Course Code: MCT007

Revisiting and Reconstructing Christian Doctrines in India

Course Title - Church, Sacraments, and Ministry

4 Credits; Senate Examined

Course Objectives
This course envisages facilitating the participants to:
1. Gain a deeper understanding of the important historic-biblical roots,
dogmatic/theological constructs, and functional modes of the Church, Ministry
and Sacraments;
2. Explore various developments that had happened with regard to the
understanding of the above vital components with a view to look into the
possibility of reconstructing the theology of the Church, Ministry and Sacraments
in the light of their historic past and the present pluralistic and ecumenical context
in which they find their actual expressions;
3. Clarify the contemporary relevance of ecclesia and its ministry in order to aid their
theological and ministerial formation; and
4. Prepare themselves to engage in the pluriform ministries of the Church.

Course Evaluation
Final Examination: 100%

Course Outline
1. Church
i. Historical and Theological Roots of Ecclesia
a. Emergence of ecclesia – Critical look at the ecclesia sayings of Jesus
in the Gospels
b. Emergence of ecclesia as a theme of intense theological imaginations
c. External marks of the Church

ii. Biblical-Theological Foundation of the Church

a. Biblical Images of the Church
b. Models of the Church
c. Ecclesiological discussions in India
d. Idea of Churchless Christianity (Hoefer) and appropriate ministries
e. Indian Church in Multi-Religious context
f. Church and Subaltern Movements
g. Church’s encounter with Hindu Revivalism

iii. Church and Churches: Structural-Theological Convergences and

Divergences
a. Ecclesiology in select Early Teachers of Faith
b. East-West Schism
c. Orthodox ecclesiology – Syro-Malabar Traditions
d. Ecclesia in the thoughts of the Reformers – Luther and Calvin
e. Classical Protestant ecclesiology
f. Liberal Protestant
 g. Anglican ecclesiology Ecclesiologies
h. Ecumenism – CSI/CNI Ecclesiologies
i. Inter-Church cooperation/communion
j. Changing Patterns of Ecclesia – An Alternative Community

2. Sacraments
i. Sacraments
a. Definition – basic principles of the theology of Sacraments
b. Seven Sacraments
c. Sacraments and culture

ii. Baptism
a. Origin of Baptism and idea of ritual washing
b. Infant and believers’ baptisms and Baptismal rites
c. Biblical/theological understanding of baptism
d. Christological/theological foundations of Baptism
e. Religious and social significations of baptism
f. Baptism and New Creation
g. Baptism and salvation
h. Principle of adiaphoran
i. Baptism and the issue of social/cultural uprootment
j. Baptism as practiced in the participants’ traditions – convergences
and divergences

iii. Lord’s Supper

a. Origin of the Eucharist
b. Christological basis: the issue of the real presence of Christ
- Roman Catholic/Orthodox/ Reformation/Reformed traditions
c. Extended communion
d. Eucharistic hospitality
e. Eucharist: a symbol of unity or division
f. Eucharist and the hunger of the world
g. Eucharist – broken bodies – Church in Solidarity

2. Ministry
i. Church Polity
a. Ecclesiastical structures and the notion of apostolic succession
b. Exposition of Church traditions to which the participants of the
course are part of
c. Institutionalism – a critique
d. Evolving new models of Ecclesia

ii. Office of the Public Ministry: Historic-Theological Basis

a. Origin of the public ministry and its theological significations
b. Episcopal offices – the question of hierarchy and equality
c. Threefold Ministry of the Church
d. Reformation debates on public ministry
e. Threefold designations of Christ
 f. Doctrine of priesthood of all believers
g. Pastor – within ecclesial community and wider society – emerging
models
h. Importance of ordained ministry with special reference to women
in ordained ministry

Bibliography

Basic Texts for the Course

Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry 1982-90 Report on the Process and Responses. Geneva:
WCC, 1990.

Barth, Karl. Church Dogmatics Vol. II/2. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1936.

Braaten C. E. & R.W. Jenson, eds. Marks of the Body of Christ. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1999.

