Ecclesiology & Christology

We owe to Karl Barth's masterful treatment of the doctrine of reconciliation in the fourth volume of the Church Dogmatics a sketch that is at once beautifully clear and remarkably comprehensive. It is not without shortcomings, however. This paper contains in seminal form some of the ideas developed further (and somewhat differently) in Ascension Theology and Theological Negotiations.

Il confronto tra il cristianesimo e le altre religioni oggi necessita di essere compreso e riconfigurato nel contesto della pluralità delle tradizioni religiose. Il pluralismo incide sulle culture e sulle società coinvolgendo il modo di pensare e le abitudini degli uomini e delle donne a tal punto da rendere inadeguate conclusioni superficiali in ordine all’interpretazione che i cristiani danno della salvezza e della sua capacità di universalizzabilità. Emerge, da un lato, l’esigenza di affrontare più attentamente la questione dello status teologico delle altre tradizioni religiose e, dall’altro, l’opportunità di sviluppare una nuova ermeneutica della fede rivelata che implica una trasformazione del cristianesimo e permetta ai cristiani di essere testimoni del Regno di Dio tra le culture e le religioni.

In the early 1990s, a previously-neglected text, entitled Laterculus Malalianus, was attributed by Jane Stevenson to the hand of Theodore of Tarsus (archbishop of Canterbury, 668–690). The text is a well-spring of Christological concerns. Above all, it reflects an interest in Christ's restorative work as it applies to all humankind, expressed in language very much reminiscent of Irenaeus of Lyons and, more explicitly, Ephrem the Syrian. Chapter fourteen in particular displays these characteristics in a concise manner. Theodore's references there compel the reader to deal with a wide range of sources, suggesting thereby a learned, if eclectic, writer; further, they give us insight into the kinds of theological influences to which seventh-century Insular divines were subject. It is the intention of this paper to expose some notable aspects of this under-esteemed work.

John's Logos-hymn reflect a response to the Johannine narrative, functioning with other Christological hymns to pose a Jewish challenge to Empire and its divine-Caesar cult. It is added to the final edition of John as an experientially engaging introduction. Published in Creation Stories in Dialogue: The Bible, Science, and Folk Traditions (Radboud Prestige Lecture Series by Alan Culpepper), eds. R. Alan Culpepper and Jan van der Watt, BINS 139 (Leiden: E.J. Brill 2016)--uncorrected proofs.

Il Vaticano I è stato qualificato come il concilio del primato, mentre il Vaticano II, come quello dell'episcopato 1. Se teniamo conto di queste consi-derazioni, come possiamo parlare allora di ricezione o di continuità fra i due concili? Il Vaticano II ha voluto riproporre a tutti i fedeli la dottrina sulla natura del primato romano e sull'infallibilità del suo magistero promulgata nella pre-cedente assise come «oggetto certo di fede» (LG 18). Paolo VI, nel chiudere la commemorazione del centenario del Vaticano I, alludeva alla complementarietà dei due concili: «Essi né si contraddicono, né si distaccano a vicenda; piuttosto si integrano e si sostengono in un'integrità dottrinale; toccherà a questa gene-razione e alle future fare la sintesi, scoprire l'armonia e godere i vantaggi» 2. Per scoprire l'attualità di queste parole occorrerà vedere come si è sviluppata la ricezione dei dogmi sul primato nell'arco di tempo che separa i due concili, se in continuità o rottura con la tradizione conciliare. 1. Ricezione del Vaticano I nel magistero e nella teologia Il concilio inconcluso del Vaticano I si inquadra in un ambito storico preciso e complesso che influenzerà la sua ricezione nella Chiesa. Hermann Pottmeyer ha distinto tre concezioni nel modo di recepire l'interpretazione del dogma Vaticano sull'infallibilità 3. La prima, di tipo massimalista, la vedeva dipendere direttamente dal Papa. Era la posizione ultramontana che considerava * Dottore in Storia moderna e in Teologia dogmatica. 1 Il presente lavoro è frutto della ricerca di dottorato in Teologia pubblicata nel volume F. Álvarez alonso, Cum Petro et sub Petro. Primato ed episcopato dal Vaticano I al Vaticano II, Ancora, Milano 2019. 2 Paolo VI, Una splendente armonia di dottrina e di grazia, in Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, VII (1969) 775. 3 Cf. H. Pottmeyer, Lo sviluppo della teologia dell'ufficio papale, in G. alberigo-A. riccardi (edd.), Chiesa e Papato nel mondo contemporaneo, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1990, 20; id., The 'Plena et suprema potestas iurisdictionis' of the Pope at the first Vatican Council and 'receptio', in The Jurist 57 (1997) 216-234.

