This contribution discusses Leibniz’s conception of the Christian church, his life-long ecumenical efforts, and his stance toward religious toleration. Leibniz’s regarded the main Christian denominations as particular churches constituting the only one truly catholic or universal church, whose authority went back to apostolic times, and whose theology was to be traced back to the entire ecclesiastical tradition. This is the ecclesiology which underpins his ecumenism. The main phases and features of his work toward reunification of Protestants and Roman Catholics, (...) and unification of Protestant churches are briefly explored, before turning to the issue of religious toleration. It is argued that a remarkably inclusive conception of toleration can be gleaned from a broad sample of Leibniz’s writings and correspondence. It is thanks to the philosophical and theological grounds of this conception that toleration can in principle be extended, for Leibniz, to all men and women of good will, including non-Christians, pagans, and atheists. (shrink)

There is an internal connection between ecclesiology, the teaching about the Church that we call academic ecclesiology, and mission, which is the inner heart of the Church and becomes visible through different practices. For the Orthodox Church involved in the ecumenical movement, there is a struggle to balance ecclesiology (theology) with ecumenical mission and dialogue (practice) in a divided Christian world. Nevertheless, the recent Synod of Crete (June 2016) addressed some important elements of this struggle. I have (...) in mind, for example, the act to accept the historical name of other non-Orthodox Christian Churches and Confessions that are not in communion with it. Also, this is the first Synod of the Orthodox Churches in modern times at which ecumenical dialogue, especially in the World Council of Churches, is officially affirmed. Because of mission dialogue has to continue, “if we wish never to ‘put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ’ (1 Cor 9:12).” The present paper highlights those statements of the Holy and Great Council which have direct relevance for discussing the relation of ecclesiology and mission. I assert that we should understand firstly the document Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the of the Christian World and only then reflect upon The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World (MOCT). Furthermore, I will make some references to the other texts which were central for this conference: The Cape Town Commitment (CTC), Together Towards Life (TTL) and Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (EG). I conclude by exposing briefly my reflections after reading these mission documents and by formulating some agenda points for further work in theology of mission. (shrink)

This study confronts the current crisis of churches. In critical and creative conversation with the German theologian Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923), Ulrich Schmiedel argues that churches need to be "elasticized" in order to engage the "other." Examining contested concepts of religiosity, community, and identity, Schmiedel explores how the closure of church against the sociological "other" corresponds to the closure of church against the theological "other." Taking trust as a central category, he advocates for a turn in the interpretation of Christianity-from "propositional (...) possession" to "performative project," so that the identity of Christianity is "done" rather than "described." Through explorations of classical and contemporary scholarship in philosophy, sociology, and theology, Schmiedel retrieves Troeltsch's interdisciplinary thinking for use in relation to the controversies that encircle the construction of community today. The study opens up innovative and instructive approaches to the investigation of the practices of Christianity, past and present. Eventually, church emerges as a "work in movement," continually constituted through encounters with the sociological and the theological "other.". (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to appreciate more deeply the ecclesiological and missiological perspectives of synodality and thus to suggest that synodality is not something new or created as the whim of Pope Francis but that it is rooted in the Church's ecclesiology from its earliest times and as such finds an expression in the Church's life and mission. In this paper I will demonstrate that the Church has always been a synodal Church and what we are witnessing (...) now is a valid theological development which takes us into the third millennium. I wish to set my examination of synodality in its ecclesiological and missiological perspectives and thereby posit that these two branches or routes lead into the one synodal pathway. I will show that as we examine the ecclesiological perspective of synodality we shall see that it is set in a renewed sense of mission. For this, we will need to co-operate with God and each other, as Pope Francis hinted at in 2015. (shrink)

The English Separatist movement provided the background for which John Smyth and Thomas Helwys emerged to reconstitute a biblical ecclesiology. Through the study of the New Testament, they came to the position that infant baptism and covenantal theology could not be the foundation for the New Testament church. Both men embraced believer’s baptism as the basic foundation in which a recovered church should be built. Unfortunately, Smyth defected to the Mennonites, leaving Thomas Helwys to continue the fledging work known (...) as Baptists. This article will examine the life of Thomas Helwys and his contribution to Baptist ecclesiology; it will also review selected literary works that contributed to the recovery of a New Testament church and the founding of Baptist ecclesiology. (shrink)

In this paper, I aim to show that analytic philosophy can contribute to the theological discussion of ecclesiology. By considering recent analytic work on social ontology, I outline how we might think of the Church as one entity, constituted by many disparate parts. The paper begins with an overview of the theological constraints for the paper, and then proceeds to examine recent work on the philosophy of social ontology and group agency. Drawing on this literature, I outline three models (...) of social ontology from the history of philosophy and suggest reasons why all of them fail to provide an account of the Church’s agency. Finally, I develop an alternative model which, I suggest, better fits the conditions stipulated. (shrink)

Review of: Ecclesiology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium, edited by Kevin Wager, M. Isabell Naumann, Peter John McGregor, Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2020, pp. 251, $52.25.

