Description
Book SynopsisThis book is a disciplined introduction to ecclesiology. With respect to the community which “the Lord purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28), parts one and two focus on a critical-exegetical presentation of the New Testament’s descriptions and themes, locating their treatment within two millennia of reflection, and appreciating the impact of those contexts on our understanding. From over ninety New Testament images, chapters four to ten identify and argue for three foundational concepts: ekklēsia (assembly); sōma Christou (the body of Christ); and koinōnia hagiōn (the communion of the saints). Continuing the conversation with Scripture and its history of interpretation, Robert Doyle then applies the determinative biblical themes to present practice, centering it on the churches of the Evangelical and Reformed traditions. Part four illuminates ecclesiology from other foundational Christian doctrines: the triune God of holy love; Christology, our ascended human high priest and king; and the doctrine of revelation, the church as “the pillar and bulwark of the truth.” The final part focuses on three possible points of transformation in ecclesial life and witness, both internally and outward to the world.
Table of ContentsPart I: Locating the Doctrine
1. Five Cautions, and Hope
2. Inside two millennia of reflection
3. And more recent context, postmodernism
Part II: Three Foundational New Testament Indicators
4. Ekklēsia: “assembly”
5. Challenge of Communication: Protestant debates over original use, local contexts, hermeneutics
6. Earthly assemblies and the heavenly assembly
7. Sōma Christou: “the body of Christ,” the Christ of the New Creation.
8. How to understand the “ontological relationship” between Christ and his church?
9. The question of continuity between intermittent gatherings
10. Koinōnia hagiōn: “the communion of the saints”
11. The communion of the saints is in the Spirit: the work of men and women, and the attributes of the church
Part III. Implications for Present Practice
12. Christ’s continued purposes for his church: double edification
13. Growth in Fellowship through Participation in Ministry
14. Wider theological foundations of ministry
15. Denominations, church law, and pastor pastorum
16. Sacramental behavior: how the bible has been used
17. Baptism and Lord’s Supper in the New Testament
Part IV: Illumination from Other Foundational Christian Doctrines
18. The triune God of holy love: his relation to the world and the sociality of the saints
19. Christology: our ascended human high priest and king
20. The Doctrine of Revelation: “the pillar and bulwark of the truth”
Part V: In Review - Three Points of Transformation
21. Living in the Church
