Download or read book Ecclesial Being written by Constantine Scouteris and published by Mount Thabor Publishing. This book was released on 2023-07-30 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his Ecclesial Being Professor Constantine Scouteris focuses most ably on the mystery of the human person in the context of the conciliarity of the Church. His vision of the unity of the Orthodox churches, based on the Pauline theme of the New Israel, embraces all Orthodox Christian peoples - wonderfully diverse in language and culture - as one nation in Christ, which the entire world is invited to join.
Download or read book Called to Be Church written by Anthony B. Robinson and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2006-02-15 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biblical scholar Robert Wall and pastoral leader Anthony Robinson here join forces to bring the Acts of the Apostles forward to our time as a resource for congregational renewal and transformation.Featuring both careful exegetical study and exciting contemporary exposition, the fifteen chapters of Called to Be Church each first interpret the text of Acts as Scripture and then engage Acts for today's church. The book dives into many of the most vexing issues faced by the church then and now -- such issues as conflict resolution, pluralism and multiculturalism, sexuality, money, church and state, the role of the Holy Spirit, and more.Enhanced by study questions at the end of each chapter, Called to Be Church will lend itself especially well to small-group study within congregations. Pastors, lay readers, students, and ordinary believers alike will find the book helpful and inspiring.
Download or read book Being as Communion written by John D. Zizioulas and published by Darton Longman and Todd. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the context of a complete theology, which includes extended consideration of the major theological topics – the Trinity, Christology, eschatology, ministry and sacrament, but above all the eucharist – John Zizioulas propounds a fresh understanding, based on the early Fathers and the Orthodox tradition, of the concept of person, and so of the Church itself.
Download or read book Being the Church written by Edward Rommen and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If the divine liturgy really is as beautiful as we claim, wouldn’t more people attend? Wouldn’t the church grow? Driven by our desire for growth, we count, we analyze, we make charts, and we strategize, but often with few discernible results. That is probably the result of focusing on secondary aspects of church life. As we know, the very existence of a church is a gift of God’s presence and not the result of any particular actions taken by human beings. For that reason, church is primarily about being something rather than doing or achieving something. So the growth of the church is not reflected in ever-increasing numbers, dollars, and activities, but rather in steadily growing conformity to the divine ideal. So in order to evaluate ecclesial growth, we will first have to ask what the church is supposed to be. One answer to that question is captured in the four marks of the church given in the creed: Oneness, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity. These four characteristics serve as a matrix or framework within which we can focus on the primary aspects of ecclesial being and help it grow and become what it was intended to be.
Download or read book Being Church Doing Life written by Michael Moynagh and published by Lion Hudson Limited. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christians worldwide are learning new ways to connect their faith to everyday life. Gospel communities are popping up everywhere - in cafes, gyms, tattoo parlours, laundromats. This movement, called Fresh Expressions, is attracting thousands and growing rapidly. With over 120 real-life examples, Michael Moynagh describes easy ways for ordinary Christians to embrace this highly effective approach to local mission. Anyone can do it!
Download or read book Ecclesial Movements and Communities written by Brendan Leahy and published by New City Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leahy presents the movements as examples of the Church's charismatic dimension, a principle which Pope John Paul II described as 'co-essential' with the hierarchical-institutional dimension. Rev. Brendan Leahy is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Pontifical University of St Patrick's College, Maynooth, in Ireland. He is a von Balthasar scholar and an ecumenist and has also written articles and books on interreligious dialogue, issues facing the Church in the 21st century, renewal in the Church, and the priesthood.
Download or read book Ecclesial Leadership as Friendship written by Chloe Lynch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-01 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When it comes to talking about the activity of directing the church, the language of leadership and leaders is increasingly popular. Yet what is leadership – and how might theological narratives better resource the discourse and practice of leadership in ecclesial contexts? In identifying and critiquing managerialism as a dominant narrative of leadership in the Western church, this book calls for an alternative approach founded on the concept of friendship. Engaging with the wider field of leadership studies, the book establishes an understanding of leadership activity and brings it into conversation with an incarnational ecclesiology. The result is a prophetic reimagining of ecclesial leadership in terms of a relational, kenotic praxis. This praxis of mutuality and love is framed here in the rich language of Christian friendship. The book also wrestles deeply with the embodiment of such a praxis, making explicit the power behaviours typical of friendship-leadership and offering constructive guidance for practitioners in the task of implementation within a complex and fractured world. This book offers a new vision of the centrality of friendship to leadership of a healthy church community. As such, it will be of great use to scholars of practical theology, ecclesiology and leadership, as well as practitioners in church ministry.
