Reflecting on Emil Brunner’s discussion of “apostolica” in Dogmatics Vol. III
When we look at church, we see form–or forms. Brunner insists that form is not an essential aspect of church and that a church is not apostolic if it concretizes its forms (social or dogmatic) rather than critiquing them according to the apostolic witness. Forms of church and dogma are subject to adjustment and correction. Three factors must be considered in the process: the “then” of church, its essence as the Ekklesia witnessed by the Apostles; the “now” of present culture and history; and the “when” of the eschatological future.
Are these three (especially the first and the last) clear enough for the several traditions to agree upon?
