Marking the Church: Essays in Ecclesiology

More than one person has joked over the years that Evangelical believers do not have an ecclesiology. In one sense that is absurd: Evangelical churches (especially if you include Pentecostals in that group) are some of the fastest-growing most vibrant churches in the world. Evangelicals are proclaiming the gospel praising the Lord reading the Bible and loving the poor. But there is a case to be made that the Evangelical devotion to the mission of the church has left Evangelicals with little time to reflect on the church itself. In this collection of essays first given at annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society the authors take time to reflect on the nature of the church in an Evangelical context asking after the way in which it is one holy catholic and apostolic. This remarkable set of well-crafted essays wonderfully expresses the vitality of contemporary Evangelical ecclesiology: layered diverse throbbing with Christ Jesus at the center of concern. Organized by the four creedal marks the volume casts a wide net. There is serious theological discussion here of matters that are usually left to journalists: Internet churches and new monasticism. There is also focus on traditionally queried topics: Johannine narrative Bonhoeffer Torrance. Finally we happily discover themes less familiar to Evangelicals: beauty kenosis the Eucharist. What is both apparent and exciting is how ecclesiological reflection is today leading Evangelicals to creative self-critique even as it uncovers the irrepressible energies of the Evangelical search for ecclesial communion. --Ephraim Radner Professor of Historical Theology Wycliffe College University of Toronto This impressive collection of high quality essays is a sign of the vitality of ecclesiology in our time. Here we see gifted members of the younger generation of Evangelical and Reformed theologians rediscovering the ancient truth that the Church is part of the Gospel and that word and sacrament go hand-in-hand. These studies richly repay our attention as they show how the way of salvation passes through the Church. --Paul Avis honorary professor Exeter University UK; Editor-in-Chief of Ecclesiology Greg Peters is Associate Professor of Medieval and Spiritual Theology in the Torrey Honors Institute of Biola University. He is the author of Reforming the Monastery (2014) The Story of Monasticism (2015) and editor (with C. Colt Anderson) of A Companion to Priesthood and Holy Orders in the Middle Ages (2016). Matt Jenson is Associate Professor of Theology in the Torrey Honors Institute of Biola University. He is the author of The Gravity of Sin (2007) and (with David Wilhite) The Church: A Guide for the Perplexed (2010).