tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1938983304459855111.post673971535548122786..comments2023-04-02T07:03:21.099-05:00Comments on Principium Unitatis: The Church: Catholic or Invisible?Bryan Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13269970389157868131noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1938983304459855111.post-8365607253823150212008-09-19T00:00:00.000-05:002008-09-19T00:00:00.000-05:00I was taught that the term 'church' is a functiona...I was taught that the term 'church' is a functional term. In other words, the 'church' is 'whatever body assembles together to do x, y, and z.' Those functions, I was told, are something like reading Scripture, praying, and sharing the Lord's Table. <BR/><BR/>To say Christ founded 'the Church', on this account, must be short-hand for Christ founding a way of being His people, that is, a way to function as His people. It's a bullet this account must bite. All other uses of the term 'church' would have to be considered derivations and metaphors based on the core notion of 'church', which, on this account is a functional term. <BR/><BR/>What are we to call the group of all believers? Let's call them the people of God. Which people, in my neighborhood, or in my city, or at my ecclesial community are members of the people of God? One would have to make identifications based on a person's life and fruit. <BR/><BR/>In what sense is the group, the people of God, unified? They are unified by functions in accord with their approximations of Jesus' teaching. Not a perfect unity and not an institutional unity (except insofar as that would serve a practical purpose for this other unity of heart, purpose, funciton, action). <BR/><BR/>There is an interesting sense in which the kind of unity most desired among God's people is not guaranteed by the kind of unity one has on the Catholic account --a unity that contains good and bad Catholics. It does seem evident, however, that on the Catholic account there is a great pragmatic advantage in fostering --all things being equal--the kind of unity that is more perfect and often the sole focus of many reasonable Prots.Aristocleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16064051431231933463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1938983304459855111.post-12030474324639543222008-03-31T14:41:00.000-05:002008-03-31T14:41:00.000-05:00Good points. Nice to see you posting again.Good points. Nice to see you posting again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com