Questions tagged [ecclesiology]
Ecclesiology is the theological study of the Christian Church. Questions related to church's origins, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its destiny, and its leadership can be asked under this tag.
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On the Oba Prophecy Included in Yves Dupont's, "Catholic Prophecy"
On p. 115 of Catholic Prophecy by Yves Dupont, we find:
Oba Prophecy. "It will come when the Church authorities issue directives to promote a new cult, when priests are forbidden to celebrate in ...
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Jewelry and adornment [closed]
I have been reading a lot of Church Fathers like Tertullian or Clement of Alexandria and they all condemn women adorning themselves in any way and wearing jewelry is strictly prohibited by them. It ...
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How is the current growth or trend of the house church movement?
What is the current growth or statistics of the house church movement in the US, or the West in general? I suppose they don't exist in the UK or Europe. I have heard that this type of church model ...
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What is the biblically sound understanding of Genesis 2:2-3? [closed]
In Genesis 2:2-3 we are told:
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, ...
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Infallibility in the Old Testament?
I'm catholic and I live in Brazil.
I believe in the gift of the infallibility in the New Testament, but i'm trying to understand if Jews, in the old covenant (Old Testament) were infallible too.
I ...
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Effects of the SBC vote to expel church with women pastors
NPR has been reporting on this topic in the past few days1 and from my understanding this won't necessarily affect local congregations. Southern Baptist Convention website states:
Jesus Christ is ...
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What are the official positions of the various denominations on LLMs?
LLMs (Large Language Models), the technology behind ChatGPT, BingChat, Gemini, Mistral AI, etc., is on the rise, and the current and future generations will use this technology as a primary technology....
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RLDS/CofC Keys of the Kingdom
The Keys of the Kingdom are keys of authority given first to the apostle Peter (Mattew 16:18) and the Twelve (Matthew 18:19). Then, as part of the Restoration of All Things (Acts 3:19-21) they were ...
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How do Protestants interpret Matthew 16:13–20?
The verses read like this:
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; ...
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Was the "Gospel of Hebrews" ever considered to be inspired?
The "Gospel of the Hebrews" has several quotations from early church fathers. Did they ever believe it to be Inspired and equal to the traditional four gospels? Or did they view it as ...
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Is there any extra-biblical evidence that shows the apostles were martyred?
Church tradition tells us that most of the 12 apostles were martyred, with the apostle John being the only one considered to die an old death.
Is there any extra-biblical evidence that shows the ...
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Has the Global South been influential in the old churches they derive their existence from?
It is said that there are more Anglicans attending Sunday morning services in Nigeria alone than in all the United Kingdom. Recently the archbishop of Lagos has effectively excommunicated the ...
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On What Basis do Churches that uphold Inerrancy Authorize Female Preachers? - 1 Corinthians 14:34 [duplicate]
Women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to
speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says.
Many churches these days feature female pastors, preachers and teachers. ...
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Is it true that Christianity is the most divided religion in the world?
We all are familiar with several of the largest denominations of Christianity: the Anglicans, Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, etc.
Several sources claim that ...
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Is there a limit to how many hosts a Eucharistic Minister is permitted to carry in one day?
A minister at my church insists that we are only permitted to carry up to 3 hosts at a time. Is there any regulation on this?
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When did the doctrine of biblical inerrancy first emerge after the Protestant Reformation as officially defined and accepted?
Biblical doctrines are teachings explicitly taught in the Bible. For example, the inspiration of Scripture in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 declares that God is the author of Scripture:
16 All Scripture is ...
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On the English equivalents of κυρικόν and κυριακόν
From ``Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma'' by Ludwig Ott:
According to St. Francis de Sales:
``Church comes from the Greek word meaning to call. Church then signifies an assembly, or company of persons ...
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One Assembly book critique
I’m looking for critiques or rebuttal to the ecclesiology concept presented in this book: One Assembly: Rethinking the Multisite and Multiservice Church Models (9Marks).
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Is a lawfully-constituted civil society divinely-instituted?
According to Catholic theologians, is every lawfully-constituted civil authority divinely-instituted like the Church (Mt. 16:18-19)?
Pope Leo XIII, in his 1881 encyclical on the origin of civil power, ...
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Has the Catholic Church attempted a reconciliation of the attributes of the Universal Church in the Creeds?
In the Nicene Creed we say while referring to the Church, that it is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. In the Apostles' Creed, however, the wording is "Holy Catholic Church." Both the ...
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Does the Bible refer to Christian gentiles or the Church as "New Israelites", "New Israel" or "Spiritual Israel"?
Introduction: Merriam-Webster defines New Israel as “the Christian fellowship of believers: the Christian Church.” The relationship of Israel and the Church has been debated for centuries and various ...
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Did the Jesus Revolution produce lasting Christian "Fruit", or was it an emotional, fadish "flash in the pan?
Amidst the 70s War protests, Feminist "bra burning, Sexual revolution, Hippie rebellion, New Age infusion, and Drug abuse, there arose the Jesus Revolution movement! Instead of going along with ...
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What denominations believe that the fivefold ministry is available to women?
The concept of "fivefold ministry" comes from Ephesians 4:11-13:
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work ...
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What does John Calvin mean to imply by the "suffrage" of the church?
In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin discusses the idea that the Biblical canon depends on the ratifying action of the Church (Book 1, Chapter 7). He thinks it does not, preferring ...
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How were Bishops Appointed in England Prior to the Anglican Schism
The following question is a bit of a follow-up to On Bishops Who Refused to Sign Henry VIII's Oath of Succession?.
