The reassembling Church : paradigms from Nehemiah–Ezra for the local Church in Malta

Abstract

Models of the Church: Introducing a New Model

During the sixty years which have elapsed since the genesis of the Second Vatican Council, scholars from various theological schools and backgrounds have reflected on a variety of models of the Church, particularly on communio-ecclesiology and synodality, on the preferential option of the Church for the poor, on ecumenical dialogue and relations with other religions, and on the Church in relationship to postmodern society. Avery Dulles (1918- 2008), in one of his most acclaimed works, presents five models of the Church – institution, mystical communion, sacrament, herald and servant – which he later supplemented with a sixth unifying model, namely, the Church as a community of disciples. Recalling the words of Filipino theologian Antonio B. Lambino (b.1938), John Fuellenbach (b.1935) affirms that “a model is a conceptual and symbolic representation or system by which we try to grasp and express reality in whole or in part.” Subsequently, citing fellow Divine Word missionary and anthropologist Louis Luzbetak (1918-2005), Fuellenbach goes on to state that well-chosen models will always be useful, open, fitting and stimulating.