Abstract
Across the globe Christians confess a shared belief in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. However, to make such a declaration in the twenty-first century is perplexing given the obvious lack of empirical evidence for such a claim. With ecumenism in mind, churches must find ways to engage effectively with these “classical marks” in an effort to transcend this tension and produce outcomes that can address ecclesial diversity, while promoting unity through identification with this common Christian identity. This chapter offers a fresh approach to the marks by presenting a “gift-task” paradigm which allows contemporary church a way of engaging with and understanding the significance of the marks by reclaiming them theologically, applying them analytically, and seeking to communicate them ecumenically.
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Notes
- 1.
World Council of Churches, Confessing the One Faith: An Ecumenical Explication of the Apostolic Faith as It Is Confessed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381), Faith and Order Paper No. 153, (Geneva: WCC, revised edition, 2010).
- 2.
See e.g., the denominational differentiation on the term “apostolic” (World Council of Churches, Confessing the One Faith, §241, as well as the following commentary on it, pp. 77–78).
- 3.
I will use “gift and task” to refer to the established conception of the marks of the church. When discussing my proposed paradigm, by contrast, I will use “gift-task.” The development of a gift-task paradigm arose out of work for my PhD thesis: Marguerite Kappelhoff, “The Marks of the Church as ‘Gift’ and ‘Task’: A Paradigm for the Twenty-First-Century Church” (unpublished PhD thesis, Charles Sturt University, 2015).
- 4.
For further reading see: Hans Küng, The Church, trans. Ray and Rosaleen Ockenden (London: Continuum, tenth edition, 2001), 268; G. C. Berkouwer, Studies in Dogmatics: The Church, trans. James E. Davidson (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1976), 120; Avery Dulles, A Church to Believe In: Discipleship and the Dynamics of Freedom (New York: Crossroad, 1984), 50; Donald G. Bloesch, The Church: Sacraments, Worship, Ministry and Mission (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2002), 103; Mark E. Dever, “The Church,” in Daniel. L Akin (ed.) A Theology for the Church, (Nashville: B & H, 2007), 778; Edgar Krentz, “Freedom in Christ: Gift and Demand,” Concordia Theological Monthly 40: 6–7 (1969): 36–48; Edward Schillebeeckx, Church: The Human Story of God (London: SCM, 1990), 197; Charles Van Engen, God’s Missionary People: Rethinking the Purpose of the Local Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1991), 65–68, 82, 136.
- 5.
Van Engen, God’s Missionary People, 65.
- 6.
William Madges and Michael J. Daley, The Many Marks of the Church (New London, CT: Twenty-Third, 2006), 3.
- 7.
World Council of Churches, The Nature and Mission of the Church: A Stage on the Way to a Common Statement, Faith and Order Paper No. 198 (Geneva: WCC, 2005), §12, p. 14.
- 8.
“Missional” in this case is not limited to “apostolic mission” but also refers to the church’s missional requirement of existing in greater levels of oneness, holiness, and catholicity.
- 9.
For more on this subject, see George Cheney, Steve May, and Debashish Munshi (eds), The Handbook of Communication Ethics (New York: Routledge, 2011), 150.
- 10.
My PhD thesis constructs the communicative aspect of the paradigm partly from insights found in Henry Nelson Wieman’s doctrine of creative interchange and Jürgen Habermas’s theory of communicative action. Both authors offer models of communication that seek to discover enrichment for individuals and their communities by reaching some form of “mutual understanding.” See Jürgen Habermas, The Theory of Communicative Action, vol. 1: Reason and Rationalization of Society, trans. T. McCarthy (Boston: Beacon, 1984); Henry Nelson Wieman, The Source of Human Good (1946) (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995; Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2008).
- 11.
“Classical consensus” is understood as the type of consensus that aims for “uniformity of expression” over any expressions of diversity or pluralism. David M. Chapman, “Consensus and Difference: The Elusive Nature of Ecumenical Agreement,” Ecclesiology 8 (2012): 54–70, 56.
- 12.
Berkouwer, Studies in Dogmatics, 106.
- 13.
Erin Michele Brigham, Sustaining the Hope for Unity: Ecumenical Dialogue in a Postmodern World (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2012), 150.
- 14.
Brigham, Sustaining Hope for Unity, 151.
- 15.
A contemporary example of this is the #LoveMakesAWay movement, which brings together in solidarity and action Christians seeking an end to Australia’s inhumane asylum seeker policies through prayer and nonviolent “love in action” demonstrations and sit-ins. For information on this movement, see https://www.facebook.com/LoveMakesAWayForAsylumSeekers/timeline (accessed November 15, 2014. This movement also has a Web site, but access to it can be gained only by visiting the movement’s Facebook page and requesting access. More information on this movement, however, can be accessed via various Australian newspaper articles (in e.g., the Herald Sun, the West Australian) online or in print, and television (e.g., Today Tonight, Channel 7) and radio (e.g., ABC) broadcasts online.
- 16.
For more on this utilizing specific examples from congregations in Melbourne, Australia, see Marguerite Kappelhoff, “Do the Traditional Marks of the Church Inform the Mission and Ministry of the Local Congregation?” BTh honours thesis, Charles Sturt University and St Mark’s National Theological Training Centre, Canberra, Australia, 2011, 36–56.
- 17.
‘National Day of Prayer’ is an annual event held in many parts of the Western world (e.g., Canada, USA, UK) and sometimes incorporates other Christian disciplines such as fasting or worship. In Australia, it was hosted on February 15, 2015 in various locations around Australia, including the capital city, Canberra; http://www.nationaldayofprayer.com.au, accessed November 15, 2014.
- 18.
“Church Unite” is a specific event. It was held in Melbourne in October 2014. As part of its aim, organisers sought to unite Christians across Melbourne in prayer and worship; http://www.churchunite.com.au, accessed 15 November 2014.
- 19.
Karl Barth, “The Holy Spirit and the Gathering of the Christian Community,” in Karl Barth (edited by Geoffrey W. Bromiley and Thomas. F. Torrance, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley), Church Dogmatics (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1956), IV.1, §62, 643. Regarding the marks Barth states: “None of these terms can be applied to anything but the divine operation which takes place in the church” (Karl Barth, “The Holy Spirit and the Upbuilding of the Christian Community,” in Church Dogmatics, IV.2, §67, 617).
- 20.
Barth, “Holy Spirit and Gathering,” 662.
- 21.
Barth, “Holy Spirit and Gathering,” 662.
- 22.
Barth suggests that God is the “being who loves in freedom” and in doing so “seeks and creates fellowship” with humanity. See Barth’s work in his “The Being of God as the One Who Loves in Freedom,” in Karl Barth (edited by Geoffrey W. Bromiley and Thomas F. Torrance, trans. T. H. L. Parker, W. B. Johnston, Harold Knight, and J. L. M. Haire), Church Dogmatics (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1957), II.1, §28, 273.
- 23.
Barth, “Holy Spirit and Gathering,” 643.
- 24.
Barth, “Holy Spirit and Gathering,” 651.
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Kappelhoff, M. (2017). The Marks of the Church: A Paradigm for the Twenty-First-Century Church. In: Chapman, M. (eds) Hope in the Ecumenical Future . Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63372-5_9
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