The Church in the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles

2018 ◽  
pp. 54-98
Author(s):  
Loveday Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Acts Of The Apostles ◽  
Deep Structure ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Future Mission ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Table Fellowship ◽  
The Church

This chapter adopts a narrative approach to the ecclesiology of the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, seeking to understand the shape of the gospel narrative and its impact on its audience(s). The deep structure of synoptic ecclesiology is built around two intertwined ecclesiological models: a ‘people of God’ ecclesiology and a ‘discipleship’ ecclesiology. John’s call to repentance and baptism, and the promise of the Spirit, marks the inauguration of the eschatological gathering-in of the people of God. The process continues in Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom in words of authority and deeds of power. The call of the disciples marks the inauguration of a messianic community, called to follow Jesus, to confess him as Messiah, and to follow him on the way of the cross. This is a radical call to a lifestyle based on an attitude of eschatological expectancy; to table-fellowship built around the remembered presence of Jesus; and to a commissioning and empowering for a future mission to the world.

scholarly journals MINISTÉRIOS E SERVIÇOS LITÚRGICOS NUMA IGREJA TODA MINISTERIAL A MINISTERIALIDADE EM DOCUMENTOS DO MAGISTÉRIO PÓS-CONCILIAR (I)

2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (106) ◽  
pp. 349
Author(s):  
José Raimundo de Melo
Keyword(s):  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
People Of God ◽  
The People ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The World ◽  
Liturgical Texts ◽  
Christian Commitment ◽  
The Church

A multiplicidade e variedade dos serviços ministeriais que se fazem presentes na celebração litúrgica do povo de Deus é elemento chave na compreensão da comunidade cristã, pois os ministérios, em definitivo, exprimem e definem a própria realidade da Igreja. A inteira assembléia é ministerial porque a Igreja mesma é toda ministerial. E esta ministerialidade se expressa na liturgia através da diversidade de funções e ofícios que cada um é chamado a desempenhar. Ao contrário do que quase sempre sucede no mundo, porém, a hierarquia de funções na Igreja não denota prestígio e nem pode conduzir à acepção de pessoas. Ancorada na mais pura linha evangélica, deve ela indicar compromisso cristão e serviço fraterno em total doação a Deus e aos irmãos. Para uma reflexão sobre esta importante realidade eclesial, que a partir sobretudo do Concílio Vaticano II a Igreja tem aprofundado e se esforçado em viver, empreenderemos a seguir, ancorados em alguns textos litúrgicos, um estudo a respeito dos ministérios presentes no momento celebrativo da comunidade cristã. Publicamos aqui a primeira parte do artigo.ABSTRACT: The multiplicity and variety of ministerial services which are present in a liturgical celebration of the People of God is a key element in the understanding of the Christian community, since ministries, of themselves, express and define the very reality of the Church. The entire assembly is ministerial because the Church itself is all ministerial. And this ministeriality expresses itself in the liturgy through the diversity of functions and offices which each one is called on to fulfill. Contrary to what almost always happens in the world, however, the hierarchy of functions in the Church does not denote prestige, nor can it lead to the classification of persons. Anchored in the purest evangelical tradition, it should indicate Christian commitment and fraternal service in total self-giving to God and to others. For a reflection on this important ecclesial reality, which, especially from the Second Vatican Council, the Church has struggled to live out, we undertake a study – anchored in some liturgical texts – of the ministries present in the celebrative moment of the Christian community. We publish here the first part of the article. 

Building the “Wall of Separation”: Construction Zone for Historians

2010 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 871-880
Author(s):  
W. Clark Gilpin
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Thomas Jefferson ◽  
American People ◽  
People Of God ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Roger Williams ◽  
The Church

The argument of Mark deWolfe Howe's The Garden and the Wilderness turned on the contrast Howe drew between two uses of a single phrase: “wall of separation.” Thomas Jefferson used the phrase in 1802, in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association: “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and state.” More than a century and a half earlier, in 1644, the colonial advocate of religious freedom Roger Williams had employed the same phrase in a letter to his theological opponent, the Reverend John Cotton of Boston. According to Williams's reading of the Bible, the people of God—Jews and Christians—were “separate from the world,” and, “when they have opened a gap in the hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world, God hath ever broke down the wall itself, removed the candlestick, and made His garden a wilderness, as at this day. And that therefore if He will ever please to restore His garden and paradise again, it must of necessity be walled in peculiarly unto Himself from the world; and that all that shall be saved out of the world are to be transplanted out of the wilderness of the world, and added unto his church or garden.”

