Ecclesiologia RA0501

The course is designed to help students understand the doctrine and theology of the Church. The students will be presented with the self-understanding of the Church as originating from the Old Testament, foundational in Christ Jesus and continuing in the apostles and their successors. There will be focus on conciliar and papal documents which brings out the tension between the universal and local church and the why of the multiplicity of Churches.

The eternal saving plan of God includes the formation of the church. Symbolism of the Church in the OT: preparation, figures, and institutions. The Church in NT: words and deeds of Christ, the disciples and the apostles, Peter the rock; the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, words and deeds of the Apostles; the teaching of St Paul; the remnant writings of the NT. The main marks of the Church: unity (subsistence, wounds); holiness (sources, signs, just and sinners in the Church); catholicity (universality and particularity, missionary); apostolicity (succession, Petrine office, papal office). The people of God (laity, and the threefold ministry). The Ecumenical Dialogue on the Church. The Church as sacrament of salvation, relation to non-Christians. The Church and the World. The eschatological dimension of the Church. Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students are expected to: Appreciate the need to develop a theology of the church; Able to differentiate Ecclesiology from other related courses, such as Patrology and Church History; Understand the distinctive marks of the Church as One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic; Capable of presenting the biblical foundation of the Church; Appreciate the sense of Church as complementary of divine and human elements; Develop skills for the process of Ecumenism, as appreciation of diversity and pluralism in Ecclesiology

Textbook: HAFFNER P. Mystery of the Church (Leominster, 2007); Catechism of the Catholic Church (2002); VATICAN COUNCIL II, Lumen Gentium, Christus Dominus, Ad Gentes, Gaudium et Spes; CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Some Aspects of the Church understood as Communion. (Communionis notio); ID., Declaration “Dominus Jesus”; ID., Note on the expression “Sister Churches”; ID., Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects on the Doctrine of the Church. International Theological Commission, Selected Themes of Ecclesiology. BOUYER L., The church of God (Chicago, Franciscan Herald 1982); GAILLARDETZ R.R., The Church in the Making: Lumen Gentium, Christus Dominus, Orientalium Ecclesiarum (Mahwah, NJ, 2006); GARUTI A., Il mistero della Chiesa. Manuale di ecclesiologia (Roma, 2004); KARKKAINEN V.M., An Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical & Global Perspectives (InterVarsity Press, 2002); JOURNET Ch., Theology of the Church (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004); MCBRIEN R.P., 101 Questions & Answers on the Church (Mahwah-NJ, Paulist Press 2003); PHAN P.C., The Gift of the Church: A Textbook on Ecclesiology in Honor of Patrick Granfield (O.S.B., Michael Lazier Books 2000); PRUSAK B., The Church Unfinished: Ecclesiology Through The Centuries (Mahwah-NJ, Paulist Press 2004); RATZINGER J., Called to Communion. Understanding the Church Today (San Francisco, 1996); RAUSCH Th. P., Towards a Truly Catholic Church: An Ecclesiology for the Third Millennium (Collegeville-MN, Liturgical Press 2005); SULLIVAN F.A., The church we believe in: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic (Mahwah-NJ, Paulist Press 1988). TILLARD J.M., Church of churches: the ecclesiology of communion (Collegeville-MN, Liturgical Press, 1992).