Connected to the wellspring: ecclesiological capabilities of small groups of adolescents

The relationship between adolescents and institutional manifestations of church is often problematic. Nevertheless, adolescents still have a need to talk about and to experience faith together with other adolescents. When institutional activities are not available or do not satisfy the needs of the adolescents they sometimes create their own small groups and (informal) meetings to affirm their faith integrated in their (social) lives. Sociological studies also show the tendency to create their own small groups (tribes) besides existing groups of institutional organisations. In this article the question posed is how this more tribal way of being together can be seen as church. Is a (new) form of ecclesiology possible in a world of small groups, networks, social media? This article describes ecclesiological capabilities in a complex sociological environment for adolescents.     

Ecclesiological Research and Natural and Human Sciences: Some Observations of an Unconventional Phenomenon

This article is motivated by the absence of published material dealing with the rapprochement between ecclesiology and the sciences. It presupposes that there is a need to broaden the scope of ecclesiological research in order to integrate into it theories and methods from the social and natural sciences. Ecclesiological research in this wider sense has as its object, church, as a broad concept. The article suggests a threefold aspect for ecclesiology, conceiving it as the ecclesiology of the researcher, and the ecclesiology of both the object and of the result of the research. Furthermore, its purpose is to identify transparent ecclesiological theories which are able to engage with and integrate scientific theories and methods. An inventory of examples of modes of collaboration used between ecclesiology and different sciences is then offered as an illustration of the context in which ecclesiology may integrate or relate to science in different ways. Finally, the article concludes that there is a need for further clarificatory research into the possibilities which exist for ecclesiology to be made more fully the science of being Christian in community or church.     

Trinity and Ontology: Colin Gunton's Ecclesiology1

Abstract: Colin Gunton argues that there is a need to develop an ontology of the church on the basis of the concept of God as triune. There is an analogy between the being of God and the being of the church. Against the monistic and hierarchical conceptions of the church, so common in the West, Gunton develops a communio‐ecclesiology based on his understanding of relationality as a transcendental. In addition, Gunton argues that we must move towards an ecclesiology of perichoresis in which the church as a community is the result of the mutual constitutiveness of persons.     

Studying the ecclesiology of a national church: the Danish context

Studying the ecclesiology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark is a complicated matter. It requires knowledge of a broad range of subjects such as theology, political science, history, and anthropology. This article shows some of the difficulties and problems related to studying a national church which is heavily politicised, because a national church, in a globalised context, easily becomes the symbol of a past identification of nation, state, church, and people. Today, this identification is changing because of immigration, secular ideologies, and secularisation. Researchers in ecclesiology must be aware of the political and national dimensions of their research and how their conclusions are used in the political debate.     

Practices and the New Ecclesiology: Misplaced Concreteness?

Abstract: Recent writing in ecclesiology has often focused on church practices and less on dogmatic accounts. Whilst welcoming this renewed awareness, there are problems in its development, demonstrated here through an analysis of the concept of ‘a practice’, and through readings of two examples of this tendency: Hütter's Suffering Divine Things and Hauerwas's With the Grain of the Universe. Resources from Thomas Aquinas are offered that might help the development of ecclesiology in this vein.     

Studying ecclesiology in ecumenical perspective: the Finnish context: what does it mean to be ‘the same church in all directions’?

This article introduces the main international ecumenical contacts of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF). The article shows how the ecumenical contacts shape the unique ecclesiology of the ELCF. According to its own ecumenical strategy, the ELCF wants to be the same church in all directions. Unlike Lutheran churches in other Nordic countries, the ELCF is not a state church, but a folk church. Its status from a majority church in a national state is rapidly changing to a majority religious body in a multicultural society. This requires a new kind of ecclesiology, too. This article claims that there are four inter-related issues that shape the ecclesial self-understanding of the ELCF as an ecumenically active folk church. These issues are emphasis on doctrinal unity, communion within the LWF and Porvoo Communion, the status of a decreasing majority folk church, and internal debates on socio-ethical issues, especially those related to sexuality.     

Chinese ecclesiology – post-denominationalism and the search for an ecclesiological language

The quest for ecclesiology is apparent in Chinese theology and church life, both in China and abroad. It has been responded to with reference to different sorts of deductively elaborated ecclesiologies. This article suggests that analyses of present teaching and practices in Chinese churches should be undertaken in order to understand more precisely what sort of implicit or explicit ecclesiologies are already operative. On the basis of an ecclesiological hermeneutics, it would be possible to achieve an ecclesiological reconstruction in Chinese theology, recognising the given divine revelation.     

