Social Science and

Ideological Critiques of
Ecclesiology
Neil Ormerod
In The Oxford Handbook of Ecclesiology, edited by Paul Avis (2018)
Social Science and Ideological
Critiques of Ecclesiology

• What is the thesis statement?

 Questions of church order, the validity of different
forms of ministry, notions of authority, and the
relationship between the universal and the local
church have a pressing urgency.

Social Science Any lasting resolution to such questions must rest

and Ideological Critiques on theological positions which have genuine
of Ecclesiology explanatory power.

It is difficult to see how this can be achieved

without some input from the social sciences,
though this might require considerable
reorientation of those sciences as they are
currently constituted.
 History of the use of social sciences in ecclesiology:
from Protestant to Catholic theologians

1. social science has its theological perspective

What is the 2. Social science should be used in theological

methodology of ecclesiology: Lonergan’s view
arguments 3. Social Science, and Theology: the need of
conversion for incorporation

Conclusion: Effective, Constitutive, and Cognitive

Meaning — Ecclesiology as ‘Ideological’ or as the
explanatory power
 1. social • the relationship of the social sciences to
ecclesiology can never be theologically
science has its neutral.
theological • Different theological and metaphysical
perspective options underline quite different
forms/aproaches of social sciences, such
as positivist, functionalist, conflictualist,
and symbolic interactionist.
 2. Social
sciences could
be used in Theological method consists of two distinct
phases:
theological
methodology of • positive phase which seeks to recover that
which has been handed down from the
ecclesiology: past.
Lonergan’s view • normative phase which having learnt from
the past, seeks to mediate the normative
meanings and values of the tradition into
the future.
*Phương pháp luận của Lonergan
○ Quan sát – (1) nghiên cứu --> (8) truyền thông - communicative
○ Tìm hiểu – (2) chú giải --> (7) hệ thống hoá - systematic
○ Phán đoán – (3) lịch sử --> (6) giáo thuyết -- doctrine
○ Quyết định – (4) biện chứng --> (5) nền tảng - fundamental
Normative phase
• Foundational issues – implications for doctrines – systematic
ecclesiology
• ‘How can one work out a systematic ecclesiology without working out
first such terms as “individual,” “community,” “society,” “meaning,”
“change,” “structure,” “institution,” “relationship,” and so on, and the
various relationships, or at least types of relationships, that can obtain
among these those terms?’ (69–70). (Komonchak)
 3. Social
• questions of moral and intellectual
Science, and conversion are also pertinent as they impact
Theology: the on how one conceives of the social sciences
and of their relationship to theology.
need of • Social sciences that attempt to exclude
conversion for questions of value will not only be of little
incorporation value theologically, they will distort our
understanding of the social order.
• Social science needs to convert to accept the
terminal values of theology in the social life.
• Theology need to convert to accept the use
of terminal value in the society.
 Conclusion: • Constitutive meaning recognizes the fact that our
Effective, human world is a world of meaning, that our
institutions and cultures are in fact constituted by
Constitutive, and meaning. Through shared meanings we create
Cognitive Meaning community, including the community we call the
— Ecclesiology as church. (meaning)
‘Ideological’ or as • The effective function of meaning seeks to bring
the explanatory about a new reality in the world constituted and
power mediated by meaning. Effective meaning
motivates and challenges us, through envisaging
new elements in that world of meaning.
(motivate to change)
• The cognitive function of meaning seeks to
understand and affirm truth, what is in fact the
case. (the truth and the fact)
 Conclusion:
Effective, • Ecclesiological discourse is more
concerned with the constitutive and
Constitutive, effective functions of meaning than with
and Cognitive the cognitive function.
Meaning —
Ecclesiology as • Ex: the Church as Communio (Synod 1985)
‘Ideological’ or was ‘the central and fundamental idea of
the Council’s documents’. The notion of
as the communio fits firmly into a functionalist
explanatory sociological stance with key values of
power social harmony and stability.
 Questions of church order, the validity of different
forms of ministry, notions of authority, and the
relationship between the universal and the local
church have a pressing urgency.

Social Science Any lasting resolution to such questions must rest

and Ideological Critiques on theological positions which have genuine
of Ecclesiology explanatory power.

It is difficult to see how this can be achieved

without some input from the social sciences,
though this might require considerable
reorientation of those sciences as they are
currently constituted.