Church: The Human Story of God

Schillebeeckx completes the trilogy of Jesus (1979) and Christ (1980) with an ecclesiology set in the context of fundamental theology. In highly readable fashion he argues that God's relation to humans is always mediated through human experience and history. Reflecting a Thomistic approach throughout, Schillebeeckx emphasizes that in creation God gives an integrity of their own to humans and to the world. Thus God's saving activity in history . . . does not violate but rather seeks the fulfillment of humanity and the cosmos. Christian identity depends on participation in this liberation intended by God. The church as the necessary institutionalization of the Christian movement must be democratized in order to be consistent with its divine mission. This is an important statement of Schillebeeckx's central convictions about the Christian faith and the role of the church in the world.