Abstract

Lennan, Richard Ecclesiology became a growth-industry in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Although it was principally Lumen Gentium, promulgated in 1964, that sparked a new wave of theological engagement with 'the church', Vatican II as whole, as 'a Council of the Church about the Church', was a model of that engagement. As it harvested the theological richness of the pre-conciliar ressourcement and embraced the need for aggiornamento, the council both practised and stimulated creative theologising about 'the church.' By situating the church in relation to revelation, the source of the life and mission of the worshipping community on its pilgrimage to the fullness of God's kingdom, Vatican II enabled Catholic ecclesiology to expand beyond the portrayal of the church as societas perfecta, which had been the characteristic emphasis since the Council of Trent