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Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus: An Early Congregational Version*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

John Von Rohr
John Von Rohr
Affiliation:
Professor of Historical Theology and the History of Christianity, Pacific School of Religion
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Extract

Ecclesiastical exclusiveness has been among the persistent historical characteristics of the Christian church as, in its various forms and by varying degreees, it has insisted on monopoly in the mediation of salvation. The Cyprianic theme of extra ecclesiam nulla salus has not lacked occasion for re-utterance throughout the centuries, whether by the pen of Augustine, Boniface VIII, Luther or Calvin, though meanings, of course, have changed in differing theological and ecclesiastical circumstances. The church as custodian of the sacraments and chief locus of the work of the Holy Spirit, the church as supreme, universal institutional authority under the rulership of the vicar of Christ, the church as proclaimer of the Word and its promises and thus the home of saving faith—these are among the designations historically utilized to support the exclusivistic affirmations.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , June 1967, pp. 107 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1967

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