Towards an Inclusive Ecclesiology - A Comparison of Helmut Thielicke and Paul Tillich

What makes a church the church? This question has been well answered in the Lutheran tradition. However, as the living embodiment of Christ's promised Word and grace, we must constantly reflect on what the church's existence means and how it relates to the contemporary world. We investigate this subject by comparing the ecclesiologies of Helmut Thielicke and Paul Tillich. Their theologies have their roots in the Lutheran heritage, but they built their ecclesiologies respectively upon the Christocentric and Pneumatological approaches. Throughout the study, we affirm that a comprehensive understanding of 'what is the church?' should have an inclusion of its spiritual, essential, invisible essence and its social, existential, visible embodiment. Starting from this ontological basis, we discuss several ecclesiological issues, including the ecclesia-social relationship and participation, the church's role as a salvation mediation, and a good ecclesiological approach to the ecumenical movement. As well as this, in the light of the traditional notions of the church's four marks, the difference between Thielicke's and Tillich's approach is highlighted; and from which we consider whether an ecclesiology with the characteristics that universality overwhelms distinctiveness is advisable.

Dr. phil. Regina Chan Kit Ling ist Pastorin der Evang.-luth. Kirche von Hongkong. 2004 schloss sie ihren Master of Divinity ab am Lutherischen Theologischen Seminar in Hongkong ab. Bis 2010 widmete sie sich weiteren Studien über die Theologie Martin Luthers und über lutherische Konfessionen. Von 2017- 2022 war sie in Bayern und studierte an der Universität Regensburg, wo sie 2022 zum obengenannten Thema promovierte. ---- Dr. phil. Regina Chan Kit Ling is a pastor of the Lutheran Church of Hong Kong. She completed her Master of Divinity at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong in 2004. Until 2010, she devoted herself to further studies on Martin Luther's theology and Lutheran denominations. From 2017- 2022 she was in Bavaria and studied at the University of Regensburg, where she received her doctorate in 2022 on the above-mentioned topic.