Analytic ecclesiology: the social ontology of the church

Joshua Luke Cockayne

doi:10.12978/jat.2019-7.091400021404

Analytic ecclesiology: the social ontology of the church

Joshua Luke Cockayne

School of Divinity

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

In this paper, I aim to show that analytic philosophy can contribute to the theological discussion of ecclesiology. By considering recent analytic work on social ontology, I outline how we might think of the Church as one entity, constituted by many disparate parts. The paper begins with an overview of the theological constraints for the paper, and then proceeds to examine recent work on the philosophy of social ontology and group agency. Drawing on this literature, I outline three models of social ontology from the history of philosophy and suggest reasons why all of them fail to provide an account of the Church’s agency. Finally, I develop an alternative model which, I suggest, better fits the conditions stipulated.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	100-123
Journal	Journal of Analytic Theology
Volume	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.12978/jat.2019-7.091400021404
Publication status	Published - 19 Jul 2019

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Cockayne_2019_JAT_AnalyticEcclesiology_VoR
© 2019 Joshua Cockayne and Journal of Analytic Theology. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at https://doi.org/10.12978/jat.2019-7.091400021404
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Analytic ecclesiology: the social ontology of the church

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