This part examines the issue of constructing Chineseness in ministry in Singapore. The issue of bilingual services will be explored using three Christian churches as examples. This part will conclude with the author’s recommendations and global applications.

This paper will look at some of the strengths and weaknesses of church planting models and will assess several different popular church planting models that have been used in many different contexts. Also, emphasis will be placed on what each model looks like, how they function, how they multiply, and how they have been used in various international contexts.

[This book is due out in English in mid-2015]

Συστάσεις για το βιβλίο:

Η διατριβή αυτή είναι σημαντική και μία αξιόλογη προσφορά στο θέμα τού διαλόγου μεταξύ "Ορθοδόξων και Ρωμαιοκαθολικών", σε σχέση με την Εκκλησία, τα Μυστήρια και τον οικουμενισμό. Είναι μία μελέτη άκρως επιστημονική και βαθειά πατερική και εκκλησιολογική. Προσφέρει άγνωστο υλικό για τούς πολλούς και κινείται σε ορθόδοξη προοπτική. Είναι μελέτη αποκαλυπτική και ρίπτει δυνατό φως στη σύγχρονη πορεία τού οικουμενισμού.

- Ιερόθεος, Μητροπολίτης Ναυπάκτου και Αγίου Βλασίου.

Με τη μελέτη τού π. Χιρς για πρώτη φορά ερευνάται τόσο επισταμένως η ιστορική πορεία τού διαχωρισμού τού Βαπτίσματος από τα άλλα μυστήρια και ερμηνεύεται, πώς αυτό οδήγησε στην "επέκταση" τής Εκκλησίας και παγίωσε ήδη μία νέα Ρωμαιοκαθολική Εκκλησιολογία. Δεν συνιστά μόνο μία επιστημονική συμβολή σε ένα σοβαρότατο θεολογικό θέμα, αλλά είναι μία εκκλησιολογικού χαρακτήρα μελέτη, η οποία συνεισφέρει στην Εκκλησία τα μέγιστα σήμερα, επειδή ανοίγει νέες προοπτικές για κάθε καλοπροαίρετο αναγνώστη είτε Ορθόδοξο είτε Ρωμαιοκαθολικό.

- Δημήτριος Τσελεγγίδης, Καθηγητής Θεολογικής Σχολής τού Αριστοτελείου Πανεπιστημίου Θεσσαλονίκης.

Η μελέτη είναι μοναδική γαι το θέμα, διεισδύοντας στον πυρήνα τής περί μυστηρίων ρωμαιοκαθολικής, αλλά και τής Ορθόδοξης διδασκαλίας. Αποσαφηνίζει, κατά τον ευστοχότερο τρόπο, τις εντελώς διαφορετικές προϋποθέσεις προσεγγίσεως και τού Βαπτίσματος από τον Ρωμαιοκαθολικισμό και την Ορθοδοξία. Με την έρευνα τού πατρός Χιρς πολλά ζητήματα διαλευκαίνονται, παλαιότερες θέσεις ανατρέπονται και νέες ερευνητικές προοπτικές χαράσσονται για μία αντικειμενική και ψύχραιμη αποτίμηση τής πορείας τού Διαλόγου και τών αληθινών δυνατοτήτων του. Η διατριβή συνιστά ουσιαστική συμβολή στις σημερινές οικουμενικές σχέσεις και θα προσεχθεί ιδιαίτερα.

