Ecclesia

The Greek word, ekklesia, literally refers to the assembly and it is from this root that theologians get the word ecclesiology, literally "words about Church."

Paul Tillich spoke of "catholic substance" and "protestant principle" when addressing questions of ecclesiology: which is to say there are things worth preserving and keeping in the Church, that which we might call "holy and apostolic" and there are also things which need to be reformed through the guidance of God's Holy Spirit. On this much it seems most Christians would be in agreement. So-called liberals and so-called conservatives (progressives and traditionalists?) part ways, however, when it comes to defining which is which. What is holy and apostolic and must be preserved, and where is the Spirit luring us toward change?

I have opinions, but no easy answers, in response to such questions. One of the ways I realize I have changed, however, over the past decade or so is that I am less patient than I once was with theoretical answers to such questions. Theologians rarely think like pastors, so pastors must learn to think theologically. Or to put it another way, an ecclesiology that is disconnected from the realities of congregational life, is of little interest to me these days.

I'm still thinking about the quote from Bishop Robinson in my previous post. It seems to me that at least since Willimon and Hauerwas wrote Resident Aliens, the Church has been focused increasingly on distinguishing itself from "the world" as we reclaim the meaning of our Baptismal identity. Again, liberals and conservatives may disagree on lots but the pendulum seems to have swung away from mirroring the dominant culture by focusing on what is uniquely "Christian." And I think that impulse is basically right.

But it is also fraught with danger, for if the Church seeks to be so much "in but not of" the world we risk becoming the kind of "garden" that Robinson speaks of, an escape from the world that God so loved...

Reformation comes not by insisting that we are not "of" the world, but by allowing God's Spirit to blow more freely through the Church, to cast out fear and bring with it faith that is bold, courageous, truthful, and loving.