Quotes About Ecclesiology

There has been a rediscovery of the meaning of baptism as entrance and integration into the Church, of "ecclesiological" significance. But ecclesiology, unless it is given its true cosmic perspective ("for the life of the world"), unless it is understood as the christian form of "cosmology," is always ecclesiolatry, the Church considered as a "being in itself" and not the new relation of god, man and the world.

Bonhoeffer has both christology (the doctrine of Christ) and ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church) at the center of his theology, like the hub of a wheel. It might even be better to say that Bonhoeffer's ecclesiology flows from, naturally and necessarily, his christology

His ecclesiology, though, is never an independent topic. It always flows from and back to Christ and his christology. Neither is Bonhoeffer content with mere academic work on ecclesiology. For his ecclesiology is never independent of practice or action. Christ always and necessarily stands before and above and over Bonhoeffer's ecclesiology; and ethics, which for him can be summed up in love, always and necessarily pours out from and surrounds his ecclesiology.

This life from the cross (Bonhoeffer's christology) and life in the church (his ecclesiology) together lead to the disciplines of the Christian

This life from the cross (Bonhoeffer's christology) and life in the church (his ecclesiology) together lead to the disciplines of the Christian life.

J.-M.-R. Tillard, Flesh of the Church, Flesh of Christ: At the Source of the Ecclesiology of Coninaunion, trans. Madeleine Beaumont (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2000).

Our missiology has always been clearly defined for us and our ecclesiology has been inherited, healthy or not.