Allison The Church

An Introduction
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4335-6249-5
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 192 Seiten

Reihe: Short Studies in Systematic Theology

What comes to mind when you think of the word church? In this volume, Gregg R. Allison helps define the church and its mission by presenting an overview of the specific doctrines and practices of different churches and denominations. He lays a basic foundation for better understanding the common practices among local church communities ('mere ecclesiology') and the ways that they diverge from one another ('more ecclesiology'). Through this systematic primer, you will come away knowing not only how various churches differ but also how they're ultimately united as the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Gregg R. Allison (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is professor of Christian theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is secretary of the Evangelical Theological Society, a book review editor for the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, an elder at Sojourn Community Church, and a theological strategist for Harbor Network. Allison has taught at several colleges and seminaries, including Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and is the author of numerous books, including Historical Theology; Sojourners and Strangers; and Roman Catholic Theology and Practice.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Allison, Gregg R.

Leseproben

Introduction

We Know the Church

We know the church.

It’s the brownish-red brick building with white columns and a tall steeple just a few blocks down the street. It’s the former Creamy Creations bakery whose space has been converted into a meeting place and whose storefront now bears the name New Creation. The church is the small makeshift chapel whose original galvanized iron sheets for “walls” have been replaced by white clapboard siding. It’s the rented sheep pen on the farm to which the city dwellers travel two hours for its predawn meetings. The church is the grand cathedral downtown known for its architectural wonders, its beautiful stained-glass windows and mosaic artwork, and its magnificent pipe organ.

Or maybe the church is the few rural families that gather for Sunday morning worship and potluck dinner as they have done for many decades and generations. It’s the thousands of anonymous suburban strangers who meet for one hour in a comfortable, state-of-the-art auditorium to hear motivational talks based loosely on biblical stories. The church is seventy-five faithful survivors of the government’s antireligion purge, crammed into a three-room apartment to whisper words of hope while watching warily for spies. It’s the forty people who compose the “launch team” poised to plant a new church in a largely unchurched part of the city. It’s the millions of people worshiping virtually through the software platforms SecondLife or AltspaceVR.

Perhaps the church is the citizens of the nation, born into the faith because they were born in that nation. It’s all the elect, those believers who are predestined by God to be his people.1 The church is the patriarchs and old covenant believers in Yahweh—people like Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Ruth, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Esther—together with the new covenant followers of Christ. It’s the new covenant Christians who have been incorporated into the body of Christ through water baptism and baptism with the Holy Spirit. The church is those doubly baptized people only. It’s those doubly baptized people plus their baptized children.

Or the church is especially the Roman Catholic faithful; a bit less so the Orthodox and Protestants; possibly the monotheistic Muslims and Jews; potentially Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and others who follow the instructions of their religion; as well as animists, agnostics, and atheists who obey the dictates of their conscience.2 The church is where we witness “self-sacrificing love, care about community, longings for justice, wherever people love one another, care for the sick, make peace not war, wherever there is beauty and concord, generosity and forgiveness, the cup of cold water.”3 The church is all people who have ever lived and will live, because, whether in this life or after death, they have embraced or will embrace the goodness of God.4

Yes, we know the church!

Or, given these many notions of church, do we really? The Church: An Introduction will help you know the church.

Mere and More Ecclesiology

This book is part of a series, Short Studies in Systematic Theology, whose aim is for theologians to “[address] the essence of a doctrine.”5 In this case, the doctrine that I treat is ecclesiology.6 This term comes from two Greek words: ekklesia, “church,” and logos, “study.” Ecclesiology, then, is the study of the church. Specifically, this book, as an introduction to the doctrine of the church, is oriented to what I call mere ecclesiology and more ecclesiology.

As for mere ecclesiology, I don’t mean several things. By mere, I don’t mean “something that is unimportant.” While not as important as the doctrines of the Trinity and Jesus Christ,7 this doctrine is crucial in terms of our understanding and practice of the church. Nor does mere signify “something that is simple” in the sense of not complex, a reductionistic ecclesiology that strips down the doctrine to just a few preferred topics. And mere does not signal “being nothing more than” in the sense of a “lowest common denominator.” Such an approach would ignore or conceal theological distinctives that tend to highlight disagreements between various ecclesiologies. That aspect falls under my label more ecclesiology. Therefore, a mere ecclesiology is not an approach that trivializes this doctrine or is reductionistic or minimizes differences of perspective on ecclesiology.

As I use it, mere indicates “common ground,” in the sense of that which is central to the subject matter. At the same time, such core concentration does not disregard or disguise the fact that the topic is much more extensive than is its identified essence. An example of this use of mere is C. S. Lewis’s very familiar work Mere Christianity.8 Lewis writes to unbelievers, and his purpose is “to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.” Appropriately, then, he intentionally avoids all disputed matters with respect to Christianity. Lewis adds this clarification: “The reader should be warned that I offer no help to anyone who is hesitating between two Christian ‘denominations.’ You will not learn from me whether you ought to become an Anglican, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, or a Roman Catholic.” And Lewis underscores the fact that Christians “exist” not in a theoretical idea, like his proposed “mere Christianity,” but in concrete churches and denominations. Indeed, for Lewis, his Mere Christianity

is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. If I can bring anyone into that hall I shall have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals. The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in. For that purpose the worst of the rooms (whichever that may be) is, I think, preferable.9

Lewis’s Mere Christianity, then, functions as a theological construct that serves a specific purpose of highlighting essential doctrines and core practices of the Christian faith. It is the common ground shared by most Christians throughout the history of the church. It does not claim or even aim to be a description of the faith and practice of actual Christians such as Daniel Hess or Daniele Haas, or of specific existing churches such as Redeemer Presbyterian Church or Redeemer Baptist Church or Redeemer Lutheran Church or Redeemer Episcopal Church.

Lewis’s employment of the term in Mere Christianity is a fine example of how I use mere in this book.10 Mere ecclesiology is a theological construct that serves a specific purpose of highlighting the essential nature of the church, its core ministries, its principal leadership framework, and more. These central attributes, functions, and structures represent the common ground shared by most churches throughout history.11 Mere ecclesiology does not disregard or disguise the fact that the doctrine and practice of the church is much more extensive than is its identified essence. And it does not claim or even aim to be a description of actual Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran, and Episcopalian ecclesiologies.

The task of addressing specific beliefs and practices of different churches and denominations is what I call more ecclesiology, the parallel work alongside mere ecclesiology. The essential nature of the church, its core ministries, its principal leadership framework, and the like that represent the common ground shared by all churches are expressed in different characteristics, functions, and structures in particular churches and denominations. A few examples will suffice. All churches are directed and instructed by leaders, but particular churches are guided and taught by different types of leaders: bishops, pastors, elders, overseers, deacons, trustees, and directors. All churches have some type of governmental structure, but particular churches are organized according to different types of polities: episcopalianism is bishop led, presbyterianism is elder ruled, and congregationalism is member approving. All churches administer the rites that Jesus ordained for them, but particular churches call them by different names (ordinances or sacraments) and administer the first rite of baptism either to adults (credobaptism, for believers only) or to children (paedobaptism, for the infants of believing parents). Particular churches call the second rite by different names (the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, Communion, or breaking of bread) and view its relationship to the presence of Christ in terms of consubstantiation, memorialism, spiritual presence, or some combination.

As an introduction to the doctrine of the church, this book addresses both mere ecclesiology and more ecclesiology. For each topic, the first section presents the common ground shared by most churches...