Abstract

A contribution to the end of the Church knowing itself as the body of Christ. Irving articulates a theology of the Church as that which participates in all that Jesus is in his vicarious humanity by the power of the Spirit. This is developed through a dialogical (or covenantal) frame that has its focal point in Christ, in whom the faithful love of God toward creation and the faithful love of creation toward God is actualized. The Church as the body of Christ participates in the mediatorial work of Jesus Christ. Each chapter explores a different element of this participatory ecclesiology. This book offers a constructive ecclesiology, built from the ground up on the foundation of a dialogical perspective, which has participation in Christ as its controlling center. This foundation provides the basis upon which an exhilarating vision of the Church can be built, to encourage Christians to cherish the Church as the body of Christ which participates in the triune communion through being included into the Son by the power of the Spirit and comes to reflect the triune God in its own structures.