Ecclesial Communities Research Articles

Knowledge bloats, love builds: Paul on how we are (not) to know things

Abstract Paul's epistemology was famously mapped onto his eschatology by J. Louis Martyn, but it must be mapped also onto his ecclesiology. For Paul, knowing is bound always and indissolubly to living with others. To understand how Paul would have us know things, then, we must focus not on knowledge as such, but on epistemic practices in ecclesial communities. Whereas the Corinthians’ use of wisdom and knowledge made for fragmentation and dissolution in the body of Christ (1 Cor 1–4; 8–10), Paul would have practices with knowledge instantiate communion and care for one another, as is proper for Christ's body. Integral to theological knowing is a sense of what and whom theology is for, a sense being critically explored in recent evaluations of theological education.

Listening across the Américas: Base Ecclesial Communities and Relational Organizing as Listening Practices for a Synodal Church

Catholicism can draw on existing practices of listening to build a more participative church. This paper analyzes listening practices in Catholic and Catholic-engaged interfaith settings, drawing on the author’s long-term ethnographic research: i) four years of weekly participation in meetings of comunidades eclesiales de base in Mexico and Central America; ii) two decades of participant-observation in multiracial faith-based community organizing work in low-income communities of the United States; iii) participant observation at the US expression of the World Meetings of Popular Movements initiative; and iv) participant-observation at the “Prophetic Communities” gathering of organizers, scholars, and church leaders, focused on synodality and community organizing (San Francisco, CA, in 2023). The essay frames its discussion of listening practices around contemporary ideas regarding acompañamiento, solidarity, encounter, and the role of civil society and “public religion” as cultural and institutional underpinnings of democracy. A restructured, more synodal church can enable “ethical democracy” in the future, in part through its practices of liturgy and encounter.

There is Hope in the Incarnation—Challenging the Bibliological Docetism of Today’s Evangelicalism

The authors argue that the future existence of evangelicalism as an ecclesial tradition depends on its ability and courage to re-imagine the dual nature, human and divine, of the Bible as written revelation and, consequently, to renew the way that this community engages with it. Such an endeavour requires a new way of understanding and engaging with the Bible that can be built around the model of the Incarnation. As mainline Protestants, who ministered for many years in evangelical ecclesial communities and who have conducted extensive doctoral and post-doctoral research in patristic and contemporary theological studies, the authors are convinced that if evangelicalism is to survive and flourish in the complexities of the contemporary world, it requires a new hermeneutic. It should move away from a dominating docetic view of the Scripture, which overemphasises its divine nature, to the detriment, and sometimes the total neglect, of its human authorship, to give a full account of its dual nature, equally divine and human.

Basic Ecclesial Communities in the Philippines: Histories and Stories of a Pilgrim Church, edited by Fides Antonio del Castillo and Raymund B. Habaradas

Basic Ecclesial Communities in the Philippines: Histories and Stories of a Pilgrim Church, edited by Fides Antonio del Castillo and Raymund B. Habaradas

A New Interview Tool for the Investigation into the Experiences of Spiritual Family within Church Communities

Abstract Among the different images of community, some groups understand themselves in terms of family. This article explores the concept of found family within an ecclesial community. Braithwaite et al.’s four-part typology of voluntary kin provided the grounding for my new interview tool: The Experiences of the Church as Family research tool. This tool can aid in the exploration of church members’ experiences and desires for familial ties within their ecclesial communities. In this article, I outline the tool’s development, provide an example of its application, and present possibilities for future research in congregational contexts in addition to the tool’s potential use in ministry.

The People Who Do All Things Together: Living Base Ecclesial Communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

This article analyzes the pastoral practice and ecclesiological vision of living base ecclesial communities (CEVBs) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through a case study in the Diocese of Tshumbe. Contextualizing this within the broader history of Global South base communities, the author argues that CEVBs exemplify Vatican II’s people of God ecclesiology and Africa’s image of the church as the family of God. They also embody Pope Francis’s calls for a more synodal and dialogical church that empowers laity, provides opportunities for women’s leadership, and integrates faith and social concern.

