FROM THE IMAGE OF GOD TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD
The Church as a Creative Space
Keywords:
IMAGE OF GOD, KINGDOM OF GOD, ChurchAbstract
The Second Vatican Council made a significant effort to contextualize the Church in the modern world. The Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes undertakes this task by “scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel.”1 The Church has to be prepared to face the realities of the world and to respond to them creatively by being more sensitive to the changing world and less prone to institutionalization. In this new self-understanding the Church rediscovers its “relational” nature which has for centuries remained overshadowed by its institutional structures. In order to be relevant and meaningful in today’s world and to realize its destiny the Church has to be a dynamic, creative community
References
Joseph Ratzinger, “The Ecclesiology of Vatican II” in L’Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English, 23 January 2002.
La Chiesa del Signore (The Church of the Lord), Brescia: Morcelliana, 1967.
Avery Dulles, Models of the Church, New York: Image Books, 2002.
Joseph Ratzinger, “The Ecclesiology of Vatican II” in L’Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 23 January 2002.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Karl Hermann Schelkle, Theology of the New Testament, vol.1: Creation, trans. William A. Jürgens, Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1968.
International Theological Commission, Communion and Stewardship, Vatican, July 1994, #26; www.press.catholica.a/http://roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/ cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html
“The Final Report of the 1985 Extraordinary Synod,” in www.ewtn.com/ library/CURIA/SYNFINAL.HTM.
Joseph Ratzinger, “The Ecclesiology of Vatican II,” in L’Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English, 23 January 2002.
Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia (EE), Vatican:Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2003.
