Ecclesiology: noun, \ i-ˌklē-zē-ˈä-lə-jē, plural ecclesiologies. The meanings given refer either to the study of the doctrine of the Church, or oftentimes the study of church adornments and furnishing. It’s the former definition I’m about in this post and this is where the waters get muddy to the point of opaqueness. There seems to be a nearly infinite number of ecclesiologies floating about in Christian circles. Some of them refer to forms of church government, some to church membership, some to forms of worship. Lately I’ve been reflecting on a rather different approach to ecclesiology, that of Inigo Montoya. If you don’t know who he is, read the next paragraph; if you do, skip that and read on.
In the fall of 1987, the movie The Princess Bride hit the theatres and soon became a cult hit with a number of memorable lines. Perhaps the most frequently repeated came from Mandy Patinkin in the role of the swordsman Inigo Montoya. The leader of the outlaw group (Wallace Shawn as Vizzini) keeps responding to every unexpected event with the word “inconceivable!” Eventually Inigo Montoya confronts Vizzini: “Inconceivable? You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.”
The useful thing about Inigo’s line about misusing the word “inconceivable” is that so many terms will do just as well, such as: “Church? You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.” In reading the New Testament to examine the direct and indirect references to the Church led me to the conclusion that the first definition of Church against which all other uses must be tested is that Church is a community. It is not the leadership, though leaders are obviously part of that community. Nor is it buildings, nor denominations nor any other of the manifold uses of the word church in our common speech.
Perhaps a better way of phrasing it is that many of the uses of the word church may well be accurate but at the same time when addressing the question “What is the church?” those uses are at best misleading and at worst, useless. I am not offering a definitive answer to that question, only suggesting that a) the question is important and b) that the answer may be more complex and challenging than we think.
I know that this questioning puts me at odds with my own tradition, and in fact with centuries of consensus. From An Outline of the Faith in the Book of Common Prayer:
Q. How is Prayer: Church described in the Bible?
A. The Church is described as the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head and of which all baptized persons are members….
Since the Reformation there have been alternative descriptions offered, each of which can make some appeal to the Bible for support. While I lean towards the description from the Book of Common Prayer my concern is that a quick acceptance of that or any of the alternatives pulls us away from the Biblical emphasis on how the Church functions (or fails to function) as a community.
That’s enough for now. Next (maybe) I’ll share my reflections on how that community is supposed to function and what that means for the way the culture of religion helps or hinders us.
The Apprentice Priest 