Brian Glesson, "IMAGES AND UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE CHURCH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT: AN OVERVIEW"

A. The four gospels

1. Mark

The gospel according to Mark, which was probably written for a community of Gentile Christians in Rome during the Jewish War 66-70, views the church as a community of disciples in which leadership is defined by service. Again and again Jesus teaches the Twelve, sometimes called ‘the apostles’, that greatness consists in service to others rather than in the exercise of power and authority (10:41-44). So all the followers of Jesus, the church, must imitate Jesus, who came not to be served, but to serve (10:45). Like him, they must take up the cross (8:34), and serve one another in their various needs (9:33-37).[8]

The original members of the church are scattered when Jesus dies (14:27, 50), but are brought back together by the risen Lord (16:7). They experience and understand the church in the here and now as a missionary congregation that preaches the gospel to all nations (13:10) as it waits for the return of its Lord, which they are expecting any time soon (13:32-37). Mark sees the church too as a spiritual temple, the fruit of the Messiah’s saving death upon the cross, as suggested by the tearing of the veil of the temple at the death of Jesus.(15:38).[9]

2. Matthew

The gospel according to Matthew was written for a mixed community of Jewish and Gentile Christians in Antioch of Syria about the year 85. It uses Mark’s gospel as its primary source, and shares many of Mark’s ecclesiological themes. But it exhibits a more developed ecclesiology than that of Mark, and especially about the structure of the church and church discipline. Raymond Brown notes that ‘Matthew’s church has a strong sense of organization and authority’.[10] Its most distinctive feature is a series of discourses that Jesus addresses to his disciples, starting with the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew presents those discourses as instructions by the risen Lord to the church of Matthew’s day. [11] Matthew’s presentation of the Sermon on the Mount (chs. 5 to 7) shows that he understands the church as a community of disciples which fulfils the Law of Moses as interpreted by Jesus the Messiah. This emphasis has a particular value, as emphasized by John Fuellenbach:

For Matthew, we can only be and remain disciples of Jesus by joining the community of disciples. Only the community can provide the atmosphere, the concern, the mutual love, and the experience of Christ risen and alive that will enable the disciple to live true discipleship. Outside of the community we cannot live discipleship.[12]

The community of disciples practises a morality which goes beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees (5:20). And so Jesus calls his disciples the salt of the earth and the light of the world. (5:13-16).[13] In the Missionary Discourse of Jesus of chapter 10, Matthew highlights the missionary nature of the church. It’s clear that the instructions of Jesus are meant for the missionaries of Matthew’s day. With few exceptions, Jesus of Nazareth had limited his own mission and that of his first disciples to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (10:5-6; 15:24). But in what is known as ‘the great commission’ (28:18-20), Jesus as risen Lord commissions the church to make disciples of all nations,[14] and to bring to the Gentiles what Jesus taught his Jewish disciples.[15]

Within the Parable Discourse of chapter 13, the parable of the weeds (13:14-20, 36-43) and the parable of the great net (13:47-50) suggest that not all is well in the Matthean congregation. The church is like a field in which there are weeds as well as wheat. It is like a net that has collected all kinds of fish, bad as well as good. As Jesus warned in the Sermon on the Mount, there are false prophets in the church who call him ‘Lord’ but do not do what God wants (7:15-23). Some members of the community may be tempted to expel such evildoers now, but the Jesus of Matthew cautions them to wait patiently for the moment of judgment when he will send his angels to separate the bad from the good (13:30, 40-42, 49).[16]

In the Discourse on Church Life of chapter 18, the Jesus of Matthew prescribes church rules for dealing with disciples who have sinned or gone astray. In the case of a serious offence, one should deal privately with the offender (18:15). If this fails, one should gather two or three others (18:16). If this fails, one should tell the church community (18:17). If even this fails, then the church has the authority to deal with the sinner, for whatever it binds or looses on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven (18:18).[17] For whenever the church gathers, Jesus is present in its midst (18:20).

