RT Article
T1 Communion Ecclesiologies as Contextual Theologies
JF Horizons
VO 40
IS 1
SP 53
OP 70
A1 Flanagan, Brian P.
LA English
YR 2013
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1950001113
AB This article argues that the predominance of communion language in ecclesiology in the past fifty years frequently functions as another instance of the universalization of a theological position rooted in a particular, dominant context—the fragmented, post-traditional world of the late twentieth-century West. First, it briefly discusses the concept of a contextual theology. It then traces three of the major contexts in which communion ecclesiology developed: the ecumenical movement and its desire for a new language of Christian unity, the Roman Catholic community's desire for language pointing to the spiritual/theological reality of the Christian church, and the broader cultural context of fragmentation and real or perceived disintegration of community found in late-modern Western societies. Finally, the article looks at some examples of ecclesiological reflection occurring outside of the dominant consensus of communion ecclesiology: the work of José Comblin in Latin America, and that of Elochukwu Uzukwu and other theologians of the church in African contexts.
K1 African Ecclesiology
K1 José Comblin
K1 Church
K1 Communion Ecclesiology
K1 Contextual Theology
K1 Ecclesiology
K1 Ecumenism
DO 10.1017/hor.2013.38