Many events were staged and a plethora of new books appeared to mark the quincentenary of the birth of John Calvin, in 2009. But one area received considerably less attention in that anniversary year - namely, Calvin's ecclesiology. This study explores the development and fundamental legacy of Calvin's perspectives on and relationship with the church. Contributions are included which explore the later development and denominational variations' of Calvin's ecclesiology, along with ecumenical discussions/responses to and implications of Calvin's understanding of the church. There are further chapters which focus on particular aspects such as Calvin's ecclesiological method, understanding of ministry, the sacramental' principle, the invisible church' etc. Contributions on the use of Calvin's ecclesiology by later and modern/contemporary ecclesiologists also feature. This is a volume that brings together leading and emerging theological voices from Europe, North America and Latino America and from across the different theological sub-disciplines. Significantly, it also a book from genuinely ecumenical perspectives, with writers from several different denominational traditions contributing.

Author Biography

Gerard Mannion serves as Chair of the Ecclesiological Investigations Research Network and is a Senior Research Fellow of the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium). Educated at Cambridge and Oxford Universities, he previously lectured at Church colleges of the universities of Oxford and Leeds and was Associate Professor of Ecclesiology and Ethics at the ecumenical university in Liverpool. A Senior Research Fellow of the Centro per le Scienze Religiose, Trento (Italy) in 2009, he is also a Visiting Professor of the University of Chichester, UK and (in 2010) of the University of Tubingen, Germany. His numerous books include Schopenhauer, Religion and Morality (2003), Ecclesiology and Postmodernity: Questions for the Church in Our Time (2007), The Routledge Companion to the Christian Church (2008, ed. with Lewis Mudge) and The Vision of John Paul II: Assessing his Thought and Influence, (ed. 2008). Eddy van der Borght holds the Desmond Tutu Chair and is also Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology at VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.