{"product_id":"does-god-need-the-church-toward-a-theology-of-the-people-of-god-9780814659281","title":"Does God Need the Church?: Toward a Theology of the People of God","description":"\u003cp\u003eAre not all religions equally close to and equally far from God? Why, then, the Church? Gerhard Lohfink poses these questions with scholarly reliability and on the basis of his own experience of community in \u003ci\u003eDoes God Need the Church?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1982 Father Lohfink wrote \u003ci\u003eWie hat Jesus Gemeinde gewollt?\u003c\/i\u003e (translated into English as \u003ci\u003eJesus and Community\u003c\/i\u003e) to show, on the basis of the New Testament, that faith is founded in a community that distinguishes itself in clear contours from the rest of society. In that book he also described a sequence of events that moved directly from commonality to a community that was readily accessible to every group of people and was made legitimate by Jesus himself. Only later did Father Lohfink learn, within a new horizon of experience, that such a description is not the way to community. The story of the gathering of the people of God, from Abraham until today, never took place according to such a model.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eToday Father Lohfink states that he would not write \u003ci\u003eWie hat Jesus Gemeinde gewollt?\u003c\/i\u003e the same way. The situation of belief and believers has undergone a shift: the question of the Church has become much more urgent. Church life is declining and the religions are returning, often in new guises.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn light of these shifts and the change in his own view of community, Father Lohfink inquires in \u003ci\u003eDoes God Need the Church?\u003c\/i\u003e of Israel's theology, Jesus' praxis, the experiences of the early Christian communities, and of what is appearing in the Church today. These inquiries lead to an amazing history involving God and the world - a history that God presses forward with the aid of a single people and that always turns out differently from what they think and plan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael Glazier Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/01\/1999\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780814659281\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.01h x 6.04w x 0.85d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eCommonweal\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2001 pg. 27\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Gerhard Lohfink","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38213561450677,"sku":"9780814659281","price":33.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_1fd8bf4c-9ce7-4fe5-adc6-b7b3228a4d40.jpg?v=1610441695","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/does-god-need-the-church-toward-a-theology-of-the-people-of-god-9780814659281","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}