Christ as community : renewing, reforming, and reimagining the twenty-first century church.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, 2020.The twenty-first century church is in the midst of a “Great Emergence,” a new era in church history that has been likened to other momentous changes such as the Great Schism (1054 C.E.) or the Great Reformation (1517 C.E.). As in previous historic changes, the Great Emergence is being prompted by new cultural, technological and political contexts that are causing American Christians to practice their faith in new ways. Drawing on learnings from church history and Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings, this thesis connects new and emerging church models with their historic forbearers and argues they are communities of resistance which retain the consistent nature of the church--Christ existing as community--while changing forms and practices to meet a new and challenging twenty-first century context