Methodism and the Church

2018 ◽  
pp. 316-334
Author(s):  
David M. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Holiness Movement ◽  
Ordained Ministry ◽  
Means Of Grace ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Church

This chapter examines the nature of the church in Methodist experience and practice from the origins of Methodism as a network of religious societies in the eighteenth century to its present day self-understanding as a global communion of churches. The article discusses: (1) the Wesleyan foundations of Methodist ecclesiology; (2) methods, sources, and norms in Methodist theological reflection on the church; (3) how Methodists interpret the credal marks of the church; (4) the ordained ministry; and (5) the means of grace and authority. A concluding section considers the future agenda for ecclesiology as a branch of practical theology in Methodism. Confident in its providential mission to spread scriptural holiness and ecumenical in outlook, Methodism remains in essence a holiness movement in search of its true ecclesial location in the Holy Catholic Church.

Faith, Praxis, and Practical Theology: At the Interface of Sociology and Theology

Horizons ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Lawler
Keyword(s):  
Practical Theology ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Actual Situation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

ABSTRACTThis essay is an exercise in practical theology, the theological reflection arising out of and in response to the church's actual situation. Practical theology insists that it is not enough to analyze the church's actual situation with deductive, ahistorical theological principles, but that it is necessary, first, to uncover and, then, reflect critically on the actual situation to test it for the presence of the Spirit, relevance, and significance in light of the gospel. Practical theology grows out of the relationship between theoria and praxis which, for the church, is the relationship between faith and praxis. The essay argues that to recognize scientifically the church's actual situation and to perform the required theological reflection practical theology requires sociology.The essay explores, therefore, the relationship between practical theology and the data of sociological research. It also examines the theological realities, sensus fidei and reception, and explores their relationship to that data. The exploration is concretized theologically by a consideration of the sociological data and theology about two Catholic moral doctrines, divorce and remarriage without prior annulment and artificial contraception. A theological reflection on the actual situation of both doctrines and a sociological consideration of the data suggest the conclusion that a dramatic development and re-reception of both doctrines, in line with previous dramatic developments of doctrine in the church, is under way.

Towards an Inclusive Vision for Moral Theology Part II: An Agenda for the Future

2000 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83
Author(s):  
James F. Keenan
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
Moral Theology ◽  
Ordinary Life ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Church

In this article, which follows Part 1 published in the previous number of Pacifica, the author argues that that we need to reintegrate moral and practical theology so that the ordinary life of the Church addresses not only the matters that we should avoid but also the matters we should pursue. “We must propose to the Church ways to improve the character of our membership as ethically embodying the Gospel. Above all we must highlight how we are responsible for developing our relationality with God, nature and neighbour.” As a particular case, the author focuses on the church's failure to respond to violence against women.

The Bishops and the Brethren: Anglican Attitudes to the Moravians in the Mid-Eighteenth Century

1990 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 622-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Podmore
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Episcopal Church ◽  
Protestant Church ◽  
New Churches ◽  
The Government ◽  
To Come ◽  
New Situation ◽  
The Church

Most Anglican crises, including recent ones, seem to boil down in the end to two linked questions — those of identity and authority. Is the Church of England pre-eminently a national or a catholic Church, a Protestant Church (and if so, of what kind?) or Anglican and sui generis? With which of these types of Church should it align itself? Where lies the famed via media, and which are the extremes to be avoided? And who has the authority to decide: as a national Church, parliament, the government, the monarch personally; as an episcopal Church, the bishops? Or should the clergy in convocations (or, latterly, the General Synod, including representatives of the pious laity) take decisions? Anglican crises have always raised these twin problems of identity and authority. In the mid-eighteenth century — from the end of the 1730s and particularly in the 1740s — the Church of England faced another crisis. The Anglican bishops had to come to terms with the movement known as the ‘evangelical revival’. Principles had to be applied to a new situation. The bishops had to decide how to categorise the new societies (or would they become new churches?) which were springing up all over England.

‘The Difficulties of Protestantism’: Bishop Milner, John Fletcher and Catholic Apologetic against the Church of England in the era from the First Relief Act to Emancipation, 1778–1830

1998 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-236
Author(s):  
Peter B. Nockles
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
John Fletcher ◽  
Oxford Movement ◽  
Half Century ◽  
Catholic Religion ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Church

‘It is an old theory of ours, that there are very few of the positions assumed by the antagonists of the Catholic church, which may not be turned against each other, with far more effect than they carry against the common adversary whom they all seek to assail. A skilful use of the weapons employed against each other by various sects of Protestantism, in their internecine warfare, would supply one of the most curious, and we will venture to say, one of the most solid and convincing arguments of the truth of the Catholic religion to be found in the whole range of polemical literature’.(Dublin Review, 1855).Anti-Catholicism, represented in the era of the eve of Emancipation by a rich genre of polemical literature focusing on the supposed ‘difficulties of Romanism’, has been the subject of much recent study; notably for the eighteenth century by Colin Haydon, and for the nineteenth, by Walter Amstein, Edward Norman, D. G. Paz, Walter Ralls, F. M. Wallis and John Wolffe. In contrast, English Catholic controversial writing against the Church of England, focusing on what one Catholic writer (in a conscious reversal of the stock Anglican polemical title) called the ‘difficulties of Protestantism’, with notable exceptions such as Sheridan Gilley, Leo Gooch and Brian Carter, 5 has been comparatively neglected for the half century prior to the dawn of the Oxford Movement in 1833.

