Ecclesiology

What you’ll learn

“Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God, but what resulted was the Church.” This quote from the French theologian Alfred Loisy (1857-1940), draws the entire set of problems of the Church, as well as the theology of the church (Ecclesiology) to a sharp point. The sentence could be read, on the one hand, as an expression of disappointment. Following the great and hopeful proclamation of the breaking of God’s rule, nothing more has resulted than an institution created by humans that is as weak and fallible as that institution’s designers and purveyors. On the other hand, the quote by Loisy could be understood in a much more positive light. The kingdom of God is expressed here on earth through the form and the labors of the Church. Seen thusly, the Church has a huge significance in the unfolding of God’s redemption plan. Somewhere between these two interpretations is where the Church is to be found in its complex reality.