This book is a disciplined introduction to ecclesiology. With respect to the community which “the Lord purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28), parts one and two focus on a critical-exegetical presentation of the New Testament’s descriptions and themes, locating their treatment within two millennia of reflection, and appreciating the impact of those contexts on our understanding. From over ninety New Testament images, chapters four to ten identify and argue for three foundational concepts: ekklesia (assembly); soma Christou (the body of Christ); and koinonia hagion (the communion of the saints). Continuing the conversation with Scripture and its history of interpretation, Robert Doyle then applies the determinative biblical themes to present practice, centering it on the churches of the Evangelical and Reformed traditions. Part four illuminates ecclesiology from other foundational Christian doctrines: the triune God of holy love; Christology, our ascended human high priest and king; and the doctrine of revelation, the church as “the pillar and bulwark of the truth.” The final part focuses on three possible points of transformation in ecclesial life and witness, both internally and outward to the world.

Robert Doyle has pastored churches in Australia and Scotland, and for four decades researched and taught systematic and historical theology at Moore Theological College, Sydney, Australia, and George Whitefield College, Cape Town, South Africa.