Towards a Truly Catholic Church : An Ecclesiology for the Third Millennium

How should we understand church? Is it visible or invisible, one or many, local or universal, hierarchical or congregational in its structure, sacramental or biblical in its expression? Different Christians--whether Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, or Evangelical--tend to approach these foundational questions through the lenses of their own histories and traditions. Some place great weight on the Church's Christological foundations, and thus on history. Others place more emphasis on the dynamic work of the Spirit, with its capacity to introduce the new and the unexpected. Others see an original diversity of ecclesiologies, grounding a contemporary pluralism of confessions. These lenses color not just how Christians see the church today, but also how they imagine it for tomorrow. In Towards a Truly Catholic Church, Thomas Rausch, S.J., draws on these different voices to develop a theology for the church that builds on the work of Vatican II, is ecumenical in its approach, and envisions the church in the context of globalization. In an increasingly interconnected world, Rausch offers hope that tomorrow's church will be a world church, a communion of churches that reconciles unity in diversity, a truly Catholic church.

Thomas P. Rausch is the T. Marie Chilton Professor of Catholic Theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.