Ecclesiastical
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Wikipedia-Article "Ecclesiastical"
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Ecclesiology is a branch of Christian theology that deals with the doctrine pertaining to the Church: its role in salvation, its origin, its discipline, its destiny (see Eschatology) and its leadership. In addition to describing a broad discipline of theology, ecclesiology may be used in the specific sense of a particular church or denomination’s character, self-described or otherwise. This is the sense of the word in such phrases as Roman Catholic ecclesiology, Lutheran ecclesiology, and ecumenical ecclesiology.
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Etymology
Ecclesiology comes from the Greek ekklesia (ἐκκλησία). While the term today is closely tied to the Christian church, its roots are broader. It is a compound of the Greek preposition ek (ἐκ), which denotes origin and could be independently translated from, and kaleo (καλέω), meaning to call or bid.
Biblical Etymology
The Septuagint used ekklesia to translate the Hebrew word qâhâl (קהל), meaning a congregation, assembly, company or other organized body (Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Definitions). These Old Testament uses of ekklesia are not regarded as referring to the church. For example, the word church does not appear in the King James Version of the Old Testament.
The most generic definition given by Thayer's Greek Lexicon is “a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place.” This generic sense of the word is used several times in one passage of the New Testament (Acts 19:32, 39 & 41) in reference not to the church but to a group of Ephesian craftsmen speaking out against the Apostle Paul and his companions.
Issues addressed by ecclesiology
Ecclesiology asks the questions:
- Who is the Church? Is it a visible or earthly corporation? Or is it the body of all believing Christians regardless of their denominational differences and disunity? What is the relationship between living Christians and departed Christians?
- Must one join a church? What is the role of corporate worship in the spiritual lives of believers? Is it in fact necessary?
- What is the authority of the Christian church? Is the institution itself, either in a single corporate body, or generally, an independent vehicle of revelation or of God's grace? Or is the Church's authority dependent on and derivative of a prior divine revelation, and individual institutions are the Church to the extent that they teach that message?
- What does the Church do? Is the Church's rôle primarily the performance of sacraments for the spiritual growth of believers? Or is the Church's chief duty to preach and teach the Gospel?
- How should the Church be governed? What are the proper methods of choosing clergy such as bishops and priests? Is an ordained clergy necessary?
- What are the roles of spiritual gifts in the life of the church?
- How does the Church relate to the covenants expressed in scripture to God's chosen people?
- What is the ultimate destiny of the Church in Christian eschatology?
See also
Beliefs that define the Church
Rituals that define the Church
Topics in church government
- Apostolic succession
- Autocephaly
- Canon Law
- One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church
- Separation of church and state
- Full communion