4 - Pluralist ecclesiology

Summary

The previous chapter outlined a theodramatic horizon and noted some of its ecclesiological implications. One task of this and the next two chapters will be to confront the theodramatic horizon with two other horizons within which much modern ecclesiology is currently done, horizons that are more epic than dramatic. There are three main reasons for doing so. The first is to show that the alternatives are comparatively unsuitable for situating practical-prophetic ecclesiological reflection. One of them is internally incoherent and difficult to make consistent with Scripture and the tradition of its interpretation. Both of them foster an epic style that can result in major problems for ecclesiology within the present context. The second reason is to test the theodramatic horizon by showing that it responds as well or better to the challenges and concerns – both theological and non-theological – that have prompted theologians to work within the alternative horizons. The final reason for the confrontation is more constructive, namely to use the challenges and the theodramatic framework together to formulate some of the principles and procedures by which the scope of ecclesiology can be expanded into the concrete.

The following chapters are thus devoted in part to examining the relation between ecclesiology and various ways of understanding the relations between God, the church and the world. It is expedient to divide the various horizons within which most contemporary ecclesiology is done into two main groups. These groups parallel to some extent the ways of construing the relation between Christianity and other religions in contemporary theories of religion and salvation, and so I will use the same labels, which are pluralism and inclusivism.