The church as the coming future

Abstract

“The church serves as a symbol of the coming future. It sees in the past not only the evolutionary development all our culture recognizes, but also the hand of a transcendent God who has entered into that past in such a way as to indicate a future reality toward which we may move… The idea of a God who calls us ahead, rather than a Judge who holds us to past decrees, is an idea that both vitalizes and threatens the structure of the organized church.”