scholarly journals Ministry with Young Adults: Toward a New Ecclesiological Imagination

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 570
Author(s):  
Tracey Lamont
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Young People ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
New Evangelization ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Ministry Leaders ◽  
The Church

Pope Francis is urging ministry leaders to become a more synodal church, one where the people of God journey together as a faith community to create a more just and compassionate world. This calls for ministry leaders to embrace a paradigm shift, to not just rename their programs or develop new ones, but to develop a new worldview from which to understand and engage the New Evangelization as envisioned by Pope Francis. However, the 2018 Synod on Young People revealed that the current parish and diocesan programming with young adults are inadequate in: (1) curbing the increasing tide of religious disaffiliation in young adults and (2) addressing the real and felt needs of contemporary Catholic young adults. This article argues for a new ecclesiological imagination that enables ministry leaders to go out into the world to fully engage young adults in the life of the Church.

Joseph Ratzinger

2018 ◽  
pp. 448-466
Author(s):  
Theodor Dieter
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Local Churches ◽  
People Of God ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Joseph Ratzinger ◽  
The Church ◽  
Point Of Reference

Ratzinger’s ecclesiology is a Eucharistic ecclesiology: the church is the people of God existing from the sacramental Body of Christ and thus becoming the ecclesial Body of Christ. Therefore the church is communio: the communion at the table with Christ and among the believers, and also a communion of local churches (communio ecclesiarum) that is the basis for the collegiality of the bishops. The spiritual and institutional dimensions of the Body of Christ are mutually interwoven. In every particular church the universal church is present; its representation and the point of reference in doctrinal matters for all is the pope. The church serves the presence of the Word of God in the world in such a way that the Word as it is witnessed to in Holy Scripture is communicated to all by authorized witnesses. Witness (content) and witnesses are inseparable, as succession and tradition are mutually interrelated as form and content.

scholarly journals ALWAYS A THEOLOGY OF THE PEOPLE: THEOLOGY IN THE ANGLOPHONE CARIBBEAN

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-269
Author(s):  
Ramón Luzárraga
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Anglophone Caribbean ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The Church ◽  
Full Humanity

Anglophone Caribbean theology is a theology of the people, developing autonomously from the theology of the people developed by Argentine theologians. Their idea that a people’s concrete, day-to-day practice of their religious faith carries the authentic culture of a country, is an authentic source of Christian wisdom, yields true insights of God’s presence and activity in the world. This faith of the people, contextualized but not suppressed within the life of the Church overall and tapped into by its theologians, serve to evangelize a country and its people by calling a country and its people to a conversion to who they ought to be, a people of God who incarnate the Christian faith according to their unique genius, and share the fruits of the wisdom drawn from the lived experience of Christian faith by participating in the Church’s evangelizing mission. This idea finds affinity with the mission of the Caribbean theological project: cultural liberation from colonialism and neocolonialism which brings about a sense of inferiority and dependency by the people of the Caribbean toward global social and political powers. Instead, Caribbean theology seeks to build a unique Caribbean identity which fulfills the full humanity of the people of that region.

Review of Frank D. Macchia's Baptized in the Spirit: A Global Pentecostal Theology

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clark H. Pinnock
Keyword(s):  
World Wide ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
The People ◽  
Spirit Baptism ◽  
Pentecostal Theology ◽  
The World ◽  
Doctrine Of The Church ◽  
The Church

AbstractFrank Macchia's Baptized in the Spirit is a significant volume in Christian theology written by a leading American Pentecostal theologian. The book sheds light on topic after topic, employing Spirit baptism as the guiding principle. Macchia argues that, more than empowerment, Spirit baptism justifies and sanctifies, renews and empowers the people of God and will go on doing so until creation is turned into the dwelling place of God. He develops a doctrine of the church as a Spirit-baptized and gifted fellowship, a sign of grace in the midst of the gracelessness that is in the world. The book represents an important maturation of Pentecostal thinking that engages a world-wide conversation.

