Church. The Human Story of God Volume X

Description

This book was originally planned as the ‘ecclesiological’ third part of Schillebeeckx Jesus trilogy. It indeed concludes his thinking about the relevance of the living Jesus through history, but with a different approach than originally intended. By the end of the 20th century, many believers have left the unworldly ’super-naturalistic’ preconciliar church behind. Those who leave the church, often leave a church that claims to be the direct mediator of God’s will. However, the church is not a flawless gift from heaven. It is the vulnerable work of human beings which tries to find accurate ways to comply to the heart of the gospel message. In a time that is characterized by polarization in the church, Schillebeeckx does not forget to look at the unprecedented and authentic flourishing of the gospel. This book therefore contains the testimony of a theologian who tried, during the course of his life, to describe what God can mean for people today. Cover HalfTitle Title Copyright How to use this book Contents Introduction to Collected Works of Edward Schillebeeckx Introduction to the new edition ‘Church. The human story of God’ Foreword A guide to the book Chapter 1 World history and salvation history, history of revelation and history of suffering 1. Introduction: who or what brings human beings salvation and liberation? 2. ‘No salvation outside the world’ I The experience of radical contrast in our human history II The process of liberation in human history as the medium and material of divine revelation III The difference between the history of salvation and the history of revelation IV Religions and churches as the sacrament of salvation in the world 3. Experiences of revelation: in the secular and religious sense Introduction I The cognitive structure of human experiences A. Experience and the tradition of experience B. Concealed elements in our experiences: experience and ideology 1. The ideological use of language 2. Suspicion about suppressed use of language 3. The danger of an appeal to ’direct experiences’ 4. Language and the specific social position of the speaker 5. Language and the use of models 6. Elements of projection in language 7. Non-religious elements in the use of religious language Conclusion II Experiences of revelation in everyday-human, secular language A. ‘That was - or ‘You were’- a revelation to me’ B. The changing density of revelation in human experiences III Religious experiences of revelation A. The religious use of human categories of experience B. Revelation in religious experiences: ‘divine revelation’ 4. Experiences subjected to the criticism of stories of suffering I Resistance: the truth and authority of suffering and oppressed men and women II Liberating ‘autonomous ethics’ within a context of faith 5. Old biblical and present-day Christian experiences of faith I Tradition and situation: a definition of concepts II Encounter between different cultures and traditions of faith III Present-day society and culture enters the understanding of revelation Chapter 2 Men and women in search of God, God in search of men and women 1. Why God has become a problem for Western men and women I External factors A. No need for a ‘dualistic’ posing of the problem B. Difficulties over belief in God in the modern Western world C. The present ‘world context’ of belief in God II Internal factors A. ‘You are a hidden God’ (Isaiah 45.15) B. Belief in God and its institutionalization in the church C. Belief in God at odds with official church morality 2. Religions as the concrete context of talk about God I Talking about and to God within the context of a tradition of religious experience or a religion II Talking about God within philosophical reflection on one’s own religious attitude III God: as a so-called ‘extra-religious’, autonomous philosophical question IV The ‘theological passive’ in talk about God in a secularized world V ‘Good heavens’, ‘My God’, as echoes of a religious society in a secularized context Conclusion 3. The mystical or theologal depth-dimension of human existence I Are faith in God, prayer and mysticism one? II Mystical silence and mystical talk about God III The absolute limit IV The rationality of belief in God A. Christin, Jew, Buddhist, Muslim by birth, - or ‘nothing’ B. The meta-ethical or religious basis of the human praxis of justice and love 1. In search of a criterion 2. Experiences of the aporia of God’s omnipotence and impotence 3. Ethics as a religious challenge Conclusion 4. Letting God be God Chapter 3 Christians find God above all in Jesus Christ Introduction 1. Unity and tension between ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and the ‘Christ of the church’s faith’ Preface 1. Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus Christ 2. What the historical-critical method teaches the believer 3. The process of the growth of scripture as a witness to the church’s mediation in the transition from ‘Jesus’ to ‘Christ’ 2. The life journey of Jesus, confessed as the Christ I The theocentric focus of Jesus’ message and life: the kingdom of God as the real ‘cause of Jesus’ A. The message of the kingdom of God and renewal of life (metanoia) B. Parables of the kingdom of God C. Jesus’ praxis of the kingdom of God D. The kingdom of God and Jesus’ life journey E. The life and death of Jesus F. Jesus’ message and life journey raise a new question II From the theocentricity of Jesus to the christocentricity of the New Testament and the church A. From Jesus who speaks to us of God to the church which speaks to us of Christ B. The saving significance of Jesus’ life and death C. Belief in the resurrection of Jesus III The kingdom of God: ‘already and not yet’ A. Present-day experience of the kingdom of God as the foundation of a firm hope in a final consummation planned by God B. Is there a counterpart to this fourfold ‘heavenly’ vision of the future for ‘evil people’? 3. The kingdom of God: universal creation and salvation from God in a particular person, Jesus Christ I Men and women as God’s story on the model of the Davidic king Introduction II God’s trust in human beings is finally not put to shame in Jesus 4. The unique and definitive character of the mission of Jesus Christ as a historical task and basis for the church and its mission in the world Introduction I The church: in the power of the Spirit, witness to the life journey of Jesus A. The ekklesia of God: community of God B. The Jewish roots of the church’s Christianity C. The church: a witness to Jesus’ way towards the kingdom of God D. Both the past: living recollection of Jesus (the church tradition), and the present: the Holy Spirit E. ‘Communion’ and institution II Good and bad questions in connection with the uniqueness of the Christian church III The universality and historical contingency of Jesus’ life IV Specific present-day forms of Christian universality or catholicity V The universality of Jesus in connection with the question of the universal meaning of history A. Experience of meaning and truth B. The Christian experiential tradition as a practical anticipation of universal meaning C. Orthodoxy is at stake in orthopraxis VI The God who escapes all our identifications VII Consequences for the church’s mission? Chapter 4 Towards democratic rule of the church as a community of God Introduction 1. The specific historical face of the church I Abstract and historically coloured ecclesiologies II The mystery of the church according to Vatican II A. The kingdom of God and the Christian churches B. ‘Ecclesia sancta’ (one, holy, catholic and apostolic), ‘sed semper purificanda’ III The so-called ‘classical’ face of the church and the other face (with a more biblical profile) A. The church as a pyramidal hierarchy B. The intensification of the hierarchical character of the church: its antidemocratic face between the French Revolution and the period before Vatican II C. New post-Vatican perspectives inspired by the ‘liberal’ Second Vatican Council D. Stemming the tide of the breakthrough at Vatican II, subsequently legitimated by an ideological appeal to the term ‘church as mystery’ 2. Democratic government of the church through its ministers Introduction I Speaking with authority and submitting oneself: the subjection of the whole church to the Word of God II The Holy Spirit, foundation of all authority, including official authority, in the church, and the variety of instruments through which it works A. Jesus and the Holy Spirit, source of all authority in the church B. Intrinsic theological reasons for the democratic exercising of authority in the church 1. The instruments of the Holy Spirit 2. The vulnerable rule of God as a model for ministerial authority in the church 3. The interplay of official teaching authority and the teaching authority of believers and their theologians (always in some tension) Chapter 5 By way of an epilogue 1. Has the church still a future? 2. The worldly or cosmic aspect of the kingdom of God Bibliography Index of authors