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Who is the Church?
Author(s) -
Peterson Cheryl M.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
dialog
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.114
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1540-6385
pISSN - 0012-2033
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6385.2011.00651.x
Subject(s) - identity (music) , event (particle physics) , theology , ecclesiology , identity crisis , sociology , eucharist , religious studies , philosophy , aesthetics , face (sociological concept) , social science , physics , quantum mechanics
Abstract : Although the question of survival is on the mind of most mainline congregations in the United States, the real crisis facing the churches is one of identity. After briefly reviewing three theological paradigms for the church (Word‐event, communion, and missio dei ), I propose that the question of the church's identity is best answered by returning to the “story of the church,” which properly “starts with the Spirit,” and by reclaiming a concept of the church as a Spirit‐breathed people who are called and sent .