Scaffolds of the Church: Towards Poststructural Ecclesiology

by Cyril Hovorun

Overview

Unity is the categorical imperative of the Church. It is not just the Church's bene esse, but its esse. In addition to being a theological concept, unity has become a raison d'etre of various structures that the Church has established and developed.All of these structures are supposed to serve the end of unity. However, from time to time some of them deviate from their initial purpose and contribute to disunity. This happens because the structures of the Church are not a part of its nature and can therefore turn against it. They are like scaffolding, which facilitates the construction and maintenance of a building without actually being part of it. Likewise, ecclesial structures help the Church function in accordance with its nature but should not be identified with the Church proper. Scaffolds of the Church considers the evolution of some of these structures and evaluates their correspondence to their initial rationale. It focusses on particular structures that have developed in the eastern part of the Christian oecumene, such as patriarchates, canonical territory, and autocephaly, all of which are explored in the more general frame of hierarchy and primacy. They were selected because they are most neuralgic in the life of the Orthodox Churches today and bear in them the greatest potential to divide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781532607530
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	04/14/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	276
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Cyril Hovorun is a senior lecturer at Sankt Ignatios Academy/Stockholm School of Theology in Sweden.

Table of Contents

List of Pictures, Maps, and Figures ix

Acknowledgments xi

List of Abbreviations xiii

Introduction 1

1 Fine Pencil Lines: Distinctions 11

The Church as an historical phenomenon and as an object of faith 11

The Church for Everyone and the Church for Some 16

The Dualism of the Sacred and Profane 25

The Church Universal and Particular 40

2 Partition Walls: Territory and Administration 50

3 Ditches: Sovereignty 73

4 Strongholds: Autocephaly 88

The Case of Bulgaria 94

The Case of Serbia 99

The Case of Greece 110

The Case of Bulgaria II 116

The Case of Ukraine 121

The Case of the Orthodox Church in America 125

5 Pyramids: Primacy 128

6 Strata: Ministry 145

7 Frontiers: The Boundaries of the Church 163

Conclusions: From Structuralism to Poststructuralism and Beyond 181

Appendix 1 The Structure of the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century 199

Appendix 2 Rulers 203

Appendix 3 Bishops of Constantinople 215

Appendix 4 Bishops of Rome 225

Bibliography 235

Index 249

Editorial Reviews

"Cyril Hovorun is emerging as one of the foremost ecclesiologists of modern times. . . . Hovorun's analysis has profound insights for ecumenism, as well as for the struggle for some practical coherence within the Orthodox Churches themselves."-Andrew Louth, Durham University"Hovorun's critique of the limitations of hierarchy-centered and eucharistic ecclesiologies is bound to be controversial, while making an important contribution to the ongoing dialogue between the Christian East and West."-Paul L. Gavrilyuk, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota"Hovorun offers a refreshing analysis of the various structures of the church as they developed over time. . . . [He] convincingly argues that the nature of the church should not lead to reified structures, and points the way to faithful reform in the face of new problems and challenges facing the church." -Aristotle Papanikolaou, Fordham University 'a highly original work in constructive ecclesiology'Mark D Chapman, University of Oxford, Expository Times vol. 130 no. 7, April 2019

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