- Πρωτοπρεσβύτερος Γεώργιος Μεταλληνός, Ομότιμος Καθηγητής Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών.

Introduction/Rationale. Every January we find thousands of people men and women, some on
barefoot brave the crowds to be able to touch the image of the Black Nazarene or popularly called
the Nazareno in Quiapo. These people come from all over Metro Manila and many from the
provinces also make their pilgrimage to get a glimpse of the image. A sea of people and not a space
can be found. And all year-round people flock the church at Quiapo to pour their hearts out to the
Nazareno and pray for miracles to happen. Majority of the people find themselves helpless in their
poverty but remain hopeful and faithful. The whole picture demonstrates the faith of the people. Is
it faith or fanaticism? How does the Church see itself against the reality of poverty in the
Philippines in particular? How can the Church respond to their needs? Who are the poor? What is
the Church? These are just some of the questions that this paper will attempt to answer in the light
of the relationship between the Church and the Poor - and the use of the model of the church as
“Church of the Poor.” There is a need to evaluate, to assess and in so many ways “re-constitute” the
Church’s understanding of itself in the Philippines.

The indigenous Norwegian denomination The Christian Church2 (or
Smith’s Friends, as they are known to outsiders) was founded by a noncommissioned officer in the Norwegian Navy, Johan Oscar Smith (1871-1943). By 1996 this unique denomination claimed 211 churches in 50 different nations, and the Norwegian researcher Knut Lundby estimated its membership at 25,000 to 30,000 and growing.3 As much as two-thirds of the members live outside of Norway. The success of this Norwegian denomination in establishing itself on all continents of the world is in itself quite amazing.

The Fathers of the Church were acquainted and influenced by both Jewish exegesis and Greek philosophy; the doctrine of the λόγος ἐνδιάθετος (inner) and προφοροκός (exteriorised) was one of those influences. Stoic in its genesis, it dealt with the psychological dualities mind/speech, thought/utterance in man. Philo adopted the theory for his hermeneutical system so that it was transmitted to the Fathers, who used it as a resource for their explanations of the nature of the Son of God (long identified as the λόγος of God). My goal is to let the texts speak for themselves as sign-bearers of the routes taken by the doctrine. I limit my examination to the Greeks Fathers of the first four centuries who witness the doctrine and/or the terms related to it (Theophilus of Antioch, Hippolytus of Rome; Justin Martyr, Tatian and Athenagoras of Athens). Finally it shall be seen that the doctrine, especially from the 4th on, was rejected by theologians (e.g. Athanasius of Alexandria) as well as by Councils’ and Synods’ decrees (namely the Synod of Sirmium in 351 a.D.).


KEY-WORDS: λόγος ἐνδιάθετος and προφορικός; Philo of Alexandria; Patristic Christology.

In questo lavoro si sono analizzate quelle opere di Carl Schmitt dei primi anni Venti (Teologia politica e Cattolicesimo romano e forma politica) in cui centrale è la riflessione sulla teologia politica e sulla secolarizzazione. Le modalità di articolazione dell’ordine (qui ripercorse attraverso le tematiche della complexio oppositorum, della forma, della rappresentazione e della persona) permettono di seguire la riflessione schmittiana risalendo in qualche modo il movimento secolarizzante, per attingere a quella radice teologica del politico che, lungi dal potersi riaffermare nella modernità, resta tuttavia l’unica chance di contrapporsi alla deriva della razionalità tecno-economica. L’itinerario attraverso le due opere ne ha rivelato una consonanza essenziale, che può esser seguita proprio attraverso l’analisi del concetto di ordine.
Alla prospettiva di pienezza ontologica ed ordinativa di Cattolicesimo romano si è infatti costantemente contrapposta la tematica, esposta in Teologia politica, dell’assenza di fondamento in un mondo ormai secolarizzato. A ben guardare, la secolarizzazione costituisce ciò che permette di cogliere l’articolazione dell’ordine, nella misura in cui ne rivela al contempo l’origine eccedente, la pienezza teologica e la strutturale precarietà mondana. Quell’ordine che soltanto nell’istituzione cattolica può trovare una stabile realizzazione mondana, si dimostra costitutivamente effimero ed inefficace nella realtà politica, in cui d’altra parte Schmitt rintraccia la presenza di una vera e propria coazione alla forma. Di qui la sua risposta decisionistica, il suo atteggiamento fortemente antiliberale: di fronte al disordine e all’eccezionalità dell’immanenza, di fronte alla modernità che ha dimenticato la sua origine ed il suo principio teologico (il quale nella riflessione schmittiana assume i tratti della conditio sine qua non del politico in quanto tale), il giurista vede, come unica possibilità di arginare i dilaganti conflitti tra gli uomini, l’istituzione di un sovrano la cui decisione (fondata paradossalmente su un’assenza di essere) risulti inappellabile.