Download or read book Lay Ecclesial Ministry written by Seton Hall University and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2010-10-16 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The role of lay ecclesial ministers—professionally prepared laity who serve in leadership roles—is becoming critically more important in the life of the Catholic church. In Lay Ecclesial Ministry, theologians and pastoral leaders from diverse disciplines provide a deeper understanding, envision future direction, and offer inspiration for these new ministers and the community of the church. Building on the themes of the first official document addressing lay ecclesial ministry, Co-workers in the Vineyard of the Lord, approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2005, this book delves deeply into key topics. Authors reflect on dimensions of the Catholic tradition to enrich our understanding of this new reality of lay ministry in the church, to envision future developments, and to offer inspiration. Contributors draw on a variety of theological perspectives, including canon law, church history, ecclesiology, liturgy, and scripture, to ground understanding of lay ecclesial ministry within the Catholic tradition and to chart direction for further response to this newly emergent ministry. The book also offers inspiration and models of service to lay ministers, looking to stories of the saints and communities of vowed religious. Lay Ecclesial Ministry is an essential resource for the Catholic community in understanding and building upon this new and increasingly important component of church life.
Download or read book Ecclesial Futures Volume 1 Issue 2 written by Nigel Rooms and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-12-24 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecclesial Futures publishes original research and theological reflection on the development and transformation of local Christian communities and the systems that support them as they join in the mission of God in the world. We understand local Christian communities broadly to include traditional "parish" churches and independent local churches, religious communities and congregations, new church plants, so-called "fresh expressions" of church, "emergent" churches, and "new monastic" communities. We are an international and ecumenical journal with an interdisciplinary understanding of our approach to theological research and reflection; the core disciplines being theology, missiology, and ecclesiology. Other social science and theological disciplines may be helpful in supporting the holistic nature of any research, e.g., anthropology and ethnography, sociology, statistical research, biblical studies, leadership studies, and adult learning. The journal fills an important reflective space between the academy and on-the-ground practice within the field of mission studies, ecclesiology, and the so-called "missional church." This opportunity for engagement has emerged in the last twenty or so years from a turn to the local (and the local church) and, in the western world at least, from the demise of Christendom and a rapidly changing world--which also affects the church globally. The audience for the journal is truly global wherever the local church and the systems that support them exists. We expect to generate interest from readers in church judicatory bodies, theological seminaries, university theology departments, and in local churches from all God's people and the leaders amongst them.
Download or read book It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian written by Tod E. Bolsinger and published by Brazos Press. This book was released on 2004-04 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rediscover the triune nature of God to reawaken and nourish a communal spirit in our individualist times.
Download or read book Purification of Memory written by Ambrose Mong and published by James Clarke & Company. This book was released on 2015-06-25 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although its various bodies boast a combined total of at least 300 million members, the Eastern Orthodox Church is widely perceived among members of other denominations to be an exotic branch of the faith, often shrouded in mysticism and misunderstandingthat has been exacerbated by the longstanding Eastern-Western split. In 'Purification of Memory', Ambrose Mong casts light on the true nature of Orthodox theology, illuminating the thinking of eight distinguished modern Orthodox theologians who have madeimportant contributions on topics as ecclesiology, ecumenism, Christology, and Mariology. Approaching the work of John Meyendorff, Nicholas Afanasiev, John Zizioulas, Georges Florovsky, Sergius Bulgakov, Vladimir Lossky, Nicolas Berdyaev, and Jaroslav Pelikan from an ecumenical standpoint, Mong deftly draws comparisons with the theology of their Roman Catholic counterparts to reveal points on which the two traditions have much more in common than either side will always admit. The author interweaves these comparisons with a fascinating exposition of the history of the schism between the Eastern and Western Churches to demonstrate decisively that in spite of the bitter mistrust dividing them, they share a common heritage which could, and should, serve as a basis for reunification. Before old wounds can mend, however, a healing process of forgetting, characterized by Pope John Paul II as a 'purification of memory', must take place to clear the path towards a long-awaited return to unity.
Download or read book Ecclesial Boundaries and National Identity in the Orthodox Church written by Tamara Grdzelidze and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2023-05-15 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grdzelidze’s study evaluates the present state of ecclesiology in the Orthodox Church, focusing on the history of autocephaly and its relationship with the rise of religious nationalism. To date, the Orthodox Church has not sufficiently addressed the pressing problem of religious nationalism. Tamara Grdzelidze’s Ecclesial Boundaries and National Identity in the Orthodox Church fills this lacuna, offering a solution to the ecclesiological problems posed by the rise of group-related sentiment in Orthodox communities. Grdzelidze’s monograph begins with an examination of the history of autocephaly and synodality in the Orthodox Church. As she explains, the political autonomy of local churches in the Eastern Roman Empire, which was later transformed into autocephaly, instinctively carried the kernel of group-related sentiments, whether national or ethnic. Over time, such sentiments have given rise to religious nationalism, which has further resulted in the inability of autocephalous churches to disengage from their national political involvements. Consequently, Orthodox Churches are unable to conduct a conversation on the hermeneutics of authority. After sketching this historical background, Grdzelidze offers a solution to this ecclesiological problem, proposing a eucharistic hermeneutics by which the concepts of autocephaly and synodality might be preserved from misappropriation by religious nationalists. This proposal is centered on the principle that the Church represents the Body of Christ and thus embraces the whole people of God and the whole of God’s creation through the sacramental life. Ultimately, this eucharistic mode of visioning the Church furnishes a solution to the crisis of borders and boundaries in the Orthodox Church.
