What If the Church Really is the Body of Christ?

Abstract : What does it mean to claim that the church is the body of Christ? Following the lead of the New Testament, Bonhoeffer, Jenson, and Hauerwas, this article articulates how the church becomes the body of Christ through the narrative of Scripture and the practices of worship. As Jesus Christ has a distinctive character, so also the body of Christ has a distinctive character. This character is described through the four classical marks of the church—one, holy, catholic, apostolic. These notae ecclesiae are to be interpreted not only in relation to the inner constitution of the church but ethically in relation to the church's calling to be “shalom church” for the life of the world in peacemaking, doing justice, caring for creation, and defending human dignity. Particular communal practices that embody this character are proposed for the life of the church.     

What are Churches For? Toward an Ecclesiology of the Cross after Christendom1

Abstract : This essay applies pressure to Douglas John Hall's use of Luther's theologia crucis in his calls for the church to become an ecclesia crucis. In my analysis, the theology of the cross is best used not as a hermeneutical key for discerning Christendom's end and the church's new beginning, but as training in developing the capacity to discern both God and church as they hide under opposite signs. By drawing on Hall, two feminist Lutheran theologians, and Stanley Hauerwas, the essay suggests that the practices of the institutional church might be exactly what is needed for the formation of theologians of the cross.     

Trinitarian Mission and Practical Theology

The contextual dimension of mission remains both critical and relevant in understanding the nature and scope of the church with regard to its place and purpose. This is formed against the backdrop of the continual importance of the missio Dei in framing its engagement. Newbigin's conception of trinitarian mission is one approach that can give specific focus to this understanding. A trinitarian missional ecclesiology can find common ground with practical theology in service of mission. Practical theology should be understood contextually and can be conceived missiologically. By bringing Newbigin's trinitarian mission into conversation with practical theology, an important conversation is generated regarding the contextual nature of both the discipline of practical theology and the missio Dei.     

The ordo of care

What is the relationship between practices of care towards people living in marginalized life situations and liturgy? This article addresses this question by exploring the liturgical theology of Gordon Lathrop as the theoretical starting point for analysing a practice that would conventionally not be described as “liturgy”, but “ethical practice”. At the heart of the liturgical theology of Lathrop is the idea that the ordo of the Sunday service is organized by juxtapositions and broken symbols. In this article, Lathrop’s theology is brought into a hermeneutical dialogue with empirical material constructed from the Church of Our Lady, Trondheim, Norway, a Lutheran medieval church located in the middle of the city of Trondheim. Since 2008, the church has been run by the Church City Mission as an open church for all who need an open and hospitable sacred space in the city centre, especially people who live in marginalized life situations. The article demonstrates that when working inductively with an empirical material, Lathrop’s concepts are too narrow and hermeneutically closed. In order to be theoretically sensitive to the experiences of people who live in marginalized life situations and the ethical practices of care, liturgical theology has to reimage its understanding of space.     

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.     

Mission Theology of the Church

This article on the mission theology of the church, a personal perspective by the vice‐moderator of CWME, draws on documentation produced by the commission and also responds to the Faith and Order document, The Nature and Mission of the Church. It is based on the trinitarian paradigm of mission referred to as missio Dei, which emphasizes the priority of God's sending activity in the world, by the Son and the Spirit, and the contingency of the church and its mission activities upon that. Therefore, it is concerned with the participation of the church in God's mission to and in the world, and from this perspective, has a particular interest with the actual, empirical church rather than the ideal church, recognizing that the church exists in many different forms in particular social, cultural, economic and political contexts. The article argues that the church is “missionary by its very nature”. Both theologically and empirically, it is impossible to separate the church from mission. Indeed mission is the very life of the church and the church is missionary by its very nature the Spirit of Christ breathed into the disciples at the same time as he sent them into the world. The mission theology of the church as it has developed in ecumenical discussion over the 20th and early 21st centuries is discussed in terms of the relationship of the church to the three persons of the Trinity: as foretaste of the kingdom of God; as the body of Christ; and as a movement of the Spirit. The article shows that being in mission is to cross the usual boundaries and bring new perspectives from outside to bear, and this is a never‐ending, enriching process.     