Basic Ecclesial Communities

Religious intolerance and blatant polarization along the lines of caste, colour, and racial differences are on the rise in India, a trend that has been compounded by the explicit religious nationalism of the incumbent ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In the face of this rising intolerance and polarization, a substantial number of Indians from different demographics have begun to envision and participate in people-centred initiatives to nurture religious and social harmony. The present article proposes that Basic Ecclesial Communities – a practical, resourceful, and sustainable means of fostering community and religious harmony through interfaith sharing, hospitality, and a welcoming mindset – represent an impactful contribution to this effort.

Traumatized and Traumatizing: Understanding Clerical Abuse and Dysfunction Through the Lens of Bowenian Systemic Family Therapy

This article explores the phenomenology of clerical abuse and dysfunction within the Catholic Church from the standpoint of the systemic family therapy of Murray Bowen, MD (1913-1990). While intergenerational systems theory and thinking have been well understood in terms of one's family of origin, this knowledge has rarely been applied to the context of Catholic and other priests within their ecclesial communities and the wider institutional Church. The article examines the relationship between the Church's call to reform and heal ecclesial structures and persons while presenting various intervention strategies such as the need for greater self-differentiation and individuation among them. The primary goal is the need to restore emotional homeostasis and holistic well-being to traumatized individuals and groups.

From Consumption to Communion: The Ecclesial Role of Public Theologians in Cultivating a Livable City

Abstract Urbanism has become the dominant form of human dwelling, giving rise to the concept of livability, accompanied by livability indexes and city rankings. These reports provide brief bragging rights and marketing opportunities for high-ranking cities while glossing over the complex realities and inherent dangers of urban life. The issues surrounding livability rankings reveal corrupted anthropologies that prioritize the ways that one can consume a place rather than the cultivation of communities that are mutually reinforcing in their flourishing. Public theologians must work at the level of theological imagination to reclaim a vocational anthropology that places participation with God in the cultivation of community at the center of what it means to be made in the Image of God. In order to accomplish this fundamental shift, a significant and sometimes overlooked role for public theologians in the world today is serving ecclesial communities in facilitating this imagination through liturgical formation.

Memberdayakan Umat Awam sebagai Fasilitator Katekese: Memperkuat Komunitas melalui Pelatihan

The active role of the laity in catechesis activities is vital in strengthening the ecclesial community. Unfortunately, however, awareness of the laity's contribution and involvement is still minimal in many Church circles. Efforts to empower the laity as catechesis facilitators have great potential to increase their participation in strengthening ecclesial communities. One of the work programs from Preaching the Good Shepherd Parish of Batu Diocese of Malang is this PKM, which aims to empower lay people as catechesis facilitators through intensive training programs. This study involved a participatory training method with a Role-playing model involving participants from the Parish of the Good Shepherd of Stone. The results of this training succeeded in increasing the laity's understanding of their roles and responsibilities in catechesis activities. The participants were able to hone their skills as facilitators and improve their catechetical knowledge and their communication skills. This activity aims to increase people's awareness of their duties and responsibilities in the Five Duties of the Church, especially in preaching. Through this activity, the Good Shepherd Parish of Batu Diocese of Malang can empower lay people as catechesis facilitators through effective training programs, improving their skills, knowledge, and understanding of the role.

Ecumenism in St Andrews: A fact and a mandate

In a three-way conversation, ministers from Baptist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches in St Andrews, Fife reflect on their experience of ecumenical theology and local church practice. As they wrestle with the reality of the Church’s disunity, they seek to draw out some specific biblical, theological, and practical resources which have been especially helpful in their own ecumenical practice as local church ministers. What clearly emerges as a central feature is the gift which denominational differences and diversities can bring out of ecumenical efforts. Encountering sisters and brothers in other ecclesial communities can play a crucial role in enriching our own ecclesial identities, but, as these authors emphasise, it requires pushing against the consumerist competition which can easily creep up on us in a shrinking church ‘market’. Remaining open to the gift of another – in this case, another Christian communal expression – is at the heart of anything that can be called genuine ecumenism.

