Essays on the Real Church

The spirit of the Reformation is often expressed in the well-known slogan that Reformed churches are always being reformed according to God’s Word, ecclesia reformata semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei. Over the last century, the spirit of this slogan motivated someone like Dietrich Bonhoeffer to argue that the visible form and life of the church should reflect the truth and message of the church. Already in his doctoral dissertation called Sanctorum Communio, the communion of the saints, the young Bonhoeffer combined theological claims and traditions with social theory and analysis, in this spirit, in an innovative way, to study the nature and integrity and witness of the church. At the time, this was a radical claim, with major consequences and challenges for Protestant churches. Their life – which meant their order, structure, actions, statements, convictions, public presence and role – was to be measured by their gospel – which meant their message, proclamation, convictions, claims. They could no longer proclaim one truth yet live a different life.