Two Autobiographical Narratives of Conversion: Robert Hugh Benson and Ronald Knox

1998 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-253
Author(s):  
George Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Autobiographical Narratives ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Church

Ever since the Reformation, and increasingly since the example set by Newman, the Church of England has had to contend with the lure of Rome; in every generation there have been clergymen who converted to the Roman Catholic Church, a group either statistically insignificant or a momentous sign of the future, depending on one’s viewpoint. From the nineteenth century Newman and Manning stand out. From the first two decades of the twentieth century among the figures best remembered are Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) and Ronald Arbuthnot Knox (1888–1957). They are remembered, not because they were more saintly or more scholarly than others, but because they were both writers and therefore are responsible for their own memorials. What is more, they both followed Newman in publishing an account of the circumstances of their conversion. This is a genre which continues to hold interest. The two works demonstrate, among other things, the continuing influence of Newman’s writings about the identity of the Church.

The Church – Towards a Common Vision: A Roman Catholic Response

Ecclesiology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-315
Author(s):  
Paul McPartlan
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Order Convergence ◽  
Ordained Ministry ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church ◽  
Common Vision

The article offers a Roman Catholic response to the Faith and Order convergence text, The Church – Towards a Common Vision (2013). It considers that the text is greatly to be welcomed. The document broadly reflects the ecclesiological understanding of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly with regard to the Church as participating in trinitarian communion, as essentially missionary, as sign and servant (sacrament) of God’s transformational plan of salvation, as existing at three levels, local, regional and universal, at each of which both synodality and primacy are needed, and as committed to the promotion of justice and peace. However, its understanding of ordained ministry, and of the visible structures of the Church, is still weak. The document outlines a Church which, while there is ecumenical agreement regarding many of its elements, is still not firmly held together for its effective existence in the world by a clear structure of ministry.

scholarly journals Discerning the essence and mission of the church in the midst of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Smith Francis Korbla Tettey ◽  
Malan Nel
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
Opinion Poll ◽  
Congregational Development ◽  
Congregational Life ◽  
New Creation ◽  
The People ◽  
The Future ◽  
God's Mission ◽  
The Church

This article reflects on how the COVID-19 pandemic gives the church an opportunity to reconsider what the centre of God’s mission is for the congregation. It will engage on the implications of its reflections for public practical theology and congregational development. Spurred by an electronic opinion poll carried out by the author on six focus groups on WhatsApp platforms, averaging 200 participants each, during the lockdown days in Ghana, the question was put, “What one thing do you miss about church during the lock down period?” Majority of respondents mentioned communal fellowship (Konoinia) as the most missed aspect of congregational life. This article reflects on suggestions engendered by this observation and how it helps congregations to discern what makes them relevant to their members. Thus, helping congregations to envision the future, invoke dreams of a new creation where a return to normality will birth a world in which the church would take a new shape, presenting a fresh sense of missional community able to bring God to the people of our day.

scholarly journals Identité, islam et catholicisme allemand

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Baudry
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
International Perspective ◽  
Benedict Xvi ◽  
The Future ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church ◽  
General Perspective ◽  
The Catholic Church

This papers analyses the speech by Benedict XVI at the University of Ratisbonne. I focus on a often overlooked aspect of this speech: the critic of Modernity and the general perspective for the future of religions. Benedict XVI develops an analysis of the place of the Church through the concepts of ‘faith’, ‘reason’, ‘violence’. The apologetic tone is clear: only the Catholic Church has maintened a “reasonable religion“ according to the Pope. But he defends an international perspective for the Church in a globalised world and sketch a manifesto for Catholicism in a multicultural civilisation.

scholarly journals Irreconcilable differences? The fraught relationship between women and the Catholic Church in Ireland

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Tighe-Mooney
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Human Sexuality ◽  
Irish Society ◽  
Double Standards ◽  
The Future ◽  
Irish Women ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Sharon Tighe-Mooney’s chapter sees the divorce, contraception and abortion referenda of the 1980s and 90s as a watershed for Irish women, as these were issues that impacted directly on their lives. Tighe-Mooney examines the events of the past four decades in Irish society in the context of the weakening hegemony of the Catholic Church juxtaposed with the growing realisation by women, especially when the child abuse scandals broke, that their lives had been framed by a celibate male-dominated institution that displayed serious double standards in the area of human sexuality. She argues that in order to survive into the future, the Church will be increasingly dependent on women remaining active within the institution. As Irish women Catholics are demanding a central role in the running of a Church that has shown itself allergic to change, especially when it comes to gender equality, Tighe-Mooney wonders what the future holds for both groups.

scholarly journals BERPIJAK DI BUMI – BERPIHAK KEPADA MANUSIA (Mandat dari Gaudium et Spes)

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Paul Budi Kleden
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Gaudium Et Spes ◽  
John Xxiii ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Gaudium et Spes is a revolutionary document of Vatican II which can still inspire the Church now and in the future. This document is revolutionary in the sense that it deals with problems, issues and ideas that had never before become the agenda of any Council in the Catholic Church. Gaudium et Spes concretizes what John XXIII named aggiornamento, a process of contextualising the Christian heritage, through which the Church opens itself up to the modern world. This document is also revolutionary because it is entirely a product of the conciliar process of the Council itself. This article presents the process of drafting the document and discusses some issues that are relevant for the Church today and in the future. <b>Kata-kata kunci:</b> proses, Gereja, dunia modern, solidaritas, keadilan ekonomi, martabat manusia, perdamaian.

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