αThe Christ, the Spirit and the Historic Union of the Church. The Church in the Concept of J. A. Möhler

This dissertation discusses the theological work of Johann Adam Möhler (1796- 1838) with special emphasis on his ecclesiology. It is divided in two parts: the first part concerns Möhler's course of life in its cultural and historical context, the second part presents the intellectual richness of this Swabian theologian. As this work deals especially with Möhler's conception of the Church, the second part is focused on five ecclesiologically significant texts of this theologian: Einheit in der Kirche (1825), Athanasius (1827), Anselm (1827), Symbolik (1832) and Introduction to the lectures on the Church history (1837). These texts are introduced and analysed with the help of three selected interpreters (Geiselmann, Wagner, Himes). The closing part of the dissertation summarizes Möhler's notion of the Church in four points: 1. Möhler's orientation qualifies him as a historian of the Church. That's why he builds on the essentially historical form of the Church. The basic variety and plurality of the Church life is his point of departure. 2. The determining character of the Church is its unity, founded in the operation of the Holy Spirit, and operating in the spiritual realm of the created and redeemed world endowed with life. 3. The Holy Spirit beeing the principle of the Church unity, its foundation..