This paper argues that, when the mother of Jesus tells her Son that "they have no wine" in the Cana wedding narrative, she is implicitly describing all the subsequent characters we will encounter in the Fourth Gospel, all of whom are in some way "thirsting" in a way which only Christ can satisfy.  Christ satisfies this thirst by creating a new family, one that is "born again" when He offers quenching water from His Body on the Cross; and this creation of a new family occurs when he tells the Beloved Disciple that His mother is now the Disciple's mother.  Thus, the words from the Cross are a response to the request at the wedding; and the new birth consists of becoming a child of Jesus' Mother.

Culture plays a large role in the missional movement.  One of the driving forces for many churches within the missional movement consists of the APEST culture Alan Hirsch discussed in his books.  The acronym APEST represents to what Hirsch referred as the five leadership gifts in Ephesians 4:11.  This APEST culture involves one of six to what Hirsch attributed as elements of a hierarchical structure with the immediate head as the mDNA.  The Apostolic Genius acts as the hierarchical ideology above this mDNA.

Hirsch claimed that all of these terms and structure are biblical and located in one verse in all of Scripture.  However, some of his major terms discussed in this article derive from Roman Catholic origins (Apostolic Genius and incarnational).  Given all Hirsch wrote about these theoretical terms and how he came about them, they raise the question about their validity as Scriptural.  Do they represent what the Apostle Paul actually teaches?  Do they warrant biblical legitimacy at all?  This article provides a firm answer of no.  In fact, they constitute the doctrines of men.

The emphasis on biblical authority must receive highest priority to evaluate Hirsch’s doctrines, because he tends to downplay those who disagree with his philosophy of Apostolic Genius.  He associates those who disagree with the pejorative institutional, traditional, or attractional church who inherited their theology from Christendom.  This is a diversionary tactic.  The reader of his books must be aware of these denigrating and straw man portrayals.  Critics must continue to point to the Scriptures as final authority for validation.  While appropriating what appears to be Christian through seemingly biblical terminology, Hirsch created a system of false doctrines that must be rejected as contrary to the clear teachings of Scriptures.

This work deals with a fundamental theme for New Testament theology: the eschatological temple in its double reality. It is fundamental for New Testament theology because it is one of the axes that gives cohesion to the set of documents that make it up, preventing the NT from being merely a group of juxtaposed texts, with no connection between them, as liberal theology wants us to believe. In fact, the eschatological temple is a dynamic concept that links several theologies, making them an organic whole. The kingdom of God and the Church, the heavenly sanctuary and the Christian community, Jesus' priesthood and the priesthood of the Church, inaugurated eschatology and the realized one, in so many ways these two threads are intertwined, tying everything that is said in the NT, that the blindness of many in not perceiving it remains unimaginable. From the methodological point of view, it is an antidote against the liberal dissociative view, which sees the history of the NT as a series of conflicting thinkers, who build their religious ideas according to the events and ecclesial local demands, regardless of the essence of Jesus' preaching. The eschatological temple is a line of continuity that begins with the preaching of Jesus and his self-presentation of the Son of Man and goes throughout the NT until the visions of John on the island of Patmos; with no solution of continuity, with no weakening of the original message; all that being in itself a miraculous act of God, through the Spirit. Unfortunately, I could not count on much theoretical support; this is quite a little travelled path, with which few scholars attend, and perhaps this is why this investigation has the defects that all pioneering work has: its solitaire results. My main objective was to reveal Jesus in his sanctuary as the foundation of the life of the early post-Easter Church, which, as can be seen, was not understood clearly from the beginning; it is only with the passage of time and with the evolution of theological reflection that the Church has come to a fully understanding of the importance of this message, hence we can appreciate it in its greatest development only in the later texts of the NT.

