotus are the giants of the Franciscan Mariology, the tradition developed from St. Francis to Maximilian Kolbe. As an heir to the speculative strand that originated in the Mariology of Angelo Volpi, Fr. Peter Fehlner stands at the very end of this tradition. He was a scholar at ease in the vast depths of his tradition and a metaphysician of the highest rank.”
—R. Trent Pomplun, associate professor of theology, University of Notre Dame
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