Ecclesiology: Unity and Diversity in Catholic Christianity

Module Description:

The module begins with the origins of the self-understanding of Church in the New Testament, and its antecedent history in the Hebrew Bible. It then outlines some of the developments that have taken place over the last 2,000 years.

Next there is a careful study of key texts in contemporary Catholic self-understanding, as articulated in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, principally Lumen Gentium, studied with and alongside other key texts have have direct bearing on ecclesiology, ‘Ad Gentes Divinitus’, ‘Unitatis Redintegratio’, and ‘Orientalium Ecclesiarum’.

The module studies some of the contested issues in Church governance today; the relation between Papal primacy and Episcopal sacramentality and the related  theological issue of the relation between local Church and universal Church, the issue of in Church governance and ministry, and the contested issues in the theology of the magisterium.

Catholicity’s unity in diversity is carefully studied as the communion of Churches with diverse liturgical rites and canonical arrangements. One seminar will deal with church architecture and the theological understandings expressed therein.

Indicative Bibliography:

Buckley, M., Papal Primacy and the Episcopate: Towards a relational understanding (Crossroad: New York, 1998).
Congar, I., Diversity and Communion (Mystic, Conn.: Twenty-third Publications, 1982).
Curl, J.S., Irish Cathedrals and Abbeys (London:Caxton Editions, 2002).
Dulles A., The Priest Office: A Theological Reflection (London: Paulist Press, 1997).
Dulles A., Magisterium: Teacher and Guardian of the Faith (Naples, Florida: Sapienta Press, 2007).
Gaillardetz, R., The Church in the Making (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 2006).
Gaillardetz, R., Teaching with Authority: A Theology of the Magisterium, (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1997).
Hurley R., Irish Church Architecture In the Era of Vatican II (Dublin: Dominican Publications, 2001).
Johnson E., The Church Women Want: Catholic Women in Dialogue,  (New York Crossroads, 2002).
Sullivan F.A., Creative Fidelity: Weighing and Interpreting Documents of the Magisterium (Dublin: Gill and MacMillan, 1996).
Sullivan, F.A., Magisterium: Teaching Authority in the Catholic Church  (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2002).

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

• Explain the origin of the Church in the New Testament.
• Evaluate the ecclesiology of Vatican II in the core document ‘Lumen Gentium’
• Explain the links between ‘Lumen Gentium’ and the other documents which articulate the ecumenical and the missionary dimensions of Church understanding
• Evaluate the argumentation in contemporary contested issues such as gender roles in ministry and the relationship between the local and the universal
• Explain the vision of unity in diversity within the communion of the Churches centred on Papal ministry.
• Recognise and convey the theological significance of Church architecture.

Methods of Assessment and Student Workload:

Annual examination and essay.