The dead ends in which communitarianism has ended up call for a renewed emphasis to be placed upon universal ties. In order to understand Christian universality in its original form, stemming from Pentecost, the present article follows Augustine’s lead in exploring its grounds in the Christus totus.
The inclusion of all those called in Christ cannot be achieved without taking
account of local diversity, which the Spirit binds together into a harmonic whole. The cue for Christian universality is the fulfilment of the gift of languages in the preaching of the Gospel for the benefit of every different culture. Taking its rise
in the multiple repetitions of Pentecost that accompany the initial spread of the Gospel in Acts, the dynamic universalising tendency in Christianity is driven by a divine initiative which is critically important as the disciples move into new cultural or religious territory

This Master's thesis explores Wisdom Christology, the association of Jesus Christ and the mysterious and neglected biblical figure of Woman Wisdom. Because the descriptions of her bear a striking resemblance to the portrayal of Jesus Christ, I argue that they can be seen as two names for the same figure: Christ-Wisdom.
This link between Jesus Christ and Woman Wisdom has some interesting repercussions in Christology. Firstly, it emphasizes the mysteriousness of Jesus Christ, preventing the illusion that Jesus Christ can be fully understood. In fact, the incarnation is a deepening of the mystery of God, meaning that theological language must rely on paradox and metaphor to describe the indescribable. I argue that the name Jesus Christ is inclusive, wide enough to hold many names, including that of Woman Wisdom, which he sanctifies so they become appropriate names for the
divine.
Secondly, the association of Jesus Christ with Woman Wisdom affects the gender of Jesus Christ. Throughout Christian history, there has been a gender fluidity in depictions of Jesus Christ, something legitimated by his full divinity. This does not mean his historical life as a male
human being can be ignored, but although he was of the male sex, he arguably did not strictly adhere to socio-cultural gender expectations. Likewise, in Woman Wisdom, Jesus Christ provides an alternative, atypical way of being female. This relativizes the gender of Christ-Wisdom, pointing beyond it to the radical solidarity of the divine with all humanity in the incarnation.
Thirdly, to view Christ as Wisdom changes the way gender is understood within the Church, the Body of Christ. If the Church is the representative of Christ-Wisdom, it is therefore a multi-gendered body in which Jesus Christ takes on male and female embodiment. In contrast to gendered ethical models, the Church thus has one ethical example in Christ-Wisdom, which all follow. Because of the various gifts of the Spirit, diversity remains, but is transformed so that
differences, including gender, do not limit or determine the roles of believers in the Church, but remain part of the richness of the one Body under its one Head, Christ-Wisdom.

A late twentieth-century movement within Christianity, the Emerging (or Emergent) Church has been hard to pin down in terms of specific doctrines and teachings. This thesis is an attempt to analyse the Emerging Church Movement from the perspective of Orthodox Christianity, with the hope of identifying and responding to the various doctrines that form the core of the Emerging identity.

Christianity hinges on the doctrine of the Resurrection. It is such a central tenet that if you take it away, there is no Christianity. In the Resurrection lies the whole salvific value of the Jesus story. But could Jesus die? Did Jesus really die? The question is: can a thing be where it is not, and not be where it is?

