Chapter 1: The Church as an Icon of the Trinity
Eastern orthodoxy comprises mostly of pneumatology, doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Church experience is a lived experience. The church on a whole is an icon of the Trinity, making the notion of unified diversity a mystery
Chapter 2: The Church as the People of God
Christ is the head and the Holy Spirit is the soul of the church. There is a call to holiness for the whole church. The Trinitarian communion of the persons of the Trinity is the highest expression of unity for Christians. Every member of the church is meant to be permeated with Christ.
Chapter 3: The Church as Just and Sinful
A Lutheran understanding of the church is something going on in the word. Luther rejects the idea of a pure church. Luther built his theology on the idea of the priesthood of all believers. “In Luther’s view, the Spirit works in the church and in the believer’s life through the preached word and the sacraments.”
Chapter 4: The Church as Covenant
John Calvin emphasized correct faith and an upright Christian life, more so than Luther. One of the most controversial aspects of the reformation is Calvin’s view of an integral relationship between the sate and church. For Calvin, the church was primarily a visible community in that it was the authentic instrument that manifested those elected in Christ. The Climax of God’s good gifts for Calvin is Jesus.
Chapter 5: The Church as the Fellowship of Believers
There is an ecclesiological transformation where churches are no longer following a traditional hierarchical model but following a more participative model. The Church sees that we all have a direct, unmediated access to God and salvation.
Chapter 6: The Church in the Power of the Spirit
The outpouring of the Spirit across America happened when William J. Seymour preached at the Azusa Street Mission. “During the twentieth century, the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement became the largest single category in Protestantism.” The focus of Pentecostal spirituality is experiencing God mystically as supernatural.
Chapter 7: The Church as One
There is only one Christ, and if the church is of Christ, then the church is defined by unity. It’s important to look toward God in that unity was already formed by Him. Thus, Christians should realize that “God has created one church of Christ on earth, let Christians then live up to that fact in empirical life.”
Chapter 8: John Zizioulas
Zizoulas, an orthodox theologian believes that nothing exists as an individual itself; only in communion does something exist. He believes that the Eucharist is the foundation act of the church. Zizoulas attempts to synthesize both Christology and pneumatology as a basis for ecclesiology.
Chapter 9: Hans Kung
Kung is the one of the most productive theologies of the Roman Catholic tradition. A persistent theme in Kung’s theology is his call for the renewal and reform of the church. For him, the essence of the church exists only in constantly changing forms.
Chapter 10: Wolfhart Pannenberg
Pannenberg’s theology is about public discipline rather than about individual piety. In writing his theology, Pannenberg aimed for the whole worldwide church rather than any specific denomination. In terms of the Church, Pannenberg builds his theology on the church’s relation to and dependence on God.
Chapter 11: Jurgen Moltmann
While most of his work are about ecclesiological discussions, Moltmann also builds his theology on the resurrection of Christ. Moltmann himself characterizes his theology as having “biblical foundation and an eschatological orientation and a political responsibility.” Moltmann describes his ecclesiological theology has messianic and relational ecclesiology.
Chapter 12: Miroslaw Volf
Volf builds his theology based on Trinitarian ecclesiology. His works aim to find out the true nature of the church and where it is. Volf views the church as an assembly of those gathered in Jesus’ name.
Chapter 13: James McClendon Jr.
McClendon’s theology is that “Christian doctrine is something that is practiced in the church.” The power of the Church lies in its praxis. McClendon calls the church a narrative community, which is the community finds out who Jesus is through the scriptures.
Chapter 14: Leslie Newbigin
Newbigin builds his theology on the challenge of mission. Newbigin’s overall ecclesiological approach is summed up as being missiological, ecumenical, and dynamic. The most famous idea of Newbigin’s eschatology is that Christianity is divided into three dominant streams: Protestantism, Catholicism, and Pentecostalism.
Chapter 15: Contextual ecclesiologies
The future of Christian theology is that everything will be globalized. Theologizing can’t be longer the privilege of just one culture only.
Chapter 16: Base Ecclesial communities in Latin American
The Latin American church has been the fist in the Catholic tradition to emphasis social justice. In Latin America, there is an emergence of “base ecclesial communities” in response to the lack of community. These communities argue for ecclesial communities from below, meaning that the church should grow from the grassroots, from the bottom to top rather from top to bottom.
Chapter 17: The Feminist Church
Feminist theologians focus on how the Trinity reflects maleness. A feminist church attempts to “reach towards the margins and searches for liberation from all forms of dehumanization, whether its sexual, racial, or any other form of exploitation.”
Chapter 18: African Independent Churches’ Ecclesiology
African independent churches comprise of African Indigenous churches (AICs), African Initiated Churches, or African Independent Churches. What is most significant in AICs’ theology is that they have “testified to the existence of some generalized trends in the African response to the Christian faith in African terms.”
Chapter 19: The Shepherding Movement’s Renewal Ecclesiology
One of the most creative ecclesiological developments of the Pentecostal/Charismatic revival at the grass roots level has been the emergence of the “Shepherding movement.” This movement has sometimes been called the Discipleship movement.
Chapter 20: “A World Church”
That new emerging church, is the third church after the rise of the early church and the alter Western Church. This new church allows for plurality and variety. This new seeks to move away from a theology of salvation and redemption to a theology of creation.
Chapter 21: The Post-Christian Church as “Another City”
The Church should be like another city in their context. Like the early church who grounded its way of life and belief in Judaism, they tried to find the city that God had built. We as Christians need to make an alternative society that is different from the predominant society in which we live.
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