Christian Community in History: Volume 1: Historical Ecclesiology

by Roger Haight

Drawing upon the methodology developed in his Dynamics of Theology (1990) and exemplified in Jesus Symbol of God (1999), Roger Haight, in this magisterial work, achieves what he calls an historical ecclesiology, or ecclesiology from below. In contrast to traditional ecclesiology from above, which is abstract, idealist, and ahistorical, ecclesiology from below is concrete, realist, and historically conscious.

In this first of two volumes, Haight charts the history of the church's self-understandings from the origins of the church in the Jesus movement to the late Middle Ages. In volume 2 Haight develops a comparative ecclesiology based on the history and diverse theologies of the worldwide Christian movement from the Reformation to the present. While the ultimate focus of the work falls on the structure of the church and its theological self-understanding, it tries to be faithful to the historical, social, and political reality of the church in each period.

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Roger Haight was an American Jesuit theologian and president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. His experiences with censorship led to widespread debate over how to handle controversial ideas in the Catholic church today.

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a history of the Christian Church, but rather a reflection on the process in which various of its ecclesiologies were generated. It sets the Church in hisotrical contexts, but it does not examine everything that happened.

In and through the Church, people recognize the activity of God, or it is not a Church. Change is constant, but the question is: what patterns recur?
Two organizing principles guide the reflection here: sociological adaptation (the Church is in the world) and theological understanding( the Church is not of the world).

I found it a fruitful method for understanding how the Church has come to be as it is now. One main theme throughout is faithfulness to meaning and purpose (unity) while adapting to the historical/cultural contexts of the time (diversity). It addresses the concern about what is essential and what is ephemeral as the church lives through the ages.

It reminds me of the saying, "Everything must change so that everything can stay the same."
The process is messy and not without mistakes, but it is what we have.
An authentic church is expressive of people in their moment. Looking at the past can help us to see how context demands adaptation.
This volume covers the Jesus movement that originated in Judaism through medieval Christian Church. Vol. 2 picks up the story from there---

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book overall does a good job examining the Ecclesiology of the early church as well as the Medieval period. The structure is topical, however, and this leads to many instances of repetition and circular arguments. I like this as a good resource to point you in the right direction for more specific study in the field of ecclesiology. There are a lot of typos in this book, which makes you wonder about the editing standards at Continuum Press.

[RandomAnthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

reading this all semester for a course...