Contesting the Body of Christ
Ecclesiology’s Revolutionary Century
About
The church changed tremendously in the twentieth century, with new churches emerging and old churches being renewed. This period encompassed the birth of the World Council of Churches, the rise of American evangelicalism, the Second Vatican Council, the coming of age of charismatic Christianity, and more.
In this book, Myles Werntz explores the landscape of twentieth-century ecclesiology and shows how the four marks of the church were remade, contested, and reaffirmed in surprising and innovative ways in the course of this turbulent century.
Werntz asks what it means to say that the church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic amid so many diverse alternatives. He explains how the many dynamics of the twentieth century posed both theological and ethical challenges for confessing the marks of the church but also what promise comes from expanding our vision of how God might be at work across traditions. Werntz shows that the four marks of the church can help us see what the last century brought and what we might learn from it now. He also provides guidance for the future of the twenty-first century church. The book includes a foreword from Ephraim Radner.
Foreword by Ephraim Radner
Introduction
1. The Rending of the Cloth: The Church as One
2. To Be like God: The Church as Holy
3. In All Times and All Places: The Church as Catholic
4. In the Past, the Present, and the Future: The Church as Apostolic
Conclusion: On Earth as It Is in Heaven; A Modest Proposal for the Twenty-First-Century Church
Index
Endorsements
"What does it mean to take the activity of the Spirit as a given in speaking about the church? In this volume, Werntz leads readers in a scholarly way through stories and journeys of the Spirit's work in the church, never giving in to methodological naturalism or to ecclesial pessimism. Global in horizon, ecumenical in foundation, outlook, and scope, this book offers a wise and exciting account of the four marks of the church in a way that offers hope and looks to renewal. This book deserves reading and rereading by church people and theologians alike."
Tom Greggs, director of the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton
"In this volume, Werntz offers a unique and creative exploration of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan marks of the church through an examination of a wide-ranging selection of lived stories and contestations of the church in the twentieth century. In this way, he invites a fresh consideration of what this history--in all of its messiness--might teach us today about the church's identity as a people through whom the Spirit yet continues to work and bring renewal."
Cheryl M. Peterson, academic dean and professor of ecumenical theology, Wartburg Theological Seminary
"At a time when each step forward of bilateral and multilateral ecumenical progress seems met with two steps backward into worsening division, Werntz offers a promising approach to thinking theologically about the church: engaging the concrete locality of the marks of the Spirit's work of making ecclesial community and encouraging practices of formation by which they are made more fully visible."
Steven R. Harmon, professor of historical theology, Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity
"Contesting the Body of Christ shows us the church's marks as living wounds, openings through which Christ's passion flows into our traumatized world. In Werntz's reading of twentieth-century ecclesiology, contestation emerges as an unexpected gift of the Spirit--not a symptom of disunity but a space opened for our sanctification. This is theology that bleeds and breathes, challenging us to see in our disagreements and struggles with change the beauty of a truth we do not possess but must continually offer through sacrifice and receive with thanksgiving."
Chris E. W. Green, professor of public theology, Southeastern University; bishop of the Diocese of St. Anthony (CEEC)
The Author
-
Tammy Marcelain Myles Werntz
Myles Werntz (PhD, Baylor University) is associate professor of theology and director of the Baptist Studies Center at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. He is the author and editor of eight other books in Christian theology and ethics, most...
Continue reading about Myles Werntz