In this article by Richard Gorban «Personalistic Ecclesiology of Czeslaw Stanislaw Bartnik» the author considers the concept of Personalistic Ecclesiology of Czeslaw Stanislaw Bartnik, a modern Catholic philosopher and theologian, the follower of theological Personalism of Karol Wojtyla. The author found out that, according to Bartnik’s Ecclesiology, the Church consists primarily of prosopoistic constituents: the Personality of Christ, Christ, Holy Spirit, community of persons, the world of the personality and consequently becomes the Personality itself. In conformity with (...) the Polish thinker’s interpretation, the Church is a community of personalities, founded in a real way, by means of individual relations-bonds with the Personality of Christ as the one that performs His mission and perceives a special dimension of the subject’s existence in the process and prospects of salvation. The philosopher-personalist treats nature and peculiarities of the Church based on the idea that it is a product of religious commitment, the phenomenon of personal character. The structures of the Church and religious commitment are distinguished by prosopoistic relations, that is why the personality should be seen as not only the factor, which creates bonds with the Church, but is its fundamental structure. Based on human nature and common Christian community, the Church manifests itself as a religious-social Personality. From the point of view of realistic Universal Personalism of Stanislaw Bartnik, it takes form of a communal character, following the principles of other kinds of a community person. As long as, the Church becomes the community whole, it must realize and really fulfils its Personality, becomes truly its self, furthermore it serves and realizes not only its own existence as a personality, but the existence of a single human being in its aspirations to its own fullness. (shrink)

The essay is a response to an invitation to offer reflections on Richard Lennan’s recent book Tilling the Church for a panel at the annual gathering of the Karl Rahner Society. It situates the work within the distinctive spiritual and intellectual heritage shared by Karl Rahner, Pope Francis, and Lennan’s scholarly community and vocational home at Boston College, namely by reading it through an intentionally Ignatian lens. The review overlays the volume’s ecclesiological explorations with reference to the Spiritual Exercises and (...) to the contours of the current emphasis or re-emergence of the Ignatian tradition on a global stage given the last eleven years and the unique pulpit they provide via the Petrine Office. The piece argues that the adaptability and flexibility of the Ignatian heritage finds profound and lasting resonance with Lennan’s recent project and hopeful agenda. (shrink)

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought significant changes to the life of the Christian church in Indonesia. Such changes can degrade the essence of the fellowship of believers. The reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, which became the church's starting point, has triggered a change in the pattern of carrying out its duties and services to the people and their environment. The church can adapt and transform its ministry innovations as a living organisation. The church needs to reinterpret the (...) effectiveness of its presence through adapting new service patterns, namely onsite services to virtual services or hybrid services, to remain relevant to every dimension of rapid change in all aspects. This research study analyses the actualisation of church ecclesiology in the midst and after the pandemic. Using descriptive qualitative methods with interactive data analysis from Miles and Huberman, the following points have been found: (1) virtual ministry as a church reality, (2) a pneumatic encounter spirituality characterises the church, (3) ecclesiology in the context of universal communion and (4) the sacrament as a means of manifesting divine power. CONTRIBUTION: This study provides the concept of collaboration between ecclesiology as a principle and technology as a method. Ecclesiology and technology can realise the ministry of church unity. Collaboration between principles and methods in the church will build a flexible church in all conditions. However, the principles and duties of the church vocation are not neglected. (shrink)

The Matthean parable of the wheat and the weeds appears across the spectrum of writings of early Christians in north Africa. Given that the parable seems to advocate a non-judgemental acceptance of sinners within the community in the present age, while north African Christianity is known for its emphasis on membership purity and the exclusion of sinners, how was this parable handled in that context? This article argues that an author like Tertullian avoided the ecclesiological dimensions of the parable, and (...) that Cyprian never applied the parable so as to reject the excommunication of the lapsed. Tyconius and Optatus made only passing reference to the parable. Augustine found the parable helpful in arguing against the Donatist practice of excommunicating traditores. Contra litteras Petiliani is considered in some detail. Yet even Augustine, who stands outside the north African tradition, believed in the excommunication. (shrink)

In a proleptically queer mode, Avery Cardinal Dulles’s Models of the Church argued that the church—a mystery—must bear multiple simultaneously true, dynamic, indispensable, yet inadequate labels. If so, one theological test of our ethics is their ability to sustain ecclesiological multiplicity. The anti-trans* policies of some US dioceses and of the Congregation for Catholic Education (CCE) document “‘Male and Female He Created Them’” embrace Dulles’s institution model to the point of exclusive authoritarian institutionalism, while other CCE documents, embracing open-ended, loving (...) dialogue across difference, favor his communion and community of disciples models without discarding the other dimensions of church. Dulles’s belief in the dynamism and temporality of ecclesiological models is permission to replace the institution model, which is vulnerable to abuse, with a kenotic model drawn from queer theology that installs apophasis and self-criticism as indispensable elements of ecclesiology. Ethics of sexuality and gender must pass this ecclesiological test. (shrink)

Recent methodology in Gospel research is casting light not only on church history, but also on the growth of theology and faith in the first century.

