Mimetic Ecclesiology

I will be writing my MA thesis this year in the area of mimetic ecclesiology under the supervision of Dr. Brent Laytham. I’m presently reading to put together a specific proposal and bibliography, and will be researching and writing during this calendar year.

Suggestions of books, papers, and authors to read, topics to address, or questions to explore are all greatly appreciated; as are tips and advice for researching and writing a thesis. 🙂

I’ll be posting more details as they emerge, and collecting links to thesis-related posts on this page.

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Posts Related to This Project
In chronological order:

• Approaches to Ecclesiology (1/16/2013) - Ecclesiology, the theology of the church, is relatively young as a distinct theological discipline, and there is no one standard method of constructing an ecclesiology. As in other disciplines, there are a couple of basic approaches one can take, which … Continue reading →
• Neil Ormerod and Systematic Ecclesiology (1/20/2013) - I am delighted to have encountered the work of Neil Ormerod on systematic ecclesiology. An Australian Roman Catholic systematician, he began his academic career in mathematics – which is closer to my own background in the physical sciences than I … Continue reading →
• What is a “Practice”? (1/23/2013) - In American culture, perhaps because of its historic domination by Protestant Christianity and Protestantism’s intense emphasis on scripture, religion is generally taken to refer to a system of belief. But in many religions, including Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, and … Continue reading →
• How to Read for a Bibliography (1/26/2013) - For a couple of years before I started grad school, I was reading theology on my own. I read what interested me, I read intensely, and I read very, very fast. I vividly remember what it felt like: I was … Continue reading →
• This is not a thesis proposal. (1/31/2013) - It’s not even going to be one when it grows up: rather the reverse! This is the five-year, 500 page book version of the project I have in mind. But I’ve always been the kind of person who has to … Continue reading →
• Bedford on Practice and Discernment (2/7/2013) - I define “a practice of the Christian faith” as a purposeful, creative outworking of a sequence of steps that empower persons in community better to proceed [pro-seguir] along the way of Jesus Christ. Negatively, to be engaged in such a … Continue reading →
• Rosemary Haughton on Mother Church and her twin sister (2/9/2013) - …here I want to suggest an answer by sketching two allegorical figures. One of them is a very familiar personage. Her name is “Mother Church.” She is, in many ways, an admirable and dedicated person, deeply concerned about her children, … Continue reading →
• Something resembling a thesis proposal? (2/13/2013) - (Unlike my previous attempt, this might actually be something resembling a thesis proposal. Comments and advice are very welcome.) The key anthropological insight of mimetic theory is that human identity is received and constituted by patterns of desire that originate … Continue reading →
• Thesis proposal! (2/17/2013) - This definitely is a thesis proposal – my advisor has seen it, discussed it, and approved it. Woot! The summary is virtually identical to my previous attempt, reproduced here for completeness; the new part here is the chapter outline, which … Continue reading →
• Thoughts on Flanagan’s “Methods, Images, and Systematic Ecclesiology” (2/24/2013) - In this first chapter of his book Communion, Diversity, and Salvation, Brian Flanagan reviews the modern development of method in ecclesiology, and draws on the work of Gustafson, Healy, Komonchak, Ormerod, Rahner, and Rikhof to defend his criteria for a … Continue reading →
• Healy on “new, apostolic forms of leadership” (2/24/2013) - [O]ne way for us all to work together to become the one body of Christ is to develop new, apostolic forms of leadership. I confess I have no real idea what they might be, beyond looking apostolic. That is, leaders … Continue reading →
• Thoughts on Haight’s “Systematic Ecclesiology” (3/2/2013) - Haight, Roger. “Systematic Ecclesiology.” Science & Esprit 45:253-81. 1993. In this paper, Haight explains the collapse of the pre-Vatican II systematic ecclesiology by demonstrating its incompatibility with the principles of historicity and global consciousness embraced by the council. These principles … Continue reading →
• Thoughts on Healy’s “By the Working of the Holy Spirit”: The Crisis of Authority in the Christian Churches (3/3/2013) - Healy, Nicholas M. “By the Working of the Holy Spirit”: The Crisis of Authority in the Christian Churches. Anglican Theological Review 88:5-24. 2006. After reviewing the nature of authority in the church, Healy concludes that the current “crisis of authority,” … Continue reading →
