Unity Of The Church In The New Testament And Today

by Vischer Lukas

• ISBN13: 9780802863768
• ISBN10: 0802863760
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-11-02
• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co

Summary

During the mid-twentieth century, as the ecumenical movement reached its zenith in the formation of the World Council of Churches and the Second Vatican Council, interdenominational dialogue led to a deepening of spiritual life for many Christians. Now, however, the once-celebrated movement has stagnated. Each church body has again retreated into the shell of its own tradition and identity, with little cooperation between them.

Author Biography

Lukas Vischer (1926-2008) was a Swiss Reformed theologian noted for his ecumenical efforts worldwide. Ulrich Luz is professor of New Testament studies at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Christian Link is professor of systematic theology at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	p. ix
Translator's Preface	p. xi
In Memory of Lukas Vischer	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Difficulties in Looking to the New Testament for Guidance	p. 7
Scripture and Tradition	p. 8
Scripture: Witness of an Active History	p. 12
Unity Today	p. 15
Concepts of Unity	p. 18
On the Way to Unity: The Community of the Church in the New Testament	p. 29
Introduction	p. 29
Jesus: The Origin of the Community of the Church	p. 34
The Apostolic Age	p. 43
The Beginnings of the Church after Easter	p. 43
Tensions and Divergences	p. 44
Unity-promoting Forces	p. 47
The Beginnings of Ecclesiology	p. 54
The First Basic Conflict: The Church's Unity with Israel	p. 57
The Apostolic Council	p. 58
James and the Church's Unity with Israel	p. 61
Paul and the Church's Unity with Israel	p. 64
The Antioch Conflict	p. 66
The Conflict between Strong and Weak in Rome	p. 68
Paul and His Opponents	p. 69
The Collection	p. 71
Paul's Last Journey to Jerusalem	p. 73
Church vis-à-vis Israel and for Israel	p. 74
The Church as the Reality of Christ in Paul's Thought	p. 76
The Basic Gift of Unity: Christ	p. 76
The Whole Church and the Local Church	p. 79
Christ's Effectiveness in the Whole Church	p. 81
Christ's Effectiveness in the Local Church	p. 84
The Parties in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1-4)	p. 85
Meat Sacrificed to Idols (1 Corinthians 8-10)	p. 86
Divided Lord's Supper? (1 Corinthians 11:17-34)	p. 87
Tensions in Worship (1 Corinthians 12-14)	p. 88
Conclusion	p. 89
The Post-Apostolic Age	p. 91
Developments in the Church after the Death of the Apostles	p. 91
Tensions and Divergences	p. 91
Unity-promoting Forces: Overview	p. 95
Christianity as an Independent Religion	p. 96
Tradition as a Unity-promoting Factor	p. 100
The Apostles as Primary Figures of Unity	p. 106
James	p. 107
Peter	p. 108
Paul	p. 113
Ministerial Offices as a Unity-promoting Force	p. 118
The First Ecclesiological Concepts of Church Unity	p. 126
The Epistle to the Ephesians	p. 127
The Apocalypse of John	p. 129
The Gospel of Luke and Acts	p. 132
The Gospel of John	p. 136
The Second Basic Conflict: Church Fellowship in the Controversy with Christian Gnosticism	p. 142
Introduction	p. 142
The Gnosticizing Opponents as Seen by Church-Christians	p. 147
The Church-Christians as Seen by Their Christian-Gnostic Opponents	p. 153
Final Observations	p. 159
The Unity Movement: Church Fellowship in the Oecumene	p. 163
On the Way to Unity	p. 163
Unity as Process	p. 164
Which Fellowship Do We Mean?	p. 170
Dealing with Church Schisms: Basic Conflicts	p. 173
The Church's Unity with Israel	p. 179
With Which Israel Is the Church Dealing?	p. 179
Christian Identity in the Mirror of the Jewish-Christian Dialogue	p. 184
Israel and the Oecumene	p. 189
Flash Points of Unity	p. 193
Scripture	p. 195
Scripture and Tradition	p. 196
The Authority of Scripture	p. 199
The Differences	p. 202
Confession	p. 204
Church Confessions	p. 205
Contextual Confessing	p. 207
Lord's Supper	p. 209
The Fellowship Meal	p. 212
The Lord's Supper as Rite	p. 214
Lord's Supper and Ministry	p. 217
The Social Location of the Lord's Supper	p. 220
Ministerial Office	p. 222
The Problem	p. 223
Foundations of Church Law	p. 226
Institution and Ministry	p. 230
Conciliar Fellowship	p. 235
The Council	p. 237
Characteristics of Conciliarity	p. 239
Worship	p. 240
Conflict Orientation	p. 241
The Search for Truth	p. 243
Church Unity and Missions	p. 245
Index of Subjects and Names	p. 249
Index of Selected New Testament and Other Ancient Texts	p. 252
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