Course Description
This course will present the theology of the Church following the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council. We will explore the images used in Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium to express the nature of the Church (People of God, Body of Christ, Temple of the Spirit, etc.); the Four properties or “notes” of the Church in the Creed (One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic) and several systematic definitions (Mystery, Sacrament, Communion, Person). Then we will examine the questions of Church membership, hierarchy, mission, ministries, states of life, and relations with other Churches or ecclesial communities.
Bibliography
BENOIT-DOMINIQUE de LA SOUJEOLE, O.P., Introduction to the Mystery of the Church, Washington, D.C., Catholic University of America Press, “Thomistic ressourcement series, 3”, 2014;
GUY MANSINI, OSB, Ecclesiology, Washington, D.C., Catholic University of America Press, “Sacra doctrina”, 2021;
LOUIS BOUYER, The Church of God – Body of Christ and Temple of the Spirit, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2011 (Franciscan Herald Press, 1982);
Card. CHARLES JOURNET, The Theology of the Church, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2004;
AIDAN NICHOLS, O.P., Figuring out the Church, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2013.