Academic literature on the topic 'Ecclesiological method'

The author gives an analysis of the methodological advantages and disadvantages of using focus groups in practical ecclesiology. He makes a plea for including focus groups in a mixed method strategy in practical ecclesiological research, being attentive to their performative effects. He asks, if ecclesiology governs the methodological design of a practical-ecclesiological research project, should not methods that focus on conversational practices and how people build up a view out of the interaction that takes place within a group, be pulled into the heart of the research? In his reply to this question, the article gives a relational-constructionist, an ecclesiological and a theological rationale for using focus groups.

AbstractThe past twenty-five years have seen a widespread turn to the concrete in theology, and an increased awareness of the importance of practices, believing communities and material culture for both Christian faith itself, and theological engagement with it. In ecclesiology, this turn to the concrete has manifested itself in the rise of concrete approaches to ecclesiology. These have developed over the past fifteen years or so, as ecclesiologists have integrated theological and social-scientific perspectives on the church, to create both general methodological studies, and smaller scale ‘ecclesiological ethnographies’ of particular church communities.This article critically explores some of the key methodological moves of the emerging discipline of concrete ecclesiology. In the first part of the article, I argue that concrete ecclesiologies display two characteristic methodological tendencies. First, they exhibit a tendency to define their approach as concrete and realistic in contrast to twentieth-century doctrinal approaches to ecclesiology, which they perceive as unhelpfully idealising and abstract. Second, they tend to express the task of ecclesiological ethnography as one of balancing the claims of two descriptive languages, theology and social science, with regard to a single object, the church. The underlying metaphor here is borrowed from christology: just as theological language about Christ's divine and human nature must be kept in balance, so doctrinal and social perspectives on the church must be kept in balance to avoid ‘ecclesiological Nestorianism’.In the second part of the article, I argue that these two methodological tendencies result in caricatured understandings of theology and ethnography as functional opposites. Theology tends to be regarded as an inherently abstracting and idealising influence in ecclesiology, while ethnography tends to be regarded as a means of straightforwardly accessing the ‘real’ church. This in turn creates a problematically thermostatic understanding of the relationship between theological and ethnographic insights in ecclesiology, casting them as mutually regulating and opposite influences. The article closes by proposing a potentially more fruitful alternative model for integrating theology and ethnography, by exploring the similarities between the ways in which the two disciplines understand and relate to their respective objects of study.

This article addresses the ecclesiological significance of Jewish-Christian relations. Given the development of a non-supersessionist theology of God’s relation to the Jewish people, it asks whether the language of communion might complement the more common language of covenant in developing a Christian theology of the current relations between Jews and Christian. Drawing upon the theology of Jean-Marie Roger Tillard, communion in shared faith, shared hope, and shared mission are raised as possible foundations for this imperfect or incomplete communion. Such a move has implications for both Jewish-Christian relations and dialogue, as well as for method in ecclesiology.

In recent years, several theologians have argued that ecclesiology can benefit from the method of ethnography, which would make it less systematic and less rigid. This argument can be found, for example, in Nicholas M. Healy’s Church, World and the Christian Life. This article analyses how Healy views ethnography as a possible ecclesiological method, and to what extent he prefers this method over other methods. While Healy suggests that ethnography might be helpful for ecclesiology in general, it will be claimed that his argument in fact assumes and advances a specific pilgrim ecclesiology and a postmodern epistemology. Furthermore, his attempt to push ecclesiology in a more ethnographic direction is weakened by a misinterpretation of older, systematic, so-called ‘blueprint’ ecclesiologies. The article concludes by arguing that, in the secular Western context, ethnography can indeed be a useful ecclesiological tool, as long as it is more explicit about its own theological position than Healy is.

ABSTRACTThis article looks at two major metaphors used in contemporary ecclesiology, the church as “the People of God” and as “the Bride of Christ,” which have functioned in some of the polarizing debates within the Catholic Church in North America. It then suggests some methodological reasons why reliance upon metaphors in ecclesiology, either through the balancing of different metaphors or the promotion of a dominant metaphor, is inadequate to the task of understanding the church systematically. It then suggests some avenues for future ecclesiological method that may help to understand the church better and so to respond better to contemporary ecclesiological debates.

