Christian Assembly

<p>What is church? What makes the church one? While these questions may seem innocuous church has become conflicted territory with internal factions external pressures and ecumenical turmoil all calling for a more positive sturdy more resilient notion of Christian community.</p><p>Wengert approaches the questions as a Reformation historian. He shows how the New Testament notion of ''marks'' of the church was taken up by Martin Luther and developed by Phillip Melanchthon not as a descriptive tag but as a criterion for authenticity in Christian community. Lathrop a liturgical theologian shows concretely how those marks can stamp the worship life of a congregation as well as the evaluative work of congregations with their pastors bishops superintendents and conference ministers.</p><p>This volume originated as six lectures jointly presented to the Academy of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2001.</p>