How can we approach the mystery that is the church? The French Dominican theologian Yves Congar (1904-1995) explored this theme in works both published and unpublished, from 1931 until his suspension from the Le Saulchoir theology faculty over concern about his new theology in 1954. Congar's goal: to develop what he called a total ecclesiology or theology of the church. The then-predominant notions of the church as a perfect society, and strong focus on a pyramid-like view of hierarchy over the laity, did not in Congar's view offer an integrated, organic portrait of the church as a mystery or...