Stumbling in Holiness: Sin and Sanctity in the Church

Description

In Stumbling in Holiness, professor and theologian Brian P. Flanagan addresses the ways in which both holiness and sinfulness condition the life of the pilgrim church. The book is rooted in a liturgical-theological explanation of how the church prays through its continuing need for repentance and purification, as well as its belief in its present and future participation in the life of the Holy One. After reviewing some of the ways in which past theologians have tried to explain the coexistence of ecclesial holiness and sinfulness, Flanagan suggests that, even if we can have confidence that God will fully sanctify the church in the reign of God, our ecclesiology must always attend to both the sanctity we already experience in the church and the sinfulness that is part of our continuing journey toward that reign Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Sin and Sanctity in the Liturgy 9 Chapter 2: Sanctity, Sin, and Church 42 Chapter 3: I Believe in the Holy Church 82 Chapter 4: Have Mercy on Us, Lord, for We Have Sinned 102 Chapter 5: Avoiding the Paradox of the Holy and Sinful Church 138 Chapter 6: Naming the Holy and Sinful Church 166 Index 181