In his Eschatological Discourse on his Second Coming of chapters 24 and 25, the Jesus of Matthew instructs his church how to live in the time between his resurrection and his return as the royal Son of Man. The church must not let itself be deceived by false prophets or be surprised by persecution. It must rather preach the gospel of the kingdom until he comes again (24:14). It must be as vigilant as bridesmaids awaiting the bridegroom (25:1-13) and as industrious as servants waiting for the return of their master (25:14-30).[18] In the parable of the Great Judgment (25:31-46) Jesus as judge of the human race will recognise as his brothers and sisters many who have lived as people of the kingdom but have not belonged to the church.

In summary, the discourses in Matthew show that he views the church as an ethical community instructed by Jesus in all righteousness, a missionary community, and one empowered to discipline its members, as it waits for the second coming of Christ who will separate the bad from the good.[19]

But there is more to the picture of the church in Matthew than is contained in the discourses of Jesus as risen Lord. Two additional features must be highlighted, viz., the role of Peter (16:17-19) and the relationship of the church to Israel. As regards Peter, he is the one in particular on whom Jesus is building his church (16:17-19). He is portrayed as having the role of the chief rabbi of the Jewish-Christian community.[20] Originally called Simon, Jesus gives him the new name ‘Peter’ meaning ‘rock’. ‘Anything built on “Peter,” a rock,’ Collins observes, ‘is built on a solid foundation . . . is built to last.’[21] So Jesus gives him the keys of the kingdom so that what Peter binds and looses on earth will be bound and loosed in heaven (16:18). While the community is given similar authority (18:18-19), it is to Peter alone that Jesus gives the power of the keys. This indicates that he holds a unique leadership role within the church.[22]

On the relationship of the church of Jesus to Israel, Matthew sees it as the continuation of Israel, since it comes from Jesus the Messiah. On the other hand, Matthew is conscious that the larger portion of Israel has rejected Jesus as Messiah. So, in Matthew’s version of the parable of the talents, Jesus warns the religious leaders that the kingdom of God will be taken from them and given to a nation which will produce fruit. (21:43). Matthew therefore thinks of the church as both distinct from, and in continuity with, Israel. It is in continuity because it comes from Jesus the Messiah, and yet it is distinct because, without excluding Israel, it now embraces all nations.[23]

3. Luke

The gospel according to Luke was written mainly for Gentiles about the year 85. Yet it emphasizes the continuity between Israel and the entire community of those who believe in Jesus.[24] It presents the church as a community of disciples, a ‘little flock’ (12:32) which is by nature missionary and distinguished by humble service.[25] (In Acts, as a sequel to his gospel, Luke will develop the ecclesiology of his gospel, and make a clear distinction between the time of Jesus and the time of the church). In his gospel he presents the apostles as the rulers of Israel at the end-time and explicitly identifies them with the Twelve (6:12-16). More specifically, at the Last Supper, after Jesus teaches the Twelve the importance of humble service (22:24-27) he appoints them rulers, and promises that they will sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel (22:28-30). He then highlights the central role of Peter, who, after he has repented and come back to Jesus, will strengthen his brothers (22:31-34), his fellow apostles. He highlights a report of the appearance of the risen Lord to Peter (24:34) and thereby recognises Peter as the first witness to the resurrection.[26] When the risen Lord appears to all the apostles he makes them his witnesses to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all the nations (24:46-49). By the end of Luke’s gospel the community of the disciples of Jesus is poised to become the church.[27]

4. John

The present form of the gospel according to John was written independently of the Synoptics about the year 100 for a community that gathered around a figure identified as the disciple whom Jesus loved (13:33; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20).[28] It is primarily interested in christology, but scripture scholars have gleaned a great deal of ecclesiology from its story.[29] Its strong focus on the person of Jesus reflects the fact that Johannine Christians who proclaimed Jesus were being thrown out of the synagogue (9:22, 34; 12:42).[30] Its christological ecclesiology emphasizes the life of the community as joy in the word, unity, and love for one another.[31] What is particularly important in this gospel is discipleship, the discipleship of persons who are equals,[32] not offices or charisms or other distinctions.[33] So John says nothing about Jesus calling the Twelve, and this suggests that they did not play a central role in John’s view of the church. He does not mention any role of supervision.[34] Peter, however, stands out as a leader who speaks on behalf of the others (e.g. 6:67-69) and, in an epilogue to the original story (ch.21), is instructed by the risen Lord to feed his sheep (21:15-29).[35]

