A. Siebesma (Anne) MA

Shortly after Vatican II, several theologians described the church as a sacrament of the world (sacramentum mundi), that is, a sign of how God is healing and reconciling the world. During the same period, theologians became more aware of the theological significance of politics and the church’s political responsibilities in society. Several contemporary political theologians, however, have argued that the church forms an alternative political body that is the basis for a critique of secular politics. This focus on an ‘alternative’ body could widen the gap between the ecclesial and the secular again. My research concerns the implications of the notion of the church as sacramentum mundi for the nature and role of the church as a political community. First, I study the development of the notion of church as sacramentum mundi in general and its relationship to political theology at the time. Next, I analyze how Edward Schillebeeckx developed a sacramental ecclesiology, and later a notion of the church as sacramentum mundi specifically. I then connect this ecclesiology to political theology by analyzing how it functioned implicitly in Schillebeeckx’s later, more politically oriented theology and his personal political involvement. Finally, I turn to contemporary political theology via the work of William Cavanaugh, to inquire what a contemporary reworking of this ecclesiology would mean for the way in which the church as a political community relates to the politics of wider society.

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Stephan van Erp; prof. dr. C. Hübenthal