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The Idea of the Church in Christian History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2011

Wilhelm Pauck
Wilhelm Pauck
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Extract

It is customary to describe and interpret the history of Christianity as church history. To be sure, most church historians do not emphasize the special importance of the “church” in the Christian life they study and analyse; indeed, they deal with the idea of the church, with ecclesiological doctrines and with ecclesiastical practices as if they represented special phases of the Christian life. But, nevertheless, the fact that all aspects of Christian history are subsumed under the name and title of the “church” indicates that the character of Christianity is held to be inseparable from that of the “church”; the very custom of regarding Christian history as church history indicates that the Christian mind is marked by a special kind of self-consciousness induced by the awareness that the Christian faith is not fully actualized unless it is expressed in the special social context suggested by the term “church.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , September 1952 , pp. 191 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1952

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References

1 Vis. II, 4, 1.

2 Adv. haer. III, 24: In ecclesia posuit Deus universum operationem spiritus; cuius non sunt participes omnes qui non concurrant ad ecclesiam … ubi enim ecclesia, ibi et spiritus Dei, et ubi spiritus Dei, Ulic ecclesia et omnis gratia.

3. Ep. 73, 21: Extra ecclesiam nulla salus.

4 1. Tim. 3, 15.

5 Tit. 3, 10; Eph. 4, 4 ff; John 10, 16; 1. Clem. 46, 6; 58, 2.

6 Eph. 5, 26; Barn. 14, 6.

7 Ignatius,, Smyrn. 8, 2.

8 Hebr. 2, 12; 12, 23; Herm. Vis. 1, 16; 3, 4.

9 1. Clem. 44.

10 C. Celsum 8, 68, 69, 72. Cf. the treatment of Origen in Schmidt, Karl L.Die Polis in Kirche und Welt. Zurich: Zollikon, 1940 (pp. 67–84).Google Scholar This study is very illuminating with reference to the early Christian preoccupation with the “heavenly city.”

11 Contr. ep. Manichaei 5: ego vero evangelico non crederem, nisi me catholicae (ecclesiae) commoveret auctoritas. Cf. Adolf Harnaek's beautiful interpretation of Augustine's relation to the church in his Dogmengeschichte (4th ed.) vol. III, page 79 f.

12 de fide et symb. 9, 21.

13 ep. 9, 21.

14 Ibid. 100, 1.

15 De civ. Dei. 19. 5.

16 Ibid. 10, 6.

17 De civ. Dei. 12, 9.

18 This involvement of the church in the feudalist order identified it closely with the common life of medieval civilization, especially on the political and economic levels. At the height of the Cluniae Reform, Pope Gregory VII attempted to secure the freedom of the church from some of the most glaring evils of secularization that had resulted from these entanglements by prohibiting lay-investiture, simony and priestly marriage.

19 It was only in the later Middle Ages and particularly in the post-Tridentine age that the theologians of the church concerned themselves exclusively with ecclesiology. Their doctrines were then marked by a defensive justification of Roman Catholic institutions and practices over against the criticisms of Gallicanism and Protestantism. The independence of the church from the state, the hierarchical nature of the church and the primacy of the papacy were then especially emphasized. Only in modern times, a full theological discussion of the nature of the chureh has become customary. It was inaugurated by Möhler, Pilgram and Franzelin. Cf. the remarks by Père Congar in Iserland, Die Kirche Christi, p. 55.

20 Suum. III, q. 8. a. 1, 3.

21 Ibid. suppl., 23, 9. 1.

22 Ibid. q. 26, a. 1.

23 Summ. c. gentil. IV, d. 18, q. 40, a. 6.

24 Summ, theol II/II q. 1. a. 1. This title was, as Heiler (Wesen des Katholizismus, p. 118) observes, according to the New Testament the prerogative of Christ the Lord!

25 Ibid., q. 89, a. 9.

26 Ibid. II/II, q. 1, a. 10.

27 Opuse. c. cor. Graecorum ad. Urbanum IV, II, 38.

28 Ita sunt personae ecclesiasticae laici et mulieris sicut clerici quia ita sunt de ecclesia sicut clerici. Quoted by Seeberg, Reinhold, Dogmengeschichte, vol. III (4th ed.) (Leipzig: Deichert, 1930) p. 588.Google Scholar