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Achtemeier, Paul J. The Quest for Unity in the New Testament Church: A Study in Paul and Acts. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987. This is a theological and historical examination of the problems the early church faced concerning the nature and extent of its unity. The books of Acts and Galatians receive primary attention.
Avis, Paul D. L. The Church in the Theology of the Reformers. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1981. Avis deals with three aspects of Reformation ecclesiology: the doctrine of "the true church" and its marks; the structure of the ministry of the church; and the rise of the Protestant missionary concern.
Banks, Robert J. Paul's Idea of Community: The Early House Churches in their Historical Setting. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980. Although not a technical investigation, this is a substantive analysis of the meaning and practice of community as it appears in Paul's letters. Banks places Paul within his sociological context and compares him with his contemporaries.
Barrett, C. K. Church, Ministry, and Sacraments in the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985. The content of this book was originally four lectures dealing with the unity of the church. In addition to discussing the character of ministry and the role of the sacraments, the author treats the transition from Jesus to the church and the development that takes place within the NT and apostolic fathers.
Barth, Markus. Israel and the Church: Contribution to a Dialogue Vital for Peace. Richmond: John Knox Press, 1969. Barth attempts to come to grips with some of the issues in the Jewish-Christian debate. He deals with questions regarding the Messiah, the Bible, the nature of obedient faith, and the basis of community and peace.
Barth, Markus. The People of God. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series, 5. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1983. Barth deals with the problems posed by Paul's statements on the people of God, the unity of this people, and the resulting consequences.
Best, Ernest. One Body in Christ: a Study in the Relationship of the Church to Christ in the Epistles of the Apostle Paul. London: SPCK, 1955. Best provides a classic treatment of expressions such as "in Christ," "with Christ," "into Christ," "body of Christ," and "bride of Christ" in order to define the relationship between Christ and his Church.
Birkey,Del. The House Church: A Model for Renewing the Church. Scottdale: Herald Press, 1988. This is an attempt to balance a vertical theology of revelation with a horizontal theology of relationships. Birkey uses the first house churches as a model for contemporary ministry in the hope of revitalizing today's churches.
Bloesch, Donald G. Crumbling Foundations. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984. Bloesch is concerned about the moral and spiritual decay in western culture and seeks to fortify Christians and the witness of the Church.
Boff, Leonardo. Church, Charism, and Power: Liberation and the Institutional Church. Translated by John Diercksmeier. New York: Crossroad, 1985. This Latin American liberation analysis and critique of the institutional church caused controversy, but also calls for new models of the church focused on the poor and issues of justice.
Boff, Leonardo. Ecclesiogenesis: The Base Communities Reinvent the Church. Translated by Robert R. Barr. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1986. Boff reacts against the institutional church and emphasizes the role of the laity in carrying forward the mission of the church. He argues for a participationist model of the church and also discusses the sacraments and the role of women in the church.
Brooks, Stephenson H. Matthew's Community. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987. This is a technical study of select Matthean sayings in an attempt to reconstruct the Matthean community.
Brown, Raymond E. The Churches the Apostles Left Behind. New York: Paulist Press, 1984.Brown investigates the early Christian communities from the viewpoint of their diverse understanding of what was important for survival and growth after the death of the apostles. He treats such topics as church structure, the body of Christ, and the people of God.
Carson, D. A. The Church in the Bible and the World: An International Study. Grand Rapids:Baker Book House, 1987. This is a collection of essays by evangelical scholars on topics related to the identity and mission of the church. Most of the articles are biblically oriented discussions of the church, its worship, and its ministry.
Cerfaux, L. The Church in the Theology of St. Paul. Translated by Geoffrey Webb and Adrian Walker. Freiburg: Herder and Herder, 1959. This is a major attempt to write a Pauline theology of the church. Cerfaux divides his treatment into three sections: God's people; Christian experience; and the church heavenly. The last section discusses the element of mystery in the theology of the church.
Clements, R. E. God's Chosen People: A Theological Interpretation of the Book of Deuteronomy. London: SCM, 1968. This book discusses Israel's special relationship with God and treats such issues as the covenant of God with his people, divine election, worship, and such gifts of God as the land, the law, and the prophets.
Cole, Alan. The Body of Christ: A New Testament Image of the Church. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1964. Cole gives a brief biblical study which examines the significance of the metaphorical description of the church as the body of Christ.
