Ecclesiology

In Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of the Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its eschatology, and its leadership.

In its early history, one of the Church's primary ecclesiological issues had to do with the status of Gentile members in what had been essentially a Jewish sect. It later contended with such questions as whether it was to be governed by a council of presbyters or a single bishop, how much authority the Bishop of Rome had over other major bishops, the role of the Church in the world, whether salvation was possible outside the institution of the Church, the relationship of the Church and the State, and questions of theology and liturgy and other issues. Ecclesiology may be used in the specific sense of a particular church or denominational's character, self-described or otherwise. This is the sense of the word in such phrases as Catholic ecclesiology, Protestant ecclesiology, and ecumenical ecclesiology.

The word ecclesiology was defined in the 19th century as the science of the building and decoration of church buildings and is still used in that sense in the context of architectural history.

Catholic ecclesiology today has a plurality of models and views, as with all Catholic theology since the acceptance of scholarly Biblical criticism that began in the early to mid- 20th century. This shift is more clearly marked by the encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu in 1943. Avery Robert Cardinal Dulles, SJ contributed greatly to the use of models in understanding ecclesiology. In his work Models of the Church, he defines five basic models of the Church that have been prevalent throughout the history of the Catholic Church. These include models of the Church as institution, as mystical communion, as sacrament, as herald, and as servant.

The ecclesiological model of the Church as an institution holds that the Catholic Church alone is the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church," and is the only Church of divine and apostolic origin led by the Pope. This view of the Church is dogmatically defined Catholic doctrine, and is therefore de fide. In this view, the Catholic Church--composed of all baptized, professing Catholics, both clergy and laity--is the unified, visible society founded by Christ himself, and its hierarchy derives its spiritual authority through the centuries, via apostolic succession of its bishops, more especially through the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) whose successorship comes from St Peter the Apostle, to whom Christ gave "the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven." Thus, the Popes, in the Catholic view, have a God-ordained universal jurisdiction over the whole Church on earth. The Catholic Church is considered the mystical body of Christ, and the universal sacrament of salvation, whereby Christ enables humanity to receive sanctifying grace.

The model of the Church as Mystical Communion draws on two Biblical images, the first of the "Mystical Body of Christ" (as developed in St Paul's Epistles) and the second of the "People of God." This image goes beyond the Aristotelian-Scholastic model of "Communitas Perfecta" held in previous centuries. This ecclesiastical model draws upon sociology and articulations of two types of social relationships: a formally organized or structured society (Gesellschaft) and an informal or interpersonal community (Gemeinschaft). The Catholic theologian Arnold Rademacher maintained that the Church in its inner core is community (Gemeinschaft) and its outer core society (Gesellschaft). Here, the interpersonal aspect of the Church is given primacy and that the structured Church is the result of a real community of believers. Similarly, Yves Congar argued that the ultimate reality of the church is the fellowship of persons. This ecclesiology opens itself to ecumenism and was the prevailing model used in the Second Vatican Council in its ecumenical efforts. The Council, using this model, recognized in its document Lumen gentium that the Body of Christ subsists in a visible society governed by the Succession of St Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him, although many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible structure.

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