Cosmos

by Louis Bouyer

" Un ouvrage des éditions du Cerf, maison des cultes, des cultures et des civilisations. Le Cerf est le premier éditeur religieux de France et de l'espace francophone. "

397 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Rev. Louis Bouyer (1913-2004) was a member of the French Oratory and one of the most respected and versatile Catholic scholars and theologians of the twentieth century.

A friend of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Ratzinger, and J.R.R. Tolkien, and a co-founder of the international review Communio, Bouyer was a former Lutheran minister who entered the Catholic Church in 1939.

He became a leading figure in the Catholic biblical and liturgical movements of the twentieth century, was an influence on the Second Vatican Council, and became well known for his excellent books on history of Christian spirituality. In addition to his many writings, Bouyer lectured widely across Europe and America.

Woman in the Church (with an epilogue by Balthasar and an essay by C.S. Lewis), was one of the first three books published by Ignatius Press, in 1979. Other Ignatius Press books by Bouyer include The Word Church and Sacraments in Protestantism and Catholicism, Women Mystics, and the introduction to John Henry Newman: Prayers Verses Devotions (Bouyer wrote a biography of Newman).

He was chosen by the Pope to be part of a team to initiate the International Theological Commission in 1969.

Reviews

[David Mosley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bouyer does an excellent job both of tracing historical mythologies of the cosmos, while comparing them to the Biblical myth, and showing the importance and place of the cosmos within Christian theology. Bouyer argues, in one respect, that the cosmos was created to bring forth man and that man was created to play a role in the (initially only) sanctification, and now redemption of the cosmos. I highly recommend this text to anyone doing work on creation.

[Frederick Frankel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The truth is, you have to work your way through some prerequisites to read this book. Three semesters might do it: Intro to Greek Philosophy, History of Medieval Thought, and Modern Philosophy, with an emphasis on Descartes, Hume, Kant, Hegel, the Romantics, and the Positivists. You might want to throw in an Intro to Physics course, too.

Fr. Bouyer is not concerned with summarizing the history of thought in this book. You can think of it as a romp through history with a graduate-level philosopher, someone who has some very provocative ideas about where some of the great philosophers and philosophical tendencies went wrong, and some hints on how they could have fixed it if only he was around.