Deliverance from the Powers in the Church

The previous chapter intended to correct the conception of political authority in Vatican II by proposing a more robustly theological conception that drew together the insights of several Protestant exegetes. This chapter will correct the problematic ecclesiology that affected Vatican II’s teaching on church-state relations. The ecclesiology that will be elucidated in this chapter will develop seeds already present in the conciliar documents. The aim is to present an ecclesiology able to understand church-state relations without relying on the dichotomy between religion and politics, as it was identified and criticised in earlier chapters, which undermines Christians’ ability to see the church as a unique kind of social and political community. It proposes a sacramental ecclesiology to explain how the church is a unique kind of political community under the authority of Christ and given social form by the sacraments of baptism, the Eucharist, and ordination. Being baptised and incorporated into the Eucharistic Body of the Christ enables the lay and ordained members of the church to participate in Christ’s royal triumph over the Powers by bearing prophetic witness to him and by sharing in his self-sacrificial priesthood, both of which may lead to martyrdom.