Meta-Ecclesiology


Book Description

The book explores the variables and invariables of the church. Its argument is that self-awareness of the church was often a matter of change, depending on historical circumstances. It encourages appreciating plurality in the church and sets the system of coordinates for identifying the ecclesial 'self'.




Meta-Ecclesiology


Book Description

The book explores the variables and invariables of the church. Its argument is that self-awareness of the church was often a matter of change, depending on historical circumstances. It encourages appreciating plurality in the church and sets the system of coordinates for identifying the ecclesial 'self'.




Ecclesiology in the Trenches


Book Description

The field of ecclesiology is rapidly expanding as new material, theories, methods, and approaches are being explored. This raises important and challenging questions concerning ecclesiology as an academic discipline. This book takes the reader into the trenches of ecclesiological research where the actual work of reading, writing, interpreting, and analyzing is being done. The authors reflect on fundamental questions concerning theory and method in ecclesiology in relation to concrete and actual research projects. Ecclesiology is dealt with as a systematic, empirical, historical, and liturgical discipline. Essays explore theology in South Africa as shaped by apartheid, liturgical theology, the diaconate in an ecumenical context, Free Church preachership, suburban ecclesial identity, medieval church practices, liturgical texts, church floor plans, and ecclesiology as a gendered discipline. Ecclesiology in the Trenches is a book for anyone who is interested and involved in ecclesiological research. It is also an example of a reflective approach to academic work. The book can be read as an overall argument for ecclesiology as a theological discipline with great potential for studying the church as a theologically defined empirical phenomenon.




Meta-Ecclesiology


Book Description

The book explores the variables and invariables of the church. Its argument is that self-awareness of the church was often a matter of change, depending on historical circumstances. It encourages appreciating plurality in the church and sets the system of coordinates for identifying the ecclesial 'self'.




The Ecclesiology of Thomas F. Torrance


Book Description

This book provides a constructive analysis of Thomas F. Torrance’s ecclesiology. Holding the doctrine of the Trinity to be the “ground and grammar of theology,” Torrance viewed the doctrine of the Trinity as foundational for all ecclesiological reflection: What does it mean to be the people of the God whom Christians name as Father, Son, and Spirit? Tyler examines Torrance’s development of the rich potential of the metaphor koinonia, involving both a vertical dimension––the Church’s union with Christ through the Spirit––and a horizontal dimension––its visible existence in human history, lived out in space and time, and considers how the relationship between these two dimensions informs the structured forms of the Church’s life, its ecumenical breadth, and its missional vision.




The Impact of Church Consultancy


Book Description

This book follows the journey of ten churches who underwent church consultancies, and explores in depth both the consultancy and its outcomes. Pre-consultancy and post-consultancy “snapshots,” four to five years apart, of vitality indicators and attendance figures (using National Church Life Survey and other data) are used to compare these with churches that have not undertaken church consultancies. Theologies of church consultancy, church health, and church growth are also developed and examined, intersecting with a wide body of literature, including contemporary ecclesiologies. Consultancy outcomes are examined in detail. This includes interviews with pastors of some of those churches, reflecting on their perceptions of whether and how the church consultancy impacted the health and growth of their church. Conclusions are drawn about the efficacy of church consultancy in influencing the health and growth of churches, as well as contexts for the best use of church consultancy. This is a significant book for denominational leaders, theological lecturers, pastors, and church leaders as they encounter lack of health in churches and seek ways forward for greater health and impact in their local communities.




Scaffolds of the Church


Book Description

Unity is the categorical imperative of the church. It is not just the church's bene esse, but its esse. In addition to being a theological concept, unity has become a raison d'etre of various structures that the church has established and developed. All of these structures are supposed to serve the end of unity. However, from time to time some of them deviate from their initial purpose and contribute to disunity. This happens because the structures of the church are not a part of its nature and can therefore turn against it. They are like scaffolding, which facilitates the construction and maintenance of a building without actually being part of it. Likewise, ecclesial structures help the church function in accordance with its nature but should not be identified with the church proper. This book considers the evolution of some of these church structures and evaluates their correspondence to their initial rationale. It focuses on particular structures that have developed in the eastern part of the Christian oecumene, such as patriarchates, canonical territory, and autocephaly, all of which are explored in the more general frame of hierarchy and primacy. They were selected because they are most neuralgic in the life of the Orthodox churches today and bear in them the greatest potential to divide.







Virtue Ecclesiology


Book Description

Critiquing a paradigm of growth within the church, this book contends that the church’s growth ethic should be replaced by one based on virtue. Drawing on the work of Sennett, Fromm, and Hauerwas, John Fitzmaurice argues that an approach taking growth to be the overriding task of the church is found to be shallow and risks infantilising the faith it purports to proclaim. MacIntyre’s proposal for a recovery of a virtue-based ethic is examined and interpreted theologically through the concepts of narrative theology, community, sacraments and sanctification; the role of ’practices’ in developing virtuous character is central. The nature of a virtuous organisation is explored through a lens of organisational psychodynamics; this understanding informs a model of church as a community of interpretation. Fitzmaurice suggests that it is in and though sacramental practices that the transitional space for these virtues to be formed is created. Tracing a similar corrosion of character within secular institutions that have opted for an overriding focus on growth, this book offers an alternative based on the formation of corporate, as well as individual, virtuous character and considers the implications of a virtue-based growth ethic on theological education and ministerial formation as well as in terms of public theology and the manner of the church’s engagement with society.




Brotherhood in Christ


Book Description

Traditional evangelical theology, with its emphasis on individual responsibility and the independence of faith communities, has often failed to offer a robust ecclesial vision for the unity of Christ’s church. Engaging this reality, Dr. Oleksandr Geychenko seeks to provide a theological framework for understanding the ecclesiological nature of Ukrainian Baptist church associations. He traces the history and development of Baptist unions in Eastern Europe, examining associational practices and organisational structure, along with the theological language used to describe the role and purpose of such unions. In dialogue with the covenant theology of Paul S. Fiddes, he demonstrates that church associations should be viewed as more than pragmatic entities. Rather, they are ecclesial bodies embodying covenantal unity, committed to mutual care and participation in Christ’s mission to the world. While drawing from primary sources and ecclesial practices to provide a unique and significant contribution to local theology, this study bears relevance for engaging ecumenical relations across traditions and encouraging the unity of the broader global church.