<\/p>
In his book on the Motherhood of the church, Henri de Lubac notes that \u201cCalvin attached such importance [to the notion of the church as mother] that some reproached him for setting up in that way a divine \u2018quaternity.\u2019\u201d Yet, de Lubac is critical of Calvin: \u201cIn our own century, Karl Barth has gone even father [than Calvin]; he considers that Calvin did not really understand the full significance of the thesis expressed in his image of maternity. Why, he asks, does the author of the Christian Institute <\/em> begin to speak of the Church only in the fourth book, as one of those extterna media vel adminicula <\/em> -of the highest importance without doubt, but still \u2018exterior\u2019 \u2013 by which God invites us to and keeps us within the community of Christ?\u201d It is a good question. Barth goes on to argue that an apostle would never \u201chave dreamed of considering the community as a mere \u2018external means\u2019 serving the salvation of individual Christians.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In his book on the Motherhood of the church, Henri de Lubac notes that \u201cCalvin attached such importance [to the notion of the church as mother] that some reproached him for setting up in that way a divine \u2018quaternity.\u2019\u201d Yet, de Lubac is critical of Calvin: \u201cIn our own century, Karl Barth has gone even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology-ecclesiology"],"yoast_head":"\n