Exploring Ecclesiology: An Evangelical and Ecumenical Introduction

by Brad Harper, Paul Louis Metzger

In this introduction to ecclesiology, respected scholars Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger offer a solidly evangelical yet ecumenical survey of the church in mission and doctrine. Combining biblical, historical, and cultural analysis, this comprehensive text explores the church as a Trinitarian, eschatological, worshiping, sacramental, serving, ordered, cultural, and missional community. It also offers practical application, addressing contemporary church life issues such as women in ministry, evangelism, social action, consumerism in church growth trends, ecumenism, and the church in postmodern culture. The book will appeal to all who are interested in church doctrine, particularly undergraduates and seminarians.

Genres: Theology, Ecclesiology, Christian, Church, School, Christian Non Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2009

Reviews

[John San Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was alright.

Harper and Metzger take on a very difficult task, articulating ecclesiology (the study of the Church) from an evangelical position. It is very well known that evangelicals do not have an ecclesiology.

As such, the authors had to retrieve a lot of ecclesiology from earlier thinkers. The result was pretty good. They go much deeper than from how I see evangelicals typically talk about the Church. The Church is naturally diverse, always going out into the world, and is always enculturated and particular (and trying to develop a culture-less Church is actually just a project in making a particular enculturated version of the Church into the dominant one).

I do wonder how evangelical ecclesiology has developed since this book was published. Interesting things to think about, and I would be down to read more on it. I think evangelicalism is in dire need of discovering what exactly it means to be the Church.

[Johnny Dodsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for a Theology 1 Seminary class in the Fall of 2020. What an incredible insight into the nature of what the church is called to be. I loved the idea of thinking about the church as a mosaic, with the an individual existing as a single piece of the mosaic, the local church as a segment in the mosaic picture, and the global church as the entire image. When we look at the church this way, we see every individual Christ follower as an integral piece of the body of Christ, we see every local church in all it's denominational differences as a needed flavour of what it means to be the body of Christ, and we see the global church as beautifully diverse and unified across nations, cultures, theological groundings, and practices. To be ecumenical is to be diverse.

[Devin Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of really good stuff. The structure is set up in having a theological chapter followed by a chapter on applying that theology to the church. These 8 pairs cover a lot of ground and the authors are extremely ecumenical (hence the title) so it makes for balanced reading. Their unique beliefs still can be seen in some chapters if you’re paying close enough attention but nothing that detracts from the message. I would recommend this book to anyone attempting to formulate their idea of “what church should look like.”

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Think you know what the church is? You may be surprised both by what it is and what it should be and what it will be. From "The BEING-driven Church" to "The Being-DRIVEN Church", this is a thought-provoking book that would be a good choice for a clergy/ church leadership reading group.

[Cana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fair ecclesiology. I enjoyed it, but I did not feel it to be earth shaking.

[Brad Cooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Approachable and well written book with profound insights on what church is, how we have changed what church is and how we can make efforts to reconcile the global church.

[Jared Mcnabb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I probably would have really liked this book had I read it when it first came out. There are some good and helpful parts (like their discussing church discipline within the church's service to its members.)

However, I was mostly annoyed with this book. It over-uses trendy language, (the church's service is "missional," and "incarnational," its community life is "trinitarian.") While this is standard fare in much writing these days, it belies a lack of careful thinking and distinction making, and this lack of clarity is a major fault of the book..

This book also often has an annoying condescending tone toward evangelicalism, for "ghettoizing" the gospel, but it seems to have a naive response the church and culture issue.

[wes Goertzen · Rating 3 out of 5]

the other half of my review, i'm not quite as excited about this one. I guess they're more conservative and I've already become accustomed to a sorta liberal smugness. LHM. It doesn't go the same direction as Izuz and since Izuz is with Yoder I imagine I'll find him more interesting. So unfortunately I feel like this book is dead weight. They do converse with Zizioulas and i havent given up on them yet

[Benjamin Aurich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't agree with them on minor details (such as their egalitarian position), but as a whole, I thought it was extremely practical and doxological. This book was effective in further stirring up my affections for Christ and His Church. Excellent conversation starter on what it looks like to be the church.

[Timmy Dy · Rating 4 out of 5]

very encouraging read about the church...
i think non-seminary students would enjoy this book too. :)

[Erica Vonderharr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Also read this book for my Religion class. Very interesting, mirrors the book written by Dulles, except it was from the view of an Evangelical church.