STUDY DAY IN RAHNER'S ECCLESIOLOGY
(Please bring these notes with you on March 13)
James J. Bacik
I will present an overview of the ecclesiology of Karl Rahner and then note
some of his ideas on how a parish should look and function. Perhaps then we can
talk about practical ways of implementing this vision.
I. Overview of Rahner's Ecclesiology cf Foundations of Christian Faith pp. 222-401
A. The Church is the community of believers in Christ who constitute historical continuation of the risen Lord. Christianity is necessarily
ecclesial because man is a social creature and God's grace touches all
dimensions of life and seeks visibility.
B. The Church was founded by Christ through his assemblying of the Twelve
and commisioning of Peter. Concrete developments were the work of the
Spirit.
C. The Church in the New Testament is seen as the one church of Christ
and visible and invisible. Various images aire employed and the pattern we know is not complete until the second century.
D. A full Christian life involves participation in the Church because
we work out our salvation in history and because Christ's message is
authoritative and confronts us as an objective reality.
E. In our modern situation we need an indirect way of vindicating the
Catholic claim to be the Church of Christ. We begin with our current
existence as Catholics and ask if there is good reason to leave it.
We have close historical continuity with the apostolic church and a
similar structure. The three major notions of the Reformers: grace
alone, faith alone, Scripture alone can be realized within the Catholic Church.
F. Scripture is the book of the Church produced by the early Church and
the governing norm for the continuing life Of the Church.
G. The Church's teaching office. Catholics hold that when the teaching
authority presents an ultimate demand in th& name of Christ that God's
grace keeps them from losing the truth of Christ. Papal infallibility
ascribes to one man which was always held for the Church as a whole.
H. Christian Life in the Church. We are the Church and should love it
with a sober realism about its faults. Laws are important but should
be seen in context. The Church is the circle of believers who proclaim that God's love is victorious everywhere.
II. Characteristics of the local church - The following points are taken from
The Shape of the Church to Come; see also Theological Investigations,
Vol. 14.
A. We should be a community of people who have made a free decision
to belong, accepting our situation as a minority grouping, aggressive
in our response to the pagan world. 'It means more to win one new
Christian from what we may call neopaganism than to keep ten 'old
Christians.1 p. 32
How can we foster free adult commitment to Christianity?
STUDY DAY IN RAHNER'S ECCLESIOLOGY
(Please bring these notes with you on March 13)
James J. Bacik
I will present an overview of the ecclesiology of Karl Rahner and then note
some of his ideas on how a parish should look and function. Perhaps then we can
talk about practical ways of implementing this vision.
I. Overview of Rahner's Ecclesiology cf Foundations of Christian Faith pp. 222-401
A. The Church is the community of believers in Christ who constitute historical continuation of the risen Lord. Christianity is necessarily
ecclesial because man is a social creature and God's grace touches all
dimensions of life and seeks visibility.
B. The Church was founded by Christ through his assemblying of the Twelve
and commisioning of Peter. Concrete developments were the work of the
Spirit.
C. The Church in the New Testament is seen as the one church of Christ
and visible and invisible. Various images aire employed and the pattern we know is not complete until the second century.
D. A full Christian life involves participation in the Church because
we work out our salvation in history and because Christ's message is
authoritative and confronts us as an objective reality.
E. In our modern situation we need an indirect way of vindicating the
Catholic claim to be the Church of Christ. We begin with our current
existence as Catholics and ask if there is good reason to leave it.
We have close historical continuity with the apostolic church and a
similar structure. The three major notions of the Reformers: grace
alone, faith alone, Scripture alone can be realized within the Catholic Church.
F. Scripture is the book of the Church produced by the early Church and
the governing norm for the continuing life Of the Church.
G. The Church's teaching office. Catholics hold that when the teaching
authority presents an ultimate demand in th& name of Christ that God's
grace keeps them from losing the truth of Christ. Papal infallibility
ascribes to one man which was always held for the Church as a whole.
H. Christian Life in the Church. We are the Church and should love it
with a sober realism about its faults. Laws are important but should
be seen in context. The Church is the circle of believers who proclaim that God's love is victorious everywhere.
II. Characteristics of the local church - The following points are taken from
The Shape of the Church to Come; see also Theological Investigations,
Vol. 14.
A. We should be a community of people who have made a free decision
to belong, accepting our situation as a minority grouping, aggressive
in our response to the pagan world. 'It means more to win one new
Christian from what we may call neopaganism than to keep ten 'old
Christians.1 p. 32
How can we foster free adult commitment to Christianity?