Two dominant images, the sheepfold and the vine

There are two dominant images in John’s ecclesiology – the sheepfold and the vine. To describe his relationship to his disciples Jesus says he is the gate by which the sheep, i.e. his disciples, enter the fold (10:7, 9). He is also the good shepherd who lays down his life for them (10:11, 15). He has other sheep also which do not belong to this fold (10:16). This may refer to believers who do not belong to the circle of John.[36]

The Jesus of John (15:1-10) also uses the metaphor of the vine and the branches to describe the intimate relationship between himself and his disciples. He is the true vine, his Father the vine grower (15:1) and his disciples the branches (15:5). Only if they abide in him, and he abides in them, will they bear fruit (15:4). The metaphor implies that the Johannine church is seen as a community of mystical participation or communion with Christ.[37] What counts for John is closeness to Jesus. What stands out is the relationship of the individual Christians in the community to him and their personal attachment to him.[38]

A community guided and led by the Holy Spirit

The Johannine church is also a community guided and led[39] by the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete,[40] whom the Father sends in the name of Jesus (14:26). The Spirit succeeds Jesus as its community leader.[41] By means of his gift of the Spirit, Jesus is nevertheless a living presence, still alive and well among his followers.[42]. Raymond Brown suggests: ‘The Spirit emerges as a personal presence – the ongoing presence of Jesus while he is absent from earth and with the Father in heaven.’[43] The Spirit will teach the community and remind it of everything that Jesus has taught (14:26). (This makes the Spirit the church’s living memory of the person and message of Jesus).

Even though the world is hostile to the community, the community understands that Jesus has sent his disciples into the world just as the Father sent him (17:18). So the church is missionary in its very nature, open to Gentiles (12:20-23), Samaritans (4:35-42), and Jews, indeed to all who believe that Jesus has come from the Father. Finally, the community sees itself as worshipping God in spirit and in truth (4:21-24) through its connection with the risen Christ as the temple of the living God (2:13-22).[44]

The gospels as a whole: five general conclusions about the church

It may be seen, then, that each of the gospels, and especially that of John, offers some distinct understandings of the church. Yet the similarities among them allow us to draw the following conclusions concerning what they have in common: - 1. As the community of the disciples of Jesus, the church has been called into being through the death and resurrection of Christ. 2. The church is the community of those who are waiting for the return to earth of Jesus their Lord at the Parousia, and is therefore an eschatological community, a community i.e. of the end-time. 3. The church is missionary by its very nature, since its Lord has commissioned it to tell the good news about him to all nations. 4. Taking its cue from the self-giving of Jesus in life and in death, the church understands its authority in terms of loving service rather than domination. 5. In the synoptic gospels, the Twelve have a prominent role of leadership in the life of the church, and in the gospel of John, the Beloved Disciple.[45]

B. The Acts of the Apostles

·         Luke’s story

The book of Acts from the pen of Luke tells the story of the birth of the church in Jerusalem after the death and resurrection of Jesus,[46] its growth among the Gentiles of Asia Minor and Greece, and its extension even to ‘the ends of the earth’ (1:8) the capital of the Empire, the city of Rome itself. It narrates how the gospel spread through the witness of the apostles (1:8) and of others who believed in Jesus. Chief among the apostles are Peter, who witnesses in Jerusalem; Philip, who evangelizes in Samaria; and Paul, who witnesses to the end of the earth.[47] They are the heroes of the Lucan narrative. And so the word for ‘church’ (ekklesia), occurs frequently in Acts, even though Luke also uses such other names for it as the brothers and sisters, the disciples, the saints, Christians, the fellowship (koinonia), people, those who believe, those to whom the Word has spread, those who adhere to the Word, and those who practise the Way, the way of Jesus (passim).