Even though the digital church has been in existence for some time, it was mainly a transmission of onsite church services and programmes in the online space. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its demands for a global shutdown to mitigate and contain the disease moved almost all social activities including church services to the online space. It is evident that persons with disability experience extreme exclusion from the church’s theology, praxes, and ethos. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is replicated in (...) the virtual space. Research proves that persons with disability were not considered in the migration of churches to the virtual space; hence, digital accessibility is minimal or non-existent during and after the COVID-19 era.Contribution: This article explores the various transformational stages of both the church and media while further exploring possible ways by which the virtual church may grant accessibility to persons with disability. (shrink)

The experience and understanding of ‘church’ in the Global South differs radically from the North. This is due to differences in size, background cultures and spiritualities, different experiences of the public space, varying resources and diverse leadership models, among other aspects. However, Pentecostalism in the North is more influential in theologizing and publishing, while the texts they produce do not always resonate with Southern needs and contexts. This paper wrestles with this situation and attempts to outline some tentative aspects of (...) a Pentecostal ecclesiology from the South. (shrink)

This article argues for the use of the queer kenotic theology of Marcella Althaus-Reid as a theological framework for analysing two stories of ambivalence and risk emerging from an ecclesial practice committed to hospitality. Following Natalie Wigg-Stevenson in envisioning theology not as proclamation but as conversation, the article is an example of what theology can look like when ethnographic material is juxtaposed with systematic theology. The empirical material is created using ethnography as a research strategy in the ecclesial practice of (...) the Lutheran church of Our Lady, Trondheim, Norway. In 2007, this church reopened as an ‘open church’ for people who live with different kinds of marginalization. As the sacred medieval space encounters the messy and chaotic lives of people, a powerful displacement of space, practices and bodies occur. The article concludes by discussing how the empirical material feeds back to kenotic theology and queer theology. (shrink)

The article aims to show the value of taking ecclesiology – the theology of the church – into account in the study of British imperial ideology by describing how Anglican intra-ecclesiological debates shaped mid-nineteenth-century discourse about the British Empire. It highlights the impact of the Oxford Movement on the mind of the British colonial administrator Sir Frederic Rogers, Lord Blachford (1811-1889), by revealing the connections between his imperial thought and concepts arising from Tractarian ecclesiology. In particular, it argues (...) that Rogers’ understanding of British colonial development builds on Tractarian ideas of balance and consistency. By retaining a sense of the importance of the historic connection with the colonies of settlement while respecting their right to be free, Rogers constituted the imperial relationship as a _ via media. _. (shrink)

My theme is the conceptual framework of a large variety of attitudes towards Marx, which in spite of their variety share a common set of characteristics. These attitudes towards Marx have acquired over the last hundred years just as much historical reality as the life, activities, and writings of Marx himself, and thus deserve to be subject matter in the history of ideas just as much as the analysis of Marx's writings themselves. My thesis is that if we want to (...) understand the religious dimensions and aspects of Marx's achievement we have to take into account the peculiar nature of these attitudes towards Marx as much as, and perhaps even more than, Marx's writings themselves. (shrink)

Étudier le recours aux tribunaux ecclésiastiques éclaire comment les chrétiens tardo-médiévaux pensaient l’Église. Le choix de défendeurs, de crimes et de sanctions leur a permis de définir les critères d’appartenance à la communauté. Dans le cas de l’excommunication pour dettes, le recours à des excommunications procédurales annoncées du jubé pendant le prône facilitait l’exclusion des débiteurs des communautés sacramentelle et économique. Ne pas payer les dettes était un acte contre charité parce qu’on a eu de la peine à distinguer les (...) deux communautés – au moins jusque vers 1500. (shrink)

Reformed catholicity suffers from a fragility that causes it to easily fragment over comparatively small differences. This study wagers that an important resource that can be useful for addressing this problem is the Chinese philosophy of tianxia. The article introduces the idea of a ‘Reformed catholicity under Heaven’ by placing a more liberal interpretation of tianxia in conversation with the problems in Reformed approaches to the church’s catholicity. In doing so, the article demonstrates tianxia’s ecclesiological usefulness while articulating two dimensions (...) of ‘Reformed catholicity under Heaven’ that can deepen how Reformed churches inhabit catholicity in ways that promote unity. (shrink)

