RT Article
T1 The necessity of social just-ness for a postmodern ecclesi-odicy
JF Theology today
VO 72
IS 1
SP 84
OP 99
A1 Boursier, Helen Taylor 1960-
LA English
YR 2015
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1784237698
AB Going to “all nations” to share the salvific message of Jesus Christ (Matt 28:19) means that the Christian gospel needs to resonate with the social and existential concerns of the current people of God as well as with changing culture and emerging generations. When the world changes, ecclesial praxis needs to change along with it if the church's missional emphasis is to be consistently relevant. When the church ignores the world, why should (or would) the world pay attention to the church? The church must rethink its ecclesiology through the hermeneutical lens of postmodernity and its interests in acts of (social) justice.1 This article proposes that a defense or apologetic of the postmodern ecclesia—an “ecclesi-odicy”— is best defended by a renewing of the church's original missional intent and the implementation of the church's (social) ethic. Ecclesi-odicy brings together “ecclesial” and “theodicy” and is an apologetic for the church itself. Ecclesi-odicy is not justification for the church to critique others; rather to critique itself. Deconstructed, ecclesi-odicy becomes a defense of the ecclesia in its interface with the social injustices caused by evil and suffering.
K1 ecclesi-odicy
K1 Missiology
K1 new paradigm church
K1 Social Justice
K1 postmodern hermeneutic
K1 Ecclesiology
DO 10.1177/0040573614563529