I want to help \u201ccongregations\u201d or \u201clocal churches\u201d to thrive.\u00a0 What I mean by that is that churches should be sitting under the Scriptures, practicing communion and baptism, living ethically like Jesus, and communicating the gospel to outsiders.\u00a0 In my work, I draw upon what I have identified as 13 different types of books which all focus on this goal.\u00a0 The problem is that I have had to discover these various conversations happening in different guilds, conferences, associations, and academies.\u00a0 I think there is significant overlap in content among these books.\u00a0 For the sake of clarity, I have limited my list to books written by professors for an academic audience rather than popular books by pastors written for other pastors.\u00a0 I have given examples to show what I am thinking by each category.\u00a0 My hope is that identifying the current silos will help people start talking to one another. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
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- constructive ecclesiologies that explain the position of one denomination or tradition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>For example, I have been drawing upon:baptist ecclesiology<\/strong>\u00a0(Towards Baptist Catholicity: Essays on Tradition and the Baptist Vision<\/em>\u00a0by Steven R. Harmon;\u00a0Tracks and Traces: Baptist Identity in Church and Theology<\/em>\u00a0by Paul S. Fiddes;\u00a0Free Church, Free State: The Positive Baptist Vision<\/em>\u00a0by Nigel Wright;\u00a0On Being the Church: Revisioning Baptist Identity<\/em>\u00a0edited by Brian Haymes, Ruth Gouldbourne, and Anthony R. Cross;\u00a0Can These Bones Live?: A Catholic Baptist Engagement with Ecclesiology, Hermeneutics, and Social Theory<\/em>\u00a0by Barry Harvey;\u00a0Systematic Theology<\/em>\u00a0(three volumes) by James McClendon); Very similar is\u00a0free church ecclesiology<\/strong>\u00a0(After Our Likeness<\/em>\u00a0by Miroslav Volf) and\u00a0anabaptist ecclesiology<\/strong>\u00a0(Royal Priesthood<\/em>\u00a0by John Howard Yoder).\u00a0 Someone else will want to read in their tradition:\u00a0\u00a0Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed, Wesleyan, Pentecostal\/Charismatic<\/strong>ecclesiology.\u00a0 One should also be familiar with the denomination\u2019s polity or book of order or book of discipline. \u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n2.\u00a0ecclesiological surveys\u00a0<\/strong>(An Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical & Global Perspectives<\/em>\u00a0by Veli-Matti K\u00e4rkk\u00e4inen;\u00a0Models of the Church<\/em>\u00a0by Avery Dulles;\u00a0Household of God<\/em>\u00a0by Lesslie Newbigin).\u00a0 All three of these books give very interesting and useful perspectives on the above range of ecclesiological perspectives.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/font>\n<\/span>3.\u00a0evangelical ecclesiology<\/strong>\u00a0(Evangelical Ecclesiology: Reality or Illusion?<\/em>edited by John Stackhouse;\u00a0The Community Of The Word: Toward An Evangelical Ecclesiology\u00a0<\/em>edited by Mark Husbands and Daniel J. Treier;Exploring Ecclesiology: An Evangelical and Ecumenical Introduction<\/em>\u00a0by Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger).\u00a0 \u2018Evangelical\u2019 means a trans-denominational phenomenon consistent with David Bebbington\u2019s definition (biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism, activism).\u00a0 Thus churches from different traditions or denominations may have some things in common.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n4.\u00a0New Testament ecclesiology<\/strong>\u00a0(Church, Ministry, and Sacraments in the New Testament<\/em>\u00a0by C. K. Barrett;\u00a0\u00a0A Vision for the Church: Studies in Early Christian Ecclesiology<\/em>. edited by Markus Bockmuehl\u00a0 and Michael B. Thompson;\u00a0Community Formation: in the Early Church and in the Church Today\u00a0<\/em>edited by Richard N. Longenecker;\u00a0The Churches the Apostles Left Behind\u00a0<\/em>by Raymond Brown).\u00a0 These books tend to have an anti-bureaucracy, anti-hierarchical flavor since they focus on the earliest Christian communities as depicted in the New Testament which did not have a lot of time to evolve into institutions.\u00a0 These books describe the various ways the church has been described in the New Testament.\u00a0 See also my\u00a0Working bibliography of biblical studies books on ecclesiology<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/a><\/span>5.\u00a0church planting<\/strong>\u00a0(Church Planting<\/em>\u00a0by Stuart Murray;\u00a0Planting Missional Churches\u00a0<\/em>by Ed Stetzer;\u00a0Evaluating Fresh Expressions: Explorations in Emerging Church: Emerging Theological and Practical Models<\/em>\u00a0edited by Martyn Percy and Louise Nelstrop). Reflection on new local churches which is an issue all denominations are reflecting on.\u00a0 There is thus enormous variety within this category.\u00a0 See also the bibliographies byStetzer<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Bryan Stone<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n