Toward a Baptismal Ecclesiology

Abstract As we approach the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, we are reminded that the primary aim of the council was to preserve the unity of the church. Church unity remains the primary aim of the ecumenical movement in its manifold forms. Within the Faith and Order movement, the focus in recent decades has been on ecclesiology, as reflected in the recent study The Church: Towards a Common Vision. This document reflects the degree of consensus that has been achieved and points to remaining obstacles to church unity. It is with the hope of furthering this search for unity that this article proposes a renewed emphasis on baptism and its ecclesial ramifications. Such a renewed emphasis on the church as a body comprising all the baptized, recognizing the dignity and responsibility of all the faithful, and giving them a voice at all levels of church life would, this article suggests, help to overcome our divisions, both internal and mutual.