157 - The Catholicity of the Church

The Catholicity of the Church

By Avery Dulles

Oxford, Clarendon, 1985. 185 Pp. $29.95.

This book stands in a long line of ecumenical efforts by Dulles to clarify the structures of Christ's church. The structure under analysis here is catholicity, which allows comparison with and contrast to the important ecumenical cognate of catholicity, catholicism. Catholicity implies universality and fullness, Catholicism the structures that enable the conservation and transmission of the specific fullness delivered by Christ to the apostolic community. Dulles concludes that catholicity is a mark of Christ's church and that it is found not only in those churches claiming the name Catholic, but also in many of those claiming the name Protestant. The separations between the Christian churches diminish effective and full, catholicity. If this is ever to be achieved, then the uncatholicity of all the Christian churches will have to be overcome. Dulles has done all of them a service by highlighting the catholicity to which they are all called and the uncatholicity of which they are all presently guilty. He has demonstrated yet again that the church of Christ, in all its incarnations, is still ecclesia reformanda. The analytic approach presupposes on the part of the reader both the ability and the willingness to become engaged with abstract theological questions, The price is also offputting.

Michael G. Lawler, Creighton University, Omaha, Neb.