The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

The article deals with the ecclesiological views of an American theologian Cardinal Avery Robert Dulles SJ, and more specifically, with his conception of the models of the Church. Exploring each of the five models (“institution”, “mystical communion”, “sacrament”, “herald”, “servant”), Dulles points at their Biblical and historical foundation, their strengths and weaknesses and shows their interrelation and interdependence. He insists that the manifold images given to us by Scripture and Tradition are mutually complementary, and tries to find a theo­logical compromise to reconcile different views on the essence of the Church. According to Dulles, the paradigm “Church as a community of disciples” fits best to represent all the strengths of the other existing models where the connection between Christians and God in Christ is expressed in all possible levels in the best possible way. Being a self-testimony of the Church in space and time, liturgical celebration becomes the litmus test identifying the present state of the “concrete identity” of the Church. It is proposed to use as a working hypothesis three types of liturgical conscience (“institutional”, “communal” and “missional”) where “lex orandi” of the Church is correlated with its “lex credendi” on the basis of ecclesiological models introduced by Dulles. The approach suggested by the author aims to encourage to more conscious and thoughtful liturgical participation as well as to stimulate a creative search based on the firm foundation of Scripture and the great tradition of the Church as a whole.