Synodality in the Reception of the Second Vatican Council and Development of the Pastoral Orientations of the Chilean Bishops’ Conference, 1965–1985

After the Second Vatican Council, the Chilean bishops met in a plenary assembly during May 1968. As a result, the Episcopal Conference of Chile developed its first Pastoral Orientations (POs). Between 1968 and 1985, the Chilean Bishops produced eight different iterations of the POs. The ongoing development of the POs during this period reflected an emerging consensus across the various dioceses of the county. Five aspects of the POs in particular helped develop a synodal culture: (1) to reform the Church, (2) to establish the Church as an evangelizer and servant of humanity, (3) to opt for the base ecclesial communities as the local realization of the People of God, (4), to carry out the liturgical reform and diocesan synods, and (5) to develop intermediate forms of collegiality among the bishops.

Everyday precarity, oblique hostility and gendered liveability among Malaysian transgender men

ABSTRACT Although a gamut of sensational issues affecting transgender communities in Malaysia proliferates in academic scholarship and activism reports, and transgender experiences of tragedy and violence are often amplified in the news media, less attention is given to the everyday forms of aggression and vulnerability that transgender people encounter in seemingly innocuous spaces. Guided by a Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology, I analyse selected narratives of three local transgender men to theorize their experiences of ‘oblique hostility’ in Malaysia, or subtle and implicit manifestations of discrimination and harassment that threaten to annul their gendered liveability. I argue that these spaces which initially and ostensibly do not target gender normativity for valid accessibility – such as airport x-ray scanners, road blocks and local Roman Catholic ecclesial communities – are actually implicitly grounded in normative gender expectations and thus perpetuate a condition of precarity for transgender men who struggle for recognizability, dignity and security in their everyday lives. My analysis is framed by Judith Butler’s ideas on precarity as the consequence of exaggerated and protracted state-sanctioned exposure to vulnerability, and Judith/Jack Halberstam’s concept of the bathroom problem writ large, an insightful reference to spatial apparatuses of gendered invigilation that pronounce the (in)validity of gendered lives.

Entrevista a Frei Betto

Frei Betto (Carlos Alberto Libânio Christo) was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in 1944. He is a Dominican friar and theologian, being among the most relevant and internationally recognised exponents of «liberation theology». This militant in pastoral and social movements resisted the Brazilian military dictatorship, under which he was imprisoned and endured torture: he related this experience in Baptism of Blood (Jabuti Prize, 1982) and in Letters from prison (1977). He was active in the construction of Base Ecclesial Communities and, during the first Lula Government, was adviser to the Presidency of Brazil for the Zero Hunger programme. He politically sympathized the socialist experiences in South America, and he has advised various governments, especially the Cuban government, on relations between the Catholic Church and the State. Among the dozens of works he has written, the following are worth mention (our translation): Fidel and Religion (1985), The Work of the Artist (1995), Hotel Brasil (1999), The Art of Sowing Stars (2007), A Man Called Jesus (2009), Mysticism and Spirituality (with L. Boff, 2010), Hunger for God (2014), Reinventing Life (2014), Paradise Lost (2015), A Very Human God (2015), Faith and Affection (2019), and Militant Jesus (2022).

Teologi Inkulturasi dalam Sejarah Gereja dan Dewasa Ini di Flores, Indonesia

<p>This article is based on a book by Emanuel Martasudjita on Inculturation Theology. The author of this article supports the<br />statement of E. Martasudjita that inculturation of theology is not a new reality, but has been known and practiced<br />throughout the history of the Church. By expanding on the description given by Martasudjita regarding the stages in the<br />development of history, the author of the article draws on the basic insight from that history that inculturated theology is not<br />constructed, but must grow in the reflections made by the faithful about their Christian faith, where they use the way of<br />thinking, they have according to the culture they live in.<br />From the research on history, it is learned that changes in form in theology often occur based on different favorite ideas<br />held by different cultures, besides that there has also been the formation of new theology, where people with certain cultural<br />backgrounds learn theology from other cultures. In this case it is easy to misunderstand which can trigger a long discussion<br />that results in a new form of expression of the Christian faith.<br />By taking the results of this historical research, the author highlights the situation of practice of faith and reflection of faith<br />in the Flores island in South East Indonesia.</p><p><br /><strong>Keywords:</strong> Inculturation, history of theology, local culture in Flores, Basic Ecclesial Communities</p>

