Description:
How might we reclaim the universality of the church without losing its local situatedness? In this SCDS volume, C. Ryan Fields juxtaposes the Free Church tradition with its Episcopal counterpart, arguing that the Free Church tradition can helpfully inform our understanding of the one body of Christ while remaining true to its local roots.
Brief description:
C. Ryan Fields (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is senior pastor of Faith Evangelical Free Church in Acton, Massachusetts.
Review Quotes:
"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 ofEcclesial 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 traditionwith 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!"
--Todd Wilson, president and cofounder of the Center for Pastor Theologians and author of Real Christian: Bearing the Marks of Authentic Faith