Veli-Matti karkkainen

I’m reading a great text on Ecclesiology right now by Veli-Matti Karkkainen. He divides his study of ecclesiology into sections according to denominations first:

– Eastern Orthodox
– Roman Catholic
– Lutheran
– Free Church
– Pentecostal/Charismatic
– Ecumenical

Next he considers the ecclesiologies of some of the leading theologians writing in this specific discipline:

– John Zizioulas
– Hans Kung
– Wolfhart Pannenberg
– Jurgen Moltmann
– Miroslav Volf
– James McClendon Jr.
– Lesslie Newbigin

The last section is working on some of the more specialized themes such as feminism, African church as well as Asia and Latin America. I’m just starting in on the second section. This is a great quote from the section on Zizioulas:

“The Spirit is not something that animates a church that already exists. ‘Pneumatology does not refer to the well-being but to the very being of the church.’ In other words, pneumatology is an ontological category in ecclesiology.” p100

Yes! I love how much emphasis Zizioulas, Moltmann, and Pannenberg place on the role of the Holy Spirit. From Zizioulas, as an Orthodox Metropolitan it’s not surprising. However from the good Lutherans, it is or at least it could be.