2^nd Year, Semester B, 2^nd Module (2B2)        

Summary:  Have Christians concretely grasped her specific role in their lives and do they know therefore how best to grow and flourish within her?

We can ask ourselves how we look to the Church in her proper mystery and whether we are able to precisely communicate what we know to others.  This course will help us to better discover the mystery of the Church through focusing upon what is revealed, especially in Holy Scripture.  The New Testament above all will enable us to face the great ecclesiological questions: Why did God institute the Church?  What is the Church and what is her mission?

Various themes to be looked at:

• The Church as the Body of Christ: unity and diversity, one and multiple
• The Church as the Bride of Christ: “glorious, holy and faultless”
• The Church as the Vine: abundant fruitfulness through remaining in Jesus

Bibliography:

Mystici Corporis Christi (1943): the first great document on the Church

Lumen Gentium (1964): a major document for today on the mystery of the Church