Session 1: Class Introduction and the Nature of the Church

What is the Church? Is it a building? Is it a visible institution or an invisible body? What are the different views of the church? During this lesson, we will discuss the various views of the church, some of which are mutually exclusive, some of which are compatible. We will learnabout the strengths and weaknesses of the Roman Catholic, Liberation, Liberal, and Evangelical conception of the church. This session is an introduction to ecclesiology. The student should leave with a basic overview of ecclesiology.