Jesus was resurrected on Sunday morning. Scripture describes both the Last Supper and early Christian gatherings taking place close to the beginning of the day, according to the differing Jewish and ...Roman understandings of when this was. The resurrection is associated with light and life, and morning celebration with worshippers facing east amplifies this. Against this norm, evening celebration may be theologically or pastorally justified on particular occasions. The Eucharist makes the Church, bringing Christians together as Christ’s body into an organic spiritual unity. It engages the senses, including by means of movement and symbolism, and promotes active participation in worship and potentially in wider church and social life.
Evangelicals are known for their unique ecclesiology. Evangelicalism believes that the true church is a spiritual fellowship of saved believers. This perspective in fact leads to the consequence that ...the invisible church is upheld and the visible church becomes soteriologically irrelevant. As a result, the visible church only ends up as a commodity marketed to attract converts. If evangelicals are faithful to the gospel, then the concept of the church must be taken seriously, not just perceived functionally. For this reason, I propose the construction of a eucharistic ecclesiology through the framework of Alexander Schmemann’s thoughts on the liturgy, the Eucharist, and the church in providing an alternative to seeing ecclesiology from liturgical studies. I shall integrate Schmemann’s thinking with the idea that a “worshipping community essentially formed the church.” My claim is: that a eucharistic ecclesiology rooted in the practice of the eucharistic liturgy can be a solid ecclesiological basis for evangelicals, especially in affirming the ontology of the church. I hope that the construction of eucharistic ecclesiology can contribute to revitalizing evangelical ecclesiology.
The late John A.T. Robinson claimed to have identified in St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (16:22) “the remains of the earliest Christian liturgical sequence we possess”. While assessing ...his thesis, I also continue with my own parallel investigation into another possible liturgical sequence in chapter fourteen of First Corinthians. This second sequence has previously been overlooked for two reasons: first, because of the ambiguity in the meaning of the word eucharistia, and, second, because Paul's focus in the passage is on glossolalia, leaving the liturgical import of it somewhat opaque.
In times of the Covid-19 pandemic, many congregations had to stop celebrating the Eucharist or find new ways to do so – one of these being online Eucharist services in synchronous and diachronous ...settings. The article describes developments in the Protestant Churches of Germany and shows that the interplay of theology and church practices is essential. On the background of the fundamental dialectics of absence and presence in (Christian) liturgy and Luther’s writings on the Lord’s Supper, the article proposes two axes that open up a ‘field’ of diverse ritual practices: community and gift. Many different ways of celebrating the Lord’s Supper seem to be possible in this field – also celebrations in synchronous digital settings (video conferences). The Covid-19 crisis is seen as a chance to rethink sacramental theology and ways of celebration – in the context of a permanent change of liturgical practices.
Contemporary Eastern Orthodox theologian, Ioannis Zizioulas, is certainly one of the most prominent theologians of the modern times considering his great work as well as the depth of his thought. ...Although his work explores a spectrum of theological ideas, this paper brings his ecclesiology into light from a point of view of “liturgical” and “therapeutic” ecclesiology, which Zizioulas recognizes within the eastern tradition as two types of ecclesiology that are intertwined and therefore cannot be separated one from the other. Thus, this paper examines Zizioulas’ work in the context of the contemporary Greek Orthodox theology and puts forward his interest and view on ecclesiology with an aim to illustrate the “liturgical” and “therapeutic” dimension of ecclesiology that is present in his work and thought which are based fairly on patristic theology. Along these lines, this paper presents his ecclesiological concept right through the prism of “liturgical” and “therapeutic” ecclesiology.
Focusing on 1 Cor. 11, this article argues that the early Christian meal can be understood as a cultural technique that enables new knowledge and insight, specifically about the world to come. The ...argument takes its vantage point from an understanding of the early Christian meal as a form of social experimentation that engages in prefigurative practices, thereby anticipating the world to come. To explore the latter phenomenon, this article makes use of a body of theory concerning prefigurative politics, a field not commonly associated with the study of religion. However, it is shown that this body of theory is a useful tool for considering that the kind of knowledge regarding the world to come is made possible through the performance of the early Christian meal, understood as a cultural technique. In this manner, the present article aims to make contributions at the levels of both the theory regarding the study of the early Christian meal and insights into it.
When we consider the role of the church in the modern world, we also need to contemplate the relationship that exists between the church in God's Kingdom. Churches should not be considered as simply ...being institutions residing in various denominations but should rather be viewed as entities in the service of the Creator. As such they are essentially transcendent over any man-made institution and are inevitably bound to be responsive to the word of God as manifested in Holy Scriptures, Holy Traditions and daily living, and are expected to do His will until God’s Kingdom comes. The church offers us an epiphany the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ – and of the Kingdom of God and it allows us to go back in time to the life of Jesus Christ as the God-man (Theanthropos), who is totally faithful to the Father. Not only does the church look backwards, but it also anticipates futuristic revelation. The manner in which the church and the world are interrelated is ultimately determined by the relationship of each to Gods Kingdom. The Orthodox Church today as always, strongly asserts the truth of freedom in Christ through its evangelisation, mission, theology, devotional and pastoral endeavours. It teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church established by Jesus Christ in His Great Commission, and that all bishops are essentially the successors of Christ's apostles. Thus, the church upholds practices held by the original Christian faith, as they have been passed down to us via Holy Tradition and she has a life-giving role to play in a highly distressed world.
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