Western theologies usually approach salvation through the juridical lenses of justification during conversion and moral improvement during sanctification. This paper seeks to examine the Eastern Orthodox view of theosis or deification and articulate ways through which a more holistic perspective of God's salvific plan for mankind can be achieved by using biblical metaphors of image and glory to redefine and repurpose salvation as a present process rather than a single-point conversion or remote future Parousia. Additionally, a cruciform Christology and experiential Pneumatology are employed to deepen one’s union with Christ and hence augment a more holistic view of deification and provide for an assurance of salvation deeper than outward ritual or lackadaisal profession. As early church father Athanasius said, “God became man so that men might become gods”.

There is too little study of Cyril of Jerusalem’s notion of the ecclesiological identity of baptismal candidates. I found that his use of familial terminology was not simply limited to that of the Biblical and Patristic models, i.e., fully initiated members of the church. He applied it to unbaptized candidates as well. They shared in a primal yet real membership of the ecclesial family. They were progressively brought into church membership through the individual rites of initiation, each contributing to a growing transformation in the candidates. They could be identified as family even prior to their ultimate, baptismal adoption as members. This article fills a significant gap in research on the late fourth century theology of initiation. It provides present-day catechists with a deeper understanding of their baptismal candidates’ ecclesiological status. It opens a Patristic and ecumenical vista into the relationship of non-Orthodox Christians with the Orthodox church.

У питању је докторска дисертација (у скраћеном облику) коју је кандидат бранио 2010.г. Тему дисерације представљају боголовски увиди двојице њемачких теолога 20.в. у поређењу са патристичком и савременом православном теологијом. Нарочито су разматрани христолошки и есхатолошки аспекти њихове богословске мисли.

Perché il fenomeno ludico può essere un vero e proprio "trattato" di teologia? Cosa ha a che fare il gioco con la teologia? Apparentemente sembra esserci una distanza, se non addirittura, date certe idee, un abisso tra gioco e teologia. In realtà indagando il ludus nei suoi diversi aspetti si può agevolmente dimostrare il guadagno per la teologia dell'assunzione della "categoria" del gioco, dopo aver chiarito in cosa consista il fenomeno umano. Inoltre mettendoci sulle spalle di giganti in teologia, come Jürgen Moltmann, Hugo Rahner, Klaus Hemmerle, con loro e mai contro di loro, si può proseguire il discorso teologico. In effetti è possibile sondare l'ambito biblico, recuperare alcuni frammenti di teologia ludica sparsi in duemila anni di pensiero e, infine, mettere in luce quei motivi di estetica ludica che possono essere a fondamento di una strutturata e argomentata proposta teologica. Così facendo viene fuori un'opera dal forte carattere interdisciplinare che dà dignità a un fenomeno umano, come il gioco, non molto indagato. teologia del gioco

“Leo the Great and Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Eucharist,” Saint Anselm Journal 10.2 (2015): 18-33.

In his homilies and letters, Leo the Great displays an understanding of the Eucharist that is organically connected to his views on the church and, more importantly, to his Christological doctrine. Leo's remarks on the Eucharist demonstrate how for him the Eucharistic presence of Christ, conceived in very realistic terms, is at the heart of the Christian life, both individual and ecclesial. Within the context of the many other ways in which the incarnate Christ, after his ascension, remains connected and present to his Church, the Eucharist constitutes the highpoint of how he stays with his disciples until he will come again as judge, bringing to completion his mission as the one savior and mediator. Comparing Leo's statements with Balthasar's more elaborate reflections of the Eucharist shows how profoundly similar their views are, especially with regard to the deep connection between Christology, Ecclesiology, and Eucharistic theology, but also how Balthasar was more influenced by the Greek Fathers he studied than by the post-Augustinian, Latin tradition, for which Leo stands, with its strong Christological focus and its way of preserving a distinct sense of how the church, while strengthened by Christ's sacramental presence, is waiting for his eschatological return.

