Totus Christus : A Proposal for Protestant Christology and Ecclesiology

Abstract

This article argues that ‘Reformed catholics’ should accept Augustine’s totus Christus Christological-ecclesiology. It states what Augustine said about the doctrine. Then it responds to five Protestant objections to Augustine’s doctrine, examining similar iterations in the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar and Karl Barth. Finally, it describes what totus Christus entails and does not entail, and concludes that Protestants should accept it because it is based in Scripture and does not entail all the deleterious things the objections claim it does.