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This is a study of alternative interpretations of the Mormon Council of Fifty, a theocratic council, known as the Kingdom of God.
A consideration of the concept of 'church' and its interplay in its variety as necessary for understanding Mormonism and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
This paper will examine the Kingdom of God and the Church in the teachings of Jesus and Paul. It will be shown that the Kingdom of God and the Church are not the same entity, but that the Church serves as a vehicle and proclaimer of the Kingdom of God in the world. The Kingdom of God is initiated by the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the reality and gospel of the Kingdom of God is made known in the world by the Church.
This is an abstract from the book Child, Church, Mission: Inter-Christian Perspectives; the text here deals mostly with the Church and the ways Christians perceive it.
The final aim of this dialogue on the Kingdom is to find a common ground for social and individual ethics. The article does not provide this "common ground" but wants to contribute to this goal by presenting some basic principles regarding the Kingdom of God as a number of Catholic theologians have unfolded them. Particular attention is given to theologians from the developing countries. The Kingdom of God in the Catholic Tradition achieved prominence in the documents of Vatican II. particularly in the documents regarding the Church. The Kingdom is a multifaceted reality. Neither Jesus nor the Council ever defined it. As so many treatise on the Kingdom testify: a definition of the phrase in precise terms is not possible. We have to expect different views among scholars regarding the central message of Jesus. As a principle for action individually as well as communally the kingdom theme was most vigorously taken up after the Council by the theologians of the developing countries like Latin America, Asia and Africa. They understood the phrase primarily not as a concept or a symbol but as a referent for historical liberation. Their concern was the world-transforming dimension of the Kingdom. A number of Catholic theologians in the West have exhibited a similar concern. Authors like J. B. Metz, E. Schillebeeckx , K. Rahner, G. Lohfink, John McBrien have born witness to the Kingdom from this aspect as well, most often however, without making it a direct object of their thinking. To understand the catholic position of these theologians a couple of presuppositions regarding the Kingdom of God have to be mentioned which determine the answer to the topic under discussion. Some of the more obvious are the following: (1) the Kingdom of God as belonging to this world as well as to the world to come; (2) the Kingdom concretely present in the midst of this world. (3) the Kingdom as a gift and a task to be accomplished through human cooperation and (4) the Kingdom of God as not identical with the Church. Any ethical implication of the Kingdom depends on these presuppositions. This implies that one's view on the mission of the Church is conditioned by how one accepts of rejects these presuppositions. 1. Kingdom as belonging to this world Jesus did not envision the Kingdom that he preached as something that belongs totally and exclusively to the world to come. His Kingdom-vision leaves room for interpreting it as belonging to this world as well as for proclaiming a future that cannot be deduced from the circumstances of present history. The future, as the Bible understands it, is something qualitatively new. It lies beyond human planning and capability, something we can only allow to be given to us. While this symbol takes the world and human effort in history seriously, it does not surrender openness to a transcendent future in the fullness of God. Only God can ultimately guarantee the fulfilment of humankind's deepest aspirations. Our engagement in this struggle (to make the kingdom hope come true) can be without illusions because we know by faith that no human program by itself will bring in the eschaton. Our engagement can also be without ultimate despair, because we believe that, no matter how great our self-created horror becomes, God is faithful to his promise and he will bring the kingdom which has already drawn near to us in his Son (Viviano, The Kingdom of God, pp. 28-29).
2000 •
I am currently revising and expanding the material presented in this paper in preparation for an upcoming Theopolis Explorations volume. The forthcoming book will explore some important areas that I was not able to cover at length in this paper, notably how the imago Dei relates to humanity's destiny as council as well as Enochic literature and other Pseudepigrapha. This paper was first presented to Dr. Peter J. Leithart and Dr. James B. Jordan at Theopolis Institute on March 11, 2017. My treatment of the Divine Council really is the exploration of a story. In this story man was created by God as a child—an infant, really—and is steadily brought to maturity. The fall of Adam immediately presents an obstacle to how this maturation is supposed to progress, but it does not frustrate God’s plan; instead it directs the story to an even more glorious conclusion. This is the story of how God elevated mankind to his place in Council through Jesus Christ, the man.
2019 •
Bruce A. Van Orden and Brent L. Top, eds., Doctrines of the Book of Mormon: The 1991 Sperry Symposium. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992. viii + 262 pp., with subject index. $14.95. Reviewed by Mack C. Stirling This book consists of eighteen chapters based on papers read at the twentieth annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium on October 26, 1991. All of the contributors were members of the Brigham Young University religious education faculty except John Welch (Professor of Law at Brigham Young University), Gerald W. Lund (employed by the Church Educational System), and Elder Robert E. Wells of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Prior to publication each paper underwent two reviews, one by a member of the religion faculty and one by a member of another B YU department. The editors state in the preface to the book that the purpose of the symposium was to teach "sound doctrine" from the Book of Mormon. It was hoped as well that the essays in the book would prove of particular use t...
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