Conversion and Church

Abstract

The ecclesiology of the council is sometimes hailed as a rediscovery of the Holy Spirit. Yet, both the content of that rediscovery and its significance have hardly been studied. I aim to do so in this article by focussing on one aspect of Lumen gentium’s pneumatology, namely the activities related to the Holy Spirit, and compare the activities articulated in the conciliar decree with the activities articulated in Pius XII’s 1943 encyclical on the mystical body, Mystici corporis. Various minor differences will be singled out, such as differences in wording, and different activities, but the most substantial difference is not to be found in details, rather it reveals a general pattern: whereas Pius XII’s encyclical tended to describe the Spirit’s active involvement in the Church in abstract terms, Vatican II’s texts reveal a pneumatological conversion toward an attention to more concrete actions, such as ‘life-giving’ (vivificat). This implies new questions that call for answers: Does Lumen Gentium’s significantly renewed concept of the Holy Spirit represent an instance of theological conversion? Does the conciliar decree indeed adopt new horizons and start from new roots? Although the scope of the article is too limited to offer detailed answers, the significant pneumatological change will lead to the conclusion that a wider theological, ecclesiological and christological conversion occurred at the Council. It may mark the start of a pneumatological conversion.