Ecclesiology as the Study of the Nature of the Christian Church - Essay Example

Ecclesiology Ecclesiology Introduction It is vital in today’s world for Christians to understand the true nature ofChristian’s church. Ecclesiology generally means the study of the nature of the Christian Church. However, the 18th century defined the church as building science and decorations of churches, although these sense is rarely used. In the sense of theology, ecclesiology highly focuses on the Christians’ origins, how it relates with Jesus Christ, church’s salvation role, polity, regulation, vocation, and its management. Although various types of ecclesiology support various institutions such as Catholic Roman Church, ecclesiology refers to a specific church. Dulles used five models to describe the nature of Church, which include institutional model, sacramental model, mystical model, herald model, and the church as a servant1. However, from the perspective of the church, the two models, which most closely demonstrate the true nature of the church founded by Christ, are the sacramental model and the church as servant. The present paper gives an evaluation of these two models to show why they are the models, which demonstrates the true nature of Church. The visions of Dulles’ theological study focuses on two broad perspectives. The first one is that he deeply uses Catholic imaginations and tries to show that Roman Catholic Church is the only church that Christians should prefer. The second perspective is that Dulles was committed to the SVC (Second Vatican Council). However, Dulles continued to define the nature of church using his five ecclesiological models. Dulles theological study aimed at primarily defining the nature of Church basing his arguments on the Christianity understanding of the Bible2. His five church models remain to be his best-known accomplishment. People have translated Dulles’ church models in different texts hence effectively displaying his greatest theological strengths. Most Christians current believe the church as just a building but they should understand that according to the bible, this is not the true meaning of the church. The root nature of the church comes from the biblical understanding. Dulles used biblical understanding in his two models; sacramental model and the church as a servant to make people understand the true nature of a Christian church. Although the Roman Catholic Church holds several models describing the nature of the church, these two models of Dulles seems to have more weight than the others do3. For instance, Dulles’ institutional model holds that the Roman Catholic Church is the only holy church that Christians should prefer since it ahs apostolic and heavenly origin. The sacramental model This model defines the nature of the church as a sacrament. According to this model, the Church in the perspective of Jesus Christ is a sacrament or instrument and sign of God’s close unification and that of the humankind’s unity4. This model became a main theme in the Vatican Council II. A sacrament refers to an instrument or a sign. This model describes the nature of church in the sense of inexpressible reality of spiritual. For example, the pouring of water was a sign of spiritual cleansing and purification. Therefore, this model tries to indicate that the church is a sacrament of the Son of God that expresses Jesus Christ. Additionally, the church as a salvation’s sacrament, the life of its followers portrays the things consisted in the salvation. Consequently, sacrament refers to an instrument whose main purpose is to effect its significant. The symbolism of washing portrays spiritual purification and expresses Christian church as a Christ’s sacrament5. This symbolism shows that the church is a continuation of the ministry of Jesus Christ, which he left to his disciples. In addition, the salvation’s sacrament leads to development of a community, which has salvation in the entire world. According to this model, if the Christians’ church represents the visible form of Christ’s invisible Holy Communion, as well as the visible appearance of the salvation, then there is less support that Roman Catholic Church is the only holy church. Additionally, Vatican Council II agreed with this conclusion and changed the context about the nature church from the Roman Catholic Church being the only unique church acceptable by Jesus Christ to the Christ’s unique church subsists in Roman Catholic Church. The definition of this model closely relates to the biblical view about the nature of the church hence being among the best models that describes the true nature of the church. This model holds a great capacity to offer a new momentum the activities of the church missionary by focusing on the fact that the community of the church is fundamentally a vital symbol as the world’s light, hope’s beacon, and a force of building unity in the community. Sacramental model also motivates loyalty towards the church from realizing the essentialness of being a community member and striving to have it. Therefore, one would be striving to agree with the doctrine of the church as well as its discipline and yet gain permission to create a criticism in the church’s light powers to become a good sign. Therefore, this model avoids static impressions presented by the other models such as the church as an institution. The servant model The other Dulles’ model about the church of the church owes less to ecclesiological theory. The church as a servant closely defines the nature of church according to biblical view. In the current world, this model dominates in the theology of the Vatican Council II pastoral constitution about the church. All other official documents that explains the nature of the church apart from the Vatican Council highly makes use of this model. According to this model, the church must be part of our communities and intimately associating itself with all the genuine activities according to human beings since this is exactly what Jesus Christ portrayed during the incarnation6. This model asserts that the nature of church is to make effective contributions towards all people regardless of their deeds and conditions since this is the example Jesus Christ set. According to the revelations, God sent His only son on earth to act not only as a servant but also to serve his children. The model asserts that, just the way Jesus Christ came to serve; the nature of church should be carrying on the mission of Jesus Christ of service throughout the world. The servant model states that the church should considering itself as a portion of the family of human beings sharing similar concerns just like the other men7. The Jesus Christ’s ministry, which showed a suffering God’s servant (man for others), is portrayed in this model. Just as God send Jesus Christ on earth to serve his people but not to be serve, the church also plays a vital role of carrying on Jesus Christ’s mission by seeking to serve the whole world and promoting brotherhood in all people. Since Jesus Christ was “man for other men”, the church is also serving as a “community for other men”. The strength of servant model lies on the model’s emphasis on the church to serve other people and simply serving our self-interests. The model emphasizes that the church should be devoted to serving other regardless of whether they are Christians or not. For instance, the current church portrays the perspective of this model since most churches are currently constructing institutions such as children homes to serve the needy in the society. Jesus Christ himself established the ministry of serving others and therefore, the church should follow His footpaths8. This model demands that the church should be more obviously focusing towards the ministry of serving others instead of building the house. Lastly, this model asserts that, the church comprises of redeemed followers whose main mandate is to establish Jesus kingship of love, justice, reconciliation, and peace. The servant model corrects the sinful nature of human beings, which exists between actions and words. For instance, human beings sin through lying or failing to fulfill promises. However, Jesus commitment of serving other people fulfills God’s commandment of love that Christians should also make adherence. This model asserts that the church be committed to serve others just as Jesus Christ washed the feet of his disciples and commanded them to be doing so to others. Most churches are current portraying the context of this model since they are constructing church sponsored institutions such as schools, hospitals, and children homes. Conclusion In conclusion, the above two Dulles’ models closely demonstrate the true nature of the church founded by Christ. The sacramental model defines the nature of the church as a sacrament while the servant model defines the church as devoted to serve others as Jesus Christ commanded his disciples to be doing. These two models most closely demonstrate the true nature of the church founded by Christ. This is because according to the revelation, Jesus Christ used sacrament as an instrument and sign of God’s close unification and that of the humankind’s unity. People have translated Dulles’ church models in different texts hence effectively displaying his greatest theological strengths. Bibliography Burke, C., People of God: In Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine, ed. Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 2007. Russell Shaw, 498-99. Burns, P., Models of the Churc:. Theological Studies New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2004.: 563-65. Dulles, A., Models of the Church. Random House LLC, 2002. Guyette, F., The Literature of Ecclesiology: A Ten Year Retrospective, An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association, 2011): 75-90. Massa, M., Avery Dulles, Teaching Authority in the Church, and the ‘Dialectically Tense’ Middle: an American Strategic Theology, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2004. 932-51. Richard P. McBrien et al., Dulles, Avery Robert: In The Harper-Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism, ed. 435. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. Read More