Perpetually reforming : a theology of church reform and renewal / [print]
John P. Bradbury.
- London ; New York : Bloomsbury, (c)2013.
- xiv, 232 pages ; 24 cm.
- Ecclesiological investigations ; v. 14 T&T Clark theology .
- Ecclesiological investigations ; v.14. T & T Clark theology. .
1. Introduction. The problem with 'church' -- The church in the twenty-first century context -- The church, theology and the theologian -- An outline of the work as a whole -- 2. Visible and invisible? The contours of a problem -- John Calvin : the dualism of election -- Karl Barth : the dualism of time and eternity -- Locating the 'problem' of ecclesiological dualisms -- 3. Confessional Identities. The practice of confessing -- Attending to a confessional voice : the basis of union of the united reformed church -- Re-formation and confessional identities -- 4. Confessional re-formation the example of the church and the Jewish people. Calvin and classic reformed confessional texts -- Karl Barth and contemporary reformed confessions of faith -- The process of re-formation -- The implications of re-formation -- 5. Biblical re-formations. Covenantal re-formations -- A covenant with all : Noah and the first covenant -- The covenant with Abraham : the election of a sociality -- The Sinai covenant : the centrality of the practice of law -- New covenants? -- Renewing the canon : scripture re-reading scripture -- 6. The covenantal Identity of the church -- The 'new' covenant in Christ -- Jesus and the extensive ecclesial movement -- Orientations to the future -- Why the church? -- 7. The practices of Identity renewal -- The mediation of social identity : the contribution of 'collective memory' -- Practices of remembrance : collective memory in the Deuteronomic tradition -- The reformatory practices of the Church -- 8. Toward the reformation of the church. The church and the world -- Finding our orientations -- Reforming and renewing scriptural practices -- Perpetual reformation.
One of the slogans of the reformation was ecclesia reformata semper reformanda - 'the reformed church always reforming'. Churches throughout the western world are currently engaged in reform and renewal programs through internal structural reforms as well as movements like 'emerging church'. This book presents a challenging theology of church reform and renewal that offers a contemporary understanding of this historic slogan.