Sejatinya sebuah gereja harus memiliki ajaran, dogma, tata Gereja, eklesilogi yang sejenis atau sealiran. Karena gereja yang di dalamnya terdapat bermacam ajaran dan sistem pemerintahan Gerejanya bisa saja akan membingungkan. Timbul pertanyaan, apakah ada gereja yang memiliki eklesiologi-teologi yang beraneka ragam? Bisa saja ya atau tidak. Namun jika gereja itu lahir dari beragam warisan eklesiologi-teologi, mungkinkah gereja itu memiliki banyak bentuk eklesiologi-teologi gereja? Ataukah gereja itu harus memaksakan diri harus memiliki satu warna eklesiologi-teologi dengan mengbaikan dan atau menghilangkan warisan eklesiologi-teologi yang lain?

In this chapter, I respond to Hooker's address to the contemporary Church by performing what he bids us to do - to shift our focus from the general to the particular. Shifting to a more constructive register, this chapter reflects upon who Hooker is for the parish, for our ethical discourse, and for our hopes for a global communion.

Since Reimarus certain Christologies have made formal and methodological distinctions between the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith, premises that became points of departure for the “Jesus Quest” and theologies of religious pluralism that required Magisterial interventions such as Dominus Iesus. Number 8 of the Vatican II dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, presents an analogy between the mystery of the Church and the mystery of the Incarnate Word, describing the Church as, like Christ, a “complex reality which coalesces from a divine and a human element.” Christological approaches that divide the Incarnate Word into the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith will necessarily lead to repercussions in ecclesiology. The goal of this inquiry is to see how the mystery of the Incarnate Word sheds light on the mystery of the Church, in the light of Lumen Gentium 8.

The richness of the writings of the New Testament lies both is their unity as well as
in their diversity. This article endeavors to “befriend” the theologies of both John and Paul.
Despite many obvious differences, there are a number of points of convergence in John’s and
Paul’s Christology, Ecclesiology and Soteriology. At least three aspects manifest profound
similarities in their Christologies: (1) Their foundational experience of Jesus-Christ, (2)
their relationship with Jesus-Christ founded in the experience of love, and (3) the radical
affirmation of the pre-existence and divinity of Jesus. Their Ecclesiologies converge: (1) In
the concept of “new creation in Christ,” applied to the believers and to the Church as a whole,
(2) the image of the “Total Christ” as the preferred representation of the Church, and lastly,
(3) John and Paul’s particular relationship with the recognized authorities in the primitive
Church. Soteriologically both converge in presenting that faith that Christ is the Messiah is
necessary for salvation.

The important NT theme of union with Christ has inspired numerous studies by Pauline scholars in the twentieth century following the pioneering work of Adolf Deissmann. Yet only recently have scholars begun to address the potential significance of the believer's union with Christ in texts outside of the Pauline corpus. Building on this recent expansion yet acknowledging oversights in existing studies, this paper looks to highlight the prominence of union with Christ in the epistle of 1 Peter. Its prevalence throughout the epistle and the nuances of its application suggest that it is both essential to the Petrine attempt to form the identity of his readers, and the basis from which he presents his ethical exhortation—including the explicit call to imitate Christ.

This paper aims to show the dualism that results from reading paragraph 36 outside of the context and Christocentric anthropology of paragraph 22 of Gaudium et Spes, Vatican II's document on the the Church-World relation. It proposes, by way of analogy and metaphor, a reading that overcomes such an extrinsicist and, ultimately, unfruitful reading.

Збирка изабраних студија из широке и захтевне области упоредног богословља, под називом Да не буде раздора у Телу, намењена је свим читаоцима који желе да се ближе упознају са неким од најважнијих аспеката деликатног односаправославне и римокатоличке теологије. У њој су сабрани огледи из упоредног систематског богословља (ктисиологије/космологије,
теологије Предања, сотириологије, мистирологије и литургике), који помажу аналитичарима да лакше идентификују поједине кључне разлике источне и западне хришћанске онтологије.