Church as Family: Creating Healing and Transformative Spaces for Children at Risk through a Reimagining of Ecclesiology

Abstract Children growing up in contexts of toxic stress face a cascade of deleterious realities that impact them at every level of their being. However, when children are securely attached to healthy adults in their lives, those supportive relationships can be both protective and transformative for those young people. Given the power of secure attachment and the New Testament’s frequent use of the metaphor of family to describe the church, this paper proposes that when ecclesial communities operate as real and healthy families in their contexts, those communities can thereby create missiologically significant spaces of healing and transformation for the children in their midst. In an effort to reimagine and reshape our ecclesial communities to function as such reciprocal and mutually supportive families, Child Theology and studies of early Christian community, catechesis, and worship are put into conversation with one another.

Gift of faith: Tracing the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines through the transformative experiences of the BEC lay leaders.

The Philippine Church commemorates in a year-long (April 2021 – April 2022) celebration the 500 years of Christianity in the country. The Filipino Catholics and communities gathered to joyfully celebrate the event which marks the first hearing of the good news about Christ some hundred years ago by the foreign Catholic missionaries. Alongside the colonization of the Spaniards, which comes with complex issues and controversies, one remains significant and meaningful on the other side of their arrival- the Christian Faith! Today, this same mission of evangelization of the first Catholic missionaries in the country had been continued specifically in the local activities of the Church through the Basic Ecclesial Communities or the BEC movements all over the country. This is a case of qualitative study exploring the concept of faith of the lay leaders of Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC) in Francisco de Borja Chapel, in Barangay Sta. Fe Caraga Davao Oriental. The study was conducted through an in-depth interview and dissemination of research questionnaire to the selected BEC lay leaders who were able to respond actively. In the end, the result of our thematic analysis, which was used to utilize in discovering the different emerging and significant themes of the gathered data, narrates for us the core meaning of the gift of faith for the BEC lay leaders: (1) faith that centers on Christ, (2) it is a gift of the Holy Spirit, (3) faith makes a person open to salvation, (4) faith as a gift means a blessing from God, and (5) faith makes them victorious over the trials of life. Moreover, the transforming effect of faith in the utterance of the BEC lay leaders reflects in the consciousness of the researchers the vision and objectives of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (1991): (1) participation, (2) responsive, (3) service, and (4) becoming truly Christian. These core themes of the transforming effect of faith on the BEC lay leaders reflect the reason for the Philippines to continue cultivating and nourishing the Christian mission in realizing the Kingdom of God here on earth.

The Church of the Dead: The Epidemic of 1576 and the Birth of Christianity in the Americas

Jennifer Scheper Hughes offers a penetrating analysis of archival, theological, and cartological sources as she examines the impact of la gran mortandad (the Great Death) brought about by the 1576 cocoliztli pandemic in Mexico. While the exact disease is uncertain, the signs were visible in bleeding bodies and the victims were unmistakable: 12 million or more Indigenous Mexicans. Ten years in the making, this study underscores the importance of sustained research. The welcomed result is a compelling contribution to the efforts of those who reread colonial Christianity in the Americas with an eye for Indigenous agency. Following the introduction to the context of the pandemic, the author brings to light the devastating impact of cocoliztli with her painstaking study of selected archives. With empathy and rigor, Hughes uncovers the devastating toll of suffering and death as she details various responses to this death event in part 1, “Ave Verum Corpus: Abject Matter and Holy Flesh.” Franciscan friars played a major role—albeit for a limited time—in comforting and treating the sick and dying. As the friars grew weary and the failure of their medicinal care was evident, they, along with other ecclesial communities, began to withdraw to major urban areas or even depart for missionary work abroad. While the Indigenous Mexicans may have needed these religious figures while dying, the friars needed them alive to give meaning to their utopian evangelical endeavor. The “fantasy of care” soon became palpable as the Indigenous population was abandoned. While the people who were left behind were incorporated into the corpus mysticum Christi as articulated by Bartolomé de las Casas and later Henri de Lubac, they appear to be judged as the bloody remains of feet severed from the crucified Christ.