AbstractThis paper is stimulated by the need to develop an ecclesiological method that is capable of describing and analysing the diverse self-understandings that characterize global Pentecostalism (or any Christian Church). It begins by observing the limitations of idealist approaches to ecclesiology, and instead proposes a concrete ecclesiological method. Concrete ecclesiology will include the narrative of particular Churches and movements, describe the explicit and implicit self-understanding that accompanies this narrative, and assess ecclesial transitions. Since the Church is a human and divine community, analysis will incorporate theological categories and the human sciences. Consequently, the paper considers how the ecclesiologist might appropriate the multifaceted discipline of sociology. The goal is an ecclesiology that is not reduced only to ideal categories, but that is capable of analysing the complex reality of indigenous Pentecostal Churches.

The church needs to challenge itself about its identity, constitution, and mission, because out of necessity this involves the world and the events that unfold in it. Thus, sociological, political, and economic issues have ecclesiological components and consequences that are practically tautological, including the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. The question thus moves from whether the Church is called to critical reflection on OWS to how that critical reflection should occur. The purpose of this article is to point out the specific practice of the OWS movement – ​​the “sign” – to be considered through an ecclesiological lens. The method used is from an ecclesiological lens with a new monastic. The results of this research are firstly, the church must actively and responsibly inculcate non-violent practices, communitarian economy, and embody space and place, while at the same time joining forces with non-ecclesiastical organizations that support these practices. similar. Second, by whom - and by whom - the Church (as a very different polis) must always point beyond itself to what is its foundation and fulfillment. As long as the Church faithfully responds to this call, the Kingdom will be in our midst.

AbstractReinhard Hütter is a leading theologian who has made important contributions to ecclesiology, pneumatology, and Christian rationality, but his most fundamental one is to the nature of theology and theological method. What makes his work of particular interest to Pentecostals is its attempt to give theology a pneumatological and ecclesiological ground. He suggests that the pathos of theology is doctrina and core church practices; theology receives its character and content from church doctrine and practices. Although successful in respect to his ecclesiological program, his proposal does not give theology a direct pneumatological ground and pathos. Nevertheless, his notion that theology receives its pathos from church doctrine and practices can be adapted to suggest a pneumatological pathos of Christian experience and theology. The result is a proposal that the Holy Spirit conditions the pathos of Christian experience and theology, which provides a theological and explicitly a pneumatological pathos not only for Pentecostal experience and theology but also for the role of Pentecostal experience in developing a uniquely "orthopathic" ecumenical contribution to Christian theology.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe, analyse and assess the developing ecclesiology of the Assemblies of God in Australia (AGA). In chapter one, after reviewing the sparse literature on pentecostal ecclesiology, we turn to a contemplation of ecclesiological method. We note that some of the typical approaches, including biblicist and communio ecclesiologies, are idealist in orientation, since they contemplate the church in abstraction from its concrete, socio-historical and cultural identity. In chapter two we develop an alternative method, building particularly on the insights of Joseph Komonchak and Neil Ormerod, who argue that the object of ecclesiology is not ecclesial ideals but, rather, the set (or sets) of experiences, understandings, symbols, words, judgements, statements, decisions, actions, relationships, and institutions which distinguish the group of people called “the Church.” This leads to a concrete methodology that is derived from the explicit and implicit ecclesiology apparent in the history of the church. It also recognises that the church is a social reality as well as a divinely ordained community and, therefore, that the ecclesiologist needs to incorporate the insights of both the disciplines of theology and sociology. A large part of our discussion in chapter two is thus concerned with the nature of the interaction between these various disciplines.The method outlined in these early chapters forms the basis of our exploration of the ecclesiology of the AGA in chapters three to five. In line with our methodological construction, each chapter begins with the narrative of particular periods in the movement’s history, focusing especially on times of ecclesial transition and development. These narrative sections not only tell a story that has, largely, remained untold, but they also seek to draw out the explicit and implicit elements of AGA ecclesiology. In each chapter, narrative is followed by analysis which, firstly, clarifies central aspects of the developing ecclesiology and, secondly, attempts to assess what has been gained and lost in the process of ecclesiological change. With regard to the content of these chapters, chapter three treats the development of early pentecostalism, and the transition from unstructured and loosely knit faith mission communities to congregationally structured churches. Chapter four analyses the institutional formation of Australian pentecostalism, focusing particularly on the formalisation of the AGA. Of concern during this period was the relationship between churches and centralised bodies, as well as the roles and responsibilities of church leadership. Chapter five then treats the developments in AGA ecclesiology that accompanied the charismatic revival of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, as well as the institutional changes that occurred due to the rapid growth of the movement. In the concluding chapter six, we summarise our research, and intimate potential trajectories for the AGA as it moves into the twenty first century. In the light of our analysis and assessment, we also make some suggestions for ecclesial self-reflection.