The Church with a Human Face Volume IX

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The Church with a Human Face: A New Expanded Theology of Ministry elaborates historically and theologically the main line of his argument. It further includes reactions and reflections on criticism he received. The work outlines the evolution of ecclesiastical office, starting with Jesus Christ and his messianic community, followed by a description of the practice and theology of ministry in the early Christian communities, and tracing different forms of ministry in the history of the Church. Of particular interest is the section on the ‘Complaints of the People’, which deals with the discontent of many connected with the position of women and married priests. As long as women are not allowed to participate fully in the decisions of the Church, Schillebeeckx argues, they will not be liberated, and their complaints will remain a fundamental charge that challenges the church. Cover HalfTitle Title Copyright How to use this book Contents Abbreviations Introduction to Collected Works of Edward Schillebeeckx Introduction to the new edition ‘The Church with a Human Face’ Preface Introduction: Why this new book? A test case? (a) The aim of my earlier book, Ministry (b) The aim of this new book (c) Ministry from a socio-historical and a theological perspective (d) Sensitivity to hermeneutics and ideological criticism in the light of present-day negative experiences with ministry Part One Jesus Christ and his Messianic Communities 1. Jesus’ historical identity as reflected in the messianic Jesus movement (a) The time and place of Jesus’ historical appearance (b) The ministry of Jesus: message and life-style (c) Jesus, confessed by his followers as the Christ (i) The choice of faith (ii) Jesus of Nazareth is Christ (iii) Jesus and the structure of the Christian creed (iv) The crucifixion (v) Resurrection - reality and belief 2. Church communities, ‘living from the Spirit’ Part Two The Practice and Theology of Ministry in the Early Communities of Christian Believers Introduction Section 1: A socio-historical approach, though not without theological relevance 1. Authority and leadership in the early church (a) Ekklesia: communities of Christian believers (b) Looking forward: ekklesia - dioikesis - paroikia (c) Christian ‘free fellowships’ gathering in house communities (i) He kat’oikon ekklesia: Christian house communities (ii) Ekklesia as collegium or free association in the Graeco-Roman world (d) Structures of authority in communities of early Christian believers (i) How were conflicts resolved? (ii) Competence - local and more than local 1. More-than-local leadership and church service 2. Local leadership and forms of service (iii) Summary 2. Authority and leadership in the post-apostolic New Testament communities of believers and in the early church (a) The shift from ‘house communities’ to ‘the household of God’ (b) The fossilization of the model on the basis of theological legitimation 3. Conclusion Section 2: A theological approach, though not without sociological interest 1. The founders of communities and those ‘who labour among you, lead you and admonish you’ (I Thess. 5.12; see Rom. 12.8-9) 2. Ministry: the specific crystallization of a universal charisma of the Spirit into a gift of the Spirit reserved for certain Christians with a function in the church (a) ‘On the foundation of the apostles and prophets’ (Eph. 2.20; 4.7-16) (b) Ministry in the Gospel of Mark (c) Ministry in the Gospel of Matthew (d) The ‘testament of Paul’ to the community leaders according to Luke’s interpretation (e) Ministry in the Johannine tradition (f) Ministry in the Pastoral Epistles; I Peter; James 3. Ministry of newly founded churches 4. The theological content of ministry in the New Testament (a) The four dimensions of ‘apostolicity’ (b) Pioneers in the community, and those who inspired it and served as models by which the community could identify the gospel 5. Conclusion: Service on the basis of the baptism of the Spirit and official ministry on the basis of a distinctive sacramental rite Part Three Organization and Spirituality of Ministry in the Course of Church History Section 1: From the second century to the beginning of the early Middle Ages 1. The specific ministerial charisma of deacons, presbyters and episkopoi with its diaconal emphasis (a) Ministries in the second century (i) Ministries in the churches of Greece, Asia Minor and Syria (ii) Ministry in Rome (iii) Ministry in Egypt, with Alexandria as a centre (iv) Ministry in the Roman proconsulate of Africa (b) Conclusion: Ministry in the second century 2. A link in liturgical witness: the first half of the third century (a) The Traditio of Hippolytus (b) Cheirotonia and cheirothesia: ordinatio - appointment to ministry 3. A new phenomenon, the ‘country priest’ or visitator: from presbyter to priest 4. The change under Emperor Theodosius (a) Christianity becomes a state religion (b) A brief account of the sacerdotalizing of ministry (c) Nominations of bishops in the early church (d) The de facto power of the bishop, born of necessity, and its subsequent official formalization 5. Retrospect: typical differences between the first, second and fourth centuries 6. Canon 6 of Chalcedon 7. The end of late antiquity and the transition to the early Middle Ages (a) Church hierarchy: Pseudo-Dionysius (b) Signs of a changed conception of the eucharist in the sixth and seventh centuries (c) The origin of private masses, the veneration of relics and the cult of the dead Section 2: The priest from the eighth to the thirteenth century Introduction 1. From the eighth to the tenth century: the ritualistic priest 2. From the end of the tenth to the end of the eleventh century: the monastic priest 3. From the end of the eleventh to the beginning of the thirteenth century: the evangelical priest within a world-affirming spirituality 4. Priestly pastorate (cura animarum) and lay preaching in the Middle Ages (a) Conflicts between diocesan-parochial and abbatial centres of the church’s pastorate (b) Polemic between abbatial pastoral centres and new centres of ‘regular canons’ who were disposed towards reform (c) Conflicts between the pastorate of the Mendicants (Beggars), which was beyond diocesan jurisdiction and the parishes, and the traditional pastorate (i) A new development: the pastoral activity of the Mendicants (ii) The opposition of William of Saint-Amour and his condemnation (d) Lay preaching, meanwhile forgotten (e) Note: Lay proclamation in the new Codex of 1983 5. Causes of the changed image of the priest in the Middle Ages Section 3: The ‘modern’ image of the priest Introduction 1. Prehistory: Josse Clichtove (1472-1543) 2. The Council of Trent on ministry 3. The nucleus of the post-Tridentine view of ministry: the danger-point in the spirituality of ministry in the ‘Ecole Française’ Section 4: Continuity and significant breaks in the history of the theology and practice of ministry Part Four Listening to the ‘Complaints of the people’ Introduction 1. Discontent among the bishops: the 1971 Synod of Bishops on the priesthood: the crisis of the apolitical, celibate priesthood (a) An analysis of speeches in the debate (b) An evaluation of the 1971 Synod 2. Discontent among women 3. Discontent connected with the removal of married priests from pastoral work (a) Abstinence and celibacy (b) The so-called ‘third way’ (c) Married religious men and women in the Middle Ages and modern experiments 4. Discontent expressing itself in alternative practices of ministry Conclusion Part Five The Church with a Human Face 1. Roman Catholic problems with ministry, the Declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, and the ecumenical Lima Report 2. Problems surrounding the diaconate and the question of a fourth ministry Bibliography Index of Biblical References Index of Names