Davies, Horton, ed. Studies of the Church in History: Essays Honoring Robert S. Paul on his Sixty-fifth Birthday. Allison Park, PA: Pickwick Publications, 1983. These articles deal with a variety of topics that intersect with ecclesiology: biblical subjects; the Cappodocians; English preaching; aspects of church life in Canada, America, and Australia; ecumenicity; and specific articles on P. T. Forsyth and on Horace Bushnell's congregation.
Dieter, Melvin E. and Berg, Daniel N., eds. The Church: An Inquiry into Ecclesiology from a Biblical-Theological Perspective. Vol.4: Wesleyan Theological Perspectives. Anderson: Warner Press, 1972. This collection of essays seeks to provide a biblical, theological, historical, and practical understanding of the church. Three of the articles deal with the ecclesiology of John Wesley.
Doohan, Helen. Paul's Vision of Church. Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1989. This book examines the growth of the early church, the church's character in the first century, Paul's experience in specific communities, and the essential components in his ecclesiology.
Downing, Gerald F. The Church and Jesus: A Study in History, Philosophy, and Theology. Studies in Biblical Theology, Second Series. London: SCM Press, 1968. Downing's book focuses on the quest for the historical primitive church. He deals with the methodological issues in such a quest more than with a resultant ecclesiology.
Dudley, Carl S. and Hilgert, Earle. New Testament Tensions and the Contemporary Church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987. The authors focus on the tensions in the NT church in order to deal with issues that face contemporary congregations: community formation, counterculture Christianity, faith crisis and witnessing, using conflict constructively, and the use of rituals.
Dulles, Avery Robert. Models of the Church. Revised edition. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1987. Writing from a Roman Catholic perspective, Dulles gives a comparative ecclesiology using a number of different models in order to deal with such topics as mystical communion, sacraments, eschatology, and revelation. This revised edition includes a chapter on the church as a community of disciples.
Dulles, Avery. The Resilient Church: The Necessity and Limits of Adaptation. Garden City, NY, 1977. In this work Dulles assesses Catholic ecclesiology since Vatican II and seeks to move it forward. He discusses nine issues, but the underlying theme is the mission of the church to be nothing other than the church.
Esler, Philip Francis. Community and Gospel in Luke-Acts: The Social and Political Motivations of Lucan Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. This book deals with the social and political influences on Luke's theology and the identity of his community. It also explores the use of "law," the temple, Luke's theology of the poor and rich, and the view of ancestral politics in Rome.
Flew, R. Newton. Jesus and His Church: A Study of the Idea of the Ecclesia in the New Testament. New York: Abingdon Press, 1938. This is a classic treatment of the church in the New Testament in which Flew attempts to discern the central idea of the ecclesia. He deals with the question of whether there is room for the idea of ecclesia in the teaching of Jesus, with the history of the early church and with the teaching of the apostles.
Forsyth, P. T. The Church and the Sacraments. London: Independent Press, 1955. This is a collection of lectures on Forsyth's views of the church and the sacraments. Forsyth writes from a Free Church tradition and deals with issues such as unity, baptism, and communion.
Gager, J. G. Kingdom and Community: The Social World of Early Christianity. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1975. This book is rooted in the conception of early Christianity as a social world in the making. It explores such topics as the relationship between religion and social status, the enthusiastic character of the earliest Christian communities, transformation into religious and social institutions, and the emergence of Christianity as the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.
Hall, Douglas John. The Future of the Church: Where are We Headed ? The United Church Publishing House, 1989. This study examines the history of the church in order to lay a foundation for the church's future. It describes responses to the discouragement Christians have been conditioned to assume and the potential for the future of the church in being a cruciform body of Christ.
Halton, Thomas. The Church. Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1985. Halton gives a patristic commentary on the Lumen Gentium, the magisterial document devoted to the subject of the church by the Second Vatican Council in 1964. The author presents quotations from the church fathers to explain the mystery of the church.
Hanson, Anthony T. The Church of the Servant. London: SCM Press, 1962. This small book is an examination of the idea of servanthood from the perspectives of Israel, Jesus, and the NT church. The intent is to remind the present church of its servant character.
Hanson, Anthony. The Meaning of Unity: A Study of a Biblical Theme. London: The Highway Press, 1954. Hanson presents an examination of the idea of unity in both testaments in order to explain the basis of the unity of the church.
