Though it may appear that I am mostly just a blogger, I actually have begun to explore how Bonhoeffer, Rowan Williams, and James Cone may do some 'work' for me as I try to construct an Ecclesiology of Communion. So, here's a bit of a summary of what I've been working on...
The conversation about communion has begun with Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his deep sense that the church is constituted socially by Christ, as he states in No Rusty Swords, “The church is the hidden Christ in our midst.” In this ecclesiology, Christ is at the center, and full communion is known within and between people as they encounter Christ and one another. Bonhoeffer observes communion as the key to people’s encounter with God. Christ is at the center, bringing people to one another, and to God.
Bonhoeffer’s concept of church is in some contrast to Rowan Williams’ thought that the church is made up of the forgiven community. For Williams, the church was constituted through the forgiveness of the resurrected Christ who then calls the church to the practice of forgiveness. Under girding this practice of forgiveness, Williams claims, is the importance of the memory of being forgiven. In his view, the church is contingent upon God’s gift and, as such, exists in judgment. The judgment of the church is illustrated particularly well today by those, such as James Cone, who point out the ways that systemic sin such as racism infect every part of its structure and practice.
Of course, there are further questions and tensions to explore, such as: What are the points of contact and points of inconsistency between Bonhoeffer’s confessing church and Williams’ established church? How is memory related to forgiveness? In addition, the question of: what is the role of the sacraments for this notion of communion?
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