THE WHOLE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD (OIKOS): SOME ECCLESIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES: PART 1

In ecumenical discourse the "whole household of God" has emerged as a new theological root metaphor.  This metaphor integrates especially three ecumenical themes (based on the Greek root "oikos"), namely the quests for economic justice, ecological sustainability and ecumenical fellowship.  The metaphor may be used to refer to the family's household, the feloowship of churches, but also to a "wider ecumenicity" (the unity of humankind) and to the earth as God's house within which we live.