Avery Dulles, Models of the Church. Image/Doubleday, 1987.
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LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Theology of Mission and Ministry.
sociology (congregational culture, identity) of the church. It is often used as a tool for understanding five prominent congregational identities, though its purpose is much broader in scope.
Models of the Church makes its main contribution by describing five types of congregations according to what they offer their members spiritually and their communities missionally:
- Church as Institution emphasizes stability, tradition, and order as God’s system for salvation and community on earth and as God’s instrument for discovering, maintaining, and mediating truth.
- Church as Mystical Communion stresses the role of the Spirit in creating a meaningful and spontaneous fellowship. A personal walk with God and the enhancement of relational side of Christian experience is the ultimate goal of this model.
- Church as Sacrament celebrates the intersection between the human and divine.
- Church as Herald puts the priority on proclaiming the good news. The church is most faithful when there is an abundance of evangelistic efforts.
- Church as Servant seeks to touch the suffering world at the points of greatest need. The church is truest to its calling when it is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc.
Dulles devotes an entire chapter to each model, and includes a thorough evaluation models over against several important theological strains such as eschatology and discipleship. Virtually all treatments of the doctrine of the church since Dulles refer to Models of the Church as one of the most definitive works of its genre.
From the Publisher
One of America’s leading theologians defines the basic functions of the Church, assesses its mission on Earth, and explores its many different roles in the lives of believers.
About the Author
Avery Robert Dulles (1918 – 2008) was a Jesuit priest, theologian, and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and served as the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University from 1988 to 2008. He was an internationally known author and lecturer.
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