Hanson, Paul D. The People Called: The Growth of Community in the Bible. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987. This is thorough study of both testaments focused on the notion of living together in community. Hanson views this idea as the unifying theme of the Bible. He deals with a wide diversity of theological traditions (i.e., priestly, sapiental, and apocalyptic) and the unique contributions they make in the Bible.
Hanson, Stig. The Unity of the Church in the New Testament: Colossians and Ephesians. Uppsala, 1946. This dissertation analyzes the idea of unity in two epistles where the subject is emphasized, but over half the book treats material outside Ephesians and Colossians. Hanson investigates the OT and Judaism, Jesus teaching in the synoptics, and Paul's teaching in other letters. Hanson finds eschatology to be characteristic of the biblical conception of unity.
Harrington, Daniel J. The Light of All Nations: Essays on the Church in New Testarnent Research. Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1982. This is a collection of essays on the church in the NT. It is an attempt to give a record of some of the major issues facing the church in recent years.
Harrington, D. J. God's People in Christ: New Testament Perspectives on the Church and Judaism. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980. Harrington explores the biblical foundations for the concept of the church as the people of God and the special relationship that it implies the church has with God. He focuses on specific texts and attempts to find the original meaning and its relevance for today.
Harrison, Everett F. The Apostolic Church. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985. This is a topical study on the developments in the early years of the life of the Christian church. It is divided into sections on gospel history and apostolic history.
Hinson, Glenn E. Understanding of the Church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986. Hinson attempts to give a better understanding of the church and an appreciation of how Christianity of the twentieth century still reflects the first church. He plots the historical basis on which the modern church is based by using material from the church fathers. He deals with topics such as martyrdom, unity, apostolic tradition, prayer, and baptism.
Hodgson, Peter. Revisioning the Church: Ecclesial Freedom in the New Paradigm. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988. The author argues that a new paradigm is emerging because of various crises that modern society and the modern church have experienced. He seeks to work out a theology of the church in the context of this new paradigm.
Jay, Eric G. The Church: Its Changing Image Through Twenty Centuries. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1977. By tracing the history of the church Jay attempts to answer the questions about the church's identity and purpose. He provides a historical study of doctrine broken into six periods: the NT church, the patristic period, the medieval period, the Reformation, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the twentieth century.
Jervell, Jacob. Luke and the People of God: A New Look at Luke-Acts. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1972. The central theme of these essays is Luke's ecclesiology, the identity of the church as heir to the promises of Israel, and the alienation of Jewish Christians due to the rumors about Paul.
Käsemann, E. "Ministry and Community in the New Testament," Essays on New Testament Themes. Translated by W. J. Montague. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982. This is an important essay showing the basis, character, and activity of the church. The same volume has an essay on the canon and the unity of the church.
Keck, Leander. The Church Confident: Christianity Can Repent, but It Must not Whimper. Nashville: Abingdon, 1993. This book was originally lectures addressing the subject of the renewal of mainline Protestantism. After describing the malaise afflicting mainline Protestantism, Keck treats four major subjects and their importance for the modern church: worship; theology; ethos; and communication.
Kolbenschlag, Madonna. Authority, Community and Conflict. Kansas City: Sheed and Ward, 1986. This is a collection of documents from the Vatican and the Sisters of Mercy concerning three sisters who pursued political office. It looks at the political, social, and theological impact that surrounded this conflict.
Kress, Robert. The Church: Communion, Sacrament, Communication. New York: Paulist Press, 1985. Seeking to avoid previous controversies about the church, the author argues for the origin of the church in the saving will of God. In addition to chapters that focus on the three topics of the title, a chapter is devoted to God and religion.
Kromminga, John H. All One Body We: The Doctrine of the Church in Ecumenical Perspective. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970. This is a look at a divided church and the doctrines that caused the divisions. This book seeks to answer the questions about the church's future and its present existence. It attempts to determine whether anything has happened to the respective ecclesiologies over the past forty years.
Küng, H. The Church. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1967. Kung seeks to answer the question how we know the church is on the right path. He seeks to discern what the church of today should be in light of the gospel. He examines the history, eschatology, structure, and offices of the church.
Kung, Hans and Swidler, Leonard. The Church in Anguish: Has the Vatican Betrayed Vatican II? San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986. This is a collection of essays, mainly by Catholic theologians, showing the sharp contrast between the church of today and that of Vatican II.