·         His understanding of ‘church’

For Luke, the church is a creation of the Holy Spirit and comes into existence at Pentecost (2:1-42). The Spirit promised by Jesus (1:4-5) guides the Christian community every step of the way. Peter and Paul and the other human agents are only instruments of the Spirit,[48] who emerges in Acts as the chief apostle. The church of Jerusalem is Israel re-established, and its eschatological rulers are the twelve apostles. But it is not a new Israel or a community separated from Israel. It is a community of believers who are devoted to the teaching of the apostles, to sharing their lives (koinonia), to the breaking of the bread (the Eucharist), and to prayer (the traditional Jewish prayers they had known previously) (2:42), including those recited in the Temple at the regular hours. They pool their possessions (2:44), so that there is not a needy person among them (4:32-35). They live an ideal community life. [49]

While Luke starts with the church of Jerusalem, after his account of Paul’s conversion (9:1-19) he speaks of the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria (9:31). He thereby suggests something more than a local congregation. In most instances, however, he applies the term to a local community. While he gives ‘pride of place’ to the church of Jerusalem[50] as the mother church, he also e.g. recognises the Gentile community of Antioch as a church., as well as the communities established by Barnabas and Paul, who are numbered among its prophets and teachers (13:1). Sent by the Holy Spirit (13:4), and on behalf of the church at Antioch (13:4-14:28), they undertake a missionary journey among the Gentiles. The communities that form in response to their preaching are also called ‘churches’, each with its own set of elders (presbyters) appointed by Barnabas and Paul (14:23).[51]

·         The expression ‘ church of God’ (Acts 20:28)

The final and perhaps the most important use of the term ‘church’ (ekklesia) in Acts occurs in 20:28 in Paul’s farewell to the elders of the church of Ephesus (20:18-35). He recalls his ministry among them and warns them of the ‘savage wolves’ that will come among them and their flock after he is gone (20:29). So he reminds them to keep watch over the whole flock of which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers (episcopous), for it is the ‘church of God’ obtained through the blood of his own Son. Here ‘the church of God’ is more than the local Christian community of Jerusalem, Antioch, or Ephesus; it is the church spread throughout the world. Luke also emphasizes that God acquired the church at the cost of the death of his Son. So, while the church is born at Pentecost, it exists because of the death of Jesus. [52]

·         The role of the Twelve

The Twelve are at the centre of the Jerusalem community. Their role is to witness to the resurrection of the Lord and to call Israel to repentance (1:8, 21-22; 3:15; 5:33; 10:42). It is they who resolve conflicts between the Hebrew-speaking and Greek-speaking segments of the Jerusalem community (6:1-6). When they hear that Samaria has accepted the word of God, they send Peter and John to investigate (8:14).[53] Overall they exercise a collective ministry of oversight.

·         A crisis and its resolution

The missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas confronts the church at Jerusalem with a crisis. Put simply, the issue that erupts and leads to a showdown is this: Do Gentile Christians have to live like Jews, and practise circumcision and other requirements of Jewish law in order to be Christians and in order to be in communion with the church of Jerusalem? Paul and Barnabas are sent by the church of Antioch (15:4) to argue the ‘no’ case to the Mother Church and its apostles and elders. They succeed in reaching an agreement with it, one that will change the whole course of the history of the church. The Gentiles are not to be required to practise circumcision and the full observance of the Mosaic Law. After the meeting, delegates representing the Jerusalem church are sent with Paul and Barnabas to the church of Antioch to announce the good news (15:22). It is a triumph for communion between the Gentile mission and the church in Jerusalem.

·         Structured and charismatic

It’s clear that the churches of Acts are both structured and charismatic. Their structures include the elders in the church of Jerusalem and in the churches of Paul’s mission to the Gentiles. In the early stages of the growth of the church as a whole, the apostles are indispensable. But, on the other hand, the churches are also charismatic communities, which are guided by the Holy Spirit. Luke insists e.g. that it is the Spirit who inaugurates the mission to the Gentiles (13:2), and who guides the course of the mission (16:7). [54]

C. The Pauline Letters

·         Terminology

The word ‘church’ occurs sixty-two times in the letters attributed with certainty to Paul (Romans; 1 and 2 Corinthians; Galatians; Philippians; 1 Thessalonians; and Philemon), but only twice in the gospels. This is not surprising, since the issues which Paul encountered in his ministry to the churches made him think deeply about the nature, mission and operation of the churches. But in addition to his frequent use of the word ‘church’ as such, he also speaks of church as the body of Christ and the temple of God. He also uses the language of election and of family when he identifies believers as God’s chosen ones, as God’s holy ones, as God’s beloved, and as brothers and sisters in Christ. [55]

