scholarly journals The Body of Christ: An Aligning Union Model

Pro Ecclesia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 106385122110134
Author(s):  
Rolfe King

In the context of recent debate about whether “Reformed Catholics” and Protestants, more generally, should accept Augustine’s totus Christus Christological ecclesiology, I illustrate the notion of an asymmetric aligning union. This is a metaphysically real union, but not a substantial union. I suggest that Reformed catholic theology would be better served by deploying the notion of an asymmetric aligning union. It preserves the Reformation solas and is compatible with the notion of the mystical body of Christ, without the disadvantages of the totus Christus notion, if that is taken to involve a substantial union. This form of union should be of wider ecumenical interest.

1974 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Mary Stewart

The Reformation doctrine of “the Word and the Spirit,” as outlined by Bernard Ramm, is related to various psychological models of cognitive and personal style. It is suggested that Witkin's distinction between “analytic” and “global” cognitive styles has its parallel in two differing religious styles, which are labelled “Word-oriented” and “Spirited-oriented.” The implications of these two styles for the functioning of pastors, parishioners and Christian workers are examined in detail.


Author(s):  
David Aers ◽  
Sarah Beckwith

This chapter explores theological and ethical dimensions of the Eucharist in the later Middle Ages and in the Reformation. The exploration introduces a number of genres and practices, because the Eucharist was a central and pervasive presence in Christian cultures, including those opposing medieval liturgy and teaching. One of the focal points of the study is the emergence of the doctrine and practice of transubstantiation, a language that became enshrined in thirteenth century orthodoxy. The chapter sets out with St. Augustine, who did not know either this doctrine, or the theological questions it sponsored (such as, what happens when a mouse eats the consecrated host), or its practice, together with its rich visionary accompaniments (such as bleeding hosts and manifestations of bleeding parts of the body of Christ or the Infant Jesus). After Augustine, a cluster of medieval writers and performances are addressed. The chapter concludes with commentary on the Reformation, and some rumination of Shakespeare, especiallyThe Tempest.


1983 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Stephenson

Several years before the mode of Christ's eucharistic presence became a controverted issue which would presently provoke a lasting schism among the Churches of the Reformation, Luther could unaffectedly propound the traditional dogma of the bodily presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar as a necessary consequence of the evangelical quest for the sensus grammaticus of the words of institution. The same exegetical method which led to his reappropriation of the doctrine of the justification of the sinner ‘by grace, for Christ's sake, through faith’ obliged him to confess that ‘the bread is the body of Christ’. Already here, in the mordantly anti-Roman treatise On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Luther has laid his finger on the model in terms of which he will understand the real presence to the end of his days: the consecrated host is the body of Christ, just as the assumed humanity of jesus Christ is the Son of God. The displacement of the scholastic theory of transubstantiation by the model of the incarnate person illustrates the Reformer's allegiance to the Chalcedonian Definition: ‘Luther is really replacing Aristotelian categories by those derived from Chalcedonian christology, to which he remained faithful: “unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably”.’ While the doctrine of the real presence moved from the periphery to the centre of Luther's theology and piety as the 1520s wore on, his conception of the modality of the eucharistic presence remained constant throughout.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-96
Author(s):  
Sørina Higgins

In his unfinished cycle of Arthurian poems, Charles Williams developed a totalizing mythology in which he fictionalized the Medieval. First, he employed chronological conflation, juxtaposing events and cultural references from a millennium of European history and aligning each with his doctrinal system. Second, following the Biblical metaphor of the body of Christ, Blake’s symbolism, and Rosicrucian sacramentalism, he embodied theology in the Medieval landscape via a superimposed female figure. Finally, Williams worked to show the validity of two Scholastic approaches to spirituality: the kataphatic and apophatic paths. His attempts to balance via negativa and via positiva led Williams to practical misapplication—but also to creation of a landmark work of twentieth century poetry. . . . the two great vocations, the Rejection of all images before the unimaged, the Affirmation of all images before the all-imaged, the Rejection affirming, the Affirmation rejecting. . . —from ‘The Departure of Dindrane’ —O Blessed, pardon affirmation!— —O Blessed, pardon negation!— —from ‘The Prayers of the Pope’


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