Showing papers on "Ecclesiology published in 2008"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the faithfulness of the Church in a world with so many vulnerabilities entails that she acknowledges her own vulnerability and frailty, based on the triune God to whom she witnesses, as well as in the vulnerability of human beings.
Abstract: This essay argues that the faithfulness of the church in a world with so many vulnerabilities entails that she acknowledges her own vulnerability and frailty. This ecclesial vulnerability is based in the vulnerability of the triune God to whom she witnesses, as well as in the vulnerability of human beings. On the basis of this trinitarian and anthropological vulnerability, suggestions are made regarding the nature, attitude, and public calling of the church. As witnesses and disciples of Jesus Christ, the church has a threefold presence in public life; namely, to be vulnerable prophets, priests, and royals. A vulnerable church is a faithful church, and therefore, a relevant church.
19 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare key aspects of the ecclesiologies of The Episcopal Church and the Church of England and contrast the underlying logic of their structures and the relationships between their constituent parts (general synod/general convention, diocese, parish/congregation).
Abstract: This article compares key aspects of the ecclesiologies of The Episcopal Church and the Church of England. First, it examines and contrasts the underlying logic of their structures and the relationships between their constituent parts (General Synod/General Convention, diocese, parish/congregation). Against this background, it then looks at the place of bishops in the ecclesiologies of the two churches (in relation to clergy and parishes, in relation to diocesan synods/conventions and standing committees, and nationally). The American Presiding Bishop's role is contrasted with the traditional roles of primate and metropolitan. Throughout, attention is given to origins and historical development. Reference is also made to the relevant constitutional, canonical and liturgical provisions. Rapprochement between the two ecclesiologies is noted, especially with respect to the role of the laity, but the article argues that this is far from complete. Each church's ecclesiology continues to be determined by its origins; important modifications have been made within that framework, rather than overturning it. It is hoped that the analysis will illuminate the current disputes within The Episcopal Church and the crisis within the Anglican Communion that they have prompted.
17 citations
TL;DR: The authors assesses the relationship between parachurch organizations and local congregations with respect to the life orientation and religious education that youth ministry provides young people within these congregations using data from qualitative empirical research.
Abstract: This paper assesses the relationship between parachurch organisations and local congregations with respect to the life orientation and religious education that youth ministry provides young people within these congregations ..Using data from qualitative empirical research the ways in which the partners in this venture relate. is analysed from sociological and theological perspectives on ecclesiology. This analysis suggests that a division of labour is at the same time a demonstrationof ecclesial unity.
16 citations
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: Ecclesiology - The Nature, Story and Study of the Church Part 1: Historical Ecclesiology 1. In Search of the Early 'Church': The New Testament and the development of Christian Communities 2. The Church in the Early Christian Centuries - Ecclesiological Consolidation 3. The Anglican Church in Medieval Theology 4. Ecclesology and the Religious Controversy of the Sixteenth Century 5.
Abstract: Introduction: Ecclesiology - The Nature, Story and Study of the Church Part 1: Historical Ecclesiology 1. In Search of the Early 'Church': The New Testament and the Development of Christian Communities 2. The Church in the Early Christian Centuries - Ecclesiological Consolidation 3. The Church in Medieval Theology 4. Ecclesiology and the Religious Controversy of the Sixteenth Century 5. The Church in the Tridentine and Early Modern Eras 6. The Church in Modern Theology 7. Postmodern Ecclesiologies Part 2: Ecclesiological 'Traditions' 8. Ecclesiology in the Orthodox Tradition 9. Lutheran Ecclesiology
14 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the current ecclesiology of the NHKA with reference to the extent to which the church understands unity and catholicity as biblical indicatives and imperatives.
Abstract: The dimensions “unity” and “catholicity” in the ecclesiology of the Netherdutch Reformed Church since Ottawa 1982 This article examines the current ecclesiology of the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NHKA) with reference to the extent to which the church understands unity and catholicity as biblical indicatives and imperatives. The article argues that the church’s understanding of unity and catholicity is prejudiced and influenced by the prominence the church awards to the tenet of an ethnic “peoples church” (“volkskerk”). This has lead to the NHKA’s ecumenical isolation. It is hence argued that the abolition of the church’s “ethnic church theology” will result in the abolition of its ecumenical isolation and will enable the NHKA to confess anew with the “church of all ages”, the “one, holy, apostolic and catholic Church”.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that Reformed churches are faced with very characteristic challenges and opportunities in Africa today, and illustrate this claim with a narrative rooted in recent South African experiences.
