Includes bibliographical references

Contents:

pt. 1 Surveying the Euro-American landscape

Roman Catholic

Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI): The Church as Communion

Karl Rahner: The Church as Community of Witness

Hans Kung: The Church as Eschatological Community of Salvation

Eastern Orthodox

Thomas Hopko: The Church as fullness of God

Vigen Guroian: The Church as peculiar, ethical community

John Zizioulas: The Church as Eucharistic communion

Protestant

Letty Russell: The Church as household of freedom

Jurgen Moltmann: The Church as Messianic, relational Koinonia

John Webster: The Church as Communion of Saints

Free Church

John Howard Yoder: The Church as New, Redeemed Community

Barry Harvey: The Church as Altera Civitas

Miroslav Volf: The Church as Image of the Trinity

pt. 2 Introducing missional ecclesiology-- through conversation

The thinking-in-community church : encountering a life-giving theology

The mission-forged church: participating in the mission of God

The Christ-centered church: following the Messiah and his eschatological mission

The spirit-empowered church: responding to the spirit's power and presence

The Trinity-imaging Church: Reflecting Trinitarian Communion and mission

The courageous and future church: Being salt, light and a city

"Enormous challenges and opportunities face the Christian church in our globalized, rapidly changing world. It is becoming increasingly clear that the church and its leaders need a missional self-understanding. In this volume, Graham Hill asks: "What does it mean for the church to be truly missional?" This book outlines the thought of twelve leading thinkers, and puts their thinking into conversation with a missional understanding of the church. Most of the missional literature of the past twenty years is practical, telling us how to be a missional church, rather than why certain theological themes compel the church toward a missional self-understanding and existence. This book takes a different approach. It outlines a basic missional understanding of the church by engaging theology and Scripture. It examines some of the key theological themes that are foundational for a missional church, and does this in conversation with twelve leading thinkers. This book provides indispensable foundations for a Christ-centered, gospel-shaped, theologically informed, and systematic missional view of the church."--Publisher's description.