Disavowing Constantine

by Wright, Nigel Goring

• ISBN13: 9781597527934
• ISBN10: 1597527939
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-01-01
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub

Summary

'Disavowing Constantine' draws upon the work of two highly influential modern theologians, Jÿrgen Moltmann and John Howard Yoder, to develop an independent and constructive understanding of the relation of the church to the state. Its aim is to restate for modern understanding the insights of the Believers Church tradition and to work out their implications for Christian participation in the civil order. In this complex realm, positive insights are located in traditions usually regarded as incompatible, but the thesis of the book concerns disavowing Constantine, renouncing the reliance of the church upon coercive power to further its mission in order to rediscover how a faithful church might nonetheless participate as a witness within the power structures of human society.

Author Biography

Nigel Wrigh is Principal at Surgeon's College London

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Notes	p. 5
A Free Church in a Free Society	p. 9
The Mission Paradigm and Ecclesiology	p. 9
The Missio Dei	p. 9
Church Identity in the Service of Mission	p. 11
The Church and the Social Order	p. 13
An Analysis of 'Constantinianism'	p. 14
The Vitality of the 'Sectarian'	p. 18
Conclusion	p. 21
Notes	p. 21
Anabaptism, Power and Paradox	p. 31
Anabaptism in History	p. 31
Anabaptism and the 'Sword'	p. 34
Baptist and Anabaptist Attitudes to the State	p. 42
Church and Society in Present Mennonite Perspective	p. 44
Conclusion	p. 48
Notes	p. 48
Yoder: Free Church, State and Social Responsibility	p. 57
Anabaptism and 'Christian Realism'	p. 57
The Church: The Bearer of the Meaning of History	p. 60
Church and State: The Constantinian Fall	p. 63
Church and State: Prophetic Dissent	p. 67
Christ, the Powers and Power	p. 71
Summary: Dissent or Sectarianism?	p. 73
Notes	p. 75
Yoder: The Messiah, The Messianic Community and the Way of Peace	p. 81
Jesus of Nazareth as Socio-ethical Norm	p. 81
The Church as a Transforming Community	p. 84
The Process of Social Change	p. 87
Messianic Pacifism	p. 88
The Politics of Resurrection	p. 93
Summary and Evaluation	p. 94
Notes	p. 97
Moltmann: The Foundations of Messianic Theology	p. 105
Church and World Against the Horizon of Hope	p. 105
The Crucified God and Christian Social Existence	p. 112
The Church in the Spirit and the Missio Dei	p. 116
Summary and Reflections	p. 122
Notes	p. 124
Moltmann: The Exposition of Messianic Theology	p. 129
Foundations: God as Triune Creator	p. 129
The Way of Jesus Christ	p. 136
Encounter with Mennonite Theology	p. 140
The Universal Spirit of Life	p. 147
Summary and Critical Reflections	p. 148
Notes	p. 151
Church and Social Order: A Reformed-Anabaptist Dialogue	p. 157
Yoder and Moltmann in Dialogue	p. 157
A Reformed-Anabaptist Dialogue	p. 169
Conclusion: The State and Paradox	p. 172
Notes	p. 174
Towards a Politics of Resurrection	p. 179
The Trinity: Fountainhead of Theology	p. 179
The Church as Communion and Mission	p. 180
The Social Order and the State	p. 181
The Relationship of Church and Social Order	p. 185
Conclusion	p. 191
Notes	p. 192
The Schleitheim Confession, 1527	p. 199
The Augsburg Confession, 1530 (extract)	p. 205
The Barmen Declaration, 1934	p. 207
Bibliography	p. 211
Index	p. 249
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