Intercommunal Ecclesiology: The Church, Salvation, and Intergroup Conflict
Ebook
What do Christian communities imagine when they think of themselves as "church"? And how do these ecclesiological imaginations inform Christianity's past and present entanglements with violence and injustice? Intercommunal Ecclesiology addresses these questions by examining the distinctive role intergroup dynamics play in shaping Christian collective behaviors against the "other" that are incongruent with Christian theological principles, such as love of neighbor. Through interdisciplinary engagement with social psychology, systems theory, biblical criticism, and studies in the early history of Christianity, this book makes a case for a theological re-envisioning of the church at the three-way intersection of an anthropology of intergroup dynamics, a soteriology adequately rooted in God's historical salvation plan, and a Christology sensitive to Christ's collective embodiment. The book argues that within God's plan of historical salvation, the church is supposed to function as God's communal response to intercommunal disunity, a role it fulfills with integrity only when and where it enacts itself as a counterperformance to aggression, conflict, and indifference between human communities.
“Intercommunal Ecclesiology is a work of creativity and
conviction. It makes a real contribution to liberationist
theologies of church by identifying the pervasive dynamic of
intergroup conflict as the ‘condition for the possibility’ of the
many forms of marginalization and oppression that mark
history—including the history of the church. Thoroughly
interdisciplinary and robustly theological, this book deserves
serious and sustained engagement.”
—Edward P. Hahnenberg, Breen Chair in Catholic Theology, John
Carroll University
“This brilliant essay in ecclesiology benefits from the author’s
careful attention to theologies of salvation. Professor Battin
pushes forward important work undertaken since the Second Vatican
Council, including the contribution of various liberation and
political theologies, while drawing from contemporary research into
the dynamics of intergroup violence and integrating it into his
deep embrace of the entire Christian tradition. A book every
theologian and bishop should read!”
—Kevin F. Burke, SJ, Professor of Theology, Regis University
“Steven Battin’s long-awaited debut monograph asks of ecclesiology
a new question: Why does Christ need a church? Battin’s answer is
far-reaching in its consequences: as Christ’s collective body, the
church exists as a human community amidst other human communities
to heal the often-violent disunity between them. Written in crisp,
energetic prose, Intercommunal Ecclesiology charts an
exciting new path forward for systematic and moral theologians
alike.”
—Katie Grimes, Associate Professor of Theological Ethics, Villanova
University
- Title: Intercommunal Ecclesiology: The Church, Salvation, and Intergroup Conflict
- Author: Steven J. Battin
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781725256101, 9781725256095, 9781725256088, 1725256096, 1725256088, 172525610X
- Resource ID: LLS:9781725256101
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-12-22T05:48:16Z
Steven J. Battin is assistant professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.