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.     

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.     

The association between personality,attachment, psychological distress,church denomination and the god concept among a non-clinical sample

The association between personality, attachment, psychological distress, church denomination and the God concept was studied among a sample of 208 subjects from the normal population. Subjects were Christians, members of an Orthodox reformed church or the Pentecostal church. Negative feelings towards God were associated with a high level of harm avoidance, insecure attachment and a high level of psychological distress. Psychological distress mediated the association between personality and attachment variables and negative feelings towards God. Psychological distress and church denomination were the only two independent predictors of negative feelings towards God. Moreover, results showed that the Orthodox reformed church members hold a more negative concept of God than the Pentecostal church members do. Orthodox reformed church members see God in particular as a punitive judge, independent of personality, attachment and psychological distress, suggesting a large influence of religious culture on this particular type of God concept. Results are discussed from a psychotherapeutic point of view. Finally, several ethical issues regarding psychotherapy with religious clients are addressed.     

Unique needs: Salvation Army officers in retirement and end-of-life care

ABSTRACT

Retirement is a major life transition. On this point there is general agreement. But what about retirement for clergy and those who serve in the church? Perhaps a few see ministry as a job; then the change would be much like a worker ceasing paid employment. However, does being ordained, having a respected leadership role in the church, and serving God bring some unique dynamics to this transition? In this article we try to identify such factors using a large sample of Australian Salvation Army officers.     

The Paradigm Challenged A New Analysis of the Origin of Diakonia 1

The classical paradigm saw the apostolic and biblical age as a special moment for the diaconal ministry. The important role of the diaconal ministry continued for just a few centuries and finally withered. According to this study, the traditional outline is not historically true, or at least we need new evidence in order to argue for the biblical origin of a social-caritative diaconal ministry. Following the interpretation of New Testament texts by Luther and Calvin, the 19^th century diaconia movement projected its own life setting into the ancient texts. Thus the return to the biblical ministry of diaconia actually turned out to be a reinterpretation of biblical and early church writings. The ministry of diakonos in the early church was not invented by the modern movement, but it gave a totally new meaning to the ancient Greek concept and also launched a new way to use diakonia-derivative vocabulary.     

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).     

Teachers in Early Christianity

This article presents the idea that the Early Church supported teachers as one of the ministry offices within the local church. These teachers worked to mature the spiritual life of the congregation and so helped to free the pastoral ministry to focus on other duties, many of which fall on pastors. Most ministers, pastors, and others teach at one time or another, but the main task of teaching in the Early Church was carried on by (not merely overseen or administrated by) highly qualified Christian teachers. Three questions help explore the position of teachers in early Christianity: How does the New Testament define the teacher? How did the early church employ teachers? What principles helped to direct the Christian “Life of the Mind” in the Early Church?     

Case Study on Together towards Life and Ministerial Formation

When asked over the years why I believe the World Council of Churches is so important to the life of the church, my response has been not so much because of what its programmes do but because of its work in building a common ecumenical vision and bringing the diversity of the world church around that vision. This has been so valuable in shaping the life and ministry of the church ecumenical at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries. Together towards Life gives us a fresh opportunity to do this again in the area of mission and evangelism.     

Coming In? Or Going Out? A Few Thoughts on Theological Education

Much of theological education and church life has been based on the assumption that people will come to church. Instead, the church needs to look at how it can go out to those who do not come. Careful consideration needs to be given to the traits of leaders needed for this task and the ethos of the education best suited to helping them move out. The past provides some models that may be useful for Lutherans today.     

Erikson's life cycle theory and the local church

This paper recommends the use of Erik H. Erikson's life cycle theory to clarify the dynamics of the corporate life of the local church. To support this recommendation, it illustrates how an incipient institutional crisis in an inner-city church reflects the conflict ofinitiative vs. guilt. In the analysis of this case, the initiative vs. guilt conflict is broken down into four basic themes. Each of these themes focuses on a different form of interaction between participants in the conflict, and each theme provides specific recommendations for the resolution of the crisis. While only one of the eight life crises has been applied in this study, the paper concludes that there is genuine merit in the application of the life cycle theory to the corporate life of the church.Dr. Capps is Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Psychology of Religion at The Graduate Seminary, Phillips University, Enid, Oklahoma 73701. This article reflects research done for Dr. Capps' forthcoming book,Pastoral Care: A Thematic Approach (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1979).     