Fresh Expressions of Church and the Mixed Economy

The term “fresh expressions of church” has been used since 2004 in the Church of England to refer to small contextual churches that start alongside but aim to be different to parish churches. What is characteristic of a fresh expression of church is not its newness, but its ability to pass on and contextualize inherited theology, ecclesiology, tradition, and spiritual experience. The ecclesiology of fresh expressions of church can be summarized as a dialogical‐relational ecclesiology that is focused on a theological centre. There may be around 2,100 of them in the Church of England, both urban and rural. During the past 15 years, the self‐understanding of the Church of England, a traditional state church with its parish structure, has changed. The mother church of the Anglican World Communion claims since 2008 to be a mixed‐economy church: one that supports and recognizes innovative ecclesial spaces (fresh expressions of church) as church, as well as parish churches. It is the goal to have an innovative diversity of churches in a pluralistic society. At the same time, these churches should be recognizable and contextual. It is the concept of the mixed economy that manages a fair cooperation between parochial and fresh expressions of church. In the meantime, the concept of mixed economy is received not only in the UK, but in different national and free churches in continental Europe, the US, South Africa, Canada, and Australia. Lately, the concept has been taken up by the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE).     

Ecclesiology and the doctrine of creation: a Scandinavian theological perspective

With a view to the present challenges facing the traditional folk churches in Scandinavia, this article aims to present the interconnectedness of creation theology and ecclesiology, as this has been understood in Scandinavian ‘folk church Lutheranism’. While theologies of the Church often seem unrelated to a theology of creation, Bonhoeffer and de Lubac represent two different ways of connecting the two. This article shows how the theological tradition to which Grundtvig and Wingren belong, corresponds to and differs from these continental theologians. The specific character of the Scandinavian tradition is interpreted as stemming from an amalgam of Luther and Irenaeus. In conclusion, the article offers some critical comments on this tradition, and some reflections on how to negotiate between the all-inclusive nature of the Church, her catholicity, and the limited character of any actual local church. It is suggested that a reconsideration of the ecclesiological implications of the first article of faith (the doctrine of creation) is required for coming to terms with this challenge.     

Unbinding Lazarus

This article proposes a Wesleyan theological rationale and practical recommendations for revitalized theological education, particularly in university‐based schools of theology. The approach integrates a rigorous life‐long learning system that includes curricular and co‐curricular programmes and contextual learning, with a strong foundation in missional ecclesiology and contemplative, kenotic spirituality. It takes seriously the formational needs of practitioners of emergence Christianity such as the new monasticism, missional communities, and the like, so as to reflect upon best practices of theological education to resource leaders of the inherited church while offering recommendations for empowering leaders of ancient/future expressions of church.     

The Established Church and Evangelical Theology: John Wesley's Ecclesiology

From the earliest years of the eighteenth century evangelical revival in Great Britain, John Wesley developed a particular ecclesiology. If John Wesley can be accused of having an overly pragmatic bent, this certainly was not true of his ecclesiology. His understanding of church order developed early during the revival and was eventually put into full practice in the controversial year 1784. This article defends the view that sacramental theology dictated the direction of church order according to John Wesley. Those who have interpreted Wesley as primarily a pragmatist on ecclesial practice have misinterpreted his own writings on the topic.     

The Kingdom Anticipated: The Church and Eschatology

The idea that the church is an eschatological community, closely connected to the kingdom or reign of God, has not been prominent in ecclesiology. This article argues that the early Christian community understood its own existence in eschatological terms, as the ‘vestibule’ of God's reign (Bultmann). With the help of the concept of ‘anticipation’, it is argued that the church is an anticipatory sign of the kingdom, but that the relation between them requires nuanced statement. Central among the ways in which the church's eschatological character is instantiated is the Eucharist. However, such a view of the church also has pastoral, missiological and political implications.     

The Spirit in the Church: The Universal Christ, Particular Spirit and Christian Unity

Modern theology has had difficulty in producing an ecclesiology that makes the full visible unity of the church an essential aspect of the church's nature. One reason for this is that important modern ecclesiologies are built on a trinitarian model that either subordinates the Spirit to the Son, or reduces the Spirit to a vague, invisible 'domain of resonance', with the result that the church itself is either subordinated or rendered invisible. A new trinitarian model is needed, one that shows how the Spirit cooperates with the Son to produce a visibly united church.     

