The Church: Sacraments, Worship, Ministry, Mission

by BLOESCH DONALD G.

• ISBN13: 9780830814169
• ISBN10: 0830814167
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-10-01
• Publisher: Intervarsity Pr

Summary

In The Church, Donald G. Bloesch explores with clarity and balance the contours of ecclesiology. He forthrightly takes up the most controversial of issues ranging from matters of church authority, the sacraments and worship to the church's place in the plan of salvation, the church and the kingdom of heaven, and church reunion.Evangelical in spirit, ecumenical in breadth and biblical in depth, Bloesch's work presents a theology of the church that calls for reformation and renewal according to the Word and Spirit of God.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	11	(1)
Abbreviations	12	(1)
Preface	13	(4)
Introduction	17	(10)
Differing Theological Perspectives	19	(4)
Need for a Theological Balance	23	(4)
Continuing issues in Ecclesiology	27	(19)
Authority and Infallibility	30	(2)
Reinterpreting the Church's Mission	32	(3)
Quandary over Worship	35	(4)
Marks and Signs	39	(2)
Christian Unity	41	(5)
The Church in the plan of Salvation	46	(23)
Roman Catholic Theology	47	(1)
Martin Luther	48	(2)
John Calvin	50	(1)
Emil Brunner	51	(2)
Karl Barth	53	(3)
Thomas F. Torrance	56	(2)
The Redemptive Community	58	(4)
The Church's Mandate	62	(2)
Mary: A Type of the Church	64	(5)
The Church and the Kingdom	69	(13)
Two Sides of the Church	70	(6)
The Kingdom in the Making	76	(2)
The Kingdom and world History	78	(4)
Authority in the Church	82	(17)
Papalism versus Conciliarism	83	(3)
Biblicism versus Ecclesiasticism	86	(7)
Experientialism versus Rationalism	93	(3)
The Church Militant and Triumphant	96	(3)
Marks of the Church	99	(17)
The Catholic Consensus	100	(3)
Practical Marks	103	(6)
Marks of the False Church	109	(4)
Word and Spirit	113	(3)
Worship in Spirit and Truth	116	(31)
Worship in Biblical Perspective	118	(4)
God Transcendent	122	(4)
Word and Image	126	(4)
The Crisis in Spirituality	130	(1)
True Spirituality	131	(4)
Appendix A: Contemporary Worship	135	(6)
Appendix B: An Evangelical Order of Worship	141	(2)
Appendix C: A Reformed Worship Center	143	(4)
Rethinking Sacraments	147	(31)
Sacramental Understanding in Christian History	148	(6)
Holy Baptism	154	(6)
Holy Communion	160	(5)
Confession	165	(7)
Word and Sacrament	172	(3)
Appendix D: An Ecumenical Consensus?	175	(3)
The Demise of Biblical Preaching	178	(11)
A Legacy in Peril	179	(1)
Aberrations After the Reformation	180	(4)
Toward the Recovery of Biblical Preaching	184	(3)
Postscript	187	(2)
A Socio-Theological Typology	189	(15)
A Typology of Religious Association	190	(3)
A Theological Interpretation	193	(2)
Learning from the Sects	195	(3)
Epilogue	198	(3)
Appendix E: Further Thoughts on Sects and Cults	201	(3)
The Diversity of Ministries	204	(31)
Protestant Religious Orders	211	(7)
Women in Ministry	218	(10)
Marriage and Celibacy	228	(7)
The Gospel in a Syncretistic Age	235	(17)
Troeltsch's Theology of Religious History	240	(4)
Moltmann's Global Theology	244	(2)
The Church's Apostolic Mission	246	(6)
Toward the Reunion of the Churches	252	(13)
The Trauma of the Reformation	253	(2)
The Retreat from Ecumenicity	255	(2)
Evangelical-Catholic Unity	257	(5)
The Ecumenical Imperative	262	(3)
A Confessing Church	265	(23)
The Meaning of a Confessing Church	266	(2)
Types of Confession	268	(2)
Hallmarks of a True Confession	270	(3)
A Confessing Church versus a Cultural Church	273	(5)
The Work of a Confession	278	(2)
Appendix F: The Voice of Orthodoxy	280	(3)
Appendix G: The Meaning of the Gospel	283	(5)
Appendix 1: The Cambridge Declaration	288	(7)
Appendix 2: The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration	295	(11)
Notes	306	(35)
Index of Names	341	(4)
Index of Subjects	345	(4)
Index of Scripture	349