En pneumatologisk mariologi – en konstruktiv läsning av St. Maximilian Kolbe

Abstract

In this dissertation I explore the mariological writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe. Though the saint’s mariology is one which has been extensively analyzed and expounded upon by a wide array of theologians especially coming out of the Franciscan tradition of which Kolbe himself was part, it has rarely been theologically examined outside of a Roman Catholic dogmatic perspective, something I here aim to remedy by adapting the saint’s writings to newer and perhaps unorthodox means of approaching mariology. This latter approach comprises what I term a feminine pneumatological mariology. With consideration to prior theological research as well as my own analysis of what can be said to constitute the most recurring elements of Kolbe’s mariology, I find that the Holy Spirit is often intimately related to the person of the Virgin Mary, in part owing to the Catholic dogma of the immaculate conception, leading to Mary being referred to as an icon of the Spirit. Moreover, Kolbe’s mariological writings also lean on upholding the figure of Mary as an image of the divine feminine. However, it would seem that this role of Mary is one partly taken over by her from the Spirit, who was often conceived of as an image of the divine feminine in early Christianity. I thus seek to relate Kolbe’s studies of the feminine Mary to a feminine conception of the Spirit, which I call a feminine pneumatology, arguing that Kolbe’s mariology is one in which the Holy Spirit can be classified as a representative of the feminine aspect of God. If the Virgin Mary is indeed to be read as an image of the divine feminine, and her person as a mirror or icon of the Holy Spirit, then it seems reasonable to argue that there exists an implicit feminine pneumatology in Kolbe’s mariology.