Coalition – creation – church*

Taking the recent UN Report about extreme poverty in the UK as a point of departure, this article analyses and assesses William Cavanaugh’s political ecclesiology. Drawing on the interpretation of Martin Luther’s concept of creation in Scandinavian Creation Theology, I argue that creation destabilises the distinction Cavanaugh draws between what he considers to be church and what he considers not to be church. I account for creation as a web of vulnerability in which all creatures are vulnerable to both creature and creator. In contrast to Cavanaugh’s strong and stable church, I advocate for what I call “coalitional church”: a church that can enter into coalitions with Christians and non-Christians in order to call for conditions under which vulnerable life is liveable. The public and political task of churches is not necessarily to fight the state, but to hold the state accountable to its citizens, whether they are Christian or non-Christian.     

Herbert Thorndike and Anglican Ecclesiology: ‘Classical’ Perspectives in Aid of Reconstruction

Abstract

The stream of theology associated with the ‘Caroline’ divines through the Stuart, Interregnum and early Restoration periods provides creative ecclesiological reflection. This is chiefly true of Herbert Thorndike who constructed the most in-depth exposition of the church during the period. Through a presentation of his method, then foundations and structures of his ecclesiology, Thorndike is shown to advance ‘Anglican’ ecclesiology in its accountability to historical data and in the correlation of church ministry and structure to the apprehension of Christian truth.     

Beyond Ecclesiocentricity: Navigating between the Abstract and the Domesticated in Contemporary Ecclesiology

In this article I seek to explore how ecclesiology might be apocalyptic, with all the ‘otherness’ and invisibility that implies, while at the same time properly concrete. In engaging the contemporary debate about ecclesiocentricity I suggest that an account of historical participation in the history of Jesus Christ by the Spirit will benefit from both a mimetic ontology and a christologically disciplined approach to the marks of the church. According to such an approach, the church is more clearly discerned as a eucharistic and dispossessive sociality.     

The Nouvelle Théologie and the Patristic Revival: Sources, Symbols and the Science of Theology

Abstract: A historical survey of the various controversies between thinkers associated with the nouvelle théologie and the Roman Catholic hierarchy suggests that three matters were particularly at stake. First was an ecclesiology, whether the church was to be understood primarily as a historically‐continuing structure of authority and obedience, or in more sacramental and spiritual ways. Second, the nature of theological language was at stake: is theology merely a set of logical deductions from divinely revealed, but universally accessible, propositions, or is faith and commitment necessary to any serious grasp of the import of theological claims? Finally, and undergirding these two issues, is a disagreement about the reception of the biblical witness, and so the recovery within the nouvelle théologie of patristic and medieval modes of figurative, typological or spiritual exegesis can be seen to be central to the movement.     

What Happens when History Does Not Walk as We Wish?

The modern ecumenical movement calls the churches to pray together and to stay together. Through the World Council of Churches, this call has been supported by theological reflection, most notably on baptism, eucharist and ministry and, more recently, ecclesiology. It has also been nurtured by the missionary movement and its practical calls to common witness and service. This article sets out the context of the work of a parish church in Edinburgh, UK. It provides context to ecumenical and interfaith relations in the parish and to pastoral work within what is called the pink triangle. It concludes with a reflection on John Zizioulas's local church and considers the implications of an ecclesiology and missiology that reflect the life of the parish: “While cherishing the unity of the Spirit in the one Church, it is also important to honour the ways in which each local congregation is led by the spirit to respond to its own contextual realities.” 1     

Old Testament and Church Ministries in Two Ecumenical Dialogues

Abstract: To understand any church institution as founded by Jesus, one must take account of its relationship to his work of bringing the Old Testament revelation and its institutions to their eschatological realization. A sample of the work of recent ecumenical dialogues (BEM and the international Lutheran– Roman Catholic document on church and justification) shows that their discussions of church institutions have failed to do this adequately. This failure has complicated the efforts at unity to which these dialogues intend to contribute. Attention to the Old Testament roots of church institutions can help ecumenical ecclesiology to focus better on some important issues.     

The Spirit and the Community: Pneumatology and Ecclesiology in Jenson,Hütter and Bonhoeffer

This article explores how three Lutheran theologians have understood the relationship between the work of the Holy Spirit and the existing church. I argue that Robert Jenson and Reinhard Hütter both relate the Spirit to the church in ways that displace a full recognition of the church as sinful. In contrast, I suggest how Dietrich Bonhoeffer's early and neglected reflections on ecclesiology and pneumatology allow for just such a recognition.