Comparative ecclesiology
Subtitle: critical investigations
By: edited by Gerard Mannion.
Contributors: Mannion, Gerard, 1970-
Series: T & T Clark theology; Ecclesiological investigations -- v. 3
Publisher: T & T Clark
Published: 2008
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 207
ISBN-13: 9780567032416
Subjects: Haight, Roger; Church; Church history
Description: This volume will explore issues such as the nature, method and development of comparative ecclesiology; critical assessments as well as appreciations of Roger Haight's Christian Community in History. The Jesuit, Roger Haight, has written extensively in the fields of systematic theology, liberation theology, Christology and, of course, ecclesiology itself. He champions the need for the church to embrace a dialogical mission. This represents his most extensive work to date in ecclesiology and is a monumental volume study in comparative ecclesiology, volume 3 coming in 2008, building upon the insights developed in recent years in the more general sub-discipline of comparative theology. In all, Haight's pioneering work in this emerging field of comparative ecclesiology encourages us to immerse our contemporary explorations in, first, historical consciousness, thereby inculcating the disposition of humility - both in methodological terms and, when one realises how far short we fall of some of our ecclesial forebears, in terms of ecclesial life and practice as well. Second, as indicated, he commends the positive appreciation of pluralism. Third, a whole-part conception of church, neither placing universal over and above local nor vice-versa. Four, we should be attentive to embracing the gifts and human challenges of religious pluralism. And, of course, five, Haight reassures those fearful that such undertaking might entail any loss for the churches: he reminds us how such ecclesiological encounters are and should be undertaken from within a particular confessional or ecclesial identity. We have assembled a range of noted ecclesiological scholars to discuss not simply Professor Haight's work, but also to engage with the issues he raises in a wider context, such as the respective methodological debates surrounding ecclesiology 'from above' and 'from below', to the nature and promise of comparative ecclesiology in itself, to the prospects for a 'pluralistic ecclesiology' in the world today, and the challenges such an undertaking presents to the Christian churches. Roger Haight will be invited to offer his own reflections upon the various chapters.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Comparative ecclesiology : critical investigations / Gerard Mannion; title: What is comparative ecclesiology and why is it important? : Roger Haight's pioneering methodological insights / Gerard Mannion; title: Critical issues in Roger Haight's historical ecclesiology / Bradford Hinze; title: A love of law and the law of love : contextualizing the medieval ecclesiology of the Norman Anonymous / James R. Ginther; title: Church and sacramentality : the theology of symbol in Roger Haight's comparative ecclesiology / Gerard Jacobitz; title: Is comparative ecclesiology enough for the oikoumene? : remarks on the adequacy of Haight's comparative ecclesiology in the light of recent Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogues / Minna Hietamäki; title: Towards an inclusive communion ecclesiology / Ann M. Caron; title: A more comparative ecclesiology? : bringing comparative theology to the ecclesiological table / Reid B. Locklin; title: Newness amid continuity in the future of the church : God's will and human agency guided by the Spirit / Bernard Prusak; title: Putting comparative ecclesiology into practice : Haight's journey from historical to constructive ecumenical ecclesiology / Gerard Mannion; title: New challenges and new initiatives in ecclesiology / Roger Haight