Lacocque, André. But as for Me: The Question of Election in the Life of God 's People Today. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1973. Lacocque deals with the question what it means to be called by God. His study of the theology of election seeks to recover the true identity of the church. He examines suffering, self sacrifice, and commitment.
Lohfink, Gerhard. Jesus and Community. Translated by John P. Galvin. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982. This is an examination of the relationship between Jesus and Israel and of Jesus and his disciples. Lohfink also discusses the role of discipleship in the ancient church.
Macdonald, Margaret, Y. The Pauline Churches: A Socio-historical Study of Institutionalization in the Pauline and Deutero-Pauline Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. This is a socio-historical study which traces the institutionalization of various aspects of community life.
Martin, Ralph P. The Family and the Fellowship: New Testament Images of the Church. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979. This is a summary of NT images of the church and its role in the believer's life.
Martin, Ralph P. The Spirit and the Congregation: Studies in I Corinthians 12-15. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1984. Martin attempts to answer the questions how we should deal with charismatic claims that speaking in tongues authenticates one's Christianity and with Paul's writings on women's roles in the church. He also addresses the issue of whether public worship in mainstream denominations is at odds with Pauline thought.
McKelvey, R. J. The New Temple: The Church in the New Testament. London: Oxford University Press, 1969. This is a discussion of the church as God's new temple. It provides a thorough examination of the idea of the temple in the OT, the NT, and noncannonical writings.
Meyer, Ben F. The Church in Three Tenses. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971. Meyer attempts to answer the question what the Christian is to believe with respect to the church. He addresses the question with reference to the past, present and future.
Minear, Paul S. Images of the Church in the New Testament. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960. This classic treatment analyzes 96 images of the church in the NT to develop an ecclesiology. In addition to analyzing the images and their interrelation, Minear provides instruction in understanding and interpreting images.
Moltmann, Jürgen. The Church in the Power of the Spirit. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993. Moltmann gives an interpretation of the theological traditions of the church. He intends to confront the insecurities of a church dealing with rapid change in external circumstances, the progress of science and technology, and a simultaneously growing threat through social, military and ecological conflicts.
Nygren, Anders, ed. This is the Church. Translated by Carl C. Rasmussen. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1952. Nygren discusses three theological issues facing the church: the doctrine of the nature of the church, the nature of the word of God, and the evangelical view of the sacraments.
O'Grady, Colm. The Church in Catholic Theology: Dialogue with Karl Barth. London: Geoffrey Chapman,1969. O'Grady uses Karl Barth's doctrine of the church to question and reshape current Catholic ecclesiology. He also critiques Barth's ecclesiology.
Panikulam, G. Koinonia in the New Testament: A Dynamic Expression of Christian Life. Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1979. This is an in-depth study of fellowship in the NT. It discusses such specifics as koinonia with the Son, the body and blood of Christ, the Spirit, scripture, faith, and the collection .
Pannenberg, Wolfhart. The Church. Translated by Keith Crim. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983. This is an examination of the unity of the church, the theological and doctrinal issues surrounding it and the decline in church attendance.
Rikhof, Herwi. The Concept of Church: A Methodological Inquiry into the Use of Metaphors in Ecclesiology. London: Sheed and Ward, 1981. This is a study of Lumen Gentium, the dogmatic description of the church. He surveys a number of publications dealing with this document.
Robinson, John A. T. The Body: A Study in Pauline Theology. Studies in Biblical Theology. London: SCM Press, 1952. Robinson writes this book for two reasons: 1) to study humanity and the pertinence of the gospel; 2) to treat the Pauline concept of the body in its social, political, and religious implications.
Roetzel, Calvin J. Judgment in the Community: A Study of the Relationship between Eschatology and Ecclesiology in Paul. Leiden: Brill, 1972. This book creates an eschatological model to inform and guide the church. It discusses the relationship between judgment and the church and shows how this idea is closely linked to Jewish thought.
Russell, Letty M. Church in the Round. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993. Russell describes a community of faith working to embody God's new creation by becoming partners with those who are on the fringe of society and church.
Sampley, J. Paul. Pauline Partnership in Christ: Christian Community and Commitment in Light of Roman Law. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980. This is an identification and analysis of Paul's use of partnership as a model of Christian community. It deals with the issues of Christian freedom, imitation of Paul, the collection for the saints, Paul's support for his preaching, and his claims about Timothy and Titus.