Abstract: Arguing that Reformed churches are faced with very characteristic challenges and opportunities in Africa today, the article illustrates this claim with a narrative rooted in recent South African experiences. It tells the story of the birth of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa in the struggle against apartheid in society and church and of some of the ways in which this story continued on African soil. It uses four strategic moments in this story, linked to the name of four places in Africa – Belhar, Braamfontein, Kitwe and Elmina – to reflect on four characteristics of Reformed ecclesiology that are again experienced as challenges and opportunities for Reformed churches in Africa, today. These moments deal respectively with the challenge to be a confessing church, to embody the confession, to face injustice and destruction, and to faithfully practise these convictions in the social form and everyday life of the church.
12 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an in-depth study of the redaction of Lumen gentium no. 8 leads to the conclusion that the council did not understand the Latin verb subsistere in terms of essence (esse).
Abstract: The article contributes to the ecumenical debate on the relationship between the Church of Christ and the Catholic Church, a debate that followed upon the 2007 publication of a series of Responses on Vatican II ecclesiology by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The author seeks to develop a critical understanding of subsistit in that is both historically and theologically sound. An in-depth study of the redaction of Lumen gentium no. 8 leads to the conclusion that the council did not understand the Latin verb subsistere in terms of essence (esse).
12 citations
TL;DR: The Martin Marprelate affair as discussed by the authors was the most notorious polemical dispute in an age renowned for the quantity and intensity of its religious controversies, scandalized late-Elizabethan England by shifting the question of Church reform into the public domain.
Abstract: The Martin Marprelate affair, the most notorious polemical dispute in an age renowned for the quantity and intensity of its religious controversies, scandalized late-Elizabethan England by shifting the question of Church reform into the public domain.1 In seven abusively satiric pamphlets issued over a ten-month period in 1588-89, a syndicate of writers working under the pseudonym "Martin Marprelate" called for the replacement of England's episcopacy with a decentralized ecclesiology based on local church discipline.2 Marprelate' s enthusiasm for the Presbyterian model of Church governance was characteristic of the increasingly vocal reform movement, though his approach famously and emphatically was not.3 Marprelate turned controversial writing of the day on its head and abandoned traditional modes of theological argument for a highly engaging, stylistically complex attack on the Elizabethan bishops. His aim was twofold: to humiliate the bishops and the entire ecclesiastical government by disclosing egregious instances of clerical hypocrisy and ineffectuality and to have fun while doing it. The Elizabethan magistrates were predictably displeased with the whole episode. Fearing public agitation, the bishops hired a contingent of professional writers to discredit Marprelate and launched a nationwide manhunt to locate the mobile press from which the tracts were issued and the group responsible for their production an objective finally realized in August 1589. The public furor set off by the Marprelate tracts guaranteed that their influence would extend well beyond the early modern religious sphere.4 Guided by Mikhail Bakhtin's influential study of Renaissance carnival, Kristen Poole has argued for a close relation between the literary experimentation of the pamphlets and the rise in anti-Puritan stereotyping during the period.5 She contends that the anti-Martinist poets recruited by the bishops to denigrate Marprelate and, by extension, the Presbyterian
11 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: The legacy of the pre-Reformation church and the impact of the Reformation The Lutheran churches of Germany and Scandinavia The Calivinist and Reformed churches The worship and buildings of the Anglican via media CounterReformation Roman Catholicism Ecclesiology and neo-Medievalism Liturgical renewal and church design in the 20th century Guide to further reading Guide to buildings to visit Index.
Abstract: Contents: Introduction The legacy of the pre-Reformation church and the impact of the Reformation The Lutheran churches of Germany and Scandinavia The Calivinist and Reformed churches The worship and buildings of the Anglican via media Counter-Reformation Roman Catholicism Ecclesiology and neo-Medievalism Liturgical renewal and church design in the 20th century Guide to further reading Guide to buildings to visit Index.
Dissertation•
13 Nov 2008
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the Eastern Christian presence on the Italian Peninsula and the Island of Sicily; the settlement of Albanian Christians after the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, the emergence of a distinct Italo-Albanian Church and the jurisdictional arrangements made to accomodate this.