Luther Studies in Germany—The Presence and Absence of Theology

Abstract : German Luther studies are still affected by the constellation of the years after the Second World War. Gerhard Ebeling's interpretation of Luther continues to frame the discourse. At the same time, in both systematic theology and church history, genuine interest in Luther has waned. There are some approaches that promise change. Some contributions in systematic theology have revealed the complex character of Luther's theology. Luther is becoming more contextualized. Most significant is the study of Luther with a view to medieval piety, especially mysticism.     

The Evolution of Early Stuart Conformist Thought: The Liturgical Theology of John Donne

Abstract

An examination of John Donne's ambiguous understanding of prayer book worship and of the ideas he drew from both John Whitgift and Richard Hooker brings into relief a liturgical theology in the process of evolution. If Donne can be recognized as representative of conformists in the early Stuart church, the evolutionary nature of his theology allows for a less sharp and less dramatic portrait of the rise of ritualism in the 1620s and, perhaps, a different way of looking at the origins of Laudianism.     

After Dogma: Reinhard H¨tter's Challenge to Contemporary Theology: A Review Essay

Reinhard Hütter's Suffering Divine Things: Theology as Church Practice constitutes an important new proposal for relating theology, doctrine and the life of the church. The central problematic is posed by the privatization of Christianity in the modern world, as exemplified in the classic debate between Karl Barth and Erik Peterson on the status of dogma. Against modern theological constructivism, Hütter argues that theology must be situated within the overall pathos of life in the Spirit, concretely mediated through church practices and the dogma that defines them as a distinctive 'public'. Despite its sometimes thin exegetical basis, the work offers a fresh, ecumenically promising account of the theological endeavour.     

The view of Islam from the monasteries of Palestine in the early cAbbasid period: Theodore Abū Qurrah and the Summa theologiae arabica

Christians in the Holy Land, and particularly members of the monastic communities in the Judean desert, were the first to compose original works of theology in Arabic. These writers presented the doctrines of the church in an idiom which was calculated to appeal to the understanding of any speaker of Arabic who was familiar with the Qur'an and with the thought of the early Muslim mutakallimin. From these texts there emerges a view of Islam which makes it dear that the writers very much consider themselves to be doing theology in dialogue. The article discusses the earliest Christian apology in Arabic; two works of Theodore Abu Qurrah; an early Summa Theologiae Arabica; and an essay in apologetics, provocatively entitled Kitab al‐burhan.     

Doing Justice to Difference: Stanley Hauerwas and Public Theology

Stanley Hauerwas’s theology is widely read as a rejection of the world in favor of the church, and thus the antithesis of politically-engaged, publicly-minded theologies like Reinhold Niebuhr's. However, Hauerwas's critical work can be more fruitfully understood as an effort in disambiguating concepts like “love” and “justice.” Attending to the role language plays in Hauerwas's thought shows how neo-Anabaptist theology acts as a corrective to, not a rejection of, public theology. Charles Mathewes's The Republic of Grace is one example of a neo-Augustinian political theology that takes Hauerwas's conceptual clarifications seriously.     

Missio Dei Trinitatis and Missio Ecclesiae: A Public Theological Perspective

In this article I address the mission of the triune God (missio Dei trinitatis) and the mission of the church (missio ecclesiae) that participates in the mission of God the Trinity, particularly from the perspective of public theology. First, I investigate that the concept of the missio Dei trinitatis so expanded our understanding of mission that the church‐centred view of mission was replaced by the public mission taking place in the midst of the world. Second, from the public theological perspective I argue for the need of the diakonia mission in order to realize the reign of God in the world. Third, I insist that the mission of the church participating in the mission of the triune God ought to appropriate the post‐colonial hermeneutics of suspicion and develop a post‐post‐colonial public mission theology for the sake of a mature democratic civil society. Fourth, I suggest that the mission of the church participating in God's mission should develop a transcultural‐indigenous public hermeneutics of mission in such a way as to encourage different stories through transcultural‐indigenous interpretations of the biblical narrative.     

