Liquid ecclesiology : : the gospel and the church / / By Pete Ward.

• Author: Ward, Pete, 1959-
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 2017.
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (227 pages)

In Liquid Ecclesiology Pete Ward explores the theological contours of the turn to ethnography in the study of the Christian Church. His approach rests on a theology of culture that holds in tension and paradox the expression of the Church and divine presence. This theological framework is then developed through an extended qualitative empirical case study examining the communicative practices of the contemporary evangelical Church. The case study examines how the evangelical Gospel through expression has become marginalised in the everyday life of communities being replaced by a new more individual and personalised theology seen in worship songs. The final section of the book returns to the debates around ethnographic forms of theology and the question of normativity. This book will be of interest to all those engaged in empirical and theological work, as well as those researching the contemporary Church and evangelicalism

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- The Gospel and the Church -- The Gospel as Paradox and Light -- Making Church: Gospel, Construction, and Ecclesial Fluidity -- The Material Nature of the Gospel -- The Gospel and Change -- Personal Faith -- Narratives of Encounter -- Evaluating the Case Study -- The Call to Abide -- Seeing and Learning: Theological Education in the Church -- Bibliography -- Index -- Index of Biblical Sources.