Stoking Ecumenical Embers of Holiness: The Asceticism of Exchanging Saints

precis: This essay explores how the legacy of asceticism from patristic spirituality may be retrieved alongside constructive ecclesiology and studies in embodied cognition to enliven modern ecumenical method. Asceticism concerns the transformation of humanity into divine likeness by learning how to encounter God in the world. The essay discerns the major determining features of asceticism in individuals before showing how these characteristics can be pursued on communal levels. An ascetic ecumenism works from the ground up to facilitate sharing models of holiness across ecclesial communities.

Holiness and Pentecostal Movements: Intertwined Pasts, Presents, and Futures

This volume is the first in a new Penn State University Press book series Studies in the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements, which has its origins in an ongoing joint session of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre and the Pentecostal Theological Seminary that began at the American Academy of Religion in 2018 with a focus on exploring the intersections between the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements. The introduction to the book gives some of the background to that exploration and presents a potted history, highlighting the pioneering work of those looking to build closer academic relationships between Pentecostal and Wesleyan scholars, which does not always make comfortable reading for those of us in the latter camp. Here some more detail would have been helpful at times to better understand acts of seeming intransigence: why, for example did the Executive Committee of the Wesleyan Theological Society discontinue joint meetings with the Society for Pentecostal Studies in 2020 without even allowing a discussion? (11)The rest of the book is divided into three sections, the first offering perspectives on the beginnings of the emergence of Pentecostalism from the Holiness Movement toward the end of the nineteenth century, beginning with the role of God’s Bible School in the education of early Holiness and Pentecostal leaders explored by David Bundy. Of particular interest to British readers is Kimberly Ervin Alexander’s assessment of the Wesleyan roots of British Pentecostalism in the ministry of Alexander A. Boddy, the Anglican vicar who founded the Pentecostal Missionary Union. The chapter highlights Boddy’s intriguing descendance from Mary Vazeille, a fact Boddy spoke proudly of at a bicentenary celebration of his great-great-great-step-grandfather, where he expressed a feeling of ‘much sympathy with the Methodists’ (77). Alexander rightly highlights the importance of Boddy’s geographical location in Sunderland, where from 1908 until 1914 he hosted an annual convention. She does, however, misjudge the source of Wesleyan and Holiness influences on the area: Lorenzo Dow visited neither here nor Manchester, where Boddy grew up (77) but the influence of James Caughey’s visit to Sunderland in the 1840s and especially Phoebe Palmer’s hugely successful campaign in the town in November 1859 are much more likely to have had lasting impacts. Alexander, though, does offer a much needed and perceptive study of Boddy, a vital British link between the Wesleyan Holiness Movement and Pentecostalism. Here lies one of the strengths of the book, in revaluating the contribution of neglected figures in the development of Holiness and Pentecostal theology and praxis.The second section of the book looks at the unity and diversity of the Holiness and Pentecostal movements as they developed. Daniel Woods gives a captivating account of the role of the railroad between 1880 and 1920, both as a theological metaphor for salvation typified in gospel songs such as This Train Is Bound for Glory and as a practical method of transport for preaching the gospel and establishing new ecclesial communities. As well as rescuing key figures from relative obscurity, the strongest essays in the collection also offer new interpretive tools with which to view them, as when Cheryl Sanders makes imaginative and perceptive use of the lenses of the Womanist perspective offered by Alice Walker and the insights of H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture to evaluate the contribution of Black Radical Holiness women like Amanda Berry Smith, Mother Lizzy Robertson, and Mother Lilian Brookes Coffey.The concluding section of the volume offers some theological perspectives and begins with Frank Macchia’s reflection on the role of Christ as Spirit baptizer in Luke 3:16–17 and its relevance for Holiness and Pentecostal views of the atonement. The collection concludes where it began: in the academy, with an exploration of the importance of the work of the Cleveland School of Pentecostal scholars, which emerged from the Church of God Theological Seminary in Tennessee.This is a rich and fascinating collection of essays that offers a variety of historical and theological insights, the fruit of closer academic cooperation between two traditions with deep Wesleyan roots to the benefit of both. Along with the other planned volumes in the Penn State series, it is a hopeful sign that the sometime tendency toward isolationism described in the book’s introduction may become a thing of the past.