Lutheran Subjectivity and Costly Neighbor Love in Secular Sweden: Confronting the Refugee Crisis through Alethurgy

This article offers a constructive Lutheran theology that challenges the hegemony of secular Sweden, particularly in light of challenges posed by the current global refugee crisis. The author uses Guillermo Hanson's creative rethinking of Lutheran subjectivity to highlight a radical embodied vision of neighbor love. Retrieving Luther's claim that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, the article concludes with proposals for alethurgic practices that wed neighbor love to acknowledgement of a common God.     

The Protestant Reformation and Catholic Publishing: A Framework for Contemporary Understanding

Drawing from the perspective of an interdisciplinary exploration of the sociocultural impact of the printing press and its effects on Catholic thinkers, educators, and worship practices, the author of this article explores the educational mission of Catholic publishing during the Reformation and how it has evolved in modern times. First, the author discusses the communication dynamics of the Reformation and specifically the impact of the printing press. Second, the author explores the historical reasons for why the Roman Church perceived the need for uniformity in worship. Third, the author focuses on how the Roman Church built upon this framework of uniformity to define and shape the issues that were being discussed when expanding their outreach to the public during this period. Fourth, the author shows how Catholic worship and education evolved within an interpretation that is relevant to the educational mission of Catholic publishers today.     

The Theological Contributions of Bishop K. H. Ting to Christian/Pastoral Counseling

As China enters an era of urbanization and change, mental health issues are increasingly becoming a concern of the Christian church. Pastoral counseling is taking new shape as people of faith respond to those in their midst in need of care. Bishop K. H. Ting, a long-time leader of the Chinese church, has stressed the importance of an indigenous Chinese Christianity. This article is based on an examination of Bishop Ting’s theological writing with the aim of eliciting themes that might be foundational in the construction of inherently Chinese models of pastoral counseling. Based on a survey of his work, six themes emerge with particular importance for pastoral counseling: the Three-Self church, God is Love, the Cosmic Christ, ethical responsibility, theological reconstruction, and religion in society. These themes are explored within their uniquely Chinese context and suggestions for application to the practice of pastoral counseling are discussed. Original publication: Wang, P. (Ed.) (2006). Seeking Truth in Love. Nanjing, China: Nanjing Seminary Press. This essay was originally published in a collection of essays honoring Bishop K. H. Ting on his 90th birthday. Bishop Ting has been the head of the Chinese Protestant church for over five decades and his leadership has profoundly shaped Chinese theology and church life. The purpose of this essay is to explore how his collected theological writings might inform a uniquely Chinese approach to pastoral counseling. This article is published with the permission of the original publisher.     

Religion, Social Incorporation, and Civic Engagement: Second-Generation Indian American Christians

Recent studies have shown that participation in religious institutions facilitates the civic incorporation of contemporary immigrants. These studies have focused on either the immigrant generation or on the second generation. This paper contributes to the literature by showing how negotiations and disagreements between generations shape the civic engagement of multigenerational Christian congregations. The research is based on a study of congregations consisting of first- and second-generation immigrants belonging to the ancient Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Christian church based in Kerala, a state in south India. It shows how first- and second-generation Mar Thoma American conceptions regarding ethnic and religious identity and the social obligations mandated by religion were based on very different understandings about Christian worship, evangelism, social outreach, and their interrelationship. The immigrant generation’s ideas were shaped by the doctrines and practices of the Mar Thoma denomination in India, whereas those of the second generation were influenced by nondenominational American evangelicalism. This paper focuses on the second generation and shows how they developed ideas of American identity and Christian obligation in interaction with and often in opposition to those of their parents’ generation, with the result that contradictory forces affected the civic engagement of these multigenerational congregations.