In an article "The Cardinal Martyr of England" found here: Catholic ...
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Isn't churches charging for weddings simony?
My question is essentially identical to the one in the Reddit post "Simony and wedding fees", which has yielded no satisfactory answer.
Essentially, how are wedding fees charged by a church ...
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Looking for the Context Surrounding This St. Robert Bellarmine Quote
This quotation attributed to St. Robert Bellarmine:
"It is granted to few to recognize the true Church amid the darkness of so many schisms and heresies, and to fewer still so to love the truth ...
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Does Acts 3:17-26 teach that if the people of Israel repented Christ would have returned and established the Kingdom?
Acts 2 Dispensationalists claim that the birth of the body of Christ happens in Acts 2 with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, because God was no longer dealing with Israel on a national level due to ...
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According to Catholic teaching, what is the status of a priest who does not agree with the Church's stated teachings on homosexuality and gender?
According to Catholic teaching, is a priest who does not agree that homosexuality is a sin and affirms transgender identity a heretic or a dissenter?
For instance, would the bishops of the Roman ...
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Did the Gnostics have apostolic succession?
It is often claimed that the Gnostics had apostolic succession. In particular, Clement of Alexandria is often used to show that the Gnostics claimed apostolic succession.
Basilides, though he claims (...
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How would Reformed Christians deal with homosexual marriage of individuals prior to their conversion to Christianity?
I've been pondering this for several weeks and I believe that the reformed church (really, the church in general) is woefully unprepared to answer the following question:
How would the church deal ...
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How did the Apostolic Church manage to integrate different Tribes and Clans under its ambit?
We read in Matt 15:24 , of the initial response of Jesus to the pleadings of the Canaanite woman
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
(NB: Some editions omit the ...
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According to believers in the cessation of apostleship, who was the last apostle and why?
Who is usually considered to be the last apostle, according believers in the cessation of this church office?
Why? Why would God no longer call more apostles after this person?
Lastly, what are good ...
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What is the Roman Catholic Church's position on the Eastern Orthodox Church?
What is the official Roman Catholic position on the Eastern (Greek) Orthodox Church? Obviously, there was a mutual anathema/ex-communication declared between them a long time ago - has it been updated ...
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What effect did the 1897 decree regarding the Johannine Comma have on Catholic scholarship?
The Comma Johanneum, found in some versions of 1 John 5:7–8, such as the KJV, is a disputed text that has been used since at least the Middle Ages to defend trinitarian doctrine. Scholars now widely ...
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Leadership over smaller churches in early Christianity
I have heard a claim that during the early Church, bigger churches had leadership positions over smaller churches, which later developed into the idea of a single bishop ruling a dicosese. Are there ...
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Did the church fathers or OT talk about the visible and invisible church?
In the Reformation, the doctrine of the distinction between the visible and invisible church was important in the Reformers' claim not to have started a rogue church. I am wondering...
Given that it ...
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What is an overview of guidelines for women to have their divine callings to leadership positions in the Church acknowledged by their congregations?
If a woman believes that she has been called by God to a leadership position in the Church (e.g. teacher, pastor, evangelist, prophet, apostle, etc.), what would be the process for her to have her ...
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How do pentecostal/charismatic churches reconcile their practiced with 1 Corinthians 14:26-27? [duplicate]
1 Corinthians 14
If any man speaks in another language, let there be two, or at the most three, and in turn; and let one interpret.
But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the assembly,...
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How do Christians who believe in current-day Apostles, Prophets and the 5-fold ministry interpret Ephesians 2:20?
The idea of a 5-fold ministry originally comes from Ephesians 4:11-13:
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ...
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If someone is called by God to be an apostle, what is the proper way for them to convince others that their calling is genuine?
If person X is called by God to be an apostle, what should person X do next in order to convince others that their calling is genuine? What kind of evidence should person X provide to an audience of ...
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How do Latter-day Saints rebut Don Stewart's article "Are There Still Apostles Today?"?
Short version
How do Latter-day Saints (who believe in modern apostles) rebut Don Stewart's article Are There Still Apostles Today? ?
Longer version
I'll enumerate key points and include relevant ...
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Can a Catholic visiting Protestant Parents attend the Parents Church? [duplicate]
Once I am in college and fully convert to Catholicism, would it be considered wrong (in terms of violating Catholic teaching) to attend my Parents Protestant Church? Note that I would probably be ...
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Who is a Christian according to the Catholic Church?
How does the Catholic Church define who a Christian is? Is a Christian, according to the Catholic Church, someone who
is baptized,
a member of the Catholic Church or Mystical Body of Christ
something ...
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What are the signs of a true apostle according to Latter-day Saints?
Inspired by an answer to a related question, I would like to ask:
What are the signs of a true apostle according to Latter-day Saints?
Note: I'm borrowing the expression "the signs of a true ...
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What is the biblical basis for the modern continuation of the office of apostle?
What is the biblical basis for the belief held by some Christians that the office of apostle has not ceased, but has continued until this day?
Relevant passages:
28 And God has appointed in the ...
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What is the biblical basis for the belief that Paul was the last to be called to be an apostle?
Many Christians believe that the office of apostleship ended in the first century with the apostle Paul, and that after Paul there have not been any more people called by God/Jesus Himself (through ...
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How do believers in modern-day apostles interpret 2 Corinthians 12:11-12?
2 Corinthians 12:11-12:
11 I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. 12 The ...
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How do Congregationalists explain 1st Tim 1:3 and Titus 1:5?
1 Timothy 1:3, KJV
As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into
Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other
doctrine
Titus 1:5, KJV
For this cause ...
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