More Than Communion: Imagining an Eschatological Ecclesiology

Description

The dominant contemporary model for ecclesiology (theological views of the church itself) is the ecclesiology of communion. MacDougall argues that communion ecclesiologies are often marked by a problematic theological imagination of the future (eschatology). He argues further that, as a result, our ways of practising and being the church are not as robust as they might otherwise be. Re-imagining the church in the light of God's promised future, then, becomes a critical conceptual and practical task. MacDougall presents a detailed exploration of what communion ecclesiologies are and some of the problems they raise. He offers two case studies of such theologies by examining how distinguished theologians John Zizioulas and John Milbank understand the church and the future, how these combine in their work, and the conceptual and practical implications of their perspectives. He then offers an alternative theological view and demonstrates the effects that such a shift would have. In doing so, MacDougall offers a proposal for recovering the 'more' to communion and to ecclesiology to help us imagine a church that is not beyond the world (as in Zizioulas) or over against the world (as in Milbank), but in and for the world in love and service. This concept is worked out in conversation with systematic theologians such as Jurgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and Johannes Baptist Metz, and by engaging with a theology of Christian practices currently being developed by practical theologians such as Dorothy C. Bass, Craig Dykstra, and those associated with their ongoing project. The potential for the church to become an agent of discipleship, love, and service can best be realised when the church anticipates God's promised perfection in the full communion between God and humanity, among human beings, within human persons, and between humanity and the rest of creation.

Scott MacDougall is Assistant Professor of Theology at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, USA.

[This book] represents a rich and striking way to relate ecclesiology and eschatology. As MacDougall successfully argues throughout (with very pleasing prose, I might add) ... Christian life is on the way to communion, and insofar as this is true we will need to critically supplement the contributions of communion ecclesiology currently on offer. MacDougall's volume is a compelling step in that direction. * Theology * As someone who is deeply engaged with ecumenical and intracommunion ecclesiology, I find More Than Communion almost unbearably exciting and suggestive. Anyone involved in ecclesiology will benefit from reading it. * Anglican Theological Review * In a thought-provoking study, Scott MacDougall provides an important contribution to the fields of theological and practical ecclesiology ... I heartily recommend it to the stout-hearted reader; reading it carefully will pay rich dividends. * Journal of Theological Studies * [This summary] cannot do justice to [the book's] creative theological imagination, intellectual scope, analytical rigour and systematic depth ... Graduate students in theology and teachers of contemporary ecclesiology will appreciate the breadth and depth of MacDougall's theological scholarship and find in this volume much that is instructive ... A sophisticated and mature scholarly contribution to ecclesiological studies. * Ecclesiology * MacDougall patiently analyzes well-known theological approaches to communion that are either otherworldly or that set the church in conflict over against this world. He then draws upon a wide range of scholars to construct a version of communion ecclesiology that is simultaneously rooted in this world and attentive to the world to come. His blending of the very best in eschatology with key themes of communion issues forth in an imaginative yet grounded vision of a church called to live in hope and to act in love. * Dennis Doyle, University of Dayton, USA * What a welcome book! MacDougall is a sure-footed guide to the development and complexities of communion theology. Even more, he overcomes the eschatological deficits of dominant expressions of this ecclesiology, and rekindles the hope of Christian communities for perfect communion between the reconciled creation and its Creator. * Amy Pauw, Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, USA * More Than Communion is a veritable tour de force of theological scholarship. MacDougall brings to the fore the eschatological orientation of the church to underline the church's mission in and for the world and in the process shows the weaknesses of the communion ecclesiology as espoused by Zizioulas and Milbank. Such critical acumen and systematic rigor are rare even among mature scholars, especially when clearing one's way through Milbank's impenetrable opus. For this alone MacDougall deserves our deepest thanks. I most strongly recommend this book for a course on contemporary ecclesiology. * Peter Phan, Georgetown University, USA *