Abstract: This article examines the Eastern Christian presence on the Italian Peninsula and the Island of Sicily; the settlement of Albanian Christians after the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, the emergence of a distinct Italo-Albanian Church and the jurisdictional arrangements made to accomodate this. Concentrating on the period from the 15th century onwards, from the arrival of large numbers of Eastern Christian Albanians in southern Italy and Sicily, the article examines the unique arrangement between Rome and Constantinople, from the Council of Florence (1439) to the Council of Trent (1545–1563), when the Orthodox Bishop of Ohrid provided ecclesial jurisdiction, an arrangement which has no direct historical parallel. The article highlights the work of the eighteenth-century historian Pietro Pompilio Rodota (who related the two distinct phases of Eastern Christian presence, for historical, cultural, ethnic and linguistic reasons, to the development of the general category of the ‘Greek Rite’) and more contempo...
TL;DR: The omission of the Caribbean Diasporan experience from Black theology as it is constructed within the Black Atlantic theological tradition is discussed in this paper, where the authors argue that the CDA experience is an important and valuable source for theological discourse.
Abstract: This essay offers a Caribbean Diasporan critique of Black theology. Adapted from a PhD thesis, this essay traces the omission of Caribbean Diasporan experience from Black theology as it is constructed within the Black Atlantic theological tradition. I argue that the Caribbean Diasporan experience is an important and valuable source for theological discourse. This essay is an attempt to initiate discussion for the construction of a Caribbean Diasporan theology.
Book Chapter•
01 Apr 2008
TL;DR: In this article, a fundamental reinterpretation of Vatican II ecclesiology that acknowledges not one but two principal ecclesiologies inspired by the Council documents is presented. But this re-interpretation does not sufficiently account for the full range of relations with the Other that is a distinctive development in the Church's self-understanding inaugurated by Vatican II.
Abstract: This paper argues for a fundamental theological re-interpretation of Vatican II ecclesiology that acknowledges not one but two principal ecclesiologies inspired by the Council documents. Ecclesiastical authorities and some theologians have acknowledged that communion ecclesiology is the principal ecclesiology of Vatican II. However, this conception does not sufficiently account for the full range of relations with the Other that is a distinctive development in the Church's self-understanding inaugurated by Vatican II; such an understanding is better represented by an ecclesiology of friendship. I thus argue there are two ecclesiologies reflected in the Council documents: communion ecclesiology and another to be developed based on mutual relations and friendship with the Other. The latter is distinctively Ignatian in spirit; further, these two ecclesiologies are not fundamentally opposed to each other but are united in the missions of the Son and the Spirit.
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: The Church has an "innate right" to own temporal goods in order to achieve its principal purposes, which are primarily: "to order divine worship, to care for the decent support of ministers, and to exercise works of the sacred apostolate and of charity, especially toward the needy".
Abstract: The Church has its origin in God; it is not a human creation.1 Therefore, it has an “innate right” to own temporal goods in order to achieve its principal purposes, which are primarily: “to order divine worship, to care for the decent support of ministers, and to exercise works of the sacred apostolate and of charity, especially toward the needy” (c. 1254). At the same time, the Church has an “innate right” to require from the Christian faithful “those things which are necessary for the purposes proper to it” (c. 1260). The Church exercises this innate right “independently from civil power” (c. 1254 § 1), and claims the right “to acquire temporal goods by every just means of natural or positive law permitted to others” (c. 1259).
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a hypothesis that the two marks of the Church in the Calvinist Reformed tradition, together with its disciplinary power, restate the twin classical powers granted to the Church of the Roman Catholic tradition, namely the powers of order and jurisdiction.
Abstract: This study offers a hypothesis that the two marks of the Church in the Calvinist Reformed tradition, together with its disciplinary power, restate the twin classical powers granted to the Church in Catholic tradition, namely the powers of order and jurisdiction. Unlike Luther, for whom the chief ecclesiastical power was the authority to preach and teach, Calvin not only acknowledges the teaching and sacramental functions of the Church, but also stressed a jurisdictional power (jurisdictio fori) with autonomous legislative and judicial competence. This jurisdictional dimension is the key to explaining the role played by Geneva-inspired Reformed churches vis-a-vis the State and differences from other other Protestant traditions.
