Apostolic and Prophetic

Ecclesiological Perspectives

Thiessen

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781630874124
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Apostolic and Prophetic promotes a vision of the church as apostolic, ecumenical, and radical. It explores the meaning of each of these ecclesial marks and their intrinsic connections. The volume thus draws a wide span between the apostolic past (tradition) and a radical perspective on the present and future ecumenical church. The book considers the concept of apostolicity emerging in patristic theology, and it examines this concept as it has been developed in some select Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Anglican ecumenical documents. Unresolved ecumenical questions concerning ecumenical method and church ministry are frankly discussed, including critical observations on ecumenical praxis. The modern notion of churches as denominations is examined in detail, especially in the Lutheran context. The author also offers a critical assessment of an important ecumenical event, the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The notion of a radical church--aware of its roots and prophetically committed to faith in the kingdom of God seeking freedom and justice--is explored through an extensive analysis and discussion of the work of Dorothee Solle and Terry Eagleton, two seminal thinkers of our time.

Part I

Apostolicity: Past, Present, Future

1

Ad fontes: Apostolicity in the Early Church

What does apostolicity mean in a modern context? Certainly it would be tempting to delve immediately into this subject. But concepts about the marks of the church—unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity—lead us right back into the roots of the church. An assessment of what apostolicity connotes today cannot be properly discussed without an inquiry into what it meant for the early followers of Christ and theologians, i.e., for those who founded the church and whose ideas about the notae ecclesiae therefore must be considered if one wants to be faithful to theology’s task of reinterpreting the Christian message in one’s own age and contexts.

The Gospels, Acts, and Paul

“Apostolos,” “someone who has been sent,” occurs eighty times in the New Testament. It can be translated as “messenger” of the Good News or “delegate” of Jesus.1 “Saliach,” the corresponding term in Hebrew, appears to have been used by the early Christian community, connoting someone who has been given full authority.2 The apostle has such authority that he or she can fully represent the one for whom they are a delegate. Further a “saliach” was understood as a prophet in the sense of the Hebrew Scriptures’ understanding of prophet since they spoke with the authority of God’s word, but which came to include the message of the crucified and risen Jesus.3 However, Jürgen Roloff and other New Testament scholars have shown that we cannot presuppose a unified concept of “apostle” in the early Christian communities.4 Rather there are already tensions between the concepts of Paul, on the one hand, and Luke, on the other. Roloff points out that it is the Pauline notion that is crucial as Paul is the only apostle from whom we have an authentic interpretation concerning his office.5 Paul often spoke about and defended his office.6 As he was not one of the original Twelve, he seems to have needed to do so in order to clarify his role, even though he regarded himself as the least of the apostles (1 Cor 15:9). While Paul takes up previous ideas on the role of the apostle, he also contradicts such notions; thus his interpretation “provides a key” also for pre-Pauline and other notions of apostolate of that period.7

In 1 Cor 15:1–11 Paul mentions those in Jerusalem who had been there before him to whom the risen Christ had revealed himself: Cephas (Peter), the Twelve, “five hundred brothers and sisters,” James (Jesus’ brother), “then to all the apostles. Last of all . . . he appeared also to me.”8 Although he sees himself as “unfit” to be called an apostle because he persecuted the Christians, he is deeply aware that it is God’s grace that has made him what he is and that he has “worked harder than any of them” (1 Cor 15:9–11). The Twelve “almost certainly” must be counted among the apostles, since Paul makes special mention of Peter as their leader.9 A significant difference between Paul’s and Luke’s understanding is the fact that the former has a much broader understanding of “apostle” than the latter who only regards the Twelve as apostles (Acts 1:21–26).

The apostles’ calling was a kerygmatic symbol of the twelve tribes of Israel in the eschaton, of Israel’s restoration and redemption. The choosing of the Twelve therefore involves a profound eschatological dimension; the entire concept of the church’s apostolicity and catholicity is underlined by this eschatological aspect born of resurrection faith.10 In Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, the kingdom had already been revealed. It was Jesus’ appearance after his resurrection that therefore “implied not only the confirmation of his own mission but also its revival for the disciples.”11 Luke makes clear that it is not just Jesus who institutes the apostles but that it is God who gives them their status; their choice is divine (Luke 6:12ff).12 In Acts 1:2, moreover, we read that Jesus chose his apostles through the Holy Spirit. In this way one might speak of the triune God who chose the apostles, even if the dogma of the Trinity was, of course, not to be formulated for some centuries.

Wolfhart Pannenberg observes that “the apostolic” (das Apostolische) does not just entail “the conservation” of apostolic teaching, but, above all, the “presentation of the finality, i.e., the truth of that which occurred in the person of Jesus and was proclaimed by the apostles . . . the future truth . . . which is bringing this incomplete world to its completion.”13 The Twelve therefore are the symbol of God’s covenant with God’s people “now entering into its final, eschatological realization.”14 For Luke their “primary task lies in the future.”15 Roloff notes that while there is no reason to doubt the pre-Easter Twelve as being historical, one should not over-emphasize their importance. Although they were central in building the original community in Jerusalem, they were soon pushed aside from their leading functions. Already in ca. 35/37 AD, on his first visit to Jerusalem, Paul did not find the Twelve but the “apostles” whose leaders were Cephas and James. James did not belong to the circle of the Twelve. Further, it is quite certain that Andronikus and Junias also belonged to the apostles in Jerusalem. Thus in a very short time the concept of the Twelve lost its importance in the emergent communities.16

For Paul, then, the criterion of being an apostle is the calling and sending out by the risen Christ (1 Cor 15). This calling happens through God’s grace. In this way he can see himself as an apostle as he knows he has been chosen by Christ. Luke, on the other hand, limits the notion of apostle to those who are witnesses to the earthly Jesus and to his resurrection (Acts 1:21–22). He therefore did not regard Paul as an apostle. It appears that both Mark (6:30) and Matthew (10:2) shared this view. 17

While in Jerusalem the apostolate was constituted by having been called and sent by the resurrected Christ, some rather different criteria developed in Antioch, its Syrian hinterland and in Gentile mission areas. Here we find an apostolate that was pneumatic and charismatic with a clear aim of mission.18 In Acts 13:1–4 Paul and Barnabas are sent out through the Holy Spirit to mission (Cyprus). In Acts 14:4,14, Paul and Barnabas, on mission (in Iconium), are referred to as apostles. This, in fact, is the only time that Luke acknowledges Paul as an apostle. Thus both were regarded as apostles in Antioch since the Holy Spirit had sent them to bring the Good News to the Gentiles. Hence in addition to the calling and sending, and the apostles’ eschatological motivation, there is another dimension, the pneumatological one. It is for this reason that the wandering apostles were at times regarded as...

Table of contents

• Book Title
• Introduction
• Part 1
• Chapter 1: Ad fontes: Apostolicity in the Early Church
• Chapter 2: Apostolicity in Select Ecumenical Documents of the Anglican, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic Churches
• Chapter 3: Looking Ahead: Possibilities and Challenges in Ecclesiology and Ecumenical Dialogue
• Part 2
• Chapter 4: Denominations: Churches in (Post)modernity—The Lutheran Church (A Case Study)
• Chapter 5: Ecumenism in Praxis: Critical Observations on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
• Part 3
• Chapter 6: A Theology of Liberation: Dorothee Sölle
• Chapter 7: A New Left Church? Terry Eagleton
• Conclusion