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About Models Of The Church
Product Description There is today a dramatic reexamination of structure, authority, dogma -- indeed, every aspect of the life of the Church is held up to scrutiny. Welcoming this as a sign of vitality, Avery Dulles has carefully studied the writings of contemporary Protestant and Catholic ecclesiologists and sifted out six major approaches, or "models," through which the Church's character can be understood: as Institution, Mystical Communion, Sacrament, Herald, Servant, and, in a recent addition to the book, as Community of Disciples. A balanced theology, he concludes, must incorporate the major affirmations of each. "The method of models or types," observes Cardinal Dulles, "can have great value in helping people to get beyond the limitations of their own particular outlook and to enter into fruitful conversation with others... Such conversation is obviously essential if ecumenism is to get beyond its present impasses."This new edition includes a new Appendix and Preface by the author. From the Publisher One of America's leading theologians defines the basic functions of the Church, assesses its mission on Earth, and explores its many different roles in the lives of believers. From the Inside Flap ca's leading theologians defines the basic functions of the Church, assesses its mission on Earth, and explores its many different roles in the lives of believers. From the Back Cover One of America's leading theologians defines the basic functions of the Church, assesses its mission on Earth, and explores its many different roles in the lives of believers. About the Author Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., the first U.S. theologian named to the College of Cardinals, is known both nationally and internationally as a preeminent Catholic scholar, teacher, and theologian. He lives in New York City and holds the McGinley Professorship of Religion and Society at Fordham University. His writings over the past half-century have helped to shape the face of theological reflection in the post-Vatican II Church. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. I The Use of Models in Ecclesiology In may 1972 the New York Times carried a typical exchange of views about what is happening in the Catholic Church in the United States. It reported the assessment of an Italian theologian, Battista Mondin, to the effect that the Church in America is falling apart. Two days later the Times published a letter to the editor in which the writer conceded, "[Mondin] is right that the traditional Church is near collapse," but then added: "The disasters he mentions are only such to those churchmen who are so stuck in conservatism and authority that they cannot see the Gospel of Christ for the Code of Canon Law . . . My feeling, as a member of an adapting religious community, is that these are the best days of the church." Disputes of this type are going on everywhere these days. Christians cannot agree about the measure of progress or decline because they have radically different visions of the Church. They are not agreed about what the Church really is. When we ask what something is we are normally seeking a definition. The classical way to define a thing is to put it into a category of familiar objects and then to list the distinguishing characteristics that differentiate it from other members of the same category. Thus we say that a snail is a slow-moving gastropod mollusk, or that a chair is a piece of furniture designed for people to sit on. In definitions such as these we are dealing with external realities that we can see and touch, and we are able to pin them down fairly well in terms of familiar categories. It used to be thought, at least by many, that the Church and other realities of faith could be defined by a similar process. Thus the Church, according to Robert Bellarmine, is a specific type of human community (coetus hominum). "The one and true Church," he wrote in a celebrated passage, "is the community of men br