In secular Greek literature and culture, long before it found its way into the scriptures, ekklesia meant an assembly of free men entitled to vote. In the Greek First Testament, the Septuagint, it is used to translate the Hebrew phrase qahal Yahweh, which refers to the community of Israel which Yahweh assembled during its time in the wilderness. The NT expression ‘the church of God’ deliberately parallels OT references to the assembly of God in the wilderness. At first the young Jewish Christian community did not see itself as distinct from Judaism, but an integral part of the original assembly of God in the wilderness period. But after Gentiles were admitted to the church, the term ekklesia came to mean the Christian community alone.[56] The writer of 1 Peter will even apply to Christians the original language of Exodus concerning the people of God (1 Pet 2:9; cf. Ex 19:6).

Mostly, when Paul uses the term, he is referring to either a local assembly of Christians in a city (e.g. Rom 16:1) or to a group of churches in a province (Gal 1:2; 1 Cor 16:1; 1 Cor 16:19; 2 Cor 8:1). At other times his language is more general, as when he speaks of ‘all the churches of the Gentiles’ (Rom 16:4), ‘all the churches of Christ’ (Rom 16:16), ‘all the churches of the saints’ (1 Cor 14:23) or simply ‘all the churches’ (2 Cor 8:18; 11:28). In each instance he is thinking of local communities.[57]

Sometimes Paul addresses a church that gathers in a particular house, such as that of Aquila and Prisca (Rom 16:3-5; 1 Cor 16:19). He tends to highlight the church as a gathering or assembly of persons (1 Cor 11:18; 1 Cor 14:23 1 Cor 14:28) rather than as an institution. He also emphasizes the presence of the Spirit who bestows gifts to build up the community (1 Cor 14:4, 5, 12).

·         Church, the body of Jesus Christ

In the letters of Paul, the expression 'the body of Christ' refers to the human body of Jesus Christ, to his presence in the sacrament of the Eucharist (his eucharistic body), and to his body which is the church. It is the same body in three different forms. All Christians are united to Christ, in the first place, by their faith and baptism (1 Cor 12:13). By faith and baptism, they become parts, 'members', (one might even say 'limbs' and 'cells'), of his risen body. They make up the full organism of the animated body-person who walked the earth and now reigns gloriously in heaven. The union of each individual Christian with Christ involves union in the one body with all fellow Christians. (It’s a package deal!). Paul can say to the Christians at Corinth: 'Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it' (1 Cor 12:27); and 'For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ' (1 Cor 12:12). The relationship, the union, with Christ and fellow-Christians in the one body of Christ, is sustained and nourished by the eucharistic bread and wine. Paul can say: 'The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread' (1 Cor 10:16-17). It is a relationship that is expressed in love, the love of Christ for his followers, and their love for one another (Gal 2:20; 5:6; cf. Eph 3:16-17). It is a relationship that is summed up in the expression 'in Christ', which occurs over and over again in Paul.

·         Deutero-Pauline developments

The letters to the Colossians and Ephesians develop Paul’s imagery of the church as the body of Christ. They distinguish the body, the collectivity of Christians, from Christ their head (kephale) ( Col 1:18; 2:19; Eph 1:22-23; 4:15-16; 5:23). The resulting relationship between Christ and Christians is a dynamic, active relationship. Colossians stresses that the church is nourished by its head, Christ, and that it grows with a growth that comes from God (2:19). In a similar way, Ephesians exhorts its audience to grow into Christ their head, from whom the whole body grows (4:15-16)[58] and to lead a life worthy of their vocation as members of the one body of Christ (4:1-4).

