Ecclesiology

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This article is about the Christian theological study. For 19th century
sense of the word, the science of the building and decoration of
churches, see Church (building).

Washington National Cathedral

In Christian theology, Ecclesiology is the study of the Christian Church,
the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its
polity, its discipline, its destiny, and its leadership. Since different
ecclesiologies give shape to very different institutions or denominations,
there are many subfields such as Catholic ecclesiology, Protestant
ecclesiology, and ecumenical ecclesiology.
The word ecclesiology was defined in the 19th century as the science of
the building and decoration of church buildings and at least one
publication still uses the word in this sense.

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Etymology[edit]
The roots of the word ecclesiology come from the Greek ἐκκλησίᾱ,
ekklēsiā (Latin ecclesia) meaning "congregation, church"[notes 1] and -
λογία, -logia, meaning "words", "knowledge", or "logic", a combining
term used in the names of sciences or bodies of knowledge.
The similar word ecclesialogy first appeared in the quarterly journal The
British Critic in 1837, in an article written by an anonymous contributor[3]
who defined it thus:
We mean, then, by Ecclesialogy, a science which may treat of the proper
construction and operations of the Church, or Communion, or Society of
Christians; and which may regard men as they are members of that
society, whether members of the Christian Church in the widest
acceptation of the term, or members of some branch or communion of
that Church, located in some separate kingdom, and governed according
to its internal forms of constitution and discipline.[4]
However, in volume 4 of the Cambridge Camden Society's journal The
Ecclesiologist, published in January 1845 that society (the CCS) claimed
that they had invented the word ecclesiology:[3]
...as a general organ of Ecclesiology; that peculiar branch of science to
which it seems scarcely too much to say, that this very magazine gave
first its being and its name.[5]
The Ecclesiologist was first published in October 1841 and dealt with the
study of the building and decoration of churches. It particularly
encouraged the restoration of Anglican churches back to their supposed
Gothic splendour and it was at the centre of the wave of Victorian
restoration that spread across England and Wales in the second half of
the 19th century. Its successor Ecclesiology Today is still, as of 2017,
being published by The Ecclesiological Society (successor to the CCS,
now a registered charity).[6]
The situation regarding the etymology has been summed up by Alister
McGrath: "'Ecclesiology' is a term that has changed its meaning in recent
theology. Formerly the science of the building and decoration of
churches, promoted by the Cambridge Camden Society, the
Ecclesiological Society and the journal The Ecclesiologist, ecclesiology
now stands for the study of the nature of the Christian church."[7]
Issues addressed by ecclesiology[edit]
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• Who is the Church? Is it a visible or earthly corporation, or a unified
and visible society — a "church" in the sense of a specific
denomination or institution, for instance? Or is it the body of all
'believing Christians' (i.e. the invisible church), regardless of their
denominational differences and disunity? What is the relationship
between living Christians and departed Christians (the "cloud of
witnesses")—do they (those on Earth and those in Heaven)
constitute together the Church?
• What is the relationship between a believer and the Church? That
is, what is the role of corporate worship in the spiritual lives of
believers? Is it in fact necessary? Can salvation be found outside
formal membership in a given faith community, and what
constitutes "membership"? (Baptism? Formal acceptance of a
creed? Regular participation?)
• What is the authority of the Church? Who gets to interpret the
doctrines of the Church? Is the organizational structure itself, either
in a single corporate body, or generally within the range of formal
church structures, an independent vehicle of revelation or of God's
 grace? Or is the Church's authority instead dependent on and
derivative of a separate and prior divine revelation external to the
organization, with individual institutions being "the Church" only to
the extent that they teach this message? For example, is the Bible
a written part of a wider revelation entrusted to the Church as faith
community, and therefore to be interpreted within that context? Or
is the Bible the revelation itself, and the Church is to be defined as
a group of people who claim adherence to it?
• What does the Church do? What are the sacraments, divine
ordinances, and liturgies, in the context of the Church, and are they
part of the Church's mission to preach the Gospel? What is the
comparative emphasis and relationship between worship service,
spiritual formation, and mission, and is the Church's role to create
disciples of Christ or some other function? Is the Eucharist the
defining element of the rest of the sacramental system and the
Church itself, or is it secondary to the act of preaching? Is the
Church to be understood as the vehicle for salvation, or the salvific
presence in the world, or as a community of those already
"saved?"
• How should the Church be governed? What was the mission and
authority of the Apostles, and is this handed down through the
sacraments today? What are the proper methods of choosing
clergy such as bishops and priests, and what is their role within the
context of the Church? Is an ordained clergy necessary? Who are
the leaders of a church? Must there be a policy-making board of
"leaders" within a church and what are the qualifications for this
position, and by what process do these members become official,
ordained "leaders"? Must leaders and clergy be "ordained," and is
this possible only by those who have been ordained by others?
• What are the roles of 'spiritual gifts' in the life of the church?
• How does the Church's New Covenant relate to the covenants
expressed in scripture with God's chosen people, the Jewish
people?
• What is the ultimate destiny of the Church in Christian eschatology?
Catholic ecclesiology[edit]
Main article: Ecclesiology (Catholic Church)
Catholic ecclesiology today has a plurality of models and views, as with
all Catholic Theology since the acceptance of scholarly Biblical criticism
that began in the early to mid 20th century. This shift is most clearly