Calvin, John. Institutes of Christian Religion

Dulles, Avery. Models of the Church. New York: Image Books, 1978.

Hellwig, Monika. The Eucharist and the Hunger of the World. London: Sheed &
Ward, 1992.

Hoefer, Herbert E. Churchless Christianity. Madras: Gurukul, 1991.

Kärkkäinen, Veli-Matti. An Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical &

Global Perspectives. Downers Groove, Illinois: Intervarsity
Press, 2002.

Minear, Paul S. Images of the Church in the New Testament. Louisville, KY:
Westminster John Knox Press, 1960.

Sahayadhas, R. Hindu Nationalism and the Indian Church: Towards an

Ecclesiology in Conversation with Martin Luther (Delhi:
Christian World Imprints, 2013)

Recommended Readings:

Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry – Faith and Order Paper, 111. Geneva: WCC, 1982.

Banks, Robert. Paul's Idea of Community. Massachusetts: Hendrickson

Publishers, 1994.

Bauerochse, Lothar. Learning to Live Together: Interchurch Partnerships as

Ecumenical Communities of Learning. Geneva: WCC
Publications, 2001.

Bennett, John C. Christians and the State. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1958.
Bloesch, Donald G. The Future of Evangelical Christianity. New York: Doubleday,
1983.

Boff, Leonardo. Ecclesiogenesis: The Base Communities Reinvent the Church,

Tr. by Robert Barr. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1986.

Braaten, Carl E. Principles of Lutheran Theology. Philadelphia: Fortress Press,

1983.

Braaten, Carl E. The Apostolic Imperative: Nature and Aim of the Church's
Mission and Ministry. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing
House, 1985.

Brown, Robert McAfee. The Significance of the Church. Philadelphia: Westminster

Press, nd.

Castro, Emilio. A Passion for Unity: Essays on Ecumenical Hopes and

Challenges. Geneva: WCC, 1992.

Calvin, John. Institutes of Christian Religion

Chadwick, Owen. The Reformation. London: Penguin Books, 1972.

Chandran, J. Russell. The Church in Mission: Some Reflections. Madras: CLS, 1991.

Cheetham, Nicholas. Keepers of the Keys: A History of Popes from St. Peter to John
Paul II. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1983.

Christine,
Lienemann-Perrin, et al. eds. Reformed and Ecumenical: On Being Reformed in Ecumenical
Encounters. Amsterdam - Atlanta: Rodopi, 2000.

Clark, Gillian. Christianity and the Roman Society. Cambridge: CUP, 2004.

Cook Everist, Norma. ed. The Difficult but Inevitable Church. Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 2002.

Coward, Harold. Pluralism: Challenges to World Religions. Delhi: Satguru

Publications, 1996.

Cox, Harvey. Religion in the Secular City. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.

Cullmann, Oscar. Unity through Diversity, Tr. by E. Boring. Philadelphia: Fortress

Press, 1988.

Dillenberger, John & C. Welch. Protestant Christianity. New York: Charles Scribner's,
1954.

Doyle, Dennis M. Communion Ecclesiology: Visions and Versions Maryknoll, NY:

Orbis, 2000.

Douglas, Ian T. ed. Waging Reconciliation: God’s Mission in a Time of

Globalization and Crisis. New York: Church Publishing
Incorporated, 2002.
Flew, Newton. Jesus and His Church: A study of the Idea of the Ecclesia in the
New Testament. London: Epworth Press, 1938.

Gelder, Craig Van. The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2002.

Gonsalves, Francis. ed. Body, Bread, Blood: Eucharistic Perspectives from the Indian
Church. Delhi: Vidyajyoti/ ISPCK, 2003.

Greenslade, S. L. Schism in the Early Church. London: SCM Press, 1953.

Harnack, Adolf von. Militia Christi: The Christian Religion and the Military in the
First Three Centuries, Tr. by David McInnes Gracie.
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981.