When Colossians and Ephesians identify the church as the fullness of the body of Christ (Eph 1:22-23), they also understand it in a more general sense than did Paul. Whereas for Paul personally, ‘church’ meant mostly a local church or a group of local churches, Colossians and Ephesians are thinking of the church as a whole, the body of Christ spread throughout the known world, the entire body of believers, the universal church (Eph 1:22-23; 2:15-16; 3:6). On this basis, St Augustine will comment: 'The fullness of Christ, then, is the head and the members.'[59]

·         Church, the temple of God

Paul reminds the Christians at Corinth that they are the holy temple of God because the Spirit of God is dwelling in their community (1 Cor 3:16-17). He is thinking of how the community (as a result of baptism) has been washed, sanctified, and justified though Christ and the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:16), and therefore set apart for the worship of God. Ephesians takes up this image, when it says that the community of Christians is growing into ‘a holy temple in the Lord . . . a dwelling place for God’ (2:21-22; cf. 1 Pet 2:5). What stands out in this image of the church is its intimate relationship with God the Holy Spirit.[60]

D. 1 PETER, HEBREWS, AND REVELATION

A shared concern

From a literary point of view, 1 Peter, the Letter to the Hebrews, and Revelation, are not connected. What they do have in common, however, is that each of them functions as a moral exhortation to persevere in faith despite the threat of persecution. So they focus upon the church as the People of God in exile (1 Peter), as a pilgrim community seeking to enter God’s Sabbath rest (Hebrews) and as a persecuted community that will participate in the heavenly Jerusalem after witnessing to the Lamb who was slain (Revelation).[61] All three are neglected documents in the study of the church, but each of them witnesses to the struggle the church must endure if it is to enter into glory.[62]

CONCLUSION

Putting the colours and shapes of multiple NT images together has shed considerable light on the origins, nature and mission of the church as a whole.. What has stood out in the total picture of the church of the beginnings is that it was small, multiple, varied, self-determining, personal, home-based and local. Such attractive features stand in some contrast to the massive, monolithic, centrally-governed, pyramidical, top-down, and somewhat imperial and impersonal church of more recent centuries. It’s no wonder, then, that a world-wide movement in the church today for small church communities keeps looking to the NT for its chief inspiration.

Among the many rich images of the church scattered throughout the New Testament, of particular significance for all genuine Christians are those which highlight the church as a community of disciples, as Israel re-established, as the body of Christ, as the temple of God, and as the pilgrim people of God. For all that, no one image, taken alone, captures the full reality of the church. But if they are taken together, and kept together in harmony and balance, they give support to an appreciation of the church in its local and universal expressions as something truly splendid,[63] and even (to echo words of the poet John Keats) a thing of beauty and a joy for ever. Such ways of viewing the church, which are both ideal and real, may also function as a necessary corrective to assaults on the image of the church today from abuses of one kind or another, which have left its human face battered, bruised and besmirched. William Henn highlights the chief features of the necessary corrective when he writes:

To see the church as an institution which has a history filled with noble figures but also, it must be admitted, with human frailty, without seeing the fact, attested in the New Testament, that Christ is its head … and that it is the dwelling place of the Holy Spiri … is to miss what is most significant about it.[64]

RECOMMENDED READINGS

Brown, Raymond. The Churches the Apostles Left Behind. New York: Paulist Press, 1984.

_____ The Community of the Beloved Disciple: The Life, Loves, and Hates of an Individual Church in the New Testament. New York: Paulist Press, 1979.

Brown, Raymond, Carolyn Osiek, & Pheme Perkins, ‘Church in the New Testament.’ The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Eds. R.E. Brown, J.A. Fitzmyer, & R.E. Murphy. London, Geoffrey Chapman, 1989, 1339-1346.

Collins, Raymond. The Many Faces of the Church: A Study in New Testament Ecclesiology. New York: Crossroad, 2003.

Fitzmyer, Joseph. The Acts of the Apostles. New York: Doubleday, 1998.

Fuellenbach, John. Church: Community for the Kingdom. Maryknoll NY: Orbis Books, 2002.

Henn, William. Church: The People of God. London & New York: Burns & Oates, 2004.

Hill, Edmund. ‘B. Images of the Church in the Rest of the New Testament.’ ‘Church.’ The New Dictionary of Theology, ed. J. Komonchak et al. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1987.

Kee, Howard Clark. Who Are the People of God?: Early Christian Models of Community. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995.

Matera, Frank. ‘Theologies of the Church in the New Testament.’ The Gift of the Church, ed. P. Phan. Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, 2000, 3-12.

McBrien, Richard. Catholicism. North Blackburn, Vic.: Dove 1994.

_____ Responses to 101 Questions on the Church. New York/Mahwah N.J.: Paulist Press, 1996