Download or read book Pathways for Ecclesial Dialogue in the Twenty First Century written by M. Chapman and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume identifies a myriad of obstacles standing in the way of dialogue both within churches and between churches and then move on to discuss how these obstacles might be dissolved or circumvented. The contributors explore all the ways through which ecclesial dialogue can be re-energized and adapted for a new century.
Download or read book The Church s Book written by Brad East and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2022-04-26 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What role do varied understandings of the church play in the doctrine and interpretation of Scripture? In The Church’s Book, Brad East explores recent accounts of the Bible and its exegesis in modern theology and traces the differences made by divergent, and sometimes opposed, theological accounts of the church. Surveying first the work of Karl Barth, then that of John Webster, Robert Jenson, and John Howard Yoder (following an excursus on interpreting Yoder’s work in light of his abuse), East delineates the distinct understandings of Scripture embedded in the different traditions that these notable scholars represent. In doing so, he offers new insight into the current impasse between Christians in their understandings of Scripture—one determined far less by hermeneutical approaches than by ecclesiological disagreements. East’s study is especially significant amid the current prominence of the theological interpretation of Scripture, which broadly assumes that the Bible ought to be read in a way that foregrounds confessional convictions and interests. As East discusses in the introduction to his book, that approach to Scripture cannot be separated from questions of ecclesiology—in other words, how we interpret the Bible theologically is dependent upon the context in which we interpret it.
Download or read book Catholic Schools and the Future of the Church written by Kathleen Engebretson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2014-02-27 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the first decade of the 21st century the Catholic Church in the developed world has faced a decline in its moral authority, increasing accusations of irrelevance to a secular age, and a steep and steady decline in commitment among successive generations from the 1960s on. Despite this Catholic schools have multiplied and grown in popularity and educational achievement. The book sets out a programme for the contribution of Catholic schools to the future of the Church, covering such topics as the religious education curriculum in its cognitive and affective aspects, the sacramental life of the school, selection of staff, the issue of staff and Catholic witness and many other topics. Engebretson argues that Catholic schools are a powerful key to the future of the Church and shows how, within their diversity, Catholic schools can be ecclesial communities, which have at their heart the building up of the Church.
Download or read book On Becoming a Catholic The Challenge of Christian Initiation written by Regis A. Duffy and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2010-05-01 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), written by a renowned religious educator and theologian, invites converts, the clergy, and all those engaged in the catechumenal process to appreciate anew the richness of the Catholic faith. Regis Duffy articulates the requirements for becoming and remaining a full Christian committed to gospel values on every level of life to the building of the Kingdom of God. On Becoming a Catholic is a complete introduction to the essentials of the catechumenal process and clearly relates what the church teaches to its members. Duffy's exposition stresses: - The theology of the Cross as the root of all Christian conversion and formation, and its meaning for individual Christians and parish life - The Word of God as prophetic Word in parish, familial, and personal lives: learning to recognize the Lord in unexpected places of our lives and world, and nurture openness and responsiveness to the Word - How to live and act as one marked by the Cross and the Word of God: participating in a conversion process that profoundly changes our priorities, values, lifestyle, and -- most importantly -- our involvement in worship and sacraments - What it means to be a Christian community: discovering the meaning of the Liturgical Year and the Church's role as teacher - The value of Lenten observance, the meaning of Good Friday, and the centrality of the Easter event as basis for a practical theology of our redemptive need and God's enduring response - How honest Eucharistic participation embodies a renewed sense of personal commitment to Christ and sense of mission and ministry in the community.
Download or read book Being the Church in the Midst of Empire written by Karen L. Bloomquist and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against the backdrop of a general sense of what empire entails, the purpose of this book is to engage in some constructive theological reflection. Empire refers to various interrelated processes of domination and their effects that are in tension with biblical visions for life in community. There are countless effects and crucial ethical issues raised by empire, especially in economic and political terms. But it also poses deeply theological challenges because of how all-encompassing empire becomes, permeating how we think about ourselves and others, our world, our hopes and our desires. This book presuppose that the publicly embodied identity (or being) of the church in the midst of empire is fundamentally rooted in the life of the Triune God. From this Trinitarian perspective the writers develop theological responses that have the potential to counter, transform, and nurture long-term reform of empire, especially in and through communities of faith.
