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Old Testament and Church Ministries in Two Ecumenical Dialogues
Author(s) -
Mueller, SJ Joseph G.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
international journal of systematic theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.149
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1468-2400
pISSN - 1463-1652
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2400.2004.00132.x
Subject(s) - revelation , ecclesiology , new testament , institution , theology , realization (probability) , philosophy , work (physics) , focus (optics) , biblical theology , sociology , political science , law , optics , mechanical engineering , statistics , physics , mathematics , engineering
To understand any church institution as founded by Jesus, one must take account of its relationship to his work of bringing the Old Testament revelation and its institutions to their eschatological realization. A sample of the work of recent ecumenical dialogues (BEM and the international Lutheran– Roman Catholic document on church and justification) shows that their discussions of church institutions have failed to do this adequately. This failure has complicated the efforts at unity to which these dialogues intend to contribute. Attention to the Old Testament roots of church institutions can help ecumenical ecclesiology to focus better on some important issues.