Schillebeeckx, Edward. Church: The Human Story of God. London: SCM Press, 1990. This book was intended to be an ecclesiological third part of a trilogy Jesus-Christ-Church, but conflict with the Roman Catholic Church led to changes. Much more space is given to the heart of the gospel and the Christian religion, especially to language and revelation, to humanity's search for God, and God's search for humaity, and to the mission of Jesus. The last is offered as the basis of the church, and attention is given to the democratic rule of the church as the community of God.
Schnackenburg, Rudolph. The Church in the New Testament. New York: Herder and Herder, 1965. This is a work in four parts which attempts to trace the nature and mystery of the church. It deals with the fundamental characteristics, the theology, the essential features, and the mystery of the church.
Schneider, Johannes. Church and World in the New Testament. Macon: Mercer University Press, 1983. Schneider presents a NT perspective on how the church and the world are both opposed and related to each other. He includes treatments of the relation of church and state, of husband and wife, of parent and child, of Christians and possessions, and of personal behavior of the Christian in the world.
Schwarz, Hans. The Christian Church. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1982. In order to prepare for the church's future, the author discusses briefly the origin of the church and the structure of the NT church, but the bulk of this work is a historical, systematic approach to the church's character and mission.
Schweizer, Eduard. Church Order in the New Testament. London: SCM Press, 1979. Schweizer presents a comprehensive examination of the church in the NT and the apostolic fathers. He treats both the diversity of views and the unity found in these writings. He also discusses issues relating to church office, ministry, and ordination.
Schweizer, Eduard. The Church as the Body of Christ. Richmond: John Knox Press, 1964. This is an attempt to describe what members of the early Christian Church thought when they spoke about the body of Christ. Included is a treatment of the NT understanding of humanity.
Seitz, Oscar J. F. One Body and One Spirit: A Study of the Church in the New Testament. Greenwich: Seabury Press, 1960. This is a brief overview of the first church, Jesus and his congregation in Israel, and the growth and development of the church.
Shaw, Joseph M. The Pilgrim People of God: Recovering a Biblical Motif. Minneapolis:Augsburg, 1990. Shaw attempts to show that God approaches the human race by creating a people who are to worship and bear witness to him. He traces the theme of the people of God throughout the Bible and the church's history.
Sobrino, Jon. The True Church and the Poor. Translated by Matthew J. O'Connell. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1984. This is not an ecclesiology, but rather an attempt to shed light from a Latin-American perspective on basic problems faced by the church.
Steinmetz, David G. Memory and Mission. Nashville: Abingdon, 1988. In nine essays Steinmetz deals with the problem of collective amnesia in American Protestant Churches. He addresses a church that has a passion for action over thought and whose agendas are often set by secular culture.
Tillapaugh, Frank R. The Church Unleashed. Ventura: Regal Books, 1982. Tillapaugh analyzes the unique methods of growth in the Bear Valley Baptist Church in the late 70's and early 80's. He presents the strategy and structures used to bring about renewal and in the process treats a variety of topics, from identifying target groups to developing a global vision.
Tonkin, John. The Church and the Secular Order in Reformation Thought. New York: Colombia University Press, 1971. This is a treatment of the Reformers' thoughts concerning the problem of the institutional church. It deals with the theological, eschatological, and christological views of the church as an institution in the writings of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Menno Simons.
Watson, David. I Believe in the Church. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978. This is not a theological treatise but rather a biblical treatment of what God intends the church to be. The author seeks a renewal of a church that has lost confidence and credibility. He also treats the current differences between Roman Catholics and other communities.
Williams, Colin W. The Church. New Directions in Theology Today, Volume IV. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1952. Williams looks at the changing role of the church in a changing world. He examines the traditional and dogmatic approaches of various groups (Catholic, classical Protestant, and Free Church) and also treats the structures found in each.
Yorke, Gosnell L. O. R. The Church as the Body of Christ in the Pauline Corpus: A Reexamination. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1991. Yorke reexamines Paul's use of "body." He investigates the relation of Christ's risen body and the church as body and also the use of "head" in relation to body. He not only provides an overview of the discussion, but also treats the relevant passages in l Corinthians, Romans, Ephesians, and Colossians.
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