Spiritual Maturity and Wholeness – A Concept Whose Time Has Come

SUMMARY

Legal advocates, clergy and politicians have all been challenged by the concept of the separation of church and state since the first European set foot on the American continent. Two schools of thought have been developed for this unique problem in the United States. Roger Williams took the position that there needs to be a separation of church and state in order to keep the church pure from the politics and every day work of the state. Thomas Jefferson, who is often attributed with developing this concept, took the position that the need for this separation was to protect the state from the church. Both positions often get articulated as if they are one concept in the United States. However, they are very different. This debate has carried itself in the current millennium into the work of the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives as well as the legislation known as Charitable Choice.     

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.     

The Body Politic of Christ: Theology, Social Analysis, and Bonhoeffer's Arcane Discipline

As the world moves further into a postmodern era, the church often seems at a loss to articulate its own raison d'etre . Dietrich Bonhoeffer's discussion of the early church's "arcane discipline" provides a suitable basis for an ecclesiology and modus vivendi that can help Christians respond critically and faithfully to a world come of age as it seeks to sequester the life of the church within its global dispensation. This response takes the concrete form of a distinctive body politic that resembles in many ways the way of life of cultivated by diasporic Judaism.     

“We Are Not Alone”: Historical Journey of the United Church of Canada's Response to Become an Intercultural Church

Abstract The 39th General Council of the United Church of Canada (2006) declared that the “church must be intercultural.” The Ethnic Ministries Unit of the General Council proposed a vision for the church “where there is mutually respectful diversity and full and equitable participation of all Aboriginal, Francophone, ethnic minority, and ethnic majority constituencies in the total life, mission, and practices of the whole church”. 1 The vision of the church is that all people, regardless of their racial backgrounds, be invited to participate equally in the building of mutual relations in its life and work. The proposal is not the first in the history of the United Church of Canada (UCC) with the intention of improving meaningful relations among peoples of different cultural heritages. Many of the proposals presented over the years by various committees related to concerns raised by diverse ethnic communities within the church and intended to contribute toward building an inclusive faith community will be explored in this paper.     

Influence of Religiosity on the Quality of Life and on Pain Intensity in Chronic Pancreatitis Patients After Neurolytic Celiac Plexus Block: Case-Controlled Study

The quality of life in patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) is reduced due to their suffering of high levels of pain. It has been presented that quality of life can also be linked to religiosity and/or spirituality. The aim of this study is to assess the influence of religious practices on the quality of life and on the subjective level of pain in CP patients. Ninety-two patients (37 women and 55 men) with chronic pancreatitis were treated invasively for pain with neurolytic celiac plexus block (NCPB). The religiosity of the patients was recorded and served as a dichotomizer. Group 1 was for patients who claimed to have no contact with the church or to have very sporadic contact (N = 35 patients). Group 2 was for patients who claimed to have deep faith and were regular participants at church activities (N = 57 patients). Visual analogue scale was used to assess pain, while the quality of life was measured by using QLQ C-30 questionnaire adapted for chronic pancreatitis patients in Polish population. The patients were assessed prior to the pain-relieving intervention and subsequently 2 and 8 weeks after it. The intensity of pain was reduced in both groups significantly after performing the NCPB. Patients who declared a deep faith reported higher level of pain on the VAS scale prior to intervention than non-religious patients. Quality of life in both groups of patients significantly improved after NCPB. Following NCPB, global quality of life in patients who declared higher religiosity/church attendance was significantly higher (79.88) than for those patients who have no contact or sporadic contact with the church (44.21, P < 0.05). NCPB resulted in significant reduction of pain and increase in quality of life in both groups of patients with CP. Nevertheless, in the group declaring higher religiosity/church attendance, reported pain was higher, but, despite that, quality of life better. It may be concluded that religious practices might serve as an additional factor improving quality of life and coping in patients suffering from chronic pancreatitis.     

