Re-visioning the Church

Book excerpt: According to longstanding tradition, theology can be thought of as 'faith seeking understanding.' Ecclesiology, then, seeks to understand the theological reality we call church. Re-Visioning the Church, the outcome of nearly two decades of research and writing towards constructing a systematic historical ecclesiology, applies a social scientific and historical outlook to the story of the emergence, development, and ongoing mission and ministry of the church. Establishing a critical framework for understanding the structures of the church, the work is a wide-scale exploration of the religious, cultural, and social dimensions of what it means to be the church and what structures and ministries form the fundamental parts of ecclesial life in its relationship to the kingdom. The heart of the project is a detailed account of the history, development, and change across the centuries of the church that takes the story from the apostolic band of witnesses to the dramatic global event of the Second Vatican Council.