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Local and Universal: A Free Church Account of Ecclesial Catholicity (Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture)

Fields, C Ryan

$39.99 $40.00
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In the words of the creeds, the church is the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic body of Christ.

Of those features, perhaps none is as misunderstood as the church's catholicity (that is, its universality)--because while the church is universal, it is also radically local, connected to a particular community or even found on a specific street corner. How might we reclaim the universality of the church without losing its local situatedness?

In this Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture volume, pastor and theologian C. Ryan Fields offers a surprising solution: he turns to the Free Church tradition, those churches that are historically separate or "free" from state oversight. Juxtaposing the Free Church with its Episcopal counterpart, he argues that far from neglecting the catholicity of the church, the Free Church tradition can helpfully inform our understanding of the one body of Christ while remaining true to its local roots.

Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture, edited by Daniel J. Treier and Kevin J. Vanhoozer, promotes evangelical contributions to systematic theology, seeking fresh understanding of Christian doctrine through creatively faithful engagement with Scripture in dialogue with church tradition.

Specifications
  • Cover Type
    Paperback
  • ISBN
    9781514006719
  • Page Count
    304
  • Publisher
    IVP Academic
  • Publication Date
    February 2024

Endorsements (4)

“Dry water? Cold fire? Short eternity? All contradictions in terms. But what about Free Church catholicity? Equally oxymoronic? Not so, says C. Ryan Fields in his engaging and substantive new study, Local and Universal: A Free Church Account of Ecclesial Catholicity. Who would have thought the Free Church tradition would have something to say—much less contribute—to the doctrine of the church's catholicity? Fields shows us the way, engaging both Scripture and the Free Church tradition with scholarly acumen and pastoral verve. He offers fresh theological resources for thinking about the church's claim to universality to those not only within the Free Church tradition but of any ecclesial tradition. Highly recommended!”

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Todd Wilson

president and cofounder of the Center for Pastor Theologians and author of Real Christian: Bearing the Marks of Authentic Faith

“Catholicity is both a contested and neglected aspect of ecclesiology. It is contested in that there are several definitions for it, and it is neglected in that there are not many recent studies on its biblical and historical foundations, particularly from the Free Church traditions. C. Ryan Fields successfully speaks into this gap in ways that are both imaginative and rooted, generative and definitive. This book should be a standard for studies of catholicity for any tradition, and especially for Free Church traditions.”

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Matthew Y. Emerson

dean of theology, arts, and humanities at Oklahoma Baptist University and author of "He Descended to the Dead"

“An astute, irenic, and worthy contribution to a two-thousand-year-old conversation about the church's catholicity. Not many books accomplish that. My own thoughts on the topic were educated, pushed, and edified, and any future conversations on the doctrine of catholicity will need to interact with Fields's careful and compelling work. I am sincerely grateful for the opportunity to recommend it.”

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Jonathan Leeman

editorial director at 9Marks and author of Political Church

“C. Ryan Fields delivers a biblically grounded, historically informed manifesto for the catholicity of the local assembly within the Free Church traditions. Through extensive research and engagement with Scripture he examines bottom-up (Free Church) and top-down (Episcopal) patterns of ecclesial authority, finding their expressions of unified diversity as complementary. Local and Universal provides an important contribution to the doctrine of catholicity.”

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Ingrid Faro

Northern Seminary, coordinator of the MA in Old Testament—Jerusalem University College program

About the Author

C. Ryan Fields (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is senior pastor of Faith Evangelical Free Church in Acton, Massachusetts.
Local and Universal: A Free Church Account of Ecclesial Catholicity (Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture) - Fields, C Ryan - 9781514006719
InterVarsity Press

Local and Universal: A Free Church Account of Ecclesial Catholicity (Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture)

$39.99 $40.00

In the words of the creeds, the church is the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic body of Christ.

Of those features, perhaps none is as misunderstood as the church's catholicity (that is, its universality)--because while the church is universal, it is also radically local, connected to a particular community or even found on a specific street corner. How might we reclaim the universality of the church without losing its local situatedness?

In this Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture volume, pastor and theologian C. Ryan Fields offers a surprising solution: he turns to the Free Church tradition, those churches that are historically separate or "free" from state oversight. Juxtaposing the Free Church with its Episcopal counterpart, he argues that far from neglecting the catholicity of the church, the Free Church tradition can helpfully inform our understanding of the one body of Christ while remaining true to its local roots.

Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture, edited by Daniel J. Treier and Kevin J. Vanhoozer, promotes evangelical contributions to systematic theology, seeking fresh understanding of Christian doctrine through creatively faithful engagement with Scripture in dialogue with church tradition.

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