Practical Ecclesiology for a Pilgrim Church

In recent years, several theologians have argued that ecclesiology can benefit from the method of ethnography, which would make it less systematic and less rigid. This argument can be found, for example, in Nicholas M. Healy’s Church, World and the Christian Life. This article analyses how Healy vie...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mulder, Sjoerd (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Brill 2018
In: Ecclesiology
Year: 2018, Volume: 14, Issue: 2, Pages: 164-184
IxTheo Classification:FD Contextual theology
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
NBN Ecclesiology
ZB Sociology
Further subjects:B Ecclesiology ethnography pilgrim church postmodern theology contextual theology practices Healy
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:In recent years, several theologians have argued that ecclesiology can benefit from the method of ethnography, which would make it less systematic and less rigid. This argument can be found, for example, in Nicholas M. Healy’s Church, World and the Christian Life. This article analyses how Healy views ethnography as a possible ecclesiological method, and to what extent he prefers this method over other methods. While Healy suggests that ethnography might be helpful for ecclesiology in general, it will be claimed that his argument in fact assumes and advances a specific pilgrim ecclesiology and a postmodern epistemology. Furthermore, his attempt to push ecclesiology in a more ethnographic direction is weakened by a misinterpretation of older, systematic, so-called ‘blueprint’ ecclesiologies. The article concludes by arguing that, in the secular Western context, ethnography can indeed be a useful ecclesiological tool, as long as it is more explicit about its own theological position than Healy is.
ISSN:1745-5316
Contains:In: Ecclesiology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/17455316-01402005