• Thoughts on Healy’s Church, World and the Christian Life, intro and ch 1 (3/12/2013) - Healy, Nicholas M. Church, World and the Christian Life: Practical-Prophetic Ecclesiology. Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine. Cambridge: Cambridge University. 2000. Healy argues that ecclesiology has tended to emphasize the theoretical or spiritual aspect of the church, and insufficiently engaged with … Continue reading →
• Reflections on Haight’s Comparative Ecclesiology (3/19/2013) - Haight, Roger. “Comparative Ecclesiology.” The Routledge Companion to the Christian Church. ed. Gerard Mannion and Lewis S. Mudge. New York: Routledge. 2008. 387-401. After a brief overview of comparative elements of ecclesiology through the history of the church, Haight identifies … Continue reading →
• What should ecclesiology study? (4/14/2013) - Ecclesiology should study the church in all its complexity, both synchronic and diachronic, historical and eschatological. This complex church comprises the social/communal human response – initiated, shaped, and sustained by the Holy Spirit – to the Christ event. It is … Continue reading →
• Reflections on Pauw’s Attending to the Gaps between Beliefs and Practices (5/12/2013) - Pauw, Amy Plantinga. “Attending to the Gaps between Beliefs and Practices.” Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life. eds. Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2002. Amy Plantinga Pauw argues for a significant affective element in … Continue reading →
• Notes on Bedford’s Theological Reflection on Discernment (5/12/2013) - Bedford, Nancy. “Little Moves Against Destructiveness: Theology and the Practice of Discernment,” in Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life. eds. Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2002. Nancy Bedford presents discernment as a practice that … Continue reading →
• Reflections on Serene Jones’ Graced Practices: Excellence and Freedom in Christian Life (5/14/2013) - Jones, Serene. “Graced Practices: Excellence and Freedom in Christian Life.” in Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life. eds. Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2002. Serene Jones interprets Christian practice in terms of the Reformed … Continue reading →
• Notes on L. Gregory Jones’ Beliefs, Desires, Practices, and the Ends of Theological Education (5/15/2013) - Jones, L. Gregory. “Beliefs, Desires, Practices, and the Ends of Theological Education.” in Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life. eds. Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2002. L. Gregory Jones argues convincingly from biblical and … Continue reading →
• Reflections on Gustafson’s Treasure in Earthen Vessels (5/30/2013) - Gustafson, J.M. Treasure in Earthen Vessels: the Church as a Human Community. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press. 2009. (This little book was first published in 1961, but has languished for most of the past fifty years, while model-based ecclesiologies dominated … Continue reading →
• The Fig Tree (6/25/2013) - I’m reading Robert G. Hamerton-Kelly’s The Gospel and the Sacred: Poetics of Violence in Mark, and am really engaged by some of the ideas he proposes. Here’s one of them. The pericope of the fig tree has puzzled me & … Continue reading →
• Review: The Gospel & The Sacred: Poetics of Violence in Mark (6/29/2013) - The Gospel and the Sacred by Robert G. Hamerton-Kelly My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars This is mostly a very good book. The introduction to mimetic theory (and its application as a method of biblical interpretation), and the appendix with … Continue reading →
• Rejecting the Sacrificial System (6/29/2013) - Theophrastus asked the other day, A central theme in the New Testament is on Jesus’s sacrifice proper; so what would it mean to reject the sacrificial system? This is still an incomplete and pretty rough&rambly essay in response, but I’m … Continue reading →
• Visualizing thesis, chapter 1 (7/3/2013) - Current draft. Click to see full size. You might need Java and/or javascript enabled. Thanks, Wordle!
• Thesis: Re-scoped, Re-oriented (7/7/2013) - For various reasons, partly to do with the impact of real life on my intended schedule, and partly to do with how my initial research has reshaped my interests, I’ve recently reworked my thesis project into something a bit less … Continue reading →
• Doran on Lonergan and Girard (8/14/2013) - Robert Doran, “The Nonviolent Cross: Lonergan and Girard on Redemption,” Theological Studies 71 (2010): 46–61. Doran correlates Lonergan’s Law of the Cross with Girard’s anthropological insights, arguing that Girard’s mimetic theory provides the psychic, although not the spiritual, data corresponding … Continue reading →
