John Fuellenbach, Church: Community for the Kingdom, 2002, Orbis Books

John Fuellenbach has written his book Church: Community for the Kingdom from a Roman Catholic tradition.  It is helpful to realize this perspective as a reader because almost all of his arguments and examples flow out from this tradition.

 

Fuellenbach states in the preface of the book that the purpose of the book is “to present a vision of the church that understands itself wholly from the standpoint of the kingdom, finds its identity in the presence of the kingdom now, and sees its mission entirely in the service of the kingdom.” (xi)  This seems to serve the purpose as his thesis for the book.  He spends his energy painting a picture of the current situation of the church through the lens of Vatican II and the scholarship following the council.  The conclusion is that our world has shifted and changed and therefore the Church has and must continue to respond.

 

One of the major themes in Fuellenbach’s book is the move toward globalization in many aspects.  Due to advances in technology and transportation, the political and economic spheres especially have seen a great deal of globalization.  This has its up and its down side, and Fuellenbach argues that the church needs to be aware of this change in order to respond to the needs of the world.  It is through the Church that the world primarily sees God’s design for the kingdom, and therefore the Church must respond to any sort of injustices that arise politically or economically from this globalization.  A new turn in the world creates new challenges, and Fuellenbach seems to argue that it would be ridiculous for us to believe that globalization is good for everyone involved.  There is an increasing number of marginalized and an increasing number of cultures left without a solid identity.

 

Interculturation is another of Fuellenbach’s themes for his book.  He argues that an increasing number of cultures are seeking a unique sense of identity in this globalized world.  People are moving back to their traditional cultures and customs in an effort to increase identity.  He argues that the Church must continue to respond to this trend.  The Church should not expect to simply cause another culture to accept the western form of Christianity, but they should be given Jesus and they should be able to live out a form of Christianity that fits with what the Bible calls Christians to but that also fits with their particular culture.  In this process, what is simply western in Christianity should fall aside and what is contrary to Christianity in a person’s culture should fall aside as well.  An example of this happening in the  Catholic tradition are Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) that have been growing especially in the third world countries of South America and Africa.

 

Solidarity with the poor is another theme and issue that is brought up by Fuellenbach within the context of globalization.  We are called throughout the Bible, by Jesus and in the Old and New Testament to not only meet the needs of the poor but to be in community with them as an indispensable part of the kingdom.  Fuellenbach uses the idea of the Church as a contrast society which has been developed by Gerhard and Norbert Lohfink to argue that the Church needs to be in the society but in contrast with it in a way that promotes justice for those who are not receiving it.

 

For me, this book was a very slow read, but I feel like the main themes were well developed and are definitely themes that need to be discussed.  Fuellenbach pushes for dialogue between Christianity in its different traditions as well as with other religions, which I think is a high calling.  It was interesting for me to read a book on mission and ecclesiology based on the kingdom of God that comes from a tradition very different from my own.  Possibly it is my lack of theological depth that could not allow for me to really get into this book, but in the end I found it really dry though incredibly informational.