marked by the encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu in 1943. Avery Robert
Cardinal Dulles, S.J. contributed greatly to the use of models in
understanding ecclesiology. In his work Models of the Church, he defines
five basic models of Church that have been prevalent throughout the
history of the Catholic Church. These include models of the Church as
institution, as mystical communion, as sacrament, as herald, and as
servant.[8]
The ecclesiological model of Church as an Institution holds that the
Catholic Church alone is the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church",
and is the only Church of divine and apostolic origin. This view of the
Church is dogmatically defined Catholic doctrine, and is therefore de
fide. In this view, the Catholic Church— composed of all baptized,
professing Catholics, both clergy and laity—is the unified, visible society
founded by Christ himself, and its hierarchy derives its spiritual authority
through the centuries, via apostolic succession of its bishops, most
especially through the bishop of Rome (the Pope) whose successorship
comes from St. Peter the Apostle, whom Christ gave "the keys to the
Kingdom of Heaven". Thus, the Popes, in the Catholic view, have a God-
ordained universal jurisdiction over the whole Church on earth. The
Catholic Church is considered Christ's mystical body, and the universal
sacrament of salvation, whereby Christ enables human to receive
sanctifying grace.
The model of Church as Mystical Communion draws on two major
Biblical images, the first of the "Mystical Body of Christ" (as developed in
Paul's Epistles) and the second of the "People of God." This image goes
beyond the Aristotelian-Scholastic model of "Communitas Perfecta" held
in previous centuries. This ecclesiological model draws upon sociology
and articulations of two types of social relationships: a formally organized
or structured society (Gesellschaft) and an informal or interpersonal
community (Gemeinschaft). The Catholic theologian Arnold Rademacher
maintained that the Church in its inner core is community (Gemeinschaft)
and in its outer core society (Gesellschaft). Here, the interpersonal
aspect of the Church is given primacy and that the structured Church is
the result of a real community of believers. Similarly, Yves Congar
argued that the ultimate reality of the Church is a fellowship of persons.
This ecclesiology opens itself to ecumenism[9] and was the prevailing
model used by the Second Vatican Council in its ecumenical efforts. The
Council, using this model, recognized in its document Lumen gentium
that the Body of Christ subsists in a visible society governed by the
Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him, although
many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible
structure.[10]
Eastern Orthodox ecclesiology[edit]
From the Eastern Orthodox perspective, the Church is one, even though
She is manifested in many places. Eastern Orthodox ecclesiology
operates with a plurality in unity and a unity in plurality. For Eastern
Orthodoxy there is no 'either / or' between the one and the many. No
attempt is made, or should be made, to subordinate the many to the one
(the Roman Catholic model), nor the one to the many (the Protestant
model). It is both canonically and theologically correct to speak of the
Church and the churches, and vice versa.[11] Historically, that
ecclesiological concept was applied in practice as patriarchal pentarchy,
embodied in ecclesiastical unity of five major patriarchal thrones (Rome,
Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem).[12]
There is disagreement between the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople and the Patriarchate of Moscow on the question of
separation between ecclesiological and theological primacy and
separation of the different ecclesiological levels:
• Position of the Moscow Patriarchate on the problem of primacy in the
Universal Church
• First without Equals. A Response to the Text on Primacy of the
Moscow Patriarchate, by Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, Metropolitan
of Bursa
Ecclesiology of the Church of the East[edit]
Historical development of the Church of the East outside the political
borders of the Late Roman Empire and its eastern successor, the
Byzantine Empire, resulted in the creation of its distinctive theological
and ecclesiological traditions, regarding not only the questions of internal
institutional and administrative organization of the Church, but also the
questions of universal ecclesiastical order.[13]
Protestant ecclesiology[edit]
Main article: Protestant ecclesiology
Magisterial Reformation ecclesiology[edit]
Martin Luther argued that because the Catholic Church had "lost sight of
the doctrine of grace", it had "lost its claim to be considered as the
authentic Christian church." ; this argument was open to the counter-
criticism from Catholics that he was thus guilty of schism and the heresy
of Donatism, and in both cases therefore opposing central teachings of
the early Church and most especially the Church father St. Augustine of
Hippo.[14] It also challenged the Catholic doctrine that the Catholic Church
was indefectible and infallible in its dogmatic teachings.
Radical Reformation ecclesiology[edit]
There is no single "Radical Reformation Ecclesiology". A variety of views
is expressed among the various "Radical Reformation" participants.
A key "Radical Reformer" was Menno Simons, known as an
"Anabaptist". He wrote:
They verily are not the true congregation of Christ who merely boast of
his name. But they are the true congregation of Christ who are truly
converted, who are born from above of God, who are of a regenerate
mind by the operation of the Holy Spirit through the hearing of the divine
Word, and have become the children of God, have entered into
obedience to him, and live unblamably in his holy commandments, and
according to his holy will with all their days, or from the moment of their
call.[15]
This was in direct contrast to the hierarchical, sacramental ecclesiology
that characterised the incumbent Roman Catholic tradition as well as the
new Lutheran and other prominent Protestant movements of the
Reformation.
Some other Radical Reformation ecclesiology holds that "the true church
[is] in heaven, and no institution of any kind on earth merit[s] the name
'church of God.'"[14]
Latter-day Saints[edit]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a work simply called
the Handbook that unifies creed, ecclesiology, and polity for that faith.
See also[edit]
Christianity
portal
Great Church