Eschatology and Religiosity of the People in Russia in the 17th Century

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Natalya S. Gurianova
Keyword(s):  
17Th Century ◽  
Church Reform ◽  
Christian Teaching ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Spiritual Crisis ◽  
Time Of Troubles ◽  
Early Modern Era ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The Church

The article studies the religiosity of Russian population in the 17th century in order to find out the type of this state of public mind. Special attention is drawn to the acuteness of eschatological expectations in society, which intensified during periods of crises. After the Time of Troubles (Smuta), the Church, trying to bring society out of the spiritual crisis, had been exploiting the “end of the world” topic through publishing relevant texts. This trend was especially noticeable during the time of Patriarch Joseph. The decision of the Moscow Printing House (Pechatnyi Dvor) to extend the amount of eschatological publications was determined not only by the direction of church policy, but also by the request in society, the desire of the population to get a more complete picture of the Christian teaching about the ultimate destinies of the world and man, since the spiritual crisis had presupposed an increase of apocalyptic moods. This desire indicates that the population was characterized by the religiosity of the medieval type. The article scrutinizes in particular the 2nd half of the 17th century, which modern researchers rightly designate as the early Modern era. In a society with such a keen perception of the time, the church reform, initiated in the middle of the century by Patriarch Nikon, was naturally not supported by a part of the population. In the interpretation of the defenders of the Old Belief, the actions of the reformers turned into clear signs of the advent of the kingdom of Antichrist, as it was prophesied in Christian teaching. It was not some peculiarity of the worldview of the opponents of church reform, their behavior adjusted the religiosity of the epoch. To justify these thoughts the position of Patriarch Nikon could be mentioned. Nikon found himself in a situation of disapproval and, arguing to be wrongfully convicted and misunderstood, he also used the eschatological doctrine. Based on the analysis of such facts, the article concludes that the 2nd half of the 17th century was characterized by religiosity of the medieval type.

scholarly journals Intertekstuele aanduidings van die wêreld van die boek Jubileë

2003 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
P.M. Venter
Keyword(s):  
Retributive Justice ◽  
People Of God ◽  
The People ◽  
Religious Festivals ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law

Intertextual indications of the world as portrayed in the book of JubileesAn intertextual analysis of sections containing trends of retributive justice in Jubilees 14:1-28, 24:14-17, 30:1-25 and texts including apoca-lyptic trends in 1:7-29, 23:11-32, gives some indication of the time and world in which the author lived. The article argues that the author reconceptualized ideas of retribution in a unique apocalyptic system. The revealed truth was given in an historical revelation to Moses and is aimed at the collective entity of the people of God who are to stay pure for God. They are to abstain from marriages with members of other nations and keep the law and the religious festivals according to the heptadictical calendar. The author belonged to a tradition running parallel to the Danielic and Enochic stream. He was neither an apoca-lyptic nor an official priest, but was very much influenced by both groups.

scholarly journals Teologi, Studi Biblika, dan Misi

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-131
Author(s):  
Ailsa Barker
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Missio Dei ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Biblical Story ◽  
Ministerial Training ◽  
The People ◽  
God's People ◽  
Missional Engagement ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Church

Missional hermeneutics is the interpretation of Scripture as it relates to the missionary task of the church. Four elements comprise a missional hermeneutics: 1) the missional trajectory of the biblical story being the foremost element, which also underlies the other three, 2) a narrative throughout Scripture centered on Christ and intended to equip the people of God for their missional task, 3) the missional context of the reader, in which attention moves from the task of equipping to the community being equipped, a community that is active, and 4) a missional engagement with culture and the implications thereof. Through the life of God’s people an alternative is offered, together with an invitation to come and join. Because the separation of theology from the mission of the church has distorted theology, all theology needs to be reformulated from the perspective of missio Dei and from the realization that the church is a sent community, missional in its very being. A missional hermeneutics bears implications upon the congregation, worship, preaching, discipleship, education, ministerial training, and the missionary task in multicultural contexts.

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