Hauerwas, Stanley. After Christendom: How the Church is to Behave if Freedom,

Justice and a Christian Nation are Bad Ideas. Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1991.

Hedlund, Roger E. Christianity is Indian: The Emergence of an Indigenous

Community. Delhi: MIIS & ISPCK, 2004.

Holze, Heinrich. ed. The Church as Communion: Lutheran Contributions to

Ecclesiology. Geneva: LWF, 1997.

Hunsinger, G. The Eucharist and Ecumenism. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2008.

Ipgrave, Michael. Trinity and Inter Faith Dialogue: Plenitude and Plurality,
Religion and Discourse Series Vol. 14. Bern: Peter Lang, 2003.

Irvin, DaleT.& Scott W. Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement Vol. I Earliest
Christianity to 1453. Bangalore: TPI 2004.

Jaeger, Werner. Early Christianity and Greek Paideia. London: Harvard

University Press, 1961.

Jenkins, Daniel. The Strangeness of the Church. New York: Doubleday, 1955.

John Panicker, P. L. Gandhi on Pluralism and Communalism. Delhi: ISPCK, 2006.

Johnston, George. The Doctrine of the Church. London: Oxford University Press,
1943.

Jorez, Jerald C. and

Paul T. McCain, eds. Church and Ministry. St. Louis: LCMS, 1998.

Kinnaman, Michael, Baptism, Eucharist and ministry in the Ecumenical Partnership

Kobia, Samuel. Called to One Hope: A New Ecumenical Epoch. Geneva: WCC,
2006.

Küng, Hans. Christianity: Essence, History, Future. New York: Continuum,

1995.
Küng, Hans. The Church. London: Burns & Oates, 1968.

Kuruvachira, Roots of Hindutva: A Critical Study of Hindu Fundamentalism

and Nationalism. Delhi: Media House, 2005.

Laing, T. B. ed., Nationalism and Hindutva: A Christian Response. Delhi:

ISPCK, 2005.

Lawler, Michael G. Symbol and Sacrament: A Contemporary Sacramental

Theology. New York: Paulist Press, 1987.

Loisy, Alfred. The Gospel and the Church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976.

Markus, Robert. The End of Ancient Christianity. New York: Cambridge

University Press, 1997.

Marty, M. E. The Public Church: Mainline-Evangelical-Catholic. New York:

Crossroad, 1981.

Mckelvey, R. J. The New Temple: The Church in the New Testament. London:
OUP, 1969.
Mitchell, N. Cult and Controversy: The Worship of the Eucharist Outside the
Mass. New York: Pueblo Press, 1982.

Moltmann, Jürgen. Church in the Power of the Spirit. London: SCM Press, 1978.

Monterio, Evelyn. Church and Culture: Communion in Pluralism. Delhi: ISPCK,

2004.

Pannenberg, W. The Church, Tr. by Keith Crim. Philadelphia: The Westminster

Press, 1983.

Raju, T. S. Christian Responses to Plurality of

Religion.Bangalore:BTESSC/SATHRI,2006.

Russell, Letty M. Church in the Round: Feminist Interpretation of the Church.

Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1993.

Sasse, Herman. This Is My Body: Luther's Contention for the Real Presence in
the Sacrament of the Altar. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing
House, 1959.

Schnackenburgh, R. The Church in the New Testament. London: Burnes and Oates,
1965.

Schweizer, Eduard. Church Order in the New Testament. Napervile: Alec R.

Allenson, 1961.

Shütz, John H. "Introduction" in Gerd Theissen, The Social Settings of Pauline

Christianity. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1982.

Thoppil, James, Towards an Asian Ecclesiology. Shillong: Oriens Publications,

2005.
Tillich, Paul. A History of Christian Thought, ed. by Carl E. Braaten. New
York and Evanston: Harper & Row, 1968.

Tillich, Paul. Perspectives on 19th and 20th Century Protestant Theology. New
York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1967.

Tillich, Paul. The Protestant Era, Tr. by James Luther Adam. Chicago:
Phoenix Books, 1963.

