Receiving 'The Nature and Mission of the Church' Ecclesial Reality and Ecumenical Horizons for the Twenty-First Century

'Opening remarks by Gerard Mannion remind us of the nature of the new reality in human organization which was the church, a movement that had spread far from its roots before it was an official religion of the Roman Empire. With a sense that our world today mirrors the class, religious and race divisions of those first years, our editors describe the inception and purpose of the movement out of which this book arises, the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network and its work as reflected through the American Academy of Religion and other venues. Through the inclusivity of authors in this volume, the editors are quick to affirm the links between ecclesiology and the contemporary socio-economic and political settings in which churches find themselves.' Rodney L. Petersen, Boston Theological Institute --Sanford Lakoff