Non- Communio Trinitarian Ecclesiology: Furthering Neil Ormerod’s Account

Abstract

As a corrective for the idealizing, romanticizing, and universalizing tendencies of communio ecclesiology, Neil Ormerod recently proposed an alternative non-communio trinitarian approach based on the ‘four-point hypothesis’ originating in Bernard F. Lonergan’s trinitarian theology. Ormerod’s account focuses on the missio rather than communio dimension of the church and thus gives primacy to ecclesial ‘operator’ over ‘integrator.’ This article aims at furthering Ormerod’s account of a non-communio trinitarian ecclesiology. In the light of Thomas Aquinas’s teaching, recent developments in ecclesiology and biblical scholarship, this essay (1) critically engages Ormerod’s account and (2) suggests a complementary route grounded in the biblical foundations of trinitarian doctrine.