This paper begins with an outline of some of the main themes in the ecclesiology Kant presents in Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone. It then discusses implications of Kant’s ecclesiology for issues concerning scriptural interpretation and religious toleration. With the help of these implications, an objection to Kant’s ecclesiology is developed, and a Kantian ecclesiology modified in response to the objection is sketched out. The Roman Catholic ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council is (...) compared to both Kant’s ecclesiology and the modified Kantian ecclesiology. It is argued that on some points the ecclesiology of Vatican II represents movement in the direction of Kant’s ecclesio]ogy while on others tension between Kant and Vatican II can be reduced by the modified Kantian ecclesiology. (shrink)

The most dynamic segment of the Protestant enclave of the twentieth century. consider the Pentecostal movement. His limits and variability have greatly corrected the global religious atlas. By some estimates, the number of followers of various Pentecostal communities reached the limit of millenia from 400 to 600 million followers75. Despite the doubts that may arise in the predictions of D. Barrett and others, it is difficult to deny that the success of Pentecostal / charismatic missionary activity in the second half (...) of the twentieth century was spectacular. (shrink)

Using the lenses of both biblical and process theology, this essay explores the ways in which sacrament and church are inextricably bound with one another. By paying special attention to the seriousness with which Whiteheadian thought takes events in space and time, the essay develops a sacramentally focused ecclesiology that is radically embodied in the realm of occasions.

The South African context has been characterised by the prevalence of various social realities and problems in the form of xenophobia, racism, poverty and social injustice, aspects that adversely affect the ecumenical dream of equality, unity, love and tolerance. This article delves into these issues critically by examining how Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen’s concepts, ideas and symbols as expressed in his Pentecostal ecumenical ecclesiology can effectively inform the South African context. This article also brings into perspective the credible foundational precepts within (...) the Pentecostal tradition that are intricately intertwined within Kärkkäinen’s ecclesiology and determines how these invaluable traits or precepts can be applied effectively within the South African context. Although these Pentecostal foundational precepts have for a long time been overlooked by traditional theologies, they are also embedded within ecumenical values such as cultural diversity, interracial communion, promotion of peace, gender equality and religious pluralism. Contribution: This article is pushing the boundaries of how Pentecostal theology in general is understood by presenting its role and function in a wider ecumenical and geographical context. In this regard, this study makes a contribution by exploring ideas from Kärkkäinen’s ecclesiology which can effectively inform the current South African context which has been plagued by elements of inequality and injustice. (shrink)

In book 10 of City of God, Augustine appeals to the notion of true sacrifice in order to counteract the attraction of pagan worship. This appeal to the concept of sacrifice gives a distinct shape to the Christology and ecclesiology he develops in this book. Set against this polemical horizon, and within the context of his wider thought, it becomes clear that sacrifice is itself soteriological motif for Augustine. The work it does in this context is to serve as (...) another way of describing the return of humanity to God through the Incarnate Christ. The cross, the Eucharist, the moral life, and the church itself are all identified as instances of the one true sacrifice of Christ. In this way, sacrifice provides an integrative motif for discussing Augustinian Christology, ecclesiology, sacramental theology, and soteriology. (shrink)

The archipelago context of Maluku represents the living dynamics of Christian communities in that area, which becomes an ecclesiological foundation of the Gereja Protestan Maluku. Christianity, the embryo of the GPM, is the fruit of the evangelical works by European missionaries, particularly Dutch missions from the 18th century onwards. The Dutch-type Christianity had been adapted into models so that the form of institution and Protestant teachings in Maluku moved dynamically following socio-political and cultural changes along with the colonial and the (...) post-colonial history of Indonesian and Malukan society. It attempts to describe the manifestation of the Calvinism-model of Christianity that is continuously being contextualised through absorbing various elements of worldview, tradition, and the religiosity of the archipelago society. Cultural hermeneutics is used to interpret the socio-cultural phenomena in which the church lives in and to construct its theological understanding about Christian identity. The ecclesiological construction of GPM, in turn, is structured by plural social orders. The reality also influences the perspective about GPM from many different worldviews of the Malukan archipelago society. The contextual ecclesiological perspective, therefore, is constructed based on intermingled understandings that theology of the church can only be built by considering multifold dimensions of a particular society. The result of this research pertains to the constructive understanding of a specific ecclesial context of the GPM in their struggles for theologising their existence as God’s people and, at the same time, as an integral part of certain society in Maluku and Indonesia.Contribution: As the living contextual church that struggles for proclaiming God’s love, the GPM has a theological responsibility to conduct its church mission based on its ecclesiological understanding and practices contextually. The article contributes to the enrichment of the theological discourse on the crucial roles of a church in Maluku, in the eastern part of Indonesia. (shrink)

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. (shrink)