The Church: A Guide for the Perplexed

Reviews / Votes

This is an excellent and much-needed introduction to ecclesiology. The book is wide-ranging, engaging the most important classical sources and some of the most interesting contemporary theological voices. The authors consider ancient controversies and new movements like the Emerging Church, always steering a steady course between ecclesiological sloth and ecclesiological pride. This book is a model for how generous and critical theological conversation should be conducted. -- William T. Cavanaugh, Senior Research Fellow, Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, and Professor of Catholic Studies, DePaul University, USA. The Church is indeed a guide - for both the perplexed and the apoplexed. Jenson and Wilhite offer an important theological tonic to those for whom "church" connotes scandal or abuse rather than good news and reconciliation. Writing from their own free church traditions but for the whole church, they provide a non-partisan overview of the doctrine of the church that is clear but never simplistic. They include several well-judged excurses on particularly important matters (e.g., the question of Jesus' founding the church, the development of the episcopacy, women's ordination, and the emerging church). Their main burden, however, is to weave a positive account of the nature, function, and origin of the church as the means by which the triune God asserts and advances the kingdom that arrived in Jesus. This wonderful collaboration provides further evidence that "wherever two or three are gathered in Christ's name," Christ is indeed in their midst. -- Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Blanchard Professor of Theology, Wheaton College Graduate School,USA. An important book. The subtitle calls for a thorough survey of the material. This Matt Jenson and David Wilhite ably provide...with such creativity and depth of analysis that the book could easily stand on its own outside this series. * Church Times * This is simply a great introduction to the theology of the church, ecclesiology, that is neither an attempt to justify a particular conception of the church, nor narrow in its concerns. * Baptist Times *