Tovey, Phillip. Communion Outside the Eucharist. Nottingham: Grove Books,

1993.

Towards Koinonia in Faith, Life and Witness: A Discussion Paper – Faith and Order Paper
No. 161 (Geneva: WCC, 1993)

Van Gelder, Craig. The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit.
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002.

Volf, Miroslav. After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity.
Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm B. Eerdmans, 1998.

Welker, Michael. What Happens in Holy Communion? Tr. by John F. Hoffmeyer.

Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 2000.

Wingate, Andrew. The Church and Conversion: A Study of Recent Conversions to

and from Christianity in the Tamil Area of South India. Delhi:
ISPCK, 1997.

Zachariah, Mathai. ed. The Church: A Peoples' Movement. Nagpur: NCCI, 1975.

Zizioulas, John D. Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church.

Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s seminary Press, 1997.

Articles

Belopopsky, Alexander. "Between Chaos and Kairos: Churches, Ecumenism and the
World Council of Churches in Central and Eastern Europe 1989
– 2003" The Ecumenical Review, Vol. 56, No.1 (Jan 2004), pp.
77 – 83.

Ford, John. "Koinonia and Roman Catholic Theology" Ecumenical Trends,

26 (1997), pp.42–56.

Jathanna, O. V. "Ecclesiology in Context: Reflections from an Indian Perspective

in the Light of Current Ecumenical Deliberations" Bangalore
Theological Forum Vol. 28, Nos. 3-4 (Sep-Dec 1996), p. 3 – 22.

Jayaraj, B. "The People of God in the Priestly Source" The Indian Journal
of Theology Vol. 28, Nos. 3 &4 (July – Dec 1979), pp. 129 – 134.

Joseph, M. J. "The Church in Paul" Indian Journal of Theology Vol. 28, Nos.
3 – 4 (July – Dec, 1979), p. 149 – 157.
Kanungo, Pralay. “Hindutva’s Fury against Christians in Orissa” Economic &
Political Weekly (September13, 2008), pp. 16 – 19.

Mariaselvam, M. "The Church according to the Prophetic Tradition" The Indian

Journal of Theology Vol. 28, Nos. 3 &4 (July – Dec 1979), pp.
135 – 142.

Nereparampil, Lucius. "The Church in the Johannine Literature" Indian Journal of

Theology Vol. 28, Nos. 3 – 4 (July – Dec 1979), p. 169 – 177.

Vellanickal, Mathew. "The Church in the Bible" The Indian Journal of Theology Vol.
28, Nos. 3 &4 (July – Dec 1979), pp. 109 – 115.

Possible Seminar Topics

1. Understanding of the Church in select Early Teachers of Faith – Three of them
2. An Appraisal of Orthodox Ecclesiology – Syro-Malabar Traditions
3. Ecclesia in the thoughts of the Reformers – Luther, Calvin and Zwingli
4. Classical Protestant ecclesiology
5. Liberal Protestantism
6. Anglican ecclesiology
7. Organic Unity of the Church – CSI/CNI Ecclesiology
8. Ecclesia in the Thoughts of Select Indian Theologians/Thinkers
9. Church and Ministry: A Critical Study of Ecclesiastical Structures and the Notion of
Apostolic Succession with Special Reference to …
10. An Essay on the Historic-Theological Basis of the Office of the Public Ministry in the
Church
11. A Theological Appraisal of the Threefold Office of Christ
12. An Exploration of the Doctrine of the Priesthood of all Believers with Special Reference
to Lay Ministry in the Church
13. A Critical Study of the Ordained Ministry of the Church with Special Reference to
Women Ordination
14. A Theological Self-Understanding of a Pastor within Ecclesial Community and Wider
Society: Emerging models
15. An Essay on the Theology of Sacraments in the Church
16. Is Baptism an Essential Symbol of the Church? A Discussion on the Contemporary
Significance of Baptism in India Today
17. Understanding the Theology of the Lord’s Supper with Special Reference to Its
Religious/ Spiritual, Social, Political Significations

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