01 Oct 2008
TL;DR: In this paper, Collinson discusses the divergent streams within English Protestantism, emphasising the role of episcopacy in the nation's politics of religion since the Reformation was brought to the English by Henry VIII's royal injunction: “They almost oblige us declare our preferences for one of two alternative episcopal strategies and, among historians... we must line up either with Richard Baxter, who wrote of the Elizabethan Archbishop Grindal, the soul of protestant moderation: 'Such bishops would have prevented our contentions and wars'; or with Clarend
Abstract: Patrick Collinson, in The Religion of Protestants , discusses the divergent streams within English Protestantism, emphasising the role of episcopacy in the nation's politics of religion since the Reformation was brought to the English by Henry VIII's royal injunction: “They almost oblige us declare our preferences for one of two alternative episcopal strategies and, among historians . . . we must line up either with Richard Baxter, who wrote of the Elizabethan Archbishop Grindal, the soul of protestant moderation: 'Such bishops would have prevented our contentions and wars'; or with Clarendon, for whom the . . . death of . . . Archbishop Bancroft in 1610 was one of the earliest events to which it was profitable to refer in accounting for the Great Rebellion - 'with whom died', wrote Heylyn of Bancroft, 'the Uniformity of the Church of England '.” What is fascinating is that both Baxter and Heylyn are cited as representatives of two opposing historiographical trends concerning seventeenth-century England, both then and even now. The common question facing Heylyn and Baxter was: who stood for the true Church of England? Inherent in this question were conflicting versions of ecclesiological definition, setting at odds former co-religionists who shared episcopal ordinations, zeal against separatismand radicalism, and the vision of a godly nation at prayer.
TL;DR: The authors examines a few select examples of growing reliance upon managerial techniques in church life and practice in recent years as a prelude to considering whether more areas of pastoral organization should be transformed by ideologies and techniques derived from for-profit corporations.
Abstract: Crises and shortcomings of various sorts have prompted calls, especially from powerful corporate elites and organizations, for greater managerial expertise and training within the churches. This article examines a few select examples of growing reliance upon managerial techniques in church life and practice in recent years as a prelude to considering whether more areas of pastoral organization should be transformed by ideologies and techniques derived from for-profit corporations. Using examples drawn primarily from contemporary Catholicism in the United States, this article aims to contribute to ecumenical discussions in ecclesiology, ethics and economics.
TL;DR: The authors surveys recent developments in the area of ecclesiology, starting from the viewpoint of a methodological divide discernible in the field, between those who take an idealist approach, emphasising highly charged theological symbols for Church, and those who adopt a more realist approach taking as starting point the historical data of the Church.
Abstract: This article surveys recent developments in the area of ecclesiology, starting from the viewpoint of a methodological divide discernible in the field. The divide is between those who take an idealist approach, emphasising highly charged theological symbols for Church, and those who adopt a more realist approach, taking as starting point the historical data of the Church. The article critically surveys both tendencies, devoting somewhat more space to the second, and concluding with a critical review of two theologians (Edward Schillebeeckx and Roger Haight) who seek to integrate the social sciences into a theology of the Church.
TL;DR: Bonhoeffer was one of the great theologians, churchmen, and martyrs of the twentieth century as discussed by the authors, and his work is still relevant at a time when the ecclesiology of communion is very much to the fore.
Abstract: Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the great theologians, churchmen, and martyrs of the twentieth century. His ecclesiology is still relevant at a time when the ecclesiology of communion is very much to the fore. This article revisits his school of ecclesiology, reflecting on his seminal works, Santorum Communio and Act and Being, as well as later works such as Life Together, Ethics, and Letters and Papers from Prison. A concern throughout is to highlight the various dimensions of what he means by saying the Church is Christ existing as community. It aims to encourage also reflection on how far this image of the Church as the community of the Risen Christ has been developed in theological reflection, something which is vitally important for the Church as it sets out on its third millennium.
TL;DR: The authors explored a narrow facet of such engagement through dialogue between the eschatologies of John Howard Yoder and contemporary American Christian Zionism and explored the connections between the cross, ecclesiology, social action, and apocalyptic in Yoder's eschatology.