• A Feminist Critique and Appropriation of Mimetic Theory (8/18/2013) - The move from mimetic theory to mimetic theology is an ongoing effort which involves the appropriation of the insights of mimetic theory as the hermeneutical lens through which to read the bible and other theological sources.[1] Mimetic theology is thus … Continue reading →
• Visualizing thesis, chapter 2 (9/4/2013) - I turned in my first draft of chapter two to my advisor last week! It’s rougher than chapter one was when I sent it out, so he had some interesting writing advice as well as theological suggestions for a couple … Continue reading →
• Ann Astell on Empathy in the work of Girard, Stein, and Weil (11/29/2013) - Astell, Ann W. “Saintly Mimesis, Contagion, and Empathy in the Thought of Rene Girard, Edith Stein, and Simone Weil.” SHOFAR Winter 2004 Vol 22, No 2, 116-131. Astell draws on the work of Girard, Stein, and Weil to construct an … Continue reading →
• Mimetic Rivalry, Reform, and Unity in the Church (12/8/2013) - I read a commentary on church reform by Hans Küng last week, that lingered in my mind as an example of “doing it wrong,” at least from the perspective of mimetic ecclesiology. In this commentary, the substantive issues of church … Continue reading →
• Francis, Discipleship, Fandom, and Factionalism (12/28/2013) - The varied responses that Pope Francis has evoked are illustrative of various dynamics described by mimetic theory. Some people have responded to him both positively and seriously: they not only applaud his words and actions, but sincerely attempt to emulate … Continue reading →
• Redekop’s Mimetic Structures of Violence and of Blessing: as applied to the church and particularly to the sex abuse scandal (1/3/2014) - Vern Neufeld Redekop, “Mimetic Structures of Violence and of Blessing: Creating a Discursive Framework for Reconciliation,” Theoforum 33, no. 3 (January 1, 2002): 311–335. This outstanding paper first concisely describes structures of violence and of blessing (life-giving creativity) purely in … Continue reading →
• Redekop’s Mimetic Structures of Blessing and Reconciliation (1/4/2014) - I got swept away by a productive digression in the middle of responding to Redekop’s outstanding paper, so this is part two. (Read part one.) Vern Neufeld Redekop, “Mimetic Structures of Violence and of Blessing: Creating a Discursive Framework for … Continue reading →
• Thesis progress report: Chapter Three (1/20/2014) - So I haven’t been blogging much lately, because all my writing time is going into my thesis. I’m more than halfway through the first draft of my third chapter — even if I don’t break criteria/assessment/critiques and conclusions into a … Continue reading →
• A Mimetic Doctrine of the Church: The Locus of Desire for Salvation (1/25/2014) - The first thing to be said about a mimetic ecclesiology is that it produces a very strong doctrine of the church. Not strong in the sense of triumphalism, but in the sense of essential: if human beings desire according to … Continue reading →
• Clericalism, Anti-Clericalism, and Mimetic Rivalry (1/28/2014) - So on Friday, the 2nd reader for my thesis articulated something that he saw in my chapter section that I had not. In the particular bit of my paper he referred to, I had used the language of the ordained … Continue reading →
• Who constitutes the church? A hypothesis on clericalism, factionalism, and mimetic rivalry (2/14/2014) - I’m still working through the issue of mimetic rivalry between clergy and laity. Part of what’s going on is certainly factionalism. But then I tried to figure out, okay, so who exactly are in the clericalist and anti-clericalist factions? There … Continue reading →
• Visualizing thesis, Chapter Three! (3/4/2014) - Turned in the first draft of the last sections of chapter three last night to my advisor, and tonight to my second reader. Woot!
• Children, Priests, and Scandal in Church (3/26/2014) - Here’s the story: on his way to the ambo (pulpit) to give his homily (sermon), the presiding priest detoured to approach “a family with several small children under the age of four who were sitting near the front of the … Continue reading →
• Wrestling with Milbank (via Burrell) (3/30/2014) - Burrell, David B. “An Introduction to Theology and Social Theory, beyond Secular Reason.” Modern Theology 8, no. 4 (October 1, 1992): 319–29. David Burrell presents an introduction to John Milbank’s constructive critique of secularism Theology and Social Theory to open … Continue reading →
• Thesis Progress Report: Final draft! (4/28/2014) - I just submitted my complete final draft to my advisor and second reader for their final review. The title is: The Church as the Locus of Desire for God: Towards a Mimetic Ecclesiology It is 120 pages long, including front … Continue reading →
• Surprise! (5/3/2014) - Tonight was my school’s Annual Dinner to honor the Class of 2014, Dean’s List Students, and Distinguished Faculty (all capitalization in original). As a member of the class of 2014, I was happy to attend and celebrate with classmates, faculty, … Continue reading →