Content

The revitalised interest in Trinitarian theology in recent times has given added place to the Holy Spirit in Christian theology and practice and to the potential for human community more generally. The Spirit grounds and energises the hope and promise of Jesus Christ for the church and for the world. Drawing on this claim, this unit focuses on ecclesiology, the study of the church’s self-understanding as a community of Jesus Christ enlivened by the Holy Spirit. Related core issues such the church’s mission, ministry and sacramental life will be examined, and students are invited to develop a sustained, critical and constructive analysis of ecclesiology within the broader ecumenical and Australian context.

Unit code: CT9609T

Unit status: Archived (New unit)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Elective

Unit discipline: Systematic Theology

Delivery Mode: Online

Proposing College: Trinity College Theological School

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Learning outcomes

1.

Demonstrate a thoughtful and critical awareness of the theology of the Holy Spirit

2.

Evaluate the major developments in ecclesiology, and especially in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

3.

Articulate the strengths and weaknesses of key theologies of the mission of the church in the world

4.

Demonstrate a critical appreciation of contemporary ecclesiologies in Trinitarian perspectives

5.

Formulate a critical theology of the church in the world within an Australian context

Unit sequence

CT8010T Creeds and Doing Theology

Pedagogy

Online guided readings, tutorial forums

Indicative Bibliography

  • Best, Thomas F., and Gassmann, Gunther, ON the Way to Fuller Koinonia, Geneva, WCC., 1994.
  • Church of England’s Mission and Public Affairs Council. Mission-Shaped Church. London: Church House Publishing, 2004.
  • Congar, Yves I Believe in the Holy Spirit, 3 vols. New York: Seabury Press, 1983.
  • Cowdell, God’s Next Best Thing: Discovering the Future Church, Mulgrave, John Garrett, 2004.
  • Croft, Steven. Transforming communities: re-imaging the Church for the 21st century. London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 2003.
  • Curnow, Andrew, et al, Building the Mission-shaped Church in Australia, Alexandria: Broughton Books, 2008
  • Del Colle, Ralph. Christ and the Spirit: Spirit-Christology in Trinitarian Perspective, Place?: OUP, 1994
  • Ford, David F. and Stamps, Dennis L. Essential of Christian Community, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996.
  • Gutierrez, G. We Drink from our own Wells. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1984.
  • Haight, Roger. Christian Community in History: Comparative Ecclesiology. Vol 2; New York/London: Continuum, 2005.
  • Hardy Daniel W. Finding the Church: The Dynamic truth of Anglicanism. London: SCM, 2001.
  • Healy, Nicholas M. Church, World and the Christian Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  • Kaye, Bruce, McNeil, Sarah, and Thomson, Heather, eds., ‘Wonderful and Confessedly Strange’: Australian Essays in Anglican Ecclesiology, Adelaide, ATF, 2006.
  • Lindbeck, George A. The Church in a Postliberal Age, ed. James J. Buckley. London: SCM Press, 2002.
  • Mannion, Gerard. Ecclesiology and Postmodernity: Questions for the Church in Our Time. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2007.
  • Maquarrie, John. Theology, Church and Ministry. London: SCM, 1986.
  • Moltmann, Jürgen. The Church in the Power of the Spirit. London: SCM, 1977.
  • Moltmann, Jürgen. The Spirit of Life. London: SCM, 1992.
  • Mudge, Lewis. The Church as Moral Community: Ecclesiology and Ethics in Ecumenical Debate. Geneva/New York: WCC/ Continuum, 1998.
  • Mudge, Lewis S. The Sense of a People: Toward a Church for the Human Future. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992.
  • Pickard, Stephen. In between God: Theology, Community, Discipleship, Adelaide: ATF, 2012
  • Pickard, Stephen. Theological Foundations for Collaborative Ministry (Aldershot: Ashgate 2010)

  • Schillebeeckx, Edward. The Church with a Human Face: A New and Expanded Theology of Ministry. London: SCM, 1985.
  • Welker, Michael, God the Spirit. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994.
  • Zizioulas, John D. Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1985.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Tutorial Paper/Seminar Paper

Tutorial discussion papers including peer evaluation (equivalent 1000 words)

0 20.0
Essay

Essay 3000 words

0 45.0
Essay

Literature review 2000 words

0 35.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by John Capper on 28 Nov, 2015

Unit record last updated: 2022-10-04 13:31:23 +1100