Abstract: American Christian Zionism has recently become the subject of much publishing and discussion, most of which focuses on the idea that millenarian convictions are motivating Christian Zionists to attempt to hasten the apocalypse This approach is neither entirely fair nor particularly beneficial for the purposes of challenging this influential movement, as it trades more in the easy dismissal of caricatures than in substantive theological engagement This essay explores a narrow facet of such engagement through dialogue between the eschatologies of John Howard Yoder and contemporary American Christian Zionism An exposition of the connections between the cross, ecclesiology, social action, and apocalyptic in Yoder's eschatology will bring into relief particularly problematic aspects of traditional dispensationalist Christology and ecclesiology which leave continuing legacies in the system of convictions which sustains contemporary Christian Zionist activism
TL;DR: Since 2002, Roman Catholic women have been ordained and are ministering to communities through the organization Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP). In as discussed by the authors, Victoria Rue, PhD, ordained a womanprie...
Abstract: Since 2002 Catholic women have been ordained and are ministering to communities through the organization Roman Catholic womenpriests (RCWP). In this article, Victoria Rue, PhD, ordained a womanprie...
Dissertation•
08 Apr 2008
TL;DR: The Church Silence and the Word The Priesthood of Believers and the Vocation of Writing The Renovation of Worship Astrology, Apocalypse and the Church Militant Index.
Abstract: Preface Writing the Church Silence and the Word The Priesthood of Believers and the Vocation of Writing The Renovation of Worship Astrology, Apocalypse and the Church Militant Index.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that Anglicanism's approach to the authority of Scripture, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the nature of doctrinal confession serve as important speed bumps to place in the path of the present momentum toward ecclesial innovation.
Abstract: This essay focuses on theological reasons for being suspicious of recent proposals within the Anglican Communion for resolving the conflict over homosexuality, including the suggestion that the Communion introduce novel doctrinal specificity, or more rigid forms of Communion authority. The substantial weaknesses of these initiatives are explored particularly through an analysis of the recently introduced concept of "core doctrine." The paper argues that Anglicanism's approach to the authority of Scripture, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the nature of doctrinal confession serve as important speed bumps to place in the path of the present momentum toward ecclesial innovation. Although there are considerable practical and ethical questions to raise about the present crisis within the Anglican tradition, this essay focuses on theological reasons for caution, as many of the current proposed solutions to the crisis represent substantial and problematic modifications to Anglican theology and ecclesiology. The uproar within the Anglican Communion over the question of sexual orientation is threatening to alter the very nature of Anglicanism. Many theologians and church leaders have responded to the contemporary crisis by calling for a novel emphasis on doctrinal confession within the churches of the Communion. One symptom of this concern is the emergence of the concept of core doctrine, which some recent church authorities have resorted to in order to respond to the current dispute. Since the "heresy" trial of Bishop Righter in 1996, the term "core doctrine" has been invoked by the Windsor Report issued by the Lambeth Commission in October of 2004, and subsequendy by the St. Michael Report of the Anglican Church of Canada in 2005. Although this desire for greater doctrinal clarity is understandable, such recent innovations are plagued by considerable theological problems. Careful analysis of the limitations of the concept of core doctrine and consideration of proposals for more centralized ecclesial authority within the Communion demonstrate that further theological reflection is required before such proposals are adopted formally by churches of the Communion. Although there are considerable practical and ethical questions to raise about the present crisis within the Anglican tradition,1 this essay focuses on theological reasons for being cautious about the introduction of core doctrine and Communion-wide forms of canon law. Throughout this discussion, I question whether the current obsession with securing more rigid forms of church authority is consistent with the Anglican tradition, particularly its emphases on the authority of Scripture, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the nature of doctrinal confession. Symptoms of Doctrinal Confusion Although the issue of homosexuality serves as the occasion and focus of the current crisis within the Anglican Communion, behind the front lines of the confrontation lurks a tension that has long plagued the Anglican tradition: the question of what is essential to the Christian faith as it is proclaimed and witnessed to by Anglicans. For many, the problem confronting the tradition today is the same one lamented by Stephen Sykes almost thirty years ago: "The integrity of the communion is in question, because it appears to be offering the propositions of the Christian gospel as topics for debate and discussion, rather than to be witnessing to the mighty acts of God in Christ."2 Whatever the merits of this accusation, the Anglican Communion is being confronted by deep internal tensions; and it remains to be seen whether the tradition possesses the theological resources, along with the courage and wisdom, to confront the problem effectively. "Anglicanism" (if one can even use the term3) has always represented a constellation of diverse theological and ecciesial positions, held together by complex interweaving bonds of language, empire, culture, history, and other shared allegiances. …