Models of the church expanded edition by avery dulles

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New paperback. Seller rating : This seller has earned a 2 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers. Thus the present experience of grace enters intrinsically into the method of theology. Thanks to the ongoing experience of the Christian community, theology can discover aspects of the gospel of which Christians were not previously conscious.

Because the Church is a mystery, there can be no question of deductive or crudely empirical tests" to validate a particular model.

In Dulles's view, "theological verification depends upon a kind of corporate discernment of spirits. The faithful, insofar as they are docile to the Spirit, tend to accept whatever in their religious experience leads to an intensification of faith, hope and charity, or to an increase of Where the result is inner turbulence, anger, discord, disgust, distraction and the like, the Church can judge that the Spirit of Christ is not a work.

We assess models and theories, therefore, by living out the consequences to which they point. There was indeed a sense of inner turbulence, anger and discord that I felt in response to the underlying attitude that my RCIA teachers and other Catholics seemed to have about the Church.

It was often not something that they were explicitly trying to teach, but more of a set of underlying assumptions about the Church that were different from my own. I was left with a sense that God had disappeared behind or was being held hostage by a Church to whom he had apparently given control over his grace, such that God could no longer act without the Church's permission.

Consequently, I found it difficult to pray, because God seemed so remote, inaccessible and ineffectual. Dulles does not elaborate on how to discern when this sense of inner turbulence and discord is a sign that Christ is not at work in what one is being confronted with, versus when it is a sign that one's self is not being docile to the Spirit.

Presumably he does not elaborate on this, because it can be very difficult to make this discernment. A major difficulty for me was that the Catholic milieu in which I was immersing myself seemed to hold the opinion that such inner turmoil and discord most often indicates one's own stubborn refusal to submit rather than indicating a legitimate move of the Spirit within one's self, reacting against something that one knows intuitively to not be true.

I have been gratified to learn that most of the images of the Church that I reacted strongly against and became depressed over are aspects of the institutional model of the Church that Avery Dulles presents as unhelpful consequences of a model that has some positive aspects but that has been pushed beyond its useful limit. In this regard, Dulles notes that "Pursued alone, any single model will lead to distortions.

It will misplace the accent, and thus entail consequences that are not valid. In order to offset the defects of individual models, the theologian, like the physicist, employs a combination of irreducibly distinct models. Phenomena not intelligible in terms of one model may be readily explicable when another model is used. Years ago, when faced with the ambiguity of belief in God and the impossibility of proving or disproving God's existence, I made a choice to live my life as a Christian despite all uncertainty.

I chose to devote my life to the radical experiment of Christian faith. In part this was based on wanting to maintain the stability of my identity and in part it was based on seeing the good that had come from seeking God and seeking to follow Christ in my own life and in the lives of others. I was thrown into a second period of turmoil more recently when confronted with the Catholic mode of Christianity being presented as something different from what I already knew of Christian life.

Even though much of what I loved best about Christianity were things I had learned at Benedictine monasteries and had already incorporated into my Christian life. Even though one is not required today to renounce Protestant Christianity as heresy in order to enter the Catholic Church, the process of entry still is presented as one of making a distinct choice for Catholicism over Protestant Christianity.

In my experience, the process of making such a decision in favor of one Church and against another was filled with just as much uncertainty as being unable to prove or disprove God's existence.

Given the lack of consensus among theological scholars on the "truth" of the Catholic versus Protestant views of Christianity, it seemed impossible to me that I would ever find some intellectual basis that had escaped the attention of scholars for choosing one church tradition over another.

The only avenue accessible to me seemed to be to discern which church community would best facilitate my growth in faith, hope in charity, and my ability to grow in love of God and neighbor. This approach was similar to my decision to remain a Christian when faced with doubt: being a Christian seemed to be helping me to grow into a more loving person. In my mind, the main reason, perhaps the only reason, to become Catholic would be if it would help me to become a more loving person.

My exposure to Catholicism at Benedictine monasteries seemed to be cultivating an increasing ability to love, but some of my experiences in RCIA Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults had the opposite effect. Eventually it seemed that the only way to discern whether the positive influences could outweigh the negative was to jump in and give it a try.

Thus began another radical experiment with my life, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the Catholic mode of Christianity by "living out the consequences to which they point. For several centuries after the Reformation, the Catholic Church "was so exclusively presented on the analogy of the secular state that this model became, for practical purposes, the only only one in Roman Catholic theological currency.

A model to which Pius XII "gave quasicannonical status" in In the late 's, however, "theologians became conscious of certain deficiencies in the model and attempted to meet these by appealing to other models, such as People of God and Sacrament of Christ. This paradigm focused attention on the Church as a network of interpersonal relationships, on the Church as community. In the postconcilar period still another model of the Church has begun to struggle for supremacy: that of the Church as Servant or Healer.

This model has increased the Catholic Christian's sense of solidarity with the whole human race in its struggles for peace, justice and prosperity. To a great extent, however, the motives for the shift have been practical and pastoral rather than primarily speculative.

Changes have been accepted because they help the Church to find its identity in a changing world, or because they motivate men [and women] to the kind of loyalty, commitment and generosity that the Church seeks to elicit. The Servant model has become popular because it satisfies a certain hunger for involvement in the making of a better world-- a hunger that, although specifically Christian in motivation, establishes solidarity between the Church and the whole human family.

Since the situation is simply a fact of our times, we must learn to live with it. It will greatly help, however, if people can learn to practice tolerance and to accept pluralism. We must recognize that our own favorite paradigms, however excellent, do not solve all questions. Much harm is done by imperialistically seeking to impose some one model as the definitive one. Instead of searching for some absolutely best image, it would be advisable to recognize that the manifold images given to us by Scripture and Tradition are mutually complementary.

Mar 27, Dan Waugh rated it it was amazing. This is a phenomenal book that many of my Protestant friends will find challenging. I think that's good. Our views of and attitudes towards the church, especially within the evangelical quarter, are dismissive, overly casual, and not well informed. Dulles works through five models that have been used through centuries to capture the mystery of the church.

No one is perfect, but none can be entirely dismissed either. I am sure I will come back to this book again in a few years for a good re-read. Apr 01, Christopher Trend rated it really liked it. Cardinal Dulles discusses and reflects on 5 different models of the church and their links to eschatological models. The view is very much from a post Vatican 2 Roman Catholic perspective.

This would work as a good text book for an Ecclesiology module. Nov 16, Josiah Muhr rated it liked it. It can be a bit overwhelming at times, but there is a lot of good and useful insight into how we view the Church. I suspect most Christians, such as myself, haven't really given it much thought. If you are patient, I think there is a lot to be gained from reading this book. This book is one of the most wonderful books which discover Church. Each of them has pros and cons but they complement each other, and together, they construct the Holly Church.

Dec 31, Kathryn rated it really liked it Shelves: nonfiction , shms , religious. Summary: Dulles' ideas about possible models for the Catholic Church. It does have to be read in context, and I'm not totally sold on the conclusions at the end. Jul 06, Tony Carmona rated it it was amazing. What is church? Is there a church when we go to heaven?

What would that look like? This books is a great insight on different models of church. Easy to read, challenging to accept some of his theories. Great read for a deeper understanding of the church for Catholics and Protestant alike. Jun 06, Alex Lomangino rated it liked it. I'll admit as a Reformed protestant there is some language in this book I struggled with due to the author's Roman Catholicism.

However this is a great multi-perspective look at ecclesiology. I benefitted greatly from the perspectives the author put forth.

Protestants should read this book. Very helpful and thoughtful. By presenting and describing five models, Dulles helps one to think deeper about the church and its mission in the world. Mar 23, Mary K. Great Book if you love the Catholic Church and theology of functioning. Jul 15, Marc rated it it was ok Shelves: theology , church , catholic. Add To Cart. Paperback Book. One of America's leading theologians defines the basic functions of the Church, assesses its mission on earth, and explores its many different roles in the lives of believers.

Dulles identifies six models institution, mystical communion, sacrament, herald, servant, community of disciples and critiques each. Vital for ecumenical dialogue. Related Products. Francis Sheed. Another City Barry A. Barry A. Avery Cardinal Dulles.