Homo Hierarchicus and ecclesial order

Abstract

To argue that the concept of hierarchy is a profoundly theological concept is peculiarly difficult at the present time in which there is a general assumption that all hierarchies are hierarchies of power, intrinsically oppressive, and incompatible with human freedom. Consequently there is a deep-seated suspicion of the notion whenever it is invoked – not least in the context of church ‘order’. Such a suspicion would have been inexplicable to those writers from whom we gain our earliest knowledge of the Christian Church. Though we cannot, nor should we try to, recreate the conditions of earlier ages in which the concept was understood with a richness and depth that are lacking in our own age, it is vital to expose the contemporary misuse and degradation of the concept and see that, in the life of the Church, the concept of hierarchy is not intended to be an articulation of power, but an eschatological expression of order. The recognition of the inhuman abuse of the concept down the ages should not blind us to the truth that its purpose is to act sacramentally as a sign of the heavenly kingdom.     

Barth's Criticisms of Kierkegaard – A Striking out at Phantoms?

Abstract:  Towards the end of his life, Karl Barth had occasion to review his and Christian theology's relation to the work of Søren Kierkegaard. Barth's 'settling of accounts' with Kierkegaard issued in three searching criticisms: first, that Kierkegaard's work succumbs to a dour legalism , second, that it promotes a pious individualism at the expense of the church as a community with social and political responsibility, and third, that it promotes a new fixation upon subjectivity , enthralled by the idea of the possibility of a self-founding and groundless gesture of faith. This article explores the extent to which these are in fact warranted criticisms of Kierkegaard's theology. After considering how and by whom Kierkegaard was mediated to Barth, each of the three criticisms is taken up in turn and tested against a reading of texts from Kierkegaard's 'second authorship'. While it appears that in significant respects Kierkegaard's theology is different to what Barth takes it to be, what does become plain is that Kierkegaard's account of the church is in fact almost as phantasmal as the image of the Danish thinker at which Barth himself tilts for the most part.     

How to Assimilate the Elderly Into Your Parish:

This research is a scientific study of retired persons, to attempt to determine why they drop out of the church upon reaching retirement age. The hypothesis is that a person drops out of active church life because helshe feels alienated within the social system known as the church. Groups were tested in Michigan, Indiana, and Florida. Each group was tested for church attendance, religiosity, alienation and religious experience. Using alienation as the independent variable, it was determined that there was a correlation between alienation and church attendance. These two variables were found to be correlated at the 0.001 level of confidence. Upon further examination it was found that the computed T-Statistic indicated that the correlation was inverse in nature. As alienation increases, church attendance measurably decreases. Due to the fmdings of this research the hypothesis was accepted. Having determined that alienation is a primary cause of decline in church attendance among the elderly, ways in which to decrease alienation and therefore increase church attendance are presented. A primary agent in the process of reducing alienation is psycho-social bonding and ways to increase the bonding process are discussed. Bonding is that process by which a person attaches to, and makes a social connection with another person. The bond that is formed is often difficult to eradicate. Alienation could be described as a state of being bondless within a social system.     

For the church community after COVID‐19

COVID‐19 is changing everyday life. COVID‐19 is also changing the look of the church. The church is a community of people who gather for worship, fellowship, and sharing. However, due to the coronavirus, the church is no longer able to gather and worship together. Moreover, because of the coronavirus, social distancing with as little as possible face‐to‐face contact has been recommended worldwide. If this situation is prolonged, the church community interactions will have difficulty in surviving. Therefore, this article seeks ways to maintain and strengthen the church community in and after the coronavirus era through insight into speech act theory.     

Historical Memory and the Resurrection of Jesus: Encountering the Risen Christ

Why did the risen Christ only impart the truth of his resurrection to future generations indirectly? Why risk the distortion and eventual loss of contact with the truth and reality of his risen life that could result? Moreover, granted he uses mediation to preserve his presence among humankind, what means does he use? This article argues that Christ employs two principal means to preserve the knowledge and saving presence of his risen life in his church, namely: the historical memory preserved in the Gospels and the church's liturgical remembrance. The first part of this work examines the existence and reliability of eyewitness testimony in the Gospels in dialogue with the work of Richard Bauckham. The second part examines the path of liturgical remembrance through active participation in the life of the crucified and risen Christ.