The Church of God and Its Human Face

October 30, 2019

Martin Madar, Associate Professor of Theology, published a new book: The Church of God and Its Human Face. 

The book is the first comprehensive study of perhaps the most original U.S. ecclesiologist of our times, Joseph A. Komonchak. In language accessible to a wide audience, Madar offers an exposition of Komonchak’s thought on the church and explores its distinctive features, including its implications for church practice.

Theologians from across the country praise this work: 

“The Church of God and Its Human Face represents an indispensable contribution to contemporary ecclesiology because of its thorough analysis of work of Joseph Komonchak on the theology of the local church. Madar carefully situates Komonchak’s work in the broader context of 20th century Catholic ecclesiology, and rightly identifies the central problem of this ecclesiology in the search for adequate theological foundations. Both a worthy tribute and thoughtful development of the work of one of the great ecclesiologist of the post-Vatican II era.”

-- John J. Markey, Professor of Theology, Oblates School of Theology

“The Church of God and Its Human Face is the first major study of one of the most important American ecclesiologists of the post-conciliar period. Madar’s careful exposition illuminates Joseph Komonchak’s unwavering insistence that God’s church exists in history as a human and social reality. It is a brilliant introduction to the question of theology’s engagement with the social sciences and required reading for anyone entering into today’s debates over method in ecclesiology.”

-- Edward P. Hahnenberg, Breen Chair in Catholic Theology at John Carroll University