Church, World and the Christian Life: Practical-Prophetic Ecclesiology

Description

Healy has written a book with sensitivity, depth and great theological prescience. He first describes much of the problems with current ecclesiological "blueprints": People of God, Body of CHrist, etc., saying that they are all fine as blueprints, but all suffer from a dualist essence. By using Balthazar's theodramatic horizon, he addresses the realities of a concrete chuch in a hypermodern and postmodern age. His section of plurality is a breath of fesh air, after having read the writings of peopel like Hick who really just want to force a totalizing system uponall religions, really rendering them incapable of making any truth claims without being branded as "parocial" or "fundamentalist". He exposes the ultimately liberal underpinnings of this view, which is really roots in another kind of tradition. The theodramatic horizon in name is new to me, but uts idea has been seen in authors such as Brian Walsh, who espouse seeing Christianity as havings its own "metanarrative" that must engage with faithfulness with other traditions. This is not only honest ecclesiaology, but it addresses the reality of a sinful church that must be corrected, often